Rachel Alexandra shows it’s good business to be humane

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Rachel Alexandra is going to sit out the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, the third leg of horse racing’s prestigious Triple Crown. That apparently isn’t good news for the race, which is losing one of its marquee competitors, and probably doesn’t do much for the sports books in Vegas, either.

But it’s good for Rachel Alexandra, a filly who proved her mettle by beating a field of colts in the Preakness Stakes on May 16. Alexandra even outraced Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, which is why a rematch in the much longer Belmont Stakes carried such intrigue.

It would have been understandable for the owner of Rachel Alexandra to run her again. But Jess Jackson, who bought the filly last month, has decided she is too tired to go and is giving her a vacation.

Many of those who work in the Thoroughbred racing industry are pointing to the handling of Preakness champion Rachel Alexandra, who will skip Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, as an example of how carefully the sport is managing its most prominent horses.

“The whole world is out there for her in racing. I think they made a decision having her best interests at heart,” Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said. “In racing, we can’t afford to have any setbacks with our superstar horses.”

That’s why humane treatment is suddenly the protocol. The deaths of race horses such as Eight Belles, who was put down after being injured in last year’s Kentucky Derby, has led to a newfound caution in the sport. It hurts the image of horse racing for them to die.

It makes you wonder how many horses had to be put down before they decided it was good business to be humane.

via Prominent horses receiving more rest amid public scrutiny – USATODAY.com.