What Barbaro Started

The Louisville Courier Journal ran an excellent series last week called Tragedy on the Track in which they examined all of the current issues in racing including drug use, over breeding, track surfaces and genetics. There were many well researched articles on many, many subjects and while every one seems to have their own reason for the tragic breakdowns in the sport, the answer seems clear that there are multiple reasons for the weakening of the breed.

What is also clear is that Barbaro began the campaign to search for answers and Eight Belles quickened the pace. And while the newspaper finds it "ironic" that these horses died from "injuries so rare that even veteran trainers and veterinarians found both incidents almost unprecedented," the fact remains that they injured themselves on national television. And it is hard to run from the glare of the celebrity spotlight.

These two horses capitalized on the phenomenon of the celebrity illness narrative to galvanize public attention for their sport. Think of what Michael J. Fox does for Parkinson's disease or even Ted Kennedy's current battle with brain cancer. There is nothing like celebrity illness to raise awareness and funds for medical research.

And because horses can't talk, and are seen by many as "innocents," their plights becomes even more compelling. Frankly, I do not think that we would be talking about all these issues, which have been around in racing for years, if it hadn't been for Barbaro.

I'm meeting today with my advisor to discuss this very topic so stay tuned. It promises to be a fascinating ride.