Opinion of Horse Racing? (First Triple Crown Winner in 37 Years!)

[DemPGH]

I enjoy horse racing and find it very exciting, so FS.

Having won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, American Pharaoh is yet another horse to have a chance to win the triple crown in a few weeks at Belmont. Winning the triple crown is an incredibly difficult feat to achieve since the tracks are different and there are always fresh horses competing.

The last horse to do it was Affirmed in 1978. Only eleven horses have done it since 1919. Three horses won in the '70s, actually, which was quite an accomplishment: They were Secretariat ('73), Seattle Slew ('77), and Affirmed ('78). A number of horses since have won the first two races, but could not clinch at Belmont (the third and very difficult track). Real Quiet ('98), Big Brown ('08), and California Chrome ('14) all come to mind.

[TDAS04]

FS, fun to watch. 

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Not a huge fan of gambling, and I'm very suspicious of some of these horse breeders.

[DemPGH]

American Pharaoh is the first horse since the year I was born to win the Triple Crown, and only the twelfth horse since 1919 to do so!!! Haven't been this pumped since the Super Bowl.

http://espn.go.com/horse-racing/story/_/id/13025872/american-pharoah-wins-belmont-stakes-claims-triple-crown

1. American Football
2. Horse Racing

[Ebowed]

Should be illegal.

Due to recent greyhound racing controversies in Australia, horse racing has been under scrutiny as well.  What we are finding is that horses can feel pain, that the new "safer" whips used by trainers hurt them, that hurting the horses is a normal part of training them, and that horses have begun to test positive for methamphetamine in recent months.  We also know what happens to the horses bred for these purposes who can't perform quickly enough, and we know what happens to the horses when they are done racing.  They no longer present an opportunity for profit, and they are discarded.

It really comes down to a question of whether your enjoyment of a traditional sport outweighs the systematic abuse of horses.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I'm a fan

[RFayette]

FS for sure, and very happy we got a triple crown winner today.

Hopefully the animal rights fanatics won't get to ever take the fun away from us.

[Хahar 🤔]

Personally I prefer sports where the participants are willing, but to each their own.