George Washington's Legacy - Will Tragedy Lead to Change in The Breeder's Cup?

The first time I saw George Washington up close at this year's Breeder's Cup, I was taken by the fact what an extraordinarily handsome individual he was.  As he walked out to the track, confident, calmly surveying his surroundings, the four year old son of Danehill looked every inch the race horse.  He had a certain air about him - he was good, damn good, and he knew it.  It was easy to see why he was the darling of the European turf crowd, christened as "Gorgeous George" by the by the press, and loved by the fans, his popularity was probably on the lines, of say, Smarty Jones. 

George Washington being lead by Pat Keating in The Classic

Fifteen minutes later, he would be dead. George Washington broke down 100 yards from the finish, in the mud of Monmouth. It was tragic to see him standing calmly, ears pricked forward, waiting patiently for his handlers to help him and his hopelessly broken leg.  It was heartbreaking to see the look of pain and sadness on the faces of his connections as they helped him the only way they knew how, by humanely euthanizing him.  It was the saddest event I had witnessed to date photographing horse racing.

Over the course of the next several days, many articles appeared in European publications criticizing the racing conditions, as if somehow it was Monmouth's fault for the heaven's opening up, inferring that George might have survived his injuries if the race was not run on a dirt track in horrendously sloppy conditions. The Irish trainer, Jim Bolger (Alexander Goldrun was one of his charges) stated the following in an interview with the Racing Post (UK): "George Washington's legacy, apart from being a very exciting champion, will be that from now on Breeder's Cup will only be run on Polytrack.  The sooner they're all Polytrack and they cut the drugs, it will be better competition. If they had Polytrack and turf tracks without the drugs, it would sort the men from the boys."

Let's take on the point of drug use.  European racing, and racing in most of the rest of the worlld, is done with a ban on race day medications - they run drug-free.  The U.S. allows race day meds, mostly lasix (anit-bleeding) and butazolidin, or bute (pain killer/anit-inflammatory).  This is one of the main distinctions between American racing and European and Asian racing.  It is also something I agree with.  There should be no race day medication allowed - period.  I believe penalties should be harsh, even for first time offenders.  Repeat offenders should be banned for life.  Put us in line with the global racing communities, and it will make for better competition. But to chastise the U.S. when all but three European-based horses, Passage of Time (GB), Timarwa (IRE) and Jeremy, were using lasix, including George Washington, was a bit self serving.  The pervasive attitude of "when in Rome, do as the Romans..." has the smell of hypocricy to me. Don't wag your finger at us and lecture us on how bad we are, while you are doing the same in our races.  Lead by example, and show what your drug-free horses can do - we might actually listen.

Regarding the issue of synthetic services, I find it interesting that it is the Europeans clamoring for all future Breeder's Cup races to be held at tracks with synthetic surfaces - Polytrack, Cushion Track and Tapeta - instead of the traditional dirt track. I say interesting because racing in Europe is primarily conducted on turf, while America has a strong tradition of dirt racing, as seen by our biggest race, The Kentucky Derby. Our richest race, the Breeder's Cup Classic, is at a 1 1/4 miles on the dirt. We love our dirt racing, and there are still some who consider racing on the grass slightly alien.

The conversion to synthetic surfaces at America's tracks is slow to take hold - only a handful of North American tracks have made the switch.  Change comes slowly in racing, and it is hard to overcome tradition.  But the change can be a good thing.  Polytack and other synthetic surfaces are more forgiving, having more spring to them than dirt.  Horses take less of a pounding on Polytrack, and if that causes less catastophic breakdowns to occur, then it is worth the switch for the horses' sakes.