The 8th race at Parx yesterday: “Sapphire Royalty quickly sprinted clear, opened a long lead on the turn, suffered a catastrophic injury near the 5/16 pole and was subsequently euthanized.” She was four years old; ’twas her 18th time under the whip.

This is horseracing.

If we were going by the chart, Palm Reader’s run in the 5th at Delaware Friday was decidedly uneventful: middle of the pack, “lacked a late response.” But. According to the Racing Commission, the 6-year-old mare “fell past the finish and expired on the track.” Dead. Given that such a tragedy befell one of its athletes, the track decided to cancel the rest of the day’s racing and launched a full-scale investigation. No, sorry, that didn’t happen at all. In fact, the carcass was cleared, and the festivities continued.

This is horseracing.

The CHRB reports that Invictatatus, six, suffered a “sudden death” yesterday at Los Alamitos. While no other details were given, we do know Invictatatus had a “timed workout” three days prior. He is the 45th disclosed kill at California tracks this year.