This weekend’s casualties:
Friday
Ferrari One, Calder, race 5, vanned off
Terrific Treasure, Churchill, race 6, vanned off
Interest Please, Evangeline, race 4, vanned off
Nava Nataly, Golden Gate, race 6, vanned off
Power Boots, Indiana, race 7, “stumbled badly,” DNF
Saturday
Karla With a K, Arlington, race 8, vanned off
Shakin It Up, Belmont, race 9, vanned off
Sweet Teri K, Belterra, race 4, broke down
Stormin City, Charles Town, race 7, vanned off
Tiger Mike, Fairmount, race 3, vanned off
Lemon Sundae, Finger Lakes, race 1, confirmed dead
Tebows Big Play, Golden Gate, race 9, confirmed dead
Adriatic Son, Golden Gate, race 9, fell, DNF
Storm Haboob, Gulfstream, race 5, vanned off
Swilcan Burn, Indiana, race 3, bled
Tricky Ricardo, Indiana, race 5, vanned off
Really a Hero, Eastern Oregon, race 2, vanned off
Stormdefrere, Penn, race 3, confirmed dead
Devil’s Mistress, Penn, race 4, bled, DNF
Between Dreams, Presque Isle, race 7, fell, DNF
Here It Tiz, Ruidoso, race 2, vanned off
A First Class, Ruidoso, race 6, collapsed after wire, vanned off
Tomorrows Wildcat, Suffolk, race 5, heat stroke, vanned off
Sunday
Old World Order, Belterra, race 8, vanned off
Fiaker, Louisiana, race 6, “took a bad step,” hit the rail, DNF
Lobo Del Norte, Parx, race 5, confirmed dead
X Country Girl, Parx, race 7, confirmed dead
Hurting these horses, for the love of money! Why doesn’t someone put numbers on these owners, whip them and have them race around the track? Injured or not!
Another TWENTY-SEVEN horses. Each week, Patrick’s lists are around those numbers…when I do count them, there are anywhere between 25-35 horses…usually in the lower-thirties. EVERY SINGLE ONE of those horses has a story….a breeder who hoped for a KD winner, an owner who was proud and hopeful, a trainer who took a fee and was responsible for that horse’s welfare and very life…groom, exercise rider, jockey…all of them getting a cut of that horse having to “earn his/her keep”. And WHAT did the horse get for putting his/her life on the line?
Plenty of blame to go around too. The breeders breed for speed and the trainers put horses in route races when the horses are not bred for stamina. You get breakdown. Then you have trainers who feed horses Lasix but on race day take it away, you then get bleeding horses.
If anyone has an acre of land or more and would like to help an aging racehorse to live out his life peacefully, please contact a reputable Horse Retirement Foundation. Finger Lakes and Suffolk Downs each has a retirement adoption service. Let’s all help a horse.