They shoot horses, don't they? (or, as Carmi Levy would say...well, I'd better not say it yet)

I wasn't watching the Kentucky Derby an hour ago, but I happened to see this tweet from @mousewords:

Big Brown with a beautiful win! Offset by the tragedy of 2nd place Eight Belles breaking both front ankles, & being euthanized :-(

That was bad enough, but then I saw this tweet from @pistachio that was even worse:

jaysus, the celebrants could have some respect. an amazing athlete just died right in front of them. WTH?

I confirmed this by reading kezins.com:

Now, I’m a fan of the Triple Crown Running and like to see the excitement which is The Kentucky Derby, The Preakness and The Belmont. But when is winning more important that pushing an animal to the limit?

On live television the female Philly Eight Belles was euthanized in front of a national audience. While the [winners] of The Kentucky Derby were celebrating, a compound fracture in her front two legs served to be too painful for the number 8 horse, which led to her demise.

OG Paper ("OG" stands for "online gambling") was, in my view, tasteful in its account of the tragedy.

Carmi Levy, writing before the Kentucky Derby began, had four choice words to describe this. Not that he's talking about this incident (which occurred after he wrote his post), but the words certainly apply.

I must caution people that I did not see the Derby coverage. I found this video on YouTube (don't know how long it will remain there), but it ends when the race ends.

[5/5 FOLLOWUP.]

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