If you aren't appalled by this headline, then you aren't paying attention. According to recent news reports, thousands of horses are being injured on the racetracks of America and have had to be euthanized in the last five years.

In my last horse racing article, Horse Racing: A Truly Green Sport, I questioned how this could continue to happen.

In this article I wrote,” A racing horse is truly an awesome and inspiring creature. They are massive beasts of both beauty and grace. Their large bodies effortlessly carried by four slim legs. But the legs of these magnificent beasts are most vulnerable. We witnessed this year at the Kentucky Derby, that the limbs of a race horse can be very fragile.”

One of the current racing investigations is supposedly centered on how a race horse is bred for speed and the bones in its legs are therefore more fragile. Fragile bones break and a horse with a broken bone have to be euthanized, as keeping it lying down for treatment impounds the problem. For if a horse lies down for too long they can get a condition called “laminitis” which is a hoof infection from inadequate blood flow in the

injured leg. The race horse Barbero had this condition and he eventually had to be euthanized in spite of the efforts made to rehabilitate him.

We all know that horse racing is a sport dominated by the very rich in our society. How many people out there can afford to even own a race horse? You may sit with your beach

chair in the infield to watch the race, but face it, you are not going to make the money off the ponies in the quantities that the owners do. You can stretch out in the cheap seats

and allow the booze to numb your senses but you are not even close to being in the winner's circle.

In my last article, “Horse Racing: A Truly Green Sport” I pointed out many of the concerns that are just now coming to light in the media and are finally gaining attention. The article was and still is my opinion. Interestingly enough, I was continually insulted by a “so called” horse racing fan when my piece was originally published. This cyber bully's goal was nothing but a coward's attempt to intimidate me and silence my voice on the inhuman aspects of horse racing. Have other voices been silenced?

What about the supposed “investigation” into horse racing after Eight Belles was euthanized at the Kentucky Derby? Did someone silence that too and now suddenly again it appears in the media after the loss of Big Brown last week at Belmont?

The Jockey Panel even got into the investigation act and surprise, surprise isn't revealing

much. The owners after all do sign the jockey's paycheck. What power do the jockeys even have? Isn't the money involved intimidation enough?

How about steroid use in race horses? We all know it enhances the feats of human athletes. Did it help Big Brown to win the Derby and the Preakness? Did it hinder Big Brown at the Belmont going without it?

One major reason why previous investigations never materialized with much more than a slap of a crop was due to the fact that horse racing is big business and makes a lot of money.

Sure other major sporting events make millions of dollars too like the World Series and the Super Bowl. The only difference is that no creature is being euthanized, nor would it be accepted as a normal part of the sport.

. Can you imagine the uproar and protests if any other professional sport allowed its players to be euthanized? Wouldn't it create more controversy than the “wardrobe malfunction” at the Super Bowl a few years ago?

Back then, Janet Jackson was exposed in her womanly form and the outcry was immense. No one was killed and yet it was worse somehow, we all viewed a female breast live at Super Bowl halftime!

Yet just last month, we witnessed Eight Belles being euthanized on the track at the Kentucky Derby and did anyone even bat an eyelash?

What kind of “investigation” is exactly being conducted here anyway? Will the findings be swept under the rug, go away for a while and then business will be conducted as usual? How long before this story too disappears from the headlines?

If you aren't disgusted and outraged by the now routine slaughter of these 5,000

magnificent racing horses in the last five years, then either you aren't paying attention or the sun and beer is permeating your brain as your lounge in your infield beach chair holding your bloodied ticket stub in your sunburned hand.