Horse deaths in America bode ill for the sport of kings

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The writer is a contributing columnist, based in Chicago

It’s been a rough few decades for American horse racing and the last few weeks could mark a new low point for the sport of kings.

This should be the best time for sports: For a few magical weeks in the spring and summer, three-year-olds compete in the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred racing, starting with the iconic Kentucky Derby.

But the titles this season of the Triple Crown – my 60th – have been dominated by death. A dozen horses have died in the last month at Churchill Downs, the Kentucky Derby track, and one horse, Havnameltdown, had to be euthanized at the track – in front of all those fans with tilted hats and millions of others who they watched on national television – ahead of the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Crown.

Lisa Lazarus, chief executive of the new US Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, says the Thoroughbred death rate has dropped since the new rules took effect last July: Fatalities per 1,000 starts dropped from two in 2009 to 1.25 last year, according to the US Jockey Club’s equine injury database. But the new rules have not prevented the recent cluster of tragedies. Lazarus encourages me not to jump to any conclusions about what caused one of these deaths, which he is investigating. Havnameltdown, for example, was bumped by another horse early in the race.

Peta, the animal cruelty organization, says this could be a game-changer for racing in America. The sport “has never been closer to having its ‘social license’ revoked,” Kathy Guillermo, senior vice president of equestrian affairs at Peta, told me. She predicts that any catastrophic injury near the final leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes on June 10, could prove to be “the death knell for the industry”.

It would break my heart: I’ve been on horses all my life, with multiple fractures to prove it, including a concussion in my 60th year from being bumped by an angry pony in the Mongolian wilderness. But even I’ve begun to doubt that thoroughbred racing will outlive my generation.

The most famous races are hugely popular: 14.8 million people watched this year’s Kentucky Derby, making it the most-watched sporting event since the Super Bowl. But that masks a decline in racing as part of the fabric of American life: racing fallen from a peak of 74,071 in 1989 to 33,453 last year.

David McCaffrey, executive director of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, which represents owners and trainers, says the best he can hope is that American racing has now hit “rock bottom” and will bounce back if it can be substantially subsidized by the revenues of “racinos ” (casino-like gambling facilities at racetracks).

Fan demographics don’t help. I asked my 20-something kids to give me $20 and take me to the rides as a Mother’s Day gift this year. We went to the only track with live racing near our Chicago home, but the atmosphere inside Hawthorne Race Course was more like a sad senior social club outing than a fun day at the track. Hawthorne tore down his grandstand for a ‘racino’ which was not built, but that meant it was difficult to even see the race we’d bet on, without going inside the house to watch it on the television. I picked the right horses to win and place, and pocketed $9.41 on a $2 bet, but neither of us wanted to stick around and play the rest of my $20. I tried to pique the boys’ interest by suggesting a ‘app it uses artificial intelligence to place bets, but they weren’t seduced and pushed me out for tacos instead.

For decades, racing bets were the only legal way to gamble in many areas. Today, there are endless sports betting and casino options. I can see one bright spot: crowdsourcing of racehorse ownership. About 382 investors bought a stake in Kentucky Derby winner Mage via the Commonwealth’s sports investing app — the Thoroughbred’s ownership costs just $50. Commonwealth users more than doubled after the Derby, he told me co-founder and CEO Brian Doxtator, adding that the average age of users is 36. The United States is nearly extinct, for many of the same reasons.

Let’s hope for a safe final leg of the Triple Crown – another tragic title could spell the end of days for one of America’s oldest sports.