Derby winner Medina Spirit collapses, dies in California

[George II]

35. It's not that I don't like him, I don't like cheats, and he does it more than any other trainer.

The fact that he makes contributions to Old Friends doesn't absolve him of his cheating or bring back the lives of the 70 race horses of his who have died in California in the last 20 years. He gives racing a bad name.

I certainly hope racing doesn't go away, I've enjoyed it for more than 50 years. But if it did thoroughbred horses wouldn't wind up at slaughter houses, they just wouldn't be bred. Without racing there would be no reason to breed twenty to thirty thousand thoroughbreds each year.

As it is, breeding and racing are way down over the past few decades.

In 1990 (30 years ago) there were 44,000 foals in North America, in 2020 there were only 20,500 - less than half that of 1990.
In 1990 there were 81,000 races in North America, in 2020 only 31,000.

A big factor has been the increase in casinos around the country, but racing had developed about the worst reputation it's had in my lifetime. It used to be bashed because of a few "betting coups" here and there, but now it's because of drugs and injuries due to drugs. So I have zero tolerance for trainers who cheat.

An interesting site and statistics:

https://www.jockeyclub.com/Default.asp?section=Resources&area=11