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    Black Caviar, Champion Racehorse, Dies

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    She won every race she ran, and her fame went beyond the insular world of horseracing.She transcended racing to become a household name in Australia and revived, for a time, a sport in decline. At the height of her career, she graced the cover of Vogue, met Queen Elizabeth II and had her own line of shampoo and conditioner.Black Caviar, the Australian racehorse whose unbeaten streak of 25 victories from 2009 to 2013 made her a cultural icon, died on Saturday, one day before her 18th birthday.Her death was confirmed by the Victoria Racing Club in a statement. Australian news media reported that her trainer, Peter Moody, said Black Caviar was euthanized after giving birth to a foal because she was suffering from laminitis, a painful disease that affects the hooves of horses. Mr. Moody could not immediately be reached for confirmation.Between 2009 and 2013, Black Caviar won 25 races from 25 starts, earning more than $5.3 million (about 8 million Australian dollars) in prize money. From 2010 to 2013, she was ranked the world’s best sprinter racehorse by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities. Some media outlets described her as “the world’s most popular racehorse.”“Very rarely do we get a hose that transcends the sport,” Matt Hill, an Australian race caller, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Sunday, “but everybody, even if they didn’t follow horseracing, knew who Black Caviar was.”At times, Black Caviar’s fame transcended her equine nature. In 2012, she was named “sportswoman of the year” by one newspaper, controversially beating out a human Olympic hurdling champion, Sally Pearson. That same year, Black Caviar became the first animal to be featured on the cover of Vogue Australia.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How Humans Failed Racehorses

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      An exploration of the troubled state of horse racing in the U.S. It was a thrilling finish: A long-shot named Mystik Dan held off a late charge by Sierra Leone and a colt from Japan named Forever Young on Saturday to win the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby, America’s oldest major continuing sporting event, bringing to a close a much-needed casualty-free week of thoroughbred racing.It was a welcome conclusion for the multibillion-dollar sport imperiled by frequent racing fatalities, reckless breeding, dodgy doping practices and the old-fashioned greed of veterinarians, trainers and owners.Last year, 12 horses perished at Churchill Downs in the days surrounding the famous race. It only got worse. Two weeks later, a horse trained by one of the sport’s most recognized trainers died at Pimlico Race Course. At the historic Saratoga Race Course in New York a few months later, another 13 horses died while racing and training at the sport’s signature summer meet, including two that seemed poised to win their races before they broke down near the finish line on nationally televised broadcasts.Ambulances rumbled onto the track, emergency workers erected privacy screens and, behind them, vets euthanized the horses with injections. All of it put the social acceptability of one of America’s oldest sports at risk.The root of the problemAhead of the race. Audra Melton for The New York TimesWhy do racehorses die? As beautiful as a thoroughbred is in full flight, the legs that seemingly rarely touch the ground are fragile. Ankles the size of a Coke bottle and hooves the size of a crystal ashtray propel a 1,200-pound thoroughbred at speeds up to 35 miles per hour.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The Best Hats at the 2024 Kentucky Derby

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      America’s most famous horse race may be celebrating a milestone this year, but the hats are the real stars of the show.There are many associations that come to mind with the Kentucky Derby. Horses, naturally. Mint juleps too. But to be a true participant in the Derby spectacle, one needs a proper Derby hat.The tradition for wearing eye-catching attire to America’s most famous horse race began in the 1870s. The founder of the Kentucky Derby, Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., was inspired by the fashionable dress codes at events like Ascot in Britain and Paris’s Grand Prix. Creating his own, he figured, would transform his racetrack from a place of ill-repute to one for well-heeled high society.On a sunny spring Monday in 1875, more than 10,000 spectators attended the first Kentucky Derby and The New York Times reported on the fashion as well as the racing, noting that “the grandstand was thronged by a brilliant assemblage of ladies and gentlemen.” His plan worked, and this collective passion for horses, gambling and partying — even in smart seersucker suits or a spectacular feathered fascinator — has endured as a cornerstone of the Derby to this day.This year marked the 150th running of the race at Churchill Downs, won this year by Mystik Dan in a photo finish. As expected nobody held back both on and off the track, from wide-brimmed styles adorned with spring florals and soft feathers paired with tasteful pastel-colored dresses to jockey helmets adorned with plastic stallions and straight up horse heads. Hats off to this crowd.A coordinated pair in pink and blue. More is more on Derby day. Quiet pastels work too.It’s never a bad idea to match your hat with your cocktail. The winner by a nose. A dashing suit for Derby day. The view from the top. Riders up! Derby bling means feathers, sequins and a unicorn.Proving you can still look fantastic during a Derby nap. The hats may get all the attention, but the dresses also deserve their due.A cowboy and his bow-tie.A magenta moment that is both practical and festive. This duo had us at yellow with their coordinating sunny standout looks.Can you spot the floral accent in this red, white and blue ensemble?A coordinated pair.Yay or neigh? This fan was happy to horse around when it came to his head gear. David Kasnic for The New York TimesAnd they’re off! The Kentucky Derby is often described as “the most exciting two minutes in sports.”Pastels for the paddock (and flat shoes for a long day).The mad hatter?A dapper look for a day at the Derby.Wide-brimmed straw hats continue to be a winner for many racegoers — and the bigger the better.David Kasnic for The New York TimesYou can never go wrong with the classic straw hat.Thinking pink.One fan in full bloom.Ahoy sailor!David Kasnic for The New York TimesIt wouldn’t be the Derby without the mint juleps.David Kasnic for The New York TimesPearls, posies and lots of layered netting here for a millinery delight.David Kasnic for The New York TimesAn eye-popping race day outfit missing its owner. More

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      Mike Repole, Horse Racing’s Loudest Critic, Is Kentucky Derby Favorite

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      In the world according to Mike Repole, everyone involved in horse racing is a dummy. Except him, Mike from Queens or the Commish, as some of his followers on X call him.Stuart S. Janney III, chairman of the nonprofit Jockey Club, is clueless and tone deaf and has run the sport into the ground, Repole says. Churchill Downs Inc., which hosts the Kentucky Derby, is cheap: The $3 million purse for America’s most famous race should be much more, and the racetrack treats Repole and other owners badly.Forget about John Stewart, a new owner bringing fresh energy and big money into the game. He is “arrogant, free spending” and such a rube that he has an “$8 haircut.”All the above, and many others, are among Repole’s frequent targets on social media and various podcasts. Repole, a prominent horse owner who made his fortune in the beverage industry, says he is merely trying to disrupt an industry (often punctuated with profane Bronx cheers) that he likens to the Titanic heading inevitably into a looming iceberg.“You want real or you want fake??? You want loud or you want quiet??? You want intensity or you want passive??? You want better or you want worse??? Love me or Hate me,” Repole posted on X in January, summarizing his credo for remaking the racehorse business.Repole, right, with Fierceness last week. In seven starts, Repole-owned horses have yet to win a Derby. Two more were late scratches. Matt Stone/The Courier Journal — USA Today NetworkWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      From Majesty to Frailty: Why Are So Many Horses Breaking Down?

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      ‘Broken Horses’Producers/Reporters Joe Drape and Melissa HoppertSupervising Producer Liz HodesWatch 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. Horses racing at Churchill Downs in 2023.Left Right Productions/The New York Times/Hulu Originals/FX NetworksWith 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.Producer Luke KoremCo-Producer Leah VarjacquesProducers/Reporters Liz Day and Rachel AbramsStory Producer Alexander BaertlDirector of Photography Jarred AltermanVideo Editors Patrick Berry and Charlotte Stobbs“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. More