Andrew Beyer, The Washington Post’s horseracing writer, seems to have it in pretty good perspective. In the old days of the sport, he wrote, horse owners bred the animals that they then raced themselves, often for several years. They had an interest in breeding animals that weren’t going to break down.

Now, he wrote, breeding syndicates pay millions of dollars for the top sires and dams, then sell the offspring at auction. They have no long-term interest in animals they no longer own. And because of all the money to be made by breeding horses to be ever more fragile, they’re not looking to the future of the sport.

They do care that the horses are fast. Just as in a race car, the lighter you can make the frame, the quicker it will be. Over the years, thoroughbreds have gotten increasingly fragile as the breeders select for horses with less robust but lighter bone structure.

They don’t have to last long. Horses have such short careers — Big Brown probably won’t run even 10 races before frolicking off to an idyllic life at stud. It’s the equivalent of humans retiring in their late teens or early 20s. Potential race fans will watch the horse for this one year then never hear of it again. And whatever genetic defects it has will be passed on to its offspring, because it won’t race long enough to expose them to the long-term effects.

It’s a gravy train for some and an important industry for many. And it can be killed by greed and shortsightedness.

It’s incumbent on the industry to look into its breeding practices and to sponsor research into ways to detect potentially fatal flaws in horses. If synthetic tracks are shown to be safer, they should be mandated everywhere. It wouldn’t hurt to take the whips out of the jockeys hands; let the horses run as fast as they want to without being flogged into a higher gear.

There is much beauty in a horse race. Even as a non-fan, I can see that every year when I gather with the rest of the nation to watch the big three races. It’s primal and powerful and it touches something deep inside. Even without a betting interest, anyone should be able to see that.

There are three ways this can go: a ban, loss of audience or a fix. If I had an interest in the industry, I know which one I'd choose.

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