Patrick Battuello,
Horseracing Wrongs
November 2018
NBC shamelessly presented with all the drama and flair it would bring to any big sporting event egregious animal cruelty for the cameras.
One of the ways horseracing has been able to survive for so long is
masterful marketing–“The Sport of Kings.” But it could not have done so
without complicit media partners: numerous Sports Illustrated covers; ESPN
naming three racehorses to its list of the 20th Century’s greatest athletes;
and in a class by itself, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), which
dutifully covers all of Racing’s high holy days. And so it was last weekend
at Churchill Downs, scene of this year’s Breeders’ Cup.
In the marquee race, the $6 million “Classic,” with NBC shamelessly
presenting with all the drama and flair it would bring to any big sporting
event, egregious animal cruelty was unfolding for the cameras–and hence,
before our very eyes.
Watch the video on YouTube HERE.
In the stretch run, jockey Christophe Soumillon mercilessly whipped 4-year-old Thunder Snow – beat the hell out of him, actually. (Thunder Snow is the #1 horse; Soumillon wears blue.)
THIS is horseracing.