This year's Kentucky Derby was one of triumph, tragedy and challenges for the horse racing industry. In the shadow of Big Brown's victory, coming from the 20th slot in the starting gate, a filly named Eight Belles, who raced her heart and her life out, coming in second place, has really become the name Derby watchers will most remember this year.

The tragic scene of the horse literally falling to her knees and tossing stunned jockey Gabriel Saez to the ground was barely captured on tape until broadcasters panned momentarily from Big Brown's triumphant walk to the rose garden to a lone black horse lying injured on the track.

Suddenly our focus was shifted to another horse racing tragedy just months after Barbaro had to be euthanized after losing a brave battle to recover from his ankle injuries.

According to William C. Rhoden in a New York Times "Sports of the Times Column" this past Wednesday, "The major difference between Barbaro and Eight Belles is that Barbaro was injured during the race, but was not euthanized until eight months later

"Eight Belles never really had a chance to be cloaked in heroic armor, having been euthanized right on the track. As a result, in the vacuum after her death, scrutiny of this rough-and-tumble

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industry could become relentless, particularly as the other two legs of the Triple Crown, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, are run."

In a New York Times op-ed piece by T.D. Thornton, author of Not by a Long Shot A Season at a Hard-Luck Horse Track, "Eight Belles was the unfortunate talk of the nation after collapsing past the wire in the Kentucky Derby. But the ill-fated filly was not the only thoroughbred whose career took an abrupt and ugly turn on the first Saturday in May she just happened to be the only one whose death was witnessed by millions of people.

"There were 15 horses at 39 North American tracks who failed to finish a race Saturday. Nine of them were reported to have been so injured or unsound that they had to be driven off the track in an equine ambulance." Thornton goes on to presume that some of those animals met the same fate as Eight Belles.

Having grown up around cheap race horses on the old New England circuit and admiring the tenacity of these less-than-regal animals, Thornton added, "Maybe that's why I always feel a twinge of uneasiness when a high-profile horse accident gets tremendous play in the news media. Everyday racetrack tragedies are far more common, yet are routinely ignored while even a minor injury to a major horse knocks the racing world off its axis."

I couldn't agree more. Having read Seabiscuit and seen the movie more than once, I fell in love with equine heroes with the tenacity to come back again and again. And call me sentimental, but I watched Barbaro's triumph at the Derby two years ago and his tragedy at the Preakness and I was shaken.

But let's get real. Some people get swept up in the pomp and fashion of The Derby, but the vast majority of others are there to win or lose a lot of money. Those folks are already making their plans to celebrate Big Brown's victory at the Preakness and, hopefully this time, at the Belmont.

For these folks, horses are a means to an end. They may have felt a twinge of sadness at Eight Belle's death, but their focus was on the pony with the roses. He was the one who brought home the million dollars-plus purse.

On the other hand, a reporter for the Associated Press said, The Humane Society of the United States also weighed in on Monday, arguing that horses are becoming more fragile because they're being bred for speed, not durability.

There were outcries from organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which claimed that Jockey Saez misused the whip and should have noticed the horse was injured instead of trying to get speed out of Eight Belles. Thankfully, the jockey was cleared when Trainer Larry Jones explained that the horse never gave the jockey any indication of a problem. Saez added, "All I could sense under me was how eager she was to race."

Throughout the week, breeders, owners and critics kept coming out of the woodwork to offer perspectives about horses as related to this unfortunate accident. I was particularly struck by one breeder's comments. He pointed out that horses are not gentle animals and fights are common. Horses kick each other and injure or break ankles; they may suffer minor or life-threatening injuries before they ever reach the big races.

They may die as foals or the mares may die in childbirth. Few, if any, of those happenings are reported publicly, because they are considered routine along the rough road of equine life.

My goal is not to point fingers at the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. I don't know enough about the sport and I'd say I probably speak for a large cross-section people.

As a once- or twice-a-year watcher of the Derby and possibly the Preakness, I just say a quiet prayer after what happened to Barbaro and hope it doesn't happen again, like it did last Saturday.

My hope now is that Big Brown will go on to win the Triple Crown and a lot of other major races, live a long life and sire more champions.

My greater hope is that Eight Belles, like Barbaro, will never be forgotten for the valiant race she ran, the champion she could have become and the courage she had to show in the face of death.

Steve Gaynes can be reached at sgaynes@yahoo.com .

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