In the aftermath of the devastating on-track demise Saturday of Kentucky Derby runner-up Eight Belles, there are two columns out today that offer interesting perspectives into what may have led to the tragedy and how it was covered as it unfolded.
The New York Times' TV sports columnist Richard Sandomir raises in his piece the question of "how to cover parallel stories of elation and heartbreak: which one takes precedence when an athlete, human or equine, is seriously injured?"
Sandomir interviews NBC producer Sam Flood, who talks about the delicacy of confronting a developing story in which the facts are unclear and the decision not to use graphic video of the suffering horse. Sandomir's piece is both critical and insightful and the issues it raises are surely being discussed today at the sports divisions of all the networks.
Meanwhile, columnist Andrew Beyer in the Washington Post opines Eight Belles was a victim of a disturbing trend in the thoroughbred industry — overbreeding.
"Eight Belles was a tragic manifestation of a problem that is more pronounced every year," Beyer writes. "America's breeding industry is producing increasingly fragile thoroughbreds. They may not break down, but they have shorter and shorter racing careers before going to stud to beget even more fragile offspring."
Beyer says that in the wake of the great Barbaro's breakdown in the 2006 Preakness and now the death of Eight Belles, "Committed racing fans may not want to invest too much emotion in a colt who they know will be here today and gone tomorrow. And the casual racing fans who were repelled by what they saw in the Derby may tune out the Triple Crown altogether."
Comments