Horse Racing Begins Reform, but Legal Drugs Are Still an Issue

Horse Racing Begins Reform, but Legal Drugs Are Still an IssueA succession of fatal breakdowns at tracks in New York, CaliforniaFlexible TubandArtificial pumpkinelsewhere have renewed concerns about the well-being of horses and whether any reform. can remove the perils inherent in a sport in which 1,200-pound animals run full throttle in traffic on spindly legs.

At Aqueduct this month, the filly Private Details broke her left front leg during a race, causing a five-horse pileup. Private Details was euthanized. “It’s very easy for people to get whipped up when they see a severe accident like they did,” said Paul J. Campo, the vice president and director of racing for the New York Racing Association. “But only one horse was euthanized that day.”

A day later at Aqueduct, Sigh You broke his left front leg and fell at the top of stretch and had to be euthanized on the track. On March 7, Military Major broke his left front leg on the track, was vanned off, and euthanized.

Since January, there have been seven horse deaths at Aqueduct.Artificial pumpkinSince Nov. 14, 12 horses have been euthanized there, and another horse died of a heart attack.

The story of breakdowns goes beyond one race and one track. At Santa Anita, on a synthetic racing surface, seven horses have died since late December.

Nancy Heitzeg, a professor at St. Catherine’s University in Minnesota, has attempted to track all horse racing fatalities in the United States. She calculated that there had been approximately three breakdowns a day nationwide since last year’s Kentucky Derby.

The answers to why are elusive and involve everything from what a horse has on its feet, to how intensely it is trained, to what medication it might be on,Flexible Tubto the racing surface under hoof. AlthoughArtificial pumpkinmany tracks have installed synthetic tracks, Aqueduct uses dirt.