If Big Brown follows up his big win in the Derby with a similar triumph in the Preakness, you’re going to start seeing stories about how a Triple Crown can “save” horse racing. Horse racing can only be saved by one thing – and it’s not a Triple Crown winner, more TV coverage, lower takeouts, concerts at the track or splashy ad campaigns. Nope, the stewards of the sport need to remember that it’s all about the horse, stupid.

After Big Brown’s win, casual fans may have wondered how he’d fare against recent Triple Crown race winners. Imagine the hype and ratings a race with Barbaro, Bernardini, Jazil, Street Sense, Curlin, Rags To Riches and Big Brown would get. It’d be awesome! Unfortunately, we’ll never see it because of those last six Triple Crown race winners, 4 are already retired, 1 is dead and 1 is Curlin, who Big Brown will almost certainly never run against because Big Brown’s bad feet won’t hold up past the Belmont.

How can people get attached to a sport when its biggest stars shine so briefly on the stage? They can’t. So instead racing tries to make stars of jockeys and trainers. It’d be like if NASCAR highlighted crew chiefs or golf focused on caddies. Owners and breeders need to look past short term profits and instead think about the long term effects of their actions on the sport. Sure, big stud fees are nice now, but they’ll collapse along with the rest of the sport eventually.

Of course, retirement is the best option for the horse. Better that than a breakdown. Imagine the 10-year old potential fan watching yesterday’s Derby and seeing poor Eight Belles lying dead on the track. Welcome to horse racing, honey!

The sport needs to do whatever is necessary to prevent injuries. Artificial surfaces are a start, but they are not the only option. Racing needs to eliminate drugs too. Drugs invite cheating (Big Brown’s trainer, for example, gets suspended just about every year for a drug violation) and they also perpetuate problems within the breed. Horses that would otherwise be nothing might be stars on (legal or illegal) drugs. These “stars” are sent to stud and pass their problems on to their offspring. Instead of breeding fast, sound and strong horses, we’re breeding too many fast and fragile animals. These poor animals break down or run in far too few races to ever make an impression with the public.

I love racing, but I’m almost through with it. Yesterday’s Kentucky Derby was a tragedy for the sport. The problem is that I don’t think they see it that way. If racing is blind to its own problems, they’re never going to get fixed.