Since arriving in Dubai, I have encountered a lot of people who want to chat with me, or learn more about the reaction in America to the New York Times story last Friday about horse retirement. Over the course of the past 10 years, I have thought a lot about, and given a lot of time to this issue, specifically to raise money for the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, the charity that was called into question in the article. I have given my time because I think their work is necessary. I think that their prison programs have been an incredibly compelling story, and have been very good news for the racing industry. Not only has it created good feelings about thoroughbred racing, but it has been a model of what good racing can do, particularly when the sport is under attack. I have always felt that these programs separated them from the pack of other rescue organizations--all of which do good and important work. Additionally, my publishing partner, Sue Finley, served on the board for 12 years, and I knew it was important to her and I wanted to support her.
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| TRF Retiree The Optimist, (c) trfinc.org |
Over the past week, the issue has gone from something that it was nice to participate in as individuals, to something we need to do something about as a sport.
If we don't, I believe our entire industry is in jeopardy. I don't think we can trust that the positive attributes of Thoroughbred racing (whatever that means to each of us as individuals) will always be able to overcome the question that will be posed to our most prominent participants as they head for the Derby, run in the Breeders' Cup or maybe accept an Emmy. That question is: "Hey, you love Thoroughbred racing. Why does the industry allow its participants to be killed?"
In today's world of instant communication, I don't think we have the ability of controlling the message without solving the problem.
It has now become a mandatory thing if we want to stay in business.
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Barry Weisbord
