Alert! FWST Moralists' Reaction to Eight Belles' Death is Rush to Judgement

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In response to Mr. West's article in the Fort Worth Star Telegram, please write a LTE: letters. Limit your letter to 150 words and include the title and date of the piece, and your name, address, & day time phone number. Thanks. Margaret “Moralists' reaction to Eight Belles' death is rush to judgment” by Gary West Fort Worth Star-Telegram May 6, 2008 http://www.star-telegram.com/808/story/624631.html PETA responded predictably, and rabidly. On Sunday, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals encouraged the irrational

treatment of jockeys. PETA called for the suspension of Gabriel Saez, who was on Eight Belles when she went down after her runner-up finish in the Kentucky Derby.She fractured the ankles of both forelegs and had to be euthanized, inspiring, of course, a cacophonous reaction from the nation's armchair moralists. Not to be outdone in conspicuous indignation, Wayne Pacelle, the president and CEO of The Humane Society, issued a statement Monday denouncing horse racing. He said if the sport does not deal with its problems, then "animal advocates" will no longer give it a "free pass."This rush to blame and these outcries of moral outrage ignore, as usual, the facts of the situation. The armchair moralists ignore the video and the photos that suggest Eight Belles was in no distress immediately following the Kentucky Derby; they ignore the comments of the filly's trainer, Larry Jones, who blamed neither the jockey nor the track condition for the

tragedy.Most of all, though, in somehow blaming an entire sport, the armchair moralists willfully ignore that sport's habitual benevolence. The Grayson-Jockey Club Foundation, for example, annually allocates more than $750,000 in grants ($1.1 million in 2007) for research in veterinarian medicine.The Barbaro Fund, the Equine Research Foundation, the University of Kentucky Equine Research Foundation, The Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit are all dedicated to equine health. And they're largely funded by the owners, trainers and breeders of racehorses.In 2005, Robert Orth of New Orleans bought Lightening Ball for $5,000 with one purpose in mind: to retire the 9-year-old gelding. Lightening Ball, a stakes winner at Lone Star Park in 2000 and a Texas-bred champion, had fallen on hard times and poor performances, and so Orth, who originally had owned him, retired the old horse to the LOPE farm in Cedar Creek near Austin.LOPE

is for ex-racehorses. A few, like Lightening Ball and Wooden Phone, who won the 2001 Strub Stakes, are permanent residents, but most are just passing through, on their way to a new career as a riding horse or a family pet. Since it opened in 2004, 135 ex-racehorses have gone to LOPE."We've had a huge outpouring of support from the horse industry," said Lynn Reardon, the director of LOPE, pointing out that the organization is largely supported by donations from people in horse racing. "We're very pro-racing."Most people in racing are dedicated to horses. That's why they support LOPE and many other farms just like it, why they willingly give to the Grayson Foundation and others and why they're grieving today.Last year, 72,966 Thoroughbreds raced in the United States and Canada. Without racing, not one of those horses ever would have been born.Yes, Eight Belles' death was tragic. But, don't blame horse racing.Gary West, 817-390-7760gwest

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