3-year-old Bayview Drive, trained by Jeff Mullins and owned by Cellist Racing, is dead after breaking down in yesterday’s 10th race at Del Mar. He is the 13th horse to die at that storied track in the past month. In his penultimate start on July 26th – the one that saw J Kat crumple – Bayview finished 10th of 11. Oh, and by the way, this kill came on the Polytrack. What to blame it on now?
The number of deaths is staggering. What more evidence do they need?
This is cruelty and should be stopped!
If it is not the track then it must be the “bad step” which is just one more excuse from racing’s arsenal of excuses.
RIP Bayview Drive.
Patrick, they are so young. It’s terrible – but is the racing industry listening? You must be the most wonderful embarrassment for them. Keep going !
I absolutely will, Linda.
What to blame it on, Patrick? We can hear it now…a “bad step” or “just one of those things in racing”. And I bet they’re all so sad at the loss of this young colt…until the next day when another youngster fills his stall.
Bayview Drive, we know you lived, and died. The racing industry wants nothing more than to keep the suffering and death of its “athletes” undisclosed, but the veil of secrecy is coming down and the realities of this gambling industry are being exposed. Let’s all continue to see racing to its demise!
Go ahead and try to make a demise out of this sport, it won’t happen.
The sport will do it itself !
Oh we won’t be the ones to cause this gambling industry that chews horses up and spits them out on a daily basis to die, “Britt”…horseracing is already experiencing a slow but sure death ALL ON ITS OWN. We are just pleased spectators of this long-overdue death and will continue to educate the public concerning the atrocities the industry attempts to hide. Have you not heard? Racing’s fan base is declining every year, and numerous racing entities are scrambling to change the growing and aware public’s “perception” of horseracing. Too late! There are too many other opportunities for gamblers to get their fix, and injured, dead, and slaughtered racehorses don’t have to be the “playing cards”!
Go ahead and be as pleased as you wish, I will continue to be a strong supporter of this sport
How incredibly tragic that someone can be a “strong supporter” of an entertainment industry that kills more than 24 horses a week. In addition, to support an industry that sends countless numbers of their “athletes” to be butchered in slaughterhouses! You are simply a “strong supporter” of animal abuse.
Racing is killing itself. The lack of horsemanship, integrity, and intelligence of TB trainers is appalling. Aside from keeping up with the latest drugs, racetrack “knowledge” is extremely poor.
I have animals that are spoiled rotten, I am an animal rights advocate as well…in no way am I supporter of animal abuse. Does this industry need changes? Yes. Is it abuse? Some may see it as so, I’ve just always seen it as normal. Is getting rid of the industry the only answer? No, abuse will always be present in some way, shape or form. Please don’t call me out on being an animal abuser, that is the furthest from the truth.
‘NORMAL” ! What, pray tell, is normal about what goes on in the horseracing industry? The horses are pushed to the limit, drugged and sore joints are injected. They go from barn to barn and trainer to trainer in the ugly claiming game. And, if they survive, they are trucked to slaughter. Plus, right from the beginning the foals are taken from their mothers too soon, then later pumped up on steroids for the sales, which is so very detrimental to bone development.
And lets not forget, the horse languishes in a stall 23 hrs. out of 24 and, as a consequence, develops physical and psychological problems because that lifestyle, alone, is so abnormal.
Then, of course, there is the visible carnage at the tracks on a daily basis. And all this is “normal” !!
Accepting racing as it is, as normal, is racing’s problem. Those involved, and I have a trainer’s license, need to step into the present and stop saying it’s normal. Slavery used to be normal, women not voting used to be normal. Lots of things used to be “normal” that does NOT make them right.
Britt, you declare yourself an animal rights advocate, yet, you state your passionate support for the horse racing industry which has a world wide reputation for shocking animal cruelty.
Here in Australia we’ve been successful in exposing the cruelty eg. slaughter, whipping, etc. on national television and in the media. Many of the public were unaware of the dark side of racing but now they have been informed. You cannot defend the indefensible.
Ok, fair argument, I will agree. Let me express a little of my point of view though. Here in the States there is a constant battle that I face, pit bull fighting. Although not necessarily the same kind of abuse as you say horse racing is, it is still cruelty. Every time a dog fighting operation is uncovered it is widely publicized by the media, everyone knows of he horrors that are uncovered. In this case the public is all too aware of the atrocities hat go on behind closed doors in these cases. Yet, pit bulls are still being bred, still being fought and I am still fighting to make this stop. Even though the public is made aware of what happens in the “dark side” of horse racing does not mean it will necessarily stop. I am constantly trying to improve the sport in any way I can, I want to see it flourish in this day and age. I do think shedding some light on this side will help in a way to make it better, but by no means shall it go away.
Rose,
Normal, for me, is what I have been exposed to in the racing industry. I know all too well of what can happen and it sickens me as much as it does you, I want changes to happen, but I don’t want this sport to fade into the background. The “good” people in racing are few and far between and I believe, in order for this sport to improve upon itself, alot of changes need to be made, not including getting rid of the sport altogether.
What I have been exposed to in horse racing has been nothing but positive, my friend and his partner own a small stable of 3-4 racehorses and they usually have one horse entered at a time per month. None of them are over raced, none of them are given illegal drugs to enhance their performance, when they aren’t fit to run they don’t run. They don’t stay at the track full time, when they aren’t racing or working out, they stay on a friends nearby farm where they can be turned out into pasture to just be a horse. What I see whenever I visit them, are happy, healthy, content racehorses…they loved to be scratched, groomed and fed peppermints. Their eyes are bright, they are sound and they are happy. When they are finished with their racing careers the time is taken to find them a good life in a permanent home to spend the rest of their lives in. If that home doesn’t work out, my friend will take them back and keep them until another permanent home is found. If all racehorses had this kind of life, your view of the sport may be a little different.
As with my statement above, I am totally against dog fighting, as much as you guys are against horse racing. The dogs are forcibly bred to produce litters of puppies, then these dogs are trained to tear each other up in a ring for profit…wagers are being taken on which dog will emerge victorious from the fight. Alot of dogs are killed for the pure enjoyment of gambling…if one dog doesn’t live up to its expectations it is killed in a violent manner. And as most of you all know, dog fighting has been exposed many, many times through the media, the word has gotten out. Yet, this continues and the punishments are no where near in line with the consequences. It infuriates me that this continues to happen. But this goes to show, that even with exposure, it won’t necessarily put a halt to the cruelty.
The problem is almost everyone SAYS they want change – but no one steps up and does anything. TB racing is filled with cowards and cheats. There are good people who do not abuse their horses, but they too are cowards. And the HBPA is archaic and should go away. It is bad from top to bottom, Racing Commissions to trainers and jockeys. Eveyone is so afraid they will lose $$ and jobs. No different than those who went along with Hitler. Sheep. Sheep. And before you ask what I am doing, I am raising a colt by Bullet Train to start racing at 5. He was born in a herd, lives in a herd 24/7, has never gotten any drugs, is and will continue to be barefoot, Race drug-free after being conditioned properly and learning what his job is. I LOVE horse racing, but it needs to go back to being a sport, not an industry. And it can only be saved from inside.