On July 9th, 5-year-old Coffee Man was vanned off after the 2nd at Mountaineer – this after averaging 25 lengths back over his previous five starts. He returned to finish last of 10 at Mountaineer on September 9th. He has not been heard from since. Trainer and owner team throughout this run, Virginia Demczyk/Rebecca Demczyk.
On July 19th, 7-year-old Storm Over Pawnee was vanned off after the 6th at Ruidoso. A month later, trainer/owner Paul Smith threw his charge into another claiming race at Ruidoso – last, 24+ back. He has not been heard from since.
On July 23rd, 8-year-old Carbonite was vanned off after a claiming race at Del Mar. A little over a month later, trainer/owner Robertino Diodoro raced him – and simultaneously put him up for sale again – at Canterbury Park. Carbonite finished second-to-last of 10, “never got into contention.” He has not been heard from since.
This is horseracing.
How are you so sure that these horses were not given away to pursue different careers?
The chances of that are pretty slim. Where do you think the thousands of Thoroughbreds that go to slaughter every year come from, Maggie ?.
Maggie,
Here is what I know for sure. Aprox. 150,000 horses are sent to slaughter houses every year.
Aprox. 10,000 of those horses are race horses.
Please see Patrick’s article on the subject if you have not already seen it.
“The study clearly demonstrates that an amount equal to 70% of the annual Thoroughbred foal crop on average, died at slaughter during the years 2004 through 2010.” In other words, in all likelihood, most retired Thoroughbreds are being slaughtered.”
http://horseracingwrongs.com/2014/08/18/in-all-likelihood-most-retired-racehorses-are-being-slaughtered/
Maggie,
Those are 150,000 American horses slaughtered every year.
4 million horses are being slaughtered around the world every year.
http://horseracingwrongs.com/2013/11/07/how-they-die/
Speaking of horse slaughter. here is the latest on that horrific subject.
February 18, 2015
EU ban does little to slow export of US horses
Dear Members,
Equine Welfare Alliance and Wild Horse Freedom Federation continue to monitor the shipment of horse meat from Mexico into the Port of Houston, and then on to other countries. There are two important reasons we are doing this. The first has to do with Texas statutes and the second is related to the recent EU decision to ban Mexican horsemeat.
Texas Ag. Code 149 is a 1949 law that makes the shipment of horse meat illegal in the state of Texas. This is the same law that in 2007 closed down the plants in Texas and the same law that made American Airlines cease shipping horse meat from the two Texas plants. Attorneys have researched the issue and believe that once again this state law is being broken.
An official AG’s opinion from the Texas Attorney General’s office is clear-cut: these shipments violate Texas law. We are working closely with the Harris County (Houston) District Attorney’s office to try to gain compliance.
[https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/opinions/49cornyn/op/2002/htm/jc0539.htm]
Secondly, the EU food safety ban of horse meat from Mexico took effect January 15. We have been carefully monitoring the shipments through the Port of Houston to determine the effect of the ban on the export of horse meat from Mexico. Since 87% of horses slaughtered in Mexico and shipped to the EU are American, we expected a sharp decline in shipments. This decline would logically be consistent with a sharp decline in the number of American horses exported from the US to Mexico for slaughter and shipment to the EU.
The number of US horses exported to Mexico for slaughter has gone down since the EU ban took effect, but not nearly as much as expected. USDA data shows that in the four weeks since the effective date of the ban, fewer horses have been shipped to Mexico from the US for slaughter compared to last year. However, the reduction thus far seems to be no more than 10% to 20%, far less than the hoped for 87%.
We must, however, realize that the plants may have had an order backlog with non-EU countries and that they could keep their volume up for a while by clearing this backlog. There are some indications that this may be at least partially the case given the most recent reports, but only time will tell.
The last shipments from Mexico prior to the EU ban were not scheduled to arrive in Antwerp until the 16th of February. All of the eight containers were shipped through the Port of Houston in violation of Texas law. Intermeats and Empacadora De Carnes De Fresnillo are listed as the shippers.
Questions remain. Has the EU food safety ban been fully implemented? What will be its longer term impact on the export of US horses? Are other non EU markets taking the horse meat banned by the EU as unfit for human consumption?
What we do know is that two shipments were dispatched from Mexico in early February, after the effective date of the EU ban. The shipments from Empacadora De Carnes De Fresnillo were consigned to non EU countries, Russia and Vietnam. We anticipated continued exports to these two countries, as well as possibly Hong Kong, given pre-ban trade patterns.
Regarding Robertino Diodoro, trainer of Carbonite, the 2006 gelding that Patrick reported on in this post…here is a link from the Paulick Report of 2-15-2015 regarding Diodoro and his latest suspension;
http://www.paulickreport.com/news/people/diodoro-suspended-15-days-for-turf-paradise-fluphenazine-positive/
This link includes the information about Diodoro’s latest and FIFTH medication violation since 2013. His 2012 filly Freakin Amazing was given the human drug fluphenazine (brand name – Prolixin) which is an antipsychotic…it is NOT among the TWENTY-SIX DRUGS that are ALLOWED (imagine that). The little chestnut filly raced on December 27, 2014, at Turf and won…with fluphenazine in her system. Just think about this!…she’s not even three years old yet, is being raced with a not-yet-developed musculoskeletal system, AND she’s being drugged with an antipsychotic. RACING SUPPORTERS!…care to comment?
So Diodoro gets a whopping 15 DAYS suspension for his violation…and his assistants merely take over his stables at Turf and Oaklawn. What a deterrent.
But back to poor Carbonite, the Diodoro-trained gelding that was a DNF in July, 2014 then raced again – poorly – on August 28, 2014 and hasn’t been seen since. Carbonite made nearly a half-million dollars during his enslavement and was a MSW. But of course, that wasn’t enough for the slave-drivers…in his last race, with bute and Lasix in his system, blinkers and leg wraps in place, Carbonite ran with a $6250 price tag on his head and made $125. And for a cheating, illegal drug-administering, scumbag of a “trainer” – Diodoro. Google this loser…it will make you sick.
Yes there are a lot of race horses ending up in slaughter, unfortunately. However I know that there are a lot that are found homes off the track which people “rescue” and then come to realize that they cannot handle nor care for said horse. I have found that there are a lot of people who jump at this opportunity to “rescue” an OTTB without giving it as much thought as they should and end up finding themselves in an impossible situation of not having enough knowledge to care for these types of horses and without the ability to get any value out of reselling they simple cut their ties and send it to an auction. Race tracks and many organizations with the help of trainers and owners throughout North America are trying to change where these horses go when they retire from racing, although it is a slow process efforts are being made one step at a time.
That being said i dont want to start an argument, just with me being in this industry I find all your information very one sided. What about the horses that are retired from racing after a couple of starts cause they show no interest in racing and are found great loving homes by the very people that trained them to race?
Yes we have bad people in our industry, but name me one part of the horse industry that doesn’t! Yes we have injuries, but so do the other industries involved with horses. Yes we have trainers that continually get positive tests, again so do the other horse industries, but they are left alone to quietly continue their business. Seems a little unjust.
Yes, Maggie, many horses (like cats and dogs) find themselves in horrific hoarding or neglect situations, which is every bit as bad – and can easily be worse – than slaughter. As for those you say find good homes, let their people speak up when I have them listed as missing. Finally, you are also correct about the exploitation/abuse in other “disciplines.” For me, it’s all wrong.
Maggie,
I am sure that there are good people that love their race horses. that is not the issue here. The issue is horse abuse that is rampant in the racing industry
I agree with you that This website is One sided .
It is completely on the side of horses and stopping the abuse of horses.
This is the Only website that I have found that is devoted to stopping horse racing.
This is the Only website that I have found that is taking the time to report the deaths and injuries of racehorses.
.
These horses are being forced to race at an age when their bodies are not yet developed and therefore
should not be forced to raced at all.
There are many other websites out there that have as their goal the promotion and expansion of racing.
there is a television channel (HRTV) that is dedicated to racing and to those who want to expand racing.
For an extra 50.00 a month, you can watch horses get forced to race all day every day.
There is something terribly wrong with an industry and the people that run it that brings in billions of dollars and then slaughters the majority of the horses that have helped generate that money.
There is something that is terribly wrong with an industry that drugs their horses with Lasix.
http://horseracingwrongs.com/2014/09/21/dont-sweat-a-little-bleeding-in-the-lungs/
There is something terribly wrong with an industry that beats their horses that are the equivalent of 6 year old children to make them run faster when they are exhausted.
http://horseracingwrongs.com/category/horse-anatomy/
A reminder from equine vet Kraig Kulikowski:
“A two year old horse is the equivalent to a six year old human. Neither species is mentally or physically mature at this age. Asking a six year old human to be exploited as a professional athlete for economic gain would be considered inhumane. Exploiting juvenile horses for economic gain is equally inhumane. They are subject to permanent mental and physical trauma that, in too many cases, is catastrophic and even fatal.”
http://horseracingwrongs.com/category/whipping/
http://horseracingwrongs.com/category/slaughter/
http://www.wildforlifefoundation.org/Case_Study_U.S._Thoroughbreds_Slaughtered_2002-2010-WFLF.pdf
http://horseracingwrongs.com/category/horseracing-business/
Albert Einstein said, “The indifference, callousness and contempt that so many people exhibit toward animals is evil first because it results in great suffering in animals, and second because it results in an incalculably great impoverishment of the human spirit.”
Maggie,
One more post that i think is worth pointing out today is on the subject of gambling at the race track.
Patrick has spent countless hours of his time reporting on these abuses and I am very grateful to him for his service to horses. He loves all animals but this specific website is devoted to the facts surrounding horses at the track.
He has many informative articles on this website in the archives including the following:
http://horseracingwrongs.com/2013/11/13/sports-have-fans-horseracing-has-gamblers/
This article was written by Patrick
“David Willmot, former CEO of Woodbine Entertainment Group (owner of the prestigious Woodbine Racetrack), gave a 2001 speech on the then-state of Ontario Horseracing (which has since taken a significant turn for the worse). With uncommon candor, at least for horseracing, Willmot, a racing-executive legend, shatters horseracing’s greatest myth:
“During the first month that I was CEO, I had a meeting with about eight or ten of our biggest gamblers. During our discussion, I used the word ‘fan,’ and talked about our ‘fans.’ And one of these guys looked at me and said, ‘Don’t insult me.’ I said, ‘Well, what do you mean?’ He said, ‘I am not a fan of anything that you or your rich friends do around here. And don’t call me a ‘patron’ either, because I’m not a patron. I am a gambler. …And you think the only reason we are here is to watch you, your friends, and your brown furry animals enjoy your elitist activity.’”
Mr. Willmot concedes: “The truth of the matter is, racing is a gambling business 99.8 percent of the time and a sport the other point-two percent. A $20,000 claimer on a Thursday afternoon is not a sport.”
To the gambler who drives racing, the horse is inconsequential beyond that day’s program; any fleeting emotional bond is the same felt for a blackjack card.
So please spare us talk of ambiance, tradition, the beauty of equines in full stride, and competitive athletes honing their craft.
People don’t go to the racetrack for any of that. Horseracing is no more sport than taking a quarter to a scratch-off. It is unadulterated gaming, nothing more, nothing less. Problem is, VLTs have no bones to shatter, roulette wheels no carotids to slash. Gambling in and of itself is not immoral. Gambling on the backs of suffering horses is.”