I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

"Death of a Racehorse" is the case of the right author and the right topic. Katie Bo Lillis grew up working with horses, especially race horses, before launching into an international journalism career. Now in this book she turns to her roots to investigate two major news scandals related to racing: the press coverage of "killer tracks" with insane, inexplicable death rates, and the story of Bob Baffert, racing's D. Wayne Lucas knock-off with an outstanding success rate, but an equally noteworthy history of barn violations.

What Lillis does so well is piece apart barn culture, perspective, science, reality, and humanity. Her conclusions are important:

--that there exists a major, modern disparity between racing's historical view of horses (as livestock) and popular culture's vision of them (as beautiful domesticated creatures, individuals deserving of care.)

--that there is a significant problem with "therapeutic" medications being applied to horses. They aren't necessarily illegal, because no tests know of them, but it's considered a done thing. (In some cases, even a humane thing.)

--that the financial system of racing--where tracks provide free barns to trainers in order to get more horses to the gate, and therefore higher betting stakes--incentivizes running horses whether they are perfectly sound or not.

--that the name of the game isn't always the track, but the breeding shed afterwards for stallions. Lillis is very specific about racing as a stallion-making sport.

Along the way, Lillis gives us some eye-opening insights into Baffert, managing both to point out the saga of his ongoing excuses and to give some context to his complaints. While I still closed the book side-eyeing him, she did an excellent job of hearing him out and fairly (I thought) presenting his side.

She also draws up conclusions and recommendations for the world of Thoroughbreds. Whether that world will take those steps--well, one can only guess. But her book is a beautiful exploration of a sport from someone who clearly loves horses and has loved racing as well.

"Death of a Racehorse" is an ambitious and wide-ranging feat of impeccable reporting by someone in a unique position in between the modern world and the dying old world of racing. I have followed Katie Bo Lillis's career on CNN though I didn't know her background, and I've been a horse racing fan since I first borrowed tattered copies of The Black Stallion as a child from a neighbor and dreamed of the allure of the sacrosanct subculture of the sport of kings.

But I have fallen away from my appreciation of the sport because its gritty realities have seeped into the romanticism I held to it from the mystique that never was of The Black Stallion. It's always been a snobby, insular sport of old money, doping, animal abuse and getting away with the rules because the rules could never apply to the mysterious world of the track with its own language and horsemanship culture.

Today racing's image is more like the Netflix documentary Race for the Crown, in which a crew of slick, brash new money outsiders want to shake things up and rise to the top, a world of glitz, glam and flowing champagne. That's the image that I find distasteful, crass and turns me away from what I once saw as a very romantic sort of sport.

Katie Bo Lillis is in a unique position to write this book. She's not a PETA animal welfare crusader but she loves horses as a longtime horsewoman herself who worked in the industry for several years before turning to journalism. But neither is she an apologist for the abuses of an industry that has long been shielded from outside scrutiny in its gilded barns and big money.

The author has taken an unflinching look at the doping scandals and breeding problems that have plagued an industry that assumes that the reason why the sport is in decline is simply a marketing issue. This really showed how out of touch with the real world that this industry can be.

Her thesis, that the industry needs to start caring more for animal welfare than the bottom line and viewing horses as pets instead of assets and commodities, is a thoroughly researched argument grounded in facts and warmth.

I sometimes got lost in lengthy descriptions of drug protocols but found it chilling that trainers viewed medications as not what was right for the horse but what they could get away with. But the patchwork regulatory bodies and enforcement meant that only people the industry didn't like got called out as bad apples, rather than the rot in the culture of racing itself.

Since I had stopped watching racing for the last few years I had wondered what had become of Bob Baffert, whose humble roots and innate horse sense I had respected. The author does a good job of not scapegoating him or hero worshipping him but showing him as a complicated man with flaws operating in a rotten culture.

In the end what I appreciated about this reporting will piss off both horsemen and PETA advocates. She wants the industry to continue but she is unrestrained in the way she points out its flaws and need to reform. This is someone who loves horses and horse racing and takes a hard look at the dark side of the culture that's always been there, dispelling The Black Stallion romanticism.

This was a grim and difficult read but an important one that will stay with me. It gave me a lot to think about and made me want to pay attention to horse racing again. I hope that anyone who loves horses and cares about the future of horse racing will read this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

An incisive, searing look at a once=proud industry now facing threats from all fronts -- including from within. Katie Bo Lillis clearly loves the world of horses and horse racing, and it's from that position of love that she can offer this necessary portrait of a sport whose very existence is now at risk. A must-read as Triple Crown season rolls around again.

I want to start in saying author Katie Bo Lillis did a magnificent job researching and working to put so much information together and break it down as she has.

With this said, it seemed to be to be a bit … crowded.

I have been a horse racing fan since I was a small boy and I know of all the players written here. I figured the familiarity with the players and the stories she writes about would help the flow. But if I am being honest, I didn’t find it to be an easy read.

Now, I do not believe in writing negative reviews because my tastes, and that of another, may have nothing in common.

So please understand the word crowded isn’t a criticism here. There was so much to digest, and it felt like it was all coming at me at once. There’s a saying I like which is ”if you underline everything, nothing is important.” I felt like everything was underlined. I needed a chance to catch my breath but didn’t get it.

For some this could be exactly what you’re looking for.

I love this game. I have my whole life. But there are times I abhor it. All the reasons why are in this book. Maybe that was my issue with it. I love these animals and to read the details - in depth and well researched as they were - was simply upsetting.

I want to be clear - these are not statements designed to deter a single horse racing fan/reader away from reading this.

Katie Bo Lillis did a magnificent job of supporting her work and she has written an important book that has not been written before. But for my personal reading preferences. it was a bit of work to get through.

Would I recommend to fellow racing fans? Yes. I would if for no other reason than you will walk away with a much better understanding of what’s not typically front and center in thoroughbred horse racing.

As a life-long horse girl, I have read so many books about horses and horse racing, the Black Stallion being one of my favorite series as a kid, and I have watched the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont every year that I can remember. I remember rooting for Big Brown, Fusaichi Pegasus, Smarty Jones and American Pharoah. I have the Breyers, I have a collection of Mint Julep Glasses. I have books on Secretariat and Man O’War, and so on an so forth. And, as angry as this book makes me, as much as I dislike the stories and the facts it collects, I’m going to be getting a physical copy of this book to add to my horse shelf.

Horses races because people make them, and in order to make them run at their best, humans have all sorts of tricks and tips. Special diets, blinders, shadow rolls, whips, and drugs. Anti-inflammatory, dietary supplements, something for pain, something for bleeding, something for joint aches, and … drugs to make a horse go faster. It’s a sad and horrible truth, and this book covers that. Both the sadness of it, and the horrifying fact that drugging a horse has become as much a part of horse racing as the betting, and because of the money horse racing brings in … it’s not likely to change any day soon.

Using Bob Baffert as a familiar name, the book goes over the many different drugs that have been used; what they do for the horse, and how the Jockey Club has worked to regulate them. Some drugs are beneficial, some drugs are performance enhancing. Some are legal in small amounts, some are so new that they can’t be tested for yet, which makes them fair game. And everyone does it, at least at a certain level of racing. The saddest part of this is that — whether it’s the owner’s decision or the trainers, the actions of a vet or a groom, it’s the trainer set up to take responsibility.

This is, in many ways, a grim book, showcasing the reality of horse racing. The almost factory-farm breeding of thousands of thoroughbreds every single year, only a fraction of whom will go on to be racehorses, and an even smaller number going on to be great. How horse racing is seen as a business because states make money off the betting. How excuse after excuse — think of the little stables, how they’re not able to compete without drugs, and if they can’t race, why, they’ll lose money! or What happens to the people who lose their jobs when their owners quit? Won’t somebody think of the horses that will have nowhere to go? — comes out to keep drugging legal, how hard the horse racing system fights against regulation and oversight.

There are no easy answers to the many questions the author brings up about drugging, training, breeding, and the way horses are used, loved, and comodified. You can’t have horse races without horses, after all. And yet, the book points out that there are steps being taken to make racing safer for horses. Veterinary advances to help foresee and prevent breakdowns; guidelines about medication, veterinary oversight, stricter penalties for mistreatment of animals; in recent years the number of deaths have gone down. At Saratoga the deaths in 2023 was 9; in 2024, only one. It is getting better, bit by bit. Of course the bigger question is it too little too late? Can horse racing change quickly enough to keep public opinion from turning against it?

I was so angry reading this book, so upset with the horrible and distasteful reality of it. It’s not just a few trainers in shadowy, run-down stables … it’s a normal trainer trying to get an edge over the competition, trying to eke out one more win, or simply trying to get the best out of their horse. This book has added greatly to my knowledge of the business of horse racing. It’s opened my eyes to some the murkier, more unpleasant parts of the sport that I try not to think about and … I’m glad of it.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC.

As someone who is involved in the racing industry I found this to be an informative book to read. There are so many issues in racing and this really delves into a lot of them. I hope that someday there are some real solutions. I also hope more people read this to get an insite into an industry that I love but that is filled with corruption.