3-year-old This Guy Is Blue is dead after breaking down in yesterday’s 9th at Belmont. In a career that spanned 9 races – all under trainer John Kimmel and owners Chester and Mary Broman – the colt never once finished in the money. In fact, in two of his most recent five races, This Guy Is Blue finished 11th of 12, and in one of those, 28 lengths back.
Also, 3-year-old Michonne, who had been racing at Finger Lakes since April, is reported as “euthanized” at that track on July 4th. No other details have been provided. In her last start on June 23rd, the filly was said to have “slammed” into another horse at the start, information that may or may not be relevant to her death. Michonne was trained by Michael S. Ferraro and owned by J and M Racing Stables.
I’m not holding my breath for the truth about Michonne’s death. Did she injure herself hitting the rail, or did she break through the gate because she’d already injured herself and was mad from fear and pain? She had trouble at the start of her previous race, possibly because it was her second start in the month of June, and the 3YO filly was tired and body sore and likely suffering from the beginning of whatever injury led to her demise. The race which killed her (declared a non-starter) was TEN DAYS AFTER the race on 06/23/2014 where she had uncharacteristic trouble at the start, rushed to the lead and ended up running 5th. *Seventeen days earlier on 06/06/2013, she ran 2nd out of six in a $7.5K CLM, no problems at the start, a huge class drop from her previous start. *On 05/16/2014, she ran 5th out of five, chart says “through after half” in a $15K CLM, which is not surprising, seeing as how SHE RAN TWICE IN APRIL—HER RACES ONLY TEN DAYS APART—finishing 5th in an ALW on 04/29/2014 and 2nd on 04/19/2014 in a $15K CLM—SHE RAN TWICE IN MARCH—1st in a $12.5K MDN CLM on 03/28/2014, 3rd in a MDN CLM on 03/12/2014—ran 3rd on 02/08/2014—RAN TWICE IN JAUNARY, finishing 6th and 6th in a pair of MDN CLMs… With all due respect, on what planet is it okay to run a 3YO filly ten times in six months? After she hit the board five times in a row, why was it necessary to run her ten days later, then once in May and twice in June? And why in the name of all that is holy would any decent person run a 3YO filly ten days after the troubled trip she’d had on 06/23/2014? By the way, the warning signs for dead horse walking are all here—starting with the fact that they ran her into the ground after she’d hit the board five straight times… and the class drop. I’ve been studying racehorse fatalities for a long time, and the patterns are clear. I’m too tired and too angry at the way this filly was literally run to death to explain it all, but the charts don’t lie. Horses’ histories do not lie. In my opinion, this filly’s death was 100% predictable and 100% preventable, and trainer Michael Ferraro is responsible for her suffering: two fillies dead in the month of June 2014 alone tells me the truth about him as a trainer… I’m going to shut up. Not because I’m afraid Ferraro will sue me (oh how I wish one of them would so that we could collect confidentials and necropsy reports during the discovery process) but because one trainer running two fillies to death in one month is more than I can bear at this moment. Thanks, Patrick, for telling the truth.
Thank you, Linda.
Linda, thank you for speaking out in regards to this filly. I wish I could say that this was an isolated incident, but we know this happens all the time. What can be done to stop it? I encourage everyone I know to stop betting on the horses. However, more must be done. Any suggestions?