The following athletes were killed on American playing fields yesterday:
In Aqueduct’s 5th, 4-year-old Princes On Thelake “came under urging at the five-sixteenths, broke down nearing the quarter pole falling heavily to the track and was euthanized.” This was the Eduardo Jones-trained filly’s second race in a week. Curiously, the replay of the 5th – and only the 5th – is missing on NYRA’s website.
In Finger Lakes’ 7th, 4-year-old Carla Sweetrevenge “dueled for the lead early, dropped back along the rail…gained and then broke down and fell a furlong out.” Euthanized. The trainer was Jeremiah Englehart.
In Turf’s 1st, 2-year-old Sweet Strider, being raced for the first time, “pressed early then was pulled up in distress…euthanized.” The trainer was Jerry Gourneau.
And finally, in Delta’s 8th, 3-year-old Precocious Kitty “chased the early pace from the inside, was pulled up entering the second turn and euthanized.” “Pulled up and euthanized.” Earl Bankston trained.
Sport? Good, clean family fun?
To those who wager on horseracing, we implore you to reconsider. And ultimately, you hold all the cards: no more bets, no more races; no more races, no more kills. And, no more separating foals and moms, no more abusing unformed bodies, no more confining, no more whipping, no more drugging, no more doping, no more buying and selling and trading and dumping. No more auctions, no more kill-buyers, no more transport trucks, no more abattoirs. No more pain, no more suffering. No more.
In a landscape that abounds with other gambling options – casinos, lotteries, real sports involving autonomous human beings – hasn’t the time at long last arrived to let the racing horse be? You, the bettor, have within the capacity for mercy. We ask only that you exercise it. Please. For the horses.
In every instance the horse was getting beaten by the whip. They sugar-coat it with the word “urging.” People don’t be blind – look. Urging is whipping, which is beating. This is the only industry that gets away with blatant horse abuse on national T.V with ZIPPO repercussions unless, of course, you consider the horse dying. Most of us care for these voiceless slaves for that $2 bet. The horse Racing Commissions that are supposed to be looking out for their well-being are either looking the other way or just don’t care because many of these horses shouldn’t be running so frequently, and certainly shouldn’t be allowed to enter. The racehorse is being let down by those who are supposed to be looking out for them. With the increases of purses to the doping, cheating, dumping, and Kill Auctions it’s abundantly clear that horse racing isn’t worth the cost it takes to produce it. The racehorses pay with their lives and so do the people who work in the industry sometimes. Our society would do very well without horse racing. That’s why I fully support an end to this antiquated circus #stophorseracing
I saw the replay of the race at Aqueduct. Princes On Thelake fell and didn’t get back up. I thought the horse had a heart attack at first but I watched the race again and you could see the broken leg (appeared broken at the knee) when she rolls over. She had another horse fall over her but that one was okay. All jockeys came out of the race uninjured.