According to the stewards at Churchill, the following “claims” – sales – were voided because the horses in question came back injured/unsound in one way or another:
Jun 5 (all in the same race):
Happymac
Huntertown
Voodoo Zip (noted to have “bled”)
Jun 7:
Sant’ Antimo
Also on the 7th, Rackataptap “returned lame and required the horse ambulance.” The chart, by the way, said nothing of this.
At Delaware Park, say the stewards, 3-year-old Turbo Millie was scratched by the regulatory vet Thursday because she was “lame in the post parade.” Which means, of course, that unless she was injured then and there, she had been presented to go under the whip that day already lame. Her trainer as of her last race: Andrew Simoff.
Among the weekly whipping rulings from the harness world, were the following. (In all but one case, the offender received but a paltry fine.)
May 27, Oak Grove: “While driving Swiss Bank Hanover, Roy Marohn used the whip in an indiscriminate manner.”
Jun 7, Hoosier: “While driving Gerardo, Mike Peterson was found to have welted the horse.”
Jan 7, 2023 (this had been under appeal, hence the long lag), Freehold: “While driving J S Peyton, Jacob Stillwell did strike [horse] with his driving whip leaving marks on the rear.” Fine: $1,000; suspension: 10 days. (Contrast this with above Indiana ruling.)
Jun 10, Oak Grove: “While driving Stun Gun, Shae Vandervort used his whip in an excessive manner through the stretch.”
Then this:
Oct 28, 2023, Shenandoah: “John McNeil III is fined for excessive use of the whip in the stretch while driving NeedArocket.”
Jun 8, Vernon: “John McNeil III [yes, same guy] is hereby fined for excessive use of the whip while driving Ponderance.”
The names given to many of these poor horses are repugnant! Can`t at least the racing people at least give there horses decent names that at least reflect the horses colors or personality? When naming horses in the past the old family breeders we knew & worked for always tried to give their horses names that reflected events or past family members. An old retired air force officer always gave his horses decent names such as Five O Wonder , Fighter Sweep ,Pat Landers etc. Pat was named after a good gardener the family had for many years. Five O Wonder was named after a house that used to be near Churchill Downs that many lower income riders & grooms lived all hoping they would become involved with the “Big” horse that would change their lives. Yes ,we remember almost all the good Thoroughbreds we had the opportunity to teach to be ridden. Miss those horses, the people much less so with few exceptions.
For whipping horses and running horses with lameness and unsoundness, these people should be doing time behind bars. Ten days in jail with no privileges would be too good for these morally depraved people.
Racing horses into the ground is not horsemanship; it’s abuse.