John Ward in the New York Times

[richiebee]

An entire page of coverage of the Derby in NYT\'s sports section today, for all the wrong reasons.

Quote from NYT:

  \"John Ward, a third generation horseman who trained the 2001 Derby winner,
   Monarchos, says the industry must continue working on technologies that
   can screen horses more closely before they go into competition.

  \"He told the story of a 3- year old filly who was promising as a 2 year old
   but had not seemed to be her best. An early set of x-rays did not show any
   injuries. When Ward sent her to the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital for
   more sophisticated full- body tests, veterinarians found she had micro-
   fractures in three of her ankles.

  \"\'She was a catastrophe waiting to happen, and she had never spent an un-
   sound day in her life,\' Ward said. \'We have got to start examining these
   animals at the molecular level, and protect them\'\".

[sighthound]

I\'ll be happy to build a trackside MRI, and do one on every horse in training 2 days after their weekly work.    

That will add $4000-$5000 to the monthly cost of keeping a racehorse, however.