In the 2nd at Tampa Bay yesterday, says the chartwriter, Bench Boy “took a bad step at the wire and left the track in an ambulance.” Turns out, that “bad step” was fatal. Dead, at three. In addition, Uncle Zeb “fell past the wire when he ran into a faltering [Bench Boy].” While the chart…

The 5th at Gulfstream yesterday, in the cold, terse telling of the chartwriter: “Amor Lejano chased the pace four and five wide, took a bad step midway around the turn, pulled up [and according to other reports, fell] and was euthanized.” And that’s that. Amor was nine – nine – and this was his 43rd…

The NYS Gaming Commission has just recently relayed this for Wicked Improbable at Belmont last Friday: “horse collapsed near the 1/2 mile pole…euthanized at [hospital].” The horse in question was but three years old. Of note, the Commission describes the weather conditions that day as “cold” – obviously.

In a recent LTE to the Thoroughbred Daily News, founding board member of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance and still active horseman Reiley McDonald further exposed the sham that is racing “aftercare.” Here is some of what the Kentucky-based McDonald had to say: On Auctions: “Early on, the sales companies developed a mechanism whereby 0.05% of…