“Today was just so quiet. Looking over at the turf remembering that’s the spot where it happened and it’s all mangled up.” (Maxine Correa, exercise rider for trainer Nick Zito, Daily Racing Form, 8/27/13)
Ms. Correa’s somber tone comes from an accident that occurred yesterday at Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track. According to the DRF, Raymond Bulgado, a fellow Zito rider, suffered a broken neck when his mount, Ricochet Court, crumpled under the weight of two broken front legs. Mr. Bulgado remains at Albany Medical Center. The horse is dead. As of this writing, nary a word on the NYRA website. This is horseracing.
How sad for rider and horse. It is sooo frustrating to see how these tragedies are ignored in the industry. It is a shame.
My sincere well wishes to Mr. Bulgado and his family. I hope to read at some point that he is doing well and is on his way to a full recovery.
To Richochet Court, the “athlete” who never gave his consent to take part in this “sport”, you are dead and gone at the age of three…you were years yet from your prime.
To New York racing, are there not enough deaths yet??…is there NOW a sense of urgency on your part to stop this destruction and waste of life??
Richochet Court, always remembered.
I currently have horses and as a child dreamed of becoming a jockey they feel what we can only dream. But although I don’t think they should be ran so hard that young due to developing joints growth plates I know for a fact my horses would rather run, it’s true they say you can feel the enormous strength speed and grace you hear NOTHING but the hooves it’s as close to heavenly as I could imagine watch the way the horse struts when he has won tossing his head in cocky additude trots with powerful suspension he knows he kicked some @*£ and he loves it. They can’t tell Is what they don’t want us to do. But they can’t tell us they love it other than the body language that speaks volumes to those few that listen
RIP Ricochet Court, another wasted life! He did not have a chance, he had no choice, he was killed for $$, being just a baby developmentwise.
The rider had a choice, he picked his profession. He knew about the risks he would encounter.
Why do people continue to support horse racing? Drugs, breakdowns, sending horses off to slaughter when their productive days are over…..I am sick and tired of this. Stop supporting this horrific industry! Yes, horse racing is a sport for those that watch it but it isn’t a sport for the main players – the horses! Horse racing is a sinister and corrupt industry because it is a gambling industry. What part of that is so hard for people to understand?
Shame on you, its ridiculous to say a rider deserved to get hurt. Everything has risk. My whole family has been in racing and never once had we asked to get hurt. I love horses and yes i make a living by them, but last I checked they didnt have a family to come home to or worse not come home to.
That poor horse, Rider too! I adore horse and have a sassy lil one called Prince of my own, he is a darling and I would never think to enter him in any competition I go on rides with him only! He is sassy and sometimes partly aggressive, if I let him out with like 10 different horses, Prince would likely be killed or hurt and so would I, I hate the society for putting this forward! Prince is sassy and confident, like most horses they shouldn’t put it
Forward !!! You never know when a sassy, confident overly-exitced horse is near’! Like once me and
Prince we’re having a ride and a horse comes, Prince doesn’t think much till the horse gets whipped by his owner, I was annoyed that poor horse but Prince thought it was a calling so he tried to take me over, in the end I had to jump off and lead him to the field because of how overly-exitced he was!