Controversy once again marred the Kentucky Derby, with seven horses dying at Churchill Downs in the ugly runup to the 149th Run for the Roses.
By race day, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. was suspended and barred from the property and other horses were scratched from the Derby for health reasons. Those included the betting favorite, Forte.
But maybe Forte’s co-owner Mike Repole had it right when he said, “It’s hard to explain and say it’s going to happen once in a while, but the reality is, unfortunately, it’s going to happen once in a while.”
The week’s calamity made scorching headlines, infuriated horse-culture activists, and surely embarrassed thoroughbred enthusiasts who have watched the sport they love be wracked by scandal and the deaths of dozens of animals.
Despite all that, 15-to-1 longshot Mage’s victory capped a day that reminded naysayers of the event’s remarkable popularity in the face of changing times and betting tastes. A crowd of more than 150,000 converged on Churchill Downs to partake of the festivities.
Afterward, Churchill Downs Inc. announced that wagering from all sources was the highest in the history of the race: $188.7 million. The day was bigger yet, with another $100 million wagered on the other races. The weekly total was even more impressive, also setting a record at $412 million.
It’s easy to look at record numbers, despite the awful news of the deaths of the animals, as a sign of horseracing’s resilience, but that’s an overread of the figures. It’s really just a reminder of the power of the grand traditions of the sport’s iconic events that are burnished into American culture.
It’s all those run-of-the-mill race days that have industry observers scratching their heads over crowd sizes, betting totals, and a seeming lack of regulatory control from one state to the next. Does it have to be this way?
Apparently, it does. Despite negative press, scores of animal deaths, and sagging wagering overall, it just keeps rolling. Betting on the sport has sagged since 2002, when more than $15 billion was wagered. With the broad acceptance of sports betting in general and new technologies capable of shaking every nickel from your jeans, you’d think these would be the best of times.
But when the athletes in your sport are dying at a murderous clip, something very wrong is going on. Not that the folks at Churchill Downs are accepting responsibility personally, you understand.
“While each incident reported has been unique, it is important to note that there has been no discernible pattern detected in the injuries sustained,” Churchill Downs said in a statement.
No discernible pattern – other than a lot of dead horses.
As Joe Drape observed in The New York Times, “Do the math. Seven horses dead. It doesn’t add up. What does is the data that shows America’s oldest sport is losing its athletes, its revenues, and its fans.”
How bad is the carnage?
More than 7,200 horses died in races between 2009 and 2021 in the United States and Canada, according to the thoroughbred-industry breed registry, the Jockey Club. That includes the notable slaughter in 2019 at Santa Anita, when 30 horses died. Safety reforms followed that even the industry had to pay attention to, but the game has remained basically the same: big animals weighing 1,000 pounds galloping on slender lower legs.
But everyone associated with thoroughbred horseracing knows the numbers. And the billions bet on the races are the numbers that matter most. As long as millions of people still find horseracing worth betting billions on despite its scandals and rampant doping problems, nothing will change.
That, despite all the cries of outrage, is the true nature of the beast.
