From The Blood-Horse year in review, featured in the Dec. 20, 2003 issue.

It was the story nobody wanted to believe, yet no one could disprove. It was the biggest news item of 2003 in the Thoroughbred industry, and coming on the heels of 2002’s Ultra Pick Six scandal, made it two years in a row where our most enduring story was a negative one. The only hope now is that Ferdinand’s death in a Japanese slaughterhouse will hasten awareness and action to ensure we will not again have to read about this type of tragedy