I'm Mike Fitzsimmons with commentary on 920, KXLY

The "Run for the Roses" was marred last weekend by the painful sight of the on-track emergency crew euthenizing the second place thoroughbred, Eight Belles, mere moments after the filly crossed the finish line, earning $400,000. Seconds after Big Brown blazed across the finish line to win the 134th Kentucky Derby, a nationally television audience watched Eight Belles collapse on the dirt track suffering from two broken front ankles.

The sight has rekindled a raging debate that began when another Kentucky Derby star, Barbaro, decisively won the 2006 Derby only to shatter his leg two weeks later, in the Preakness Stakes. The injury ended the racing career of the popular race gorse, and eventually led to his death.

The destruction of Eight Belles raises once more, some troubling issues about the thoroughbred racing industry. Criitics say track safety is lacking. Many argue that fillies should not be permitted to run against colts, and then there's the concern that race horses today are bred for speed with little concern for physical resistence to injury.

Perhaps these issues would largely escape public notice were it not for television. Audiences were upset to see the demise of Eight Belles, even though the camera shot was quickly abandoned when it became clear to the directors of the live coverage, what had happened. The day after, that footage was all over the Internet, along with disturbing still photos of the last moments of a multi-million dollar race horse.

Horse racing is a powerfully attractive spectator sport, and the Kentucky Derby is a true American tradition, but trainers say the sport has been lucky that this kind of incident hasn't happened more often. It's time for thoroughbred racing to take stock of itself. This can't happen again without threatening the future of the sport.

With commentary on 920 - KXLY, I'm Mike Fitzsimmons