It's really easy, at first blush, to be flippant over the results from yesterday's Kentucky Derby. There's a sport for ya! We'll kill the first loser! HAHAHA! Somewhere, I know, there are television execs and horse racing officials thinking that Eight Belles euthanasia after the race just might produce an uptick in ratings and income for the sport.

After thinking about it for a bit, that tragic ending only illustrates the horror of horse racing. These horses are million-dollar pieces of investment funds. They're tools, living race cars. A totaled stock car leaves junk all over the track to be swept up, removed to the junkyard. A few parts might be salvaged, but most will be melted down for scrap. A "broke down" horse that "went lame" in horse-speak leaves a dead body on the track. Never mind that it was "only a horse." Something that was breathing just a few moments ago is now heading to the morgue. It's hard for written words to properly convey my disgust.

I understand that death does haunt most sports, to some degree or another. Part of what makes such activities compelling is the risk, either minute or significant, of serious injury or even death. Every sport that anybody can participate in has a waiver that must be signed, absolving the organizers of blame if someone should be killed by participating. There have been "reforms" over the years in various sports to lower the risk to participants and fans alike. Hockey put up netting behind goals after a 13-year old fan was mortally injured by a slap-shot puck. Baseball first base coaches have taken to wearing batting helmets after one of their number was killed by a foul ball.

My own sport of rowing as seen death as well. The horrid tragedy of Soctt Laio, dying as his crew crossed the finish line at the May 2005 Dad Vail regatta in Philadelphia is still a fresh wound in the world of rowing. Recreational "masters" rowers have been killed in collisions with powerboats and coaches are not immune as well, drowning in front of their crews. We examine what went wrong in every instance, looking for a way forward to make an incredible activity safer. Boats shouldn't be named for people killed on the water.

Horse racing seems different in my view. There won't be an investigation into what happened to Eight Belles. Racing fans will shrug and say "she needed to be put down so she wouldn't suffer." However, I am not comfortable with such a caviler attitude, nor do I think the average sports fan is, either. We've seen what happens, too often. Death dances around most sports, but the governing bodies have adjusted to push back that risk. Horse racing hasn't responded that way, and perhaps this explains the slowly eroding support that sport enjoys. I will not mourn its (hopeful) eventual passing.