A dam apparently named Open Window (the Gaming Commission seems a bit uncertain) died at Aqueduct on June 4th of an “apparent cardiovascular event…after breezing on the main track.” The State categorized this as a training death – Gary Contessa, trainer – though I’m not sure what she was training for. In any event, she is a racing casualty.
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Doesn’t this seem like an obvious case of overrunning. That is a violation of every state’s cruelty laws. This should not be allowed to go by the way. Breezing is not something a horse just does – unless of course it is being chased by a helicopter, like the wild horses are. Domestic TBs spend most of their time in box stalls or, if lucky, a small field or paddock. That is no preparation for flat out running for any length unless some conditioning was allowed. What is the procedure? Are the race tracks immune from state cruelty laws?
“Doesn’t this seem like an obvious case of overrunning.” <– no. From that little blip, there is absolutely not enough information to draw any type of conclusion about the circumstances.
"Domestic TBs spend most of their time in box stalls or, if lucky, a small field or paddock. That is no preparation for flat out running for any length unless some conditioning was allowed." <– "SOME" conditioning…. these are racehorses! They spend much of their time in their stalls or a small paddock to rest up , because they work their butts off at 5 am and are in general the fittest horses on the planet. There are no racehorses out there allowed to run that aren't conditioned. At least not in the TB world. Have you ever actually seen a fit, on the track Thoroughbred? They are nothing but muscle and hormones. They are so fit, they usually need 6 months of down time after they are done racing just to become normal horses. These "domestic" TB's are not your show hunter, or trail horse – these are hard working race horses that usually get conditioning work 4-6 days a week.
"What is the procedure? Are the race tracks immune from state cruelty laws? " What "procedure"??? Again you are making assumptions that this horse died from some kind of neglect or abuse? Apparent cardiovascular event – the horse had a heart attack, her heart ruptured, or she had an aneurism. This happens every day in the horse world. Some where out there, someone just found their tried & true trail horse dead in a stall from an aneurism.
Recently, a world class breeding Frisian, Anne 340 Sport died of an aneurism in his stall, Monday I believe, or it was last weekend. I have personally witnessed show hunters heading out to turnout – playing around and then crashing to the ground dead with no warning.
Hickstead, a famous jumper stallion died just moments after finishing a course a couple years ago. Another top level dressage horse died during his dressage test in front of a pack stadium.
Sometimes, there are things wrong a horse that you just don't know about until it happens. Having been around horses for over 20 years, I would not assume "the worst" just because this incident relates to racing, breezing, and death. Even fit people drop dead of heart attacks at age 35 while they're jogging.
It is just life.
WHAT?…RIP Open Window…