The Brutish Sport of Horse Racing: The 'Sport of Kings' Is Another Name for Cruelty

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For mixing pageantry and cruelty, nothing is quite like horse racing's Triple Crown, which refers to the Kentucky Derby the first Saturday in May, the Freakness Stakes two weeks later in Maryland and New York's Belmont Stakes in early June.

At each event, red-coated trumpeters call animals and jockeys to the track. Sentimental songs are heard--"My Old Kentucky Home," "Maryland, My Maryland," "The Sidewalks of New York"--and women gussy themselves up in hats the size of horse barns. All this, plus the patter of pre- and post-race TV commentary on horses' bloodlines and jockeys' strategies for booting home a winner.

Push aside the froth, and horseracing, whether at …