‘Broken Horses’
Watch our new documentary on FX and Hulu starting Friday, April 26, at 10 p.m. Eastern.
When horse racing fans arrive at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., next week for the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby, some might be watching with unease. On the same track last year, seven horses died before the showpiece event even started. In the days after, five more died.
Two other events in the sport’s Triple Crown series — the Preakness Stakes in May and the Belmont Stakes in June — and the signature meet at the historic Saratoga Race Course were also marred by deaths, horrifying spectators and intensifying pressure on racing officials to, finally, reckon with the problem.
“Horses dying in clusters is not a new phenomenon,” Joe Drape, a New York Times reporter, says in the new documentary “Broken Horses.” “It’s just now people are paying attention and want to know why.”
Drape and Melissa Hoppert, who have covered the horse racing industry for decades, were part of a team that investigated the fateful period last year that threw the sport into crisis and left fans wondering why so many horses, supposedly in peak physical condition, were breaking down so frequently.
With confidential documents, recordings and exclusive interviews, “Broken Horses” provides a vivid tour of the business and political forces that control the Sport of Kings and resist measures to implement changes that could decrease horse deaths. It is a story of reckless breeding and doping, of compromised veterinarians and trainers, and of fans who are drawn to the sport’s beauty and pageantry but increasingly wonder how long one of America’s oldest sports can continue to have its social license renewed.
“A racehorse is the only animal that can take a thousand people for a ride at once,” Hoppert says in the film, quoting a saying among the sport’s devotees. In 2023, a troubling number of those rides ended calamitously. “Broken Horses” attempts to show viewers the underbelly of the sport, so they can begin to understand why.
“The New York Times Presents” is a series of documentaries representing the unparalleled journalism and insight of The New York Times, bringing viewers close to the essential stories of our time.
The post From Majesty to Frailty: Why Are So Many Horses Breaking Down? appeared first on New York Times.
