The following racehorses were casualties on American tracks last week:
Tuesday
Bodacious Bets, Fairmount, race 5, vanned off
Summa Cum Boom, Parx, race 3, confirmed dead
Stonesthrowaway, SunRay, race 5, vanned off
Wednesday
See the Music, Belmont, race 7, confirmed dead
Thursday
Frenchy the Reb, Charles Town, race 2, vanned off
Charlotte’s Girl, Charles Town, race 7, “came back bleeding from the nose”
Motion in Potion, Prairie Meadows, race 2, vanned off
Stadtpark, Santa Anita, race 4, confirmed dead
Friday
That’s No Limit, Belmont, race 9, bled
Lady Pilot Point, Delta, race 3, bled
Strong Alex Cat, Golden Gate, race 3, vanned off
Twofold, Indiana, race 1, bled, DNF
Goingoingone, Ruidoso, race 10, vanned off
Saturday
TTT Dark Diamond, Arapahoe, race 3, vanned off
Static Kill, Arlington, race 5, vanned off
Fool Me Once, Canterbury, race 5, vanned off
Youcancountonme, Delaware, race 3, vanned off
Bb Cc Quik Wagon, Delta, race 7, vanned off
Reflective Glory, Emerald, race 6, confirmed dead
Binding Peace, Gulfstream, race 6, vanned off
Sure Fire First, Los Alamitos, race 4, vanned off
Eric the Ram, Louisiana, race 1, vanned off
Courageous Dancer, Parx, race 2, vanned off
Dynastys First Call, Ruidoso, race 7, vanned off
Big Note, Santa Anita, race 2, confirmed dead
Kris the Great, Santa Anita, race 6, “bleeding from the nostrils,” vanned off
Sunday
Flying to the Dash, Arapahoe, race 7, vanned off
Fleet Fire, Churchill, race 1, vanned off
Notability, Churchill, race 5, vanned off
Street Rat Crazy, Los Alamitos, race 3, vanned off
Loooch’smachoman, Louisiana, race 3, vanned off
Halie’s Wild, Parx, race 6, “ridden back to the unsaddling area lame”
Irish Humor, Pimlico, race 3, “returned bleeding”
Value Trap, Prairie, race 3, vanned off
Valle Vidal, Ruidoso, race 11, vanned off
Can you tell me why horses that are destroyed during a race are still claimed at the end of the race? Reflective Glory, for instance, was claimed for $2,500 for the race that killed her.
Charlotte, the claims come before the race. Winnings, should there be any, go to the seller, but ownership transfers once the race is completed.
So it’s just another gamble. Is the buyer obligated to go through with the purchase anyway? Sorry for the dumb questions – I worked in the racing world a long time ago, and I don’t remember the rules of claiming.
No if the horse is injured or dies the claimee is not required to put forth the money for the claiming price. If the horse has an injury that displays later after the race, then it is the new owners’ issue. Essentially if the horse does not present as obviously lame after a race, ownership is transferred. Occasionally a new owner can file to have a claim voided if there seems to be an act of representational deception on the part of the party entering a horse in a claiming race, but that varies from state to state. California changed its claiming procedures last year and due to the changes in their regulations 19 claims were rescinded after the examination of the horses in question. There was a precedent setting case in California last fall where a purchaser was actually allowed to have his claim voided months after the claim due to the soundness of the horse in question.
Here’s the basic rules:
https://www.toba.org/owner-education/claiming.aspx
Here’s a DRF article on California’s rule changes to Claiming
http://www.drf.com/news/california-horse-racing-board-voided-claims-19-new-rule-took-effect
All that being said, personally I want claiming racing to be abolished and work for this to happen. I know I have about as much chance of stopping the “claiming carousel” as I do of winning the Nobel Prize but I keep agitating. No horse deserves to keep going from barn to barn, having to deal with new people, new regimens, changed medications and changed feed at the whim of a racing schedule. Patrick writes frequently of the abject cruelty that can occur with horses stuck running at the claiming level. We do claim horses on occasion through certain trainers, only to retire them.
Thank you, Susan.
Susan Crane-Sundell, isn’t that a California rule?? I am not aware of other jurisdictions with soundness rules. I don’t pay a great deal of attention because I don’t claim horses, but I do believe most places if the gate opens you claimed the horse …
THIRTY-ONE horses vanned off, lame, or dead…in SIX DAYS! And I didn’t include those that JUST bled! And who can support this? My god, I am so sorry for each and every one of these sensitive horses that suffered pain and anxiety when their bodies could no longer take the stress of this “sport”. HOW is this OK? “It’s just part of the game”, they say. Unbelievable. I doubt I will see the end of this barbaric industry in my lifetime, but SOME DAY, people will look back and shake their heads in disbelief that our “civilized society” allowed such abuse to these magnificent creatures. Some day.