Analysis: At Breeders’ Cup, a storybook win and questions for horse racing’s past and future

The 40th Breeders’ Cup closed Saturday night in a setting California sun at Santa Anita Park, and this is what was left behind: Choices. A choice as to whether intense, hyper-cautious veterinary scrutiny is worth rankling trainers, owners, and bettors, if the outcome is fewer horse breakdowns. A choice as to whether to cry all the tears for a 17-year-old boy with a terrible illness whose bond with a 5-year-old horse is life-affirming in a sport riven by far too much death – or to save some for the weddings and funerals and other emotional moments in one’s own life. And whether 10 years in equine jail is enough to let a man have his moment, and his life, untethered to suspicion, or to extend his sentence into infinity, just because.