I flipped on the TV Saturday afternoon and saw a piece on NBC about a filly named Eight Belles running in Saturday's Kentucky Derby.

A filly hasn't won the Derby in 20 years but I admired her spirit, evident in how she ignored, for a little while, a command to slow down.

I knew almost nothing about the horses running in the Derby except that I'd picked up on the fact that there was some buzz about a horse named Big Brown, the eventual favorite and winner.

I tend to like underdogs so I ended up rooting for Eight Belles.

She didn't have enough for Big Brown down the stretch that day but finished a strong second a few lengths back. Not bad. Not bad at all.

With that kind of showing, I was thinking she'd probably get another shot at him in the Belmont or the Preakness. I was wrong.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Big Brown's jockey shaken off. He landed on his feet and seemed to be OK. He even got back in the saddle. Then, the camera picked up that, nearby, Eight Belles was down. That may have been what spooked Big Brown. If it was, I don't blame him, it spooked me and a lot of other people.

Announcers speculated about heart problems and aneurysms but they were wrong. Perhaps they were just trying to be

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optimistic. Somehow, after the race was over, probably in slowing down, Eight Belles broke both of her front ankles. Everyone's worst fears were realized.

Things got hectic and it was bizarre to hear the reactions of the winners followed by a veterinarian reporting, I assume to a stunned audience of millions those that were sober enough to comprehend what was going on that Eight Belles was euthanized on the spot.

This is second time in three years we've seen this sort of thing in the national spotlight. Two years ago, after winning the Derby, Barbaro broke down at the Preakness. Long-term efforts to save him ultimately failed.

One has to assume such tragedies befall other horses but we only hear about the high-profile examples.

Eight Belles' death has struck a chord. Within minutes, hundreds of comments started pouring in to the New York Times Web site.

Almost no one is immune from scrutiny as people search for a reason why this happened.

Hopefully, the outcry will force the sport take a long, hard look at itself. Are all 3-year-old horses physically ready for the task? Do we expect too much, too soon, from some horses? Has the desire to breed light, nimble and quick horses pushed the envelope to the point where some horses are quite literally running on eggshells? These questions, and others, need to be asked.

I'm neither an expert on horses nor a real fan of thoroughbred racing so I'm not going to use this space to condemn the sport. Plenty of others are doing that.

What I will say is this. I, for one, will never be able to watch a horse race without thinking about Eight Belles. As a result, I doubt I'll ever really want to watch another one.