You’d Have to Call Strategy a Longshot

So thoroughbred racing is counting on the movie “Seabiscuit” to revive its slowly expiring sport?

I wish them luck, but I’m going to have to bet against it. When the most famous name in your sport is a horse that hasn’t won a race in over 60 years, you know you’re in deep, deep trouble.

Joel Rapp

Los Angeles

The horse racing association fervently hopes the film “Seabiscuit” is a box-office winner in order to jump-start the lackluster sport of kings.

After reading of Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand’s poignant death in a Japanese slaughterhouse, I am reminded of the industry’s shameful transactions in high-end horseflesh. Although Ferdinand earned almost $4 million for his owners, he wasn’t rewarded with a bucolic retirement. Instead, like so many other non-producing thoroughbreds, he was ignominiously sold by the pound as a foreign delicacy.

Mary MacGregor

La Quinta