via Bing because I was curious if there had been a triple crown winner since the legalization of raceday medications. I'm curious to know if anyone had heard of this writer and his work. Is he a fan of the game, an old timer that has knowledge of the sport or someone just taking an assignment and meeting a deadline? Still, an interesting read.

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2008 ... acingmay11

Horses have less experience, more breakdowns
Medication among factors that have brought changes
By Neil Milbert
May 11, 2008

In one respect, less has become more during the 30 years since Affirmedbecame the last of racing’s 11 Triple Crown winners, with Alydar battling himevery step of the way.
When Kentucky Derby winner Affirmed and runner-up Alydar renewed theirrivalry in the 1978 Preakness, it was their sixth meeting.
When undefeated Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown is introduced to unbeatenHarlem Rocker in Saturday’s Preakness, their combined racing experience willtotal seven starts.
The Preakness was the 16th start for Alydar and the 15th for Affirmed.
Their workloads were only slightly lighter than that of Citation, whobecame the eighth Triple Crown winner 30 years earlier. The Preakness wasCitation’s 18th race.
The most experienced of the 20 horses in the Kentucky Derby, with 10starts, was runner-up Eight Belles, who had to be euthanized after breakingboth ankles during the postrace gallop.
The filly’s death brought the hazards inherent in thoroughbred racing backinto sharp focus. According to the sport’s critics, approximately 800 horsesannually lose their lives while competing.
Though horses are racing less, especially at the highest level, they havebecome much more fragile during the last 30 years.
Fatalities are more prevalent in the United States than in Europe, but alook at the big picture puts the casualties in perspective. There currentlyare 30 U.S. tracks conducting meetings.
The bottom line is that roughly 7,500 horses are competing in approximately1,300 races weekly seven months a year, and roughly two-thirds of that numberare competing the other five months.
Global and domestic economics and the enormous financial stake that thestates, track owners, horse owners and breeders have in the sport all are partof the supply-and-demand equation.
The racing landscape changed dramatically between 1948 and 1978, and therewas a ripple effect, producing more changes between 1978 and 2008.
The first major changes were the legalization of medication and expansion.
Horsemen went before state regulatory commissions and argued that theyneeded medication because of the increased demands on their horses.
In 1968, Maryland was the only northern state with racing all year. Thatspring, Dancer’s Image became the only winner in the 134-year history of theKentucky Derby to be disqualified after traces of Butazolidin – anaspirin-like painkiller that then was a prohibited race-day medication inKentucky – were found in a post-race lab specimen.
By 1978 Butazolidin and several other race-day medications had beenlegalized by most of the racing states, and their use was widespread.Year-round racing was spreading, and seven more states legalized the sport inseveral major markets in the 1980s and ’90s.
Foreign buyers began making an impact on the yearling market in the late1970s, and during the 1980s the Maktoums from the Persian Gulf Emirate ofDubai, European tycoons and Japanese investors emerged as the dominant force.Since then the cream of the American thoroughbred crop has surfaced in Europe,racing there from late spring through early autumn. During the winter theEuropean elite go to Dubai to compete.
“I saw very, very few breakdowns in Dubai, and there was only one fatalityother than heart attacks that I recall,” said Kevin Greely, who worked asracing secretary of the Emirates Racing Association for 11 years beforebecoming Arlington Park’s director of racing and racing secretary in 2005.
“I feel the reason for so few is because there is no medication. When yougive a horse Bute it takes away inflammation and reduces pain. If you don’tgive a horse Bute he’ll feel the pain and the trainer will notice theinflammation and the heat and won’t race him.”
However, the United Arab Emirates season runs from November through Aprilwith three or four programs weekly. Each card consists of only seven races,and 11/4-mile races are the norm.
In America, short races of less than a mile are the most common at mosttracks.
“Long-distance horses stay sounder longer than the sprinters, but horsesthat run short in the U.S. can run every two weeks,” said Tom Tribolet, anAmerican veterinarian who has been training horses in Argentina for the last10 years. “There’s a heavy demand to fill races, and medication is adouble-edged sword.
“The numbers of races and horses racing [in the United States] speak forthemselves. Just as there will be football injuries, there will be horseinjuries.”
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nmilbert@tribune.com