Good news, bad news.

Travieso is home! He was away at the trainer for what seemed like forever. He raced and won! It's really all the same. I'm happy he is back in one piece. And he looks amazing!

Only right after Travieso's race a filly named "Eight Bells" ran her last race at the Kentucky derby. She came in second, not far behind "Big Brown" and a few strides after passing the finish line collapsed with two broken front ankles. A condylar fracture on the left front broke through the skin. Eight Bells was euthanized immediately.

Why, why, why do we keep letting people torture these beautiful animals at their young age, when their bones aren't nearly developed enough to endure such stress they are forced to undergo. Racing horses is NOT a sport! It is an inhumane act of animal cruelty for the benefit of crude, selfish people and their millions of dollars invested in betting.
In the "New York Times" Mr. Jones, the trainer of Eight Bells quoted: "These things are our family" (Things!?? Does he call his children things too?)

From the New York Times by William C. Rhoden: "Why do we refuse to put the brutal game of racing in the realm of mistreatment of animals? At what point do we at least race the question about the efficacy of thousand pound horses racing at full throttle on spindly legs?
Horsemen like to talk about their thoroughbreds and how they were born to run and live to run. The reality is that they are made to run, forced to run for profits they never see. Thoroughbred racing is a brutal sport. Why do we keep giving it a pass?"

I don't have much to add to that, except, that these ongoing tragedies at the race tracks don't seem to face some people. Most who like the racing are more interested in the money and fame, than what's good for the horse. To them horses are but object, that get hurt sometimes. It's as simple as that. No remorse. And it's because of those kind of people, that the so called "sport" continues to put the horses lives at risk. And it's because of that, that Travieso is not staying home for long. Soon he is to go back to the trainer and race again. :(
In memory of Eight Bells.