A Bad Day for Racing
Today is a black day for horse racing fans. Barbaro is gone. In some ways it's sadder that it happened now because I think we all started to believe he was going to make it. In most other ways, however, these last 8 months have been a blessing. Barbaro got a chance to survive and forge bonds with people who came to love him (and vice versa). He died peacefully, surrounded by thess people, instead of in pain and scared on the track immediately after his injury. For other horses, the attention (and donations to equine care) that Barbaro's plight generated means that they may someday benefit from significant advances in veterinary medicine. For sports fans, Barbaro was a compelling reminder that racehorses are living, breathing creatures, not just numbers on a program.
Of course, some people (and by "people" I mean "asshats") don't see it that way. For those people, the sadness people feel about Barbaro is sick and wrong. Reading the latest on Tim Woolley's site I came across this note from a troll:
All of you shuddering at work, getting cold chills, etc... Rethink your values.Barbaro is a horse... but even more so, he's property. These people didn't keep him alive so he could live a happy life... or by some humanitarian need to save him. They kept the horse alive to gather its sperm to sell. Breeding rights for a horse of his caliber are astoundingly expensive to procure.
Meanwhile, you're all sitting in work in some big shiny office building downtown... and on the streets of your town there are people freezing as they sleep on the pavement. There are schools in your city that have conditions you wouldn't send your most hated rival into on a daily basis. There are wars going on now killing hundreds of people a day. There are significant issues with poverty and hunger worldwide, including again right in your own backyards.
Do you care about any of this? Does that bother you? No, you sleep easily in your beds at night in spite of it. But a horse dies... a horse you've never met, never touched, only seen whipped on TV... and you suddenly care so much you can't function?
Simply terrible.
Posted by: Greg at January 29, 2007 6:25 PM
In other words: "How dare you care about what you care about! Care about what I care about! Waaaa!!!".
People don't love racehorses because of the money they can bring them. Even if Barbaro had survived, it was a longshot that he could breed. At this point, the insurance policy was probably worth more than the horse.
People loved Barbaro (and other racehorses like Secretariat or Ruffian or Seattle Slew) because he was perfect. Great racehorses are as close to perfection as nature gets. They're beautiful and fast and wild and every other adjective that sets your heart afire.
There's nothing wrong with caring about a horse. Don't let the asshats of the world tell you anything different.
Posted by kris at January 29, 2007 01:07 PM
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Comments
| # January 29th, 2007 1:52 PM Laura |
| This is sad - I thought of you when I heard it because even though I know little about racing, your writing has always made it interesting and memorable.
I followed the link, and I will admit to being perplexed by a lot of those posters. Particularly the ones who addressed Barbaro directly before they knew he had been put down. However, that doesn't make Greg less of an asshat. |
| # January 29th, 2007 5:28 PM Laura |
| Just to clarify this because it sounds ridiculous - "Particularly the ones who addressed Barbaro directly before they knew he had been put down." I should have been more clear.
For those who believe in heaven, there's a theological case to be made that dead pets may go there. Randy Alcorn, in the book "Heaven" has a good explanation of it. So if you believe this kind of thing, you could conclude that Barbaro, being in heaven, is in a position to know what's being said to/about him. But before they knew he died, quite a few people were writing directly to him, and it made me think they were very odd. |
| # February 1st, 2007 10:50 PM Yolo_Cowboy |
| Obviously Gregg knows little about Thoroughbred horses. The Jokey Club does not allow Thoroughbred horses to breed through artificial insemination, the stallions have to 'live cover' that is, actually breed the mares to produce a foal.
I am sure the Roy and Gretchen Jackson wanted to keep Barbaro alive to breed, but they did have him insured for millions, so if was about the money they would have been several hundreds of thousand dollars better off if they just put him down after the Belmont. We own and raise Thoroughbreds, we own the mares, pick the stallions, deliver the foals at 3:00 am and love and care for them from their first breath to the day they hit the track. Anyone doing this for the money is crazy. You better love it, and we do. I care about the folks sleeping in the streets,I do. I volunteer, I give, I pray, can you at least let me care about a horse too? I am not touching the theological implications of Barbaro going to heaven. I am not qualified. |
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