Protest at the Belmont Stakes! June 9, 2008

Posted by Ryan at June 9, 2008 1:36 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 7 ) | TrackBack

As many of you may have seen on the news, this past weekend was the Belmont Stakes horse race in New York.

There was a lot of discussion before the race about the fact that Big Brown (a horse who was expected to "win" the race) had a quarter hoof split, and was being forced to run anyways. Oftentimes this is where trainers resort to drugging the animals, to mask the pain horses suffer in these competitions. As anybody who looked outside the track realized though... a lot of people weren't too pleased with this kind of abuse.

Photo Credit: Jason Allen Photography

So guess what happened? Big Brown's jockey did the right thing and let him run the way a horse normally would, including becoming tired mid-race. But rather than beating him or pumping him full of steroids (as is usually the case), he sensed that Big Brown didn't have it in him, and he let the "race" end naturally (with Big Brown coming in dead last).

I firmly believe that the day will come when racing these animals will be viewed in the same way we currently see gladiator matches, or any other spectator blood "sports" involving unwilling participants, and this is a HUGE shift in the right direction.

Things are changing, folks. When a multi-million dollar industry like horse racing is faced with thousands of calls and emails from concerned citizens, they have no choice but to change their evil ways.

- Ryan!