Cruelty is....Bill Lankhoff, Toronto Sun
Excerpt from TORONTO SUN, Wednesday May 24, 2006, column - The Last Word by Bill Lankhoff
If there is a crueller sport than horse racing it is not clearly evident.
Exhibit A: One minute Barbaro is in Triple Crown heaven. The next, he could be in a can of Alpo.
The agony and ecstasy of sport doesn't get any starker
This is a guy who could be attending the Queen's Plate week festivites at Woodbine (free food and gifts) next month and perhaps he has has before.
If there is a crueller sport than horse racing it is not clearly evident.
Exhibit A: One minute Barbaro is in Triple Crown heaven. The next, he could be in a can of Alpo.
The agony and ecstasy of sport doesn't get any starker
This is a guy who could be attending the Queen's Plate week festivites at Woodbine (free food and gifts) next month and perhaps he has has before.
posted by Jen Morrison @ 5:10 PM
3 Comments:
At 3:55 PM,
Anonymous said…
So to cover the Queen's Plate as a member of the media one must only say nice things about the race? Like turn your head when something gruesome happens? Or when a horse with no published works makes a mockery of the race by romping to a win. Lankhoff (sic) may have been a little (okay a lot) harsh, but that shouldn't keep him from covering a race that people beyond the Woodbine backstretch once cared about.
At 3:15 PM,
Anonymous said…
You have to take into account the writer and publication. Perhaps best to analyze in same terms: One minute he's writing for the Sun; the next he could be writing for the National Enquirer.
Hey Jennifer, I'm a huge racing fan (ok, that's exaggerating, I'm about the right weight for someone 2" taller than me). Just wondering, are you married? Love your picks - keep giving Bannon lessons!
At 10:18 PM,
Anonymous said…
Ouch...
First, I don't think racing is cruel, cruelty is deliberate and accidents can be viewed at cruel, however they are accidents and not intended.
What happend to Barbaro was a sad moment in racing, and I don't believe that there are a group of people who are saddend more than the people who work on racetracks with horses everyday.
To even say dog food in the same sentence as Barbaro is cruelty, when you consider the fight that is being faught by Barbaro and a team of people everyday to ensure a successful recovery.
Until someone has experienced what goes on everyday behind the scences, the lengths that people go to, to keep horses happy and sound they have not right to comment on what type of sport racing is.
Find me a sport that is not dangerous, where accidents don't occur and where their is no risk of injury to the athlete...when a racecar drivers is paralyzed or dies on a course, is it cruelty?
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