In the 4th at Delaware, says Equibase, My Giant “was being eased when he collapsed in the final sixteenth mile and died of an apparent heart attack.” My Giant was six, an age in which the typical horse is just emerging from puberty. “Apparent heart attack.”

A bit later in the U.S. Racing afternoon, Heartspoke went down in the 6th at Saratoga: “put to an energetic ride [was whipped] right after the start…began to shorten stride a sixteenth down the road, eventually getting swallowed up…appeared in distress spinning into the lane, fell…and was subsequently euthanized.” The Gaming Commission, it should be noted, is for now (the “investigation continues”) calling it a “possible cardiovascular death.” Heartspoke was even younger (four) than My Giant.

(By the way, if indeed Heartspoke was felled by an imploded heart, the New York Racing Association will not count her in its “catastrophic” death…