PETA official compares horse racing to dogfighting

If there is one thing that the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and its president, Ingrid Newkirk, are good at, it's getting attention. PETA might be over the top in its animal rights arguments, but they are pit bull-tough when they sink their teeth into an issue.

PETA also will use a kernel of truth to make a mountain of corn. Newkirk used the unfortunate death of Eight Belles in Saturday's Kentucky Derby as a springboard for firing off open letters to presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton and the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority.

Newkirk wrote to Clinton that her support of horse racing "makes you culpable in her (Eight Belles) destruction." Newkirk added, "Attending the Derby is as despicable as attending a dogfight."

In her letter to the KHRA, Newkirk requested a suspension of Gabriel Saez, the jockey of Eight Belles; a prohibition on 2-year-old racing; synthetic surfaces; a limit on the number of races; and a ban on the whipping of horses.

This past week, I listened to PETA representatives debate Ralph Siraco of "Race Day Las Vegas" and national sports talk host Jim Rome. Siraco and Rome did admirable jobs of defending horse racing with those who were unmoved and were carrying out an agenda.

On Sunday's "Track Talk" radio show, Gordon Jones gave a revealing take on Eight Belles. Jones related a phone call he had before the Derby with his daughter, Joanne Jones, a respected racing analyst on HRTV.

"(Joanne) had noticed in Eight Belle's last two races at Oaklawn she was lugging out, seeming to favor her front left foot. She wondered if there had been X-rays taken. She wondered if there was a problem that the stable recognized. You'll never know.

"We're not going to second-guess. We'll just raise the point that she (Eight Belles) gave a couple signs of possible distress earlier ... but the owner (Rick Porter), he pushed the trainer (Larry Jones) to run her in the Kentucky Derby. You know it's a judgment call. Just say there were people who were saying don't bet Eight Belles today. It seemed like she had a little problem before, and down she went."

If Gordon Jones is right, look out. PETA is more than willing to take an inch and stretch it into a furlong.

• DERBY TV -- Las Vegas proved again to be one of the best horse racing markets in the nation. A Derby TV rating of 11.1 was 19th best in the country. The meter reading doesn't count fans who viewed the Derby in Las Vegas race books and at hotel parties.

Richard Eng's horse racing column is published Friday. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com.