The Ethics and Social Impact of Horse Racing
A horse race is a contest between a team of jockeys and a field of horses to win a race, often by gaining the most distance over their competitors. The sport of horse racing has been around for centuries and is a major spectator event in many countries. The popularity of horse racing has sparked debates about the ethics and social impact of the sport. During a horse race, the jockeys are often dressed in brightly colored, formal attire, while the riders wear white helmets with red stripes and blue-trimmed hats to distinguish them from the other riders.
During the race, the horse’s lower legs take a brutal pounding from the huge strides they make while running, straining ligaments and tendons. Some horses bleed from the lungs after hard running, a condition called exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage. To prevent it, most horses, including Mongolian Groom, get injected on race day with Lasix, a diuretic marked on the racing form with a boldface L. Lasix causes the horses to produce epic amounts of urine – twenty or thirty pounds at a time.
In addition to the stress of racing, the animals are subjected to a cocktail of legal and illegal drugs to mask injuries and artificially boost performance. They are also confined in crowded, noisy enclosures, which can increase the levels of cortisol and endorphins circulating in their blood, which can cause depression, anxiety, or even death. Despite these risks, the sport has attracted millions of bettors and generates huge profits for owners, trainers, and jockeys.
The earliest records of horse races date back to ancient Greece and Rome, and the sport continued to flourish in Europe until gambling corruption led to its decline in the late 19th century. In the 1930s, a colt named Seabiscuit emerged as one of the greatest thoroughbreds of all time. His owner, Charles Howard, used automobiles from his Buick dealership to rescue horses that refused to run down burning streets.
A few decades later, horse betting is legalized in Ohio and Cleveland. Horse races still continue, but the wagering is much less regulated and the horse population has declined drastically as bettors turn to other forms of gambling.
Media scholars have studied the effects of news stories that frame elections as a horse race and focus on public opinion polls, giving the most attention to frontrunners and underdogs who are gaining momentum. They have found that these types of stories influence election outcomes.
This year, there has been a surge of quick political polls in swing states. These surveys are cheap and fast, but they often have limited accuracy and may provide a false sense of urgency that can skew the direction of an election. As a result, there has been an increased pressure on journalists to make complicated numbers meaningful and avoid the horse race journalism trap of flashy, headline-grabbing polls that don’t offer complete context. In addition to using quantitative data, journalist can use qualitative methods like interviews and focus groups to understand how voters think about a candidate or issue.