HORSE-RACING AUTHOR: "SPORT" IS ON ITS LAST LEGS

I only came across this now, after the result at the Belmont, which adds a layer of irony. According to the tagline, Nan Mooney is "author of 'My Racing Heart: The Passionate World of Thoroughbreds and the Racetrack' and has written for The Blood-Horse, the journal of record for thoroughbred horse racing." So when this author says horse racing is "hanging on by its fingernails," it's worth noting.

Even better, though, is this line: "Sure, the gambling end of things is supposed to be risky, but racing cannot afford for the lay public to become too awash in cynicism." Heh. Yeah, the gambling end of things sure was risky for all of those who put down large sums of money at 2 to 5 only to watch in despair as the favorite came in dead last. And yeah, I think that, more than events like the killing of Eight Belles, might have an impact on public cynicism.

The only question is, when horse racing aficionados themselves put out pieces trumpeting the fact that horse racing is "on its last legs," who will have the nerve to take the poor hobbled industry out back and shoot it?