BARBARO, the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner, answered the starting bell at the Preakness Stakes, moments before jockey Edgar Prado pulled him up with a broken hind leg. Eight months later, he would die of the complications from that injury.
Nothing has changed since the death of Barbaro and the tragic Eight Belles.
More horses are killed on racetracks around the US than ever. Two year olds break down in training. They die before ever running a race.
You can’t hold your breath forever, Santa Anita. While things have been quiet on the death front there, it was only a matter of time before the killing resumed. Today, Commander Coil, three years old and being prepped for his first race, “broke down” during morning training, and, says the Los Angeles Times, was euthanized. He becomes the 29th dead racehorse at Santa Anita since December 30.
Who will die today?
In memory of the dead and soon to die at the hands of American horse racing.
Tuesday's Horse 
The Barbaro story made me sad and sick. Greed! He was a stallion but how on earth did they think they could ever breed him when with TBs it is live cover. It broke my heart. I was actually relieved when finally, they let him go.
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We heard so many strange stories regarding the insurance. That once they tried to save him they had to exhaust every effort to satisfy the insurance company. Amputation and a prosthetic was suggested. You name it. It was horrendous. It was a nightmare for that wonderful horse. In the old days they would have put up a screen and euthanized him on the track. Heartbreaking. Tragic.
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I can believe the insurance stories. I had a horse that foundered badly and was in a lot of pain and he could not take pain killers because he had stomach ulcers that were resistant to the omeprazole. My insurance said I had to try therapeutic shoeing. My vet told me he has had to go to the track to euthanize horses who are on the floor groaning in pain and he has been called in as a second opinion because the insurance company required it. I has him put my horse down and I did not claim any insurance. So the stories are likely to be true about Barbaro.
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The only thing that has changed is the addition of more drugs both legal and illegal and the use of extra corporeal shock wave treatment which are performance enhancers or allow injured horses to not feel their pain thus bypassing the pre-race veterinary exams which were a sham anyway. Racing gallops on making money from the backs and broken legs of these poor, trusting horses. End it now or tell us, please, whoever supports horse racing: How many deaths a year are acceptable to you?
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When we heard about it being administered to I’ll Have Another, Jane researched it and the first one to write about it’s numbing properties. Anyone interested can read it at the link below. She did a stellar job as always.
https://tuesdayshorse.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/ill-have-another-shock-wave-therapy-treatment-please/
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