Tym Glaser, Associate Editor - Sports

THERE'S NOTHING quite as exciting in all of sport as a good horse race.

Wagers aside, it's a high-speed battle of man and beast against man and beast and an adrenaline rush for a few minutes which no sport can match.

I've been fortunate enough to attend Australia's biggest spring races - the Melbourne and Caulfield Cups and the Cox Plate and, in another life, live within a furlong of Happy Valley in Hong Kong and regularly visit Sha Tin in my hallowed role as a tipster known as 'The Professor'.

Hang up the binoculars

'The Prof' had one good year, one bad year and decided to hang up the binoculars about all square.

Still, I don't mind having a flutter on the gee-gees every now and then (although the odds at Caymanas are prohibitively short).

Anyway, last Saturday, like any good punter, I tuned in to watch the world's premier horse race, the Kentucky Derby. I was particularly interested in how Jamaican jockey Shaun Bridgmohan would fare on his mount, Pyro. As it turned out; not so good. As they say, some of the best bets are the ones you don't make. Sure saved myself a few 'Nannys' there.

Set tongues wagging

Apart from Pyro's non-appearance until the race was over, hot favourite Big Brown overcame his outside draw to street the field and set tongues wagging about the Triple Crown.

However, sadly, that wasn't the main point of conversation after the great race, as Big Brown's emphatic victory was overshadowed by runner-up Eight Belles, the game filly who broke both front ankles soon after passing the finishing post and had to be put down.

There are few sadder sights in sport than a crippled racehorse and Eight Belle's death only a couple of years after the Barbaro tragedy at the Preakness fired up the anti-racing factions, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Covers all strata

PETA's ultimate goal is the banning of all racing - horses, trotters, dogs, goats, frogs, etc., which is as far-fetched as it is unrealistic. Still, on some levels, particularly in the United States, the naysayers' (or 'neighsayers') concerns are valid.

Racing is a huge, huge industry which covers all strata of society from wealthy owners like kings, queens and sheikhs to your Average Joe punter who wants to put some loose change down on "horse four, race one".

Forgotten, oftentimes, are the not-so-occasional casualties of this moneyfest. According to some figures, in the US, there are 1.5 horse 'breakdowns' per every 1,000 starts. That doesn't seem much until you work it out to about two a day across that race-loving land.

If that were two jockeys 'breaking down' a day, do you think the industry would still be galloping along?

Blame up north has been apportioned between two key factors: breeding and drugs.

'Champagne glass' ankles

Some critics claim there is too much in-breeding in the US, creating horses with the same physical problems which are exacerbated in sprint races where about 1,500 pounds of horseflesh, plus jockey, crash down on 'champagne glass' ankles each stride.

Others point to the rampant use of performance-enhancing drugs and medications (which in the US can be administered on race days) which make the animals perform far beyond their natural capabilities.

Whatever the reason or reasons, it's time for the worldwide racing industry to take stock and try to better protect the most important part of the whole industry - the horses.

Later …

Feedback: tym.glaser@gleanerjm.com