Maggie's Farm

Horse Racing, as a popular spectator sport, has had its issues. They create more by hurting potential Triple Crown winners from competing for reasons like a nasal strip.

For years, Lasix was an issue at many tracks, but now it is commonly accepted.

The sport is rough enough on the horses. The Triple Crown is, in fact, an anachronism. Its schedule was laid out back in the days when horses were run much more frequently. Today, a four to six week layoff is more common to allow the horses time to recover from the rigors of their race.

In fact, were Cali Chrome to compete with the strips, he'd face a hard enough field as several top six finishers from the Derby skipped the Preakness in order to get 5 weeks of rest and take on the Belmont, the longest of the Triple Crown events. The strips, for all intents and purposes, simply even the odds of competing in this particular case.

Having owned several horses over the years, and still an adjunct partner in a stable, it's always interesting for me to watch the management process of the horses during this stretch of racing. There are reasons why we haven't had a Triple Crown winner since 1978, and most have to do with the improvements in horse training and management.

The Cali Chrome guys caught lightning in a bottle and it would be a shame to see their chance to grab a major victory because a few stewards are sticklers for some outdated rules.

Of course, I'm still a believer that Cali Chrome's success is more indicative of a mediocre field than a great horse. I would only be swayed if he does somehow manage to win the Triple Crown.

This view is, naturally, biased due to the fact he ruined my tickets at the Derby and the Preakness.

I suppose it may have been true at some point. Horses began running very young as recently as 30 years ago, and their ankles are TINY.

I have been involved with a stable for about 15 years now and haven't heard of anything bad happening in early training at mine or any other stable we've associated with. Doesn't mean it doesn't or can't happen. A broken leg is still one of the most common t-bred injuries.

I work and live with people who talk about 'our toxic lifestyle' over and over. My wife is susceptible to the talk, merely because she admits she isn't aware of everything going on with our pesticides, cleansers, etc. She is all for reducing our reliance on beneficial products she is 'unsure' about.

I keep reminding her two things:
1. The average American lives a longer and healthier lifestyle than they did 100 years ago.
2. These companies, if they killed people, would be out of business pretty quickly because killing consumers is the surest way to bankruptcy through loss of sales or lawsuits - take your pick.

I eat GMOs, though she tends to avoid them. I don't care, I care about what I'm paying. I care that there are still malnourished and starving people in the world. Lower costs mean more capability to feed the poor.

The idea that 'we're poisoning ourselves' isn't meaningful to me.
The dosage is everything.

People who believe the mainstream consumer lifestyle is somehow toxic are simply scared because they want to place blame, not solve a problem.

I know 3 people who have lung cancer. None smoked or were exposed to second hand smoke (which is questionable as a cause anyway). If they were nutty enough, they'd seek to find what 'caused' their lung cancer. Except sometimes there is no 'cause', it just happens.

The idea that we can find the 'causes' for these things, eliminate them, and produce a happier, healthier life for all is rather humorous to me. We live in a world of uncertainty. Once we eliminate these 'causes', certainly new ones will appear.