breakdowns

[miraja2]

Originally Posted by richard burch

its hard to explain a breakdown to a 7 year old kid. those kids are racing's future.

Weren't the seven year olds in 1950 or 1965 or 1980 "racing's future" at those times? It isn't like there weren't racetrack fatalities in those decades to explain as well. Somehow the sport survived.
I understand that the culture is slightly different now with regards to animals than it was in some past decades, but people having to explain to kids what happened to a horse that just broke down is sadly - like the breakdowns themselves - one of the enduring and unpleasant aspects of this otherwise wonderful game.
Should people in the game work to reduce the number of racetrack fatalities? Absolutely. But eliminating them altogether is beyond impossible.