It's a horse, people

Listening to the radio yesterday morning, I heard some newsbite about the upcoming Kentucky Derby and someone mentioned the Barbaro Memorial Fund. Donations are encouraged to help aid the research of laminitis, the hoof disease that plagued Barbaro.
I can get behind any charity that helps ease suffering. Even more so if it's for humans. But having had pets I can understand the attachment to animals. But aren't racehorses typically owned by the rich? You don't hear too much about people choosing between feeding their horse and their family, do you? So shouldn't that research money come from those deep pockets rather than approaching average joes who simply think horses are pretty?
Frankly, I'd rather see donations go to the Red Cross or Cancer Research. Than to help a race horse. Wouldn't that disease have claimed them in the wild anyways?