As he trained for his first race.docVIP

As he trained for his first race, at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, the 3-year-old thoroughbred (horse) Wes Vegas galloped (v. do something very fast) on the track most mornings and had two timed workouts (a session of strenuous physical exercise or of practicing physical skills as a way of keeping in shape or as practice for a game or athletic competition). But his handlers (manager) also prepared him in another way: In the month before the race, records show, he received 10 intravenous (intra-inside) injections of potent (strong and effective) drugs for pain, one the day before he ran; two injections of a drug for joint disease; corticosteroid injections in his two front ankles; a sedative; and an ulcer drug. For all the preparation, that first race, on March 3, turned out to be his last. As he approached the first turn, Wes Vegas broke a leg and had to be euthanized (killed). A week earlier, another horse, the 4-year-old Coronado Heights, who records show had “early degenerative joint disease,” suffered a fatal breakdown at Aqueduct after receiving 13 injections for pain and cartilage damage in the month before his race. Since a casino opened at Aqueduct late last year, offering vastly richer prizes, 30 horses have died racing there, a 100 percent increase in the fatality rate over the same period the previous year. Like Wes Vegas and Coronado Heights, many had been injected repeatedly with pain medication in the weeks before their breakdowns, according to a review of veterinary (relating to diseases of animals and their treatment) records by The New York Times. Pain medication during training is legal as long as it does not exceed certain levels on race day. But the prevalence of drugs is a graphic illustration (see something clearly) of how the flood of casino cash has created powerful and dangerous incentives to run sore, tired or otherwise unfit horses in pursuit of that big score (the total number). “If the public knew how many medications these horses