The powers that be in the racing industry believe that artificial surfaces help reduce breakdowns. And they're right. After all, if you fall onto chopped-up rubber, you're going to crack your bones much less than if you fall onto hard concrete. But the real reason for breakdowns is, of course, drugs - specifically steroids, which effect bone and change physiology anti-Mother Nature in subtle ways we can't easily notice. Shiny apples on the outside, bruised inside. And when you constantly bang on dem changing immature bones, bad things are going to happen.

The article mentions the three that broke down.

TEUFLESBERG had been in constant training all his competitive life. Let's try him short. Let's try him long. Let's try him on the turf. Bam bam bam. Give the poor colt a rest! Trainer Jamie Sanders doesn't win many, but when Nick Zito's former assistant brought the colt to New York on Belmont Day and he ran a stupendous -1 [!!!; after stumbling badly!] to win the Woody Stephens BC Sprint, had the animal met up with Zito's vet prior to that race? Anyone who thinks the colt ran that -1 without being injected is kidding themselves.

RAIN ON THE PLAIN was trained by William Fires, a trainer who can light up the tote. Check Fires' sheets and tell me there are no "anti-theory" efforts there.

GOLD TRAIN was trained by Dale Romans. Romans' vet is "steroid man" White Mercedes.

World-renowned surgeon Dr. Bramlage said the cluster of breakdowns could simply be "an aberration with no logical explanation." I'm willing to believe him only to a certain point. I think it's very logical.