Newsday

Synthetic tracks are reducing horse fatalities

Just as eight bells would signal, in maritime tradition, the end of one watch and the beginning of another, so did Eight Belles render a clarion call for fresh attention to safety in thoroughbred racing. From the poor filly's front ankles fracturing to the sport's critics' knees jerking, it was not so much a light-bulb moment as a sucker punch. One instant, Eight Belles was the Kentucky Derby runner-up; the next, she was being humanely destroyed on national television. (11/05) More