Mathieu Spriet

Like the wildfires fanned by this summer's hot winds, doomsday predictions of horse racing's demise have raged through the mainstream and trade press this year, fueled by a sickening spate of high-profile equine fatalities on the sport's highest-profile stages--tracks armed with some of the most stringent safety guardrails. This means these horses passed before the eyes of a slew of experts--from the riders to the trainers to the veterinarians and the regulators--deemed among the best in the business. If they can't single out these horses before catastrophe happens, who can?...