A horse race is a process that pits several well-known candidates for a company’s top job against each other in an overt contest. The candidate who emerges victorious becomes the company’s next chief executive officer. Some board members and governance observers find the approach to be highly effective, arguing that it creates the best environment for an open dialogue about leadership skills, strengths and weaknesses, and long-term business vision.
At Santa Anita, the managers and officials of one of the world’s leading thoroughbred racing venues were obsessed with making the event run smoothly. They flooded the racetrack with veterinarians and expensive imaging equipment, screened the horses for preexisting conditions, and injected them daily with Lasix, a diuretic that causes them to excrete epic amounts of urine-twenty or thirty pounds worth at a time.
In the backstretch, the horses moved in pinkish light with huge strides and hypnotic smoothness. On the inside, War of Will hugged the rail while McKinzie and Mongolian Groom ran on the outside. Ahead of them, Vino Rosso surged on the far turn to take a lead on the outside.
For centuries, horse racing has been rife with controversy and cheating. The Romans, according to historian A. J. Higgins, used a chemical compound called hydromel to increase the endurance of their racing horses; the British were famous for hanging stable lads who used cocaine to give their horses an edge on the track.
The modern-day sport has seen a series of scandals that have shook public confidence. The sport’s biggest problem is that it is not safe for horses. Despite the fact that racing has taken some commendable steps to make itself safer, the reality is that it kills a lot of horses.
The only honorable course of action is for the industry to acknowledge the truth. Racing needs a complete, profound ideological reckoning at the macro business and industry level that prioritizes the health and well-being of horses, including caps on the number of races each horse can run and its age when it retires. It would also involve major changes to breeding, training and aftercare, bringing the sport closer in line with Europe and other venues in terms of basic horse welfare standards. It may not save the sport, but it could help it survive. Then, maybe the next generation will have a chance to watch the sexiest and most beautiful horse race in the world. Until then, the bloody legacy of horse racing will continue to poison the lungs and hearts of innocent animals. —By Diane F. Evartt, a professor at George Mason University and the author of “The New York Times” bestseller “How the Other Half Lives: Inside America’s Most Exclusive Country Clubs.” Follow her on Twitter.