I could not watch the Kentucky Derby as much as I used to glory in the beauty and exhilaration of the Triple Crown. 

Ever since Barbaro broke down, I’ve sworn that I could and would not support horse racing.

My son asked me if I was going to watch and I told him no. And I didn’t. But I checked the results online. Despite fearing the worst, I was stunned to find that the worst had indeed happened. Again, and multiply that by thousands. The runner up, a filly named Eight Belles, broke two front ankles and was euthanized on the track.

How many deaths will it take before this sport of bringing beautiful animals into the world to suffer and die is halted? It’s like bringing Olympic athletes into the world to face death. Russian Roulette: salvation or death. What kind of rush could such odds bring anyone? Sadistic, truly.

What does it take for you to hear us, breeders, owners and trainers, who indulge in this cruelty? If you don’t have hearts, think of those of us who do.

Larry Jones, Eight Belles’s trainer, said in a Reuters article ( 5/3/08 ) published in The New York Times, “We couldn’t be more proud of her effort…. The main thing was she never had to suffer. She just went out in a blaze of glory.” I can’t believe breaking two ankles and literally breaking down wasn’t painful. Just proof that denial is what keeps the industry alive.

Hear us, Larry Jones, and Eight Belles’s owner. Hear us, Gretchen and Roy Jackson, and Michael Matz. None of you are exempt. At the very least you are guilty of a grave injustice and withholding of compassion. Cruelty to animals is cruelty to your fellow man. How dare you think we feel as you do, that it is alright to subject animals to the torture that is horse racing. 

I can’t take it. It hurts unbearably. Another talented and beautiful life gone. Wasted. Thrown away. Ravaged. Do you not see that you are waging war on the animals you profess to care for? Why is pain and death the ‘life’ you choose for them?

Nothing hurts as much as the deaths that didn’t have to be. In Iraq and Afghanistan, in Guantanamo, and on city streets. Do you not see that our country is on overload? It takes the same amount of work to create something constructive as it does to tear down, whether from violence, apathy or neglect. The effect is the same.

Your actions, horse racing industry, diminish all of us. This is indeed a tragic day.