Death of a Racehorse: An American Story

CNN reporter Lillis’s penetrating debut investigates the plight of racehorses through the controversies surrounding trainer Bob Baffert. She recounts how the 2021 death of Medina Spirit several months after winning the Kentucky Derby renewed questions about Baffert’s treatment of his stable. Tracing Baffert’s rise, Lillis describes how he gave up his aspirations of becoming a jockey after a growth spurt in his late teens and began a training career that had as many successes (a record-tying six Kentucky Derby wins) as scandals. The latter included perennial accusations of doping—a regulatory board revoked Medina Spirit’s Derby win after discovering a steroid in the horse’s blood—and a concerning number of deaths on his watch (seven of his horses died in the span of two years in the early 2010s). Presenting Baffert as a symptom of a larger problem, Lillis provides a meticulous account of how in the late 2010s, federal prosecutors spearheaded a case against trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro for doping that resulted in jail time for both. In following the money, Lillis’s skillful reporting also reveals how horse racing’s lucrative profits ($500 million annually for the state of Kentucky, alone) have insulated the sport from animal welfare campaigns. It’s a disturbing exposé of horse racing’s dark underbelly. Agent: Eve Atterman, WME. (May)