If horseracing is a sport, then that word must be redefined, for the competitive racing of horses resembles no other accepted sport on the planet. In what other sport are:

the bodies of adolescent athletes pounded into the ground without remorse?

the athletes kept in intensive, solitary confinement for over 23 hours a day?

the athletes condemned to a life as (literal) chattel?

the athletes drugged and doped without consent?

the athletes whipped – beaten – for motivation?

the athletes routinely dying on the playing field?

the athletes bled-out and butchered upon retirement?

A sport? If not for the gravity involved, ‘twould be absurd. No, horseracing is but exploitation of a weaker species for among the most shameful of reasons – $2 bets. To those who sustain this sordid business, we say: Slake those gambling urges with decidedly inanimate slots and scratch-offs; leave the horses out of it. To those who trade in equines in the pursuit of cash and fleeting glory, we say: Find a commodity that doesn’t bleed; take up a hobby that can’t cry out in pain. Enough. Enough.

Patrick Battuello