FX Sets The New York Times Presents: “Broken Horses”

“Broken Horses” examines the systemic issues, questionable practices, and urgent calls for change that have shaken horse racing to its core.

The world’s finest racehorses arrived at Louisville’s famed Churchill Downs ahead of the 2023 Kentucky Derby, but by the time the showcase event started on the first Saturday in May, seven of them were dead. In the days after, five more died. The two other showpieces of the sport’s Triple Crown series, the Preakness in May and the Belmont in June, were also marred by deaths on the track that horrified spectators and intensified pressure on racing officials to reckon with the problem.

The New York Times reporters Joe Drape, Melissa Hoppert, Rachel Abrams, and Liz Day investigate the fateful period that threw the sport into crisis and left fans wondering why so many horses, supposedly in peak physical condition, are breaking down so frequently.

With confidential documents and recordings and exclusive interviews, “Broken Horses” provides a vivid tour of the business and political forces that control the Sport of Kings and resist measures to implement changes that could decrease horse deaths. It is a story of reckless breeding and doping, of compromised veterinarians and trainers, and of fans who are drawn to the sport’s beauty and pageantry but increasingly wonder how long one of America’s oldest sports can continue to have its social license renewed.

Executive Producers are Esther Dere, Jason Stallman, Liz Day, Sam Dolnick, Stephanie Preiss, Ken Druckerman and Banks Tarver. Dere also serves as the Showrunner of The New York Times Presents. Rachel Abrams is Senior Producer.

The New York Times Presents, a series of standalone documentary films powered by the unparalleled journalism and insight of journalists at The New York Times, is produced by The New York Times and Left/Right. Among the series’ acclaimed features are “The Killing of Breonna Taylor,” the Emmy-nominated “Framing Britney Spears” and “Controlling Britney Spears,” “Malfunction: The Dressing Down of Janet Jackson” and the recent feature “How to Fix a Pageant.”

The New York Times Presents is produced by the same team responsible for the FX and Hulu docuseries The Weekly, which won four News & Documentary Emmy Awards, an Overseas Press Club award, and its reporting on how a predatory lending scheme had corrupted the taxi industry in New York and elsewhere was part of a body of work that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

With more than 1,700 journalists who have reported from over 160 countries since 2019, The Times publishes about 150 pieces of journalism each day, including exclusive reporting on topics ranging from politics to culture to climate to sports to business. The New York Times Presents will continue to tell those stories in a visual and unforgettable way.