BALTIMORE — Once again, the sport of kings has failed to recreate history.

Orb finished fourth in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, becoming the latest Kentucky Derby winner to fail to complete a Triple Crown. So the horse racing industry will limp into the Belmont Stakes next month with nothing on the line except pageantry and faded tradition.

Critics of racing often focus on issues surrounding the treatment of animals. But before those issues can be adequately addressed, the industry must appoint a single leadership figure to standardize rules and regulations covering every facet of the industry — including the horses on which it is built.

This splintered industry, with its many organizations and committees, continues to lack the leadership of a strong central figure.

Despite the spectacle and the tradition of the Triple Crown races, the racing industry is trudging toward an uncertain future. Never has a sport seemed so fiercely determined to spite itself, with factions holding onto power rather than galvanizing the industry.