A recent Daily Racing Form article ran this headline: “Horse fatalities decline at California tracks.” At first blush, positive news. But… Turns out, while fatalities dropped 5% from ’12-’13 to ’13-’14, there were also “across-the-board declines in race days, starters, and number of races.” Although I’m not a mathematician, seems to me that fewer horses racing should engender fewer kills. And how many horses, exactly, did perish on California tracks last year? 199 (including 52 at hallowed Santa Anita). 199. Still, they boast, “fatalities declined.” Finding a silver lining in the wholly unnecessary destruction of intelligent, sensitive creatures? This is horseracing.
disgraceful and should be investigated…J
Even 1 death is too many, but 199 poor babies is tragic and horrifying. The racing industry could care less about these beautiful, magnificent creatures. Just look at what they did by getting rid of many of the tracks racing on synthetic surfaces, which proved to be somewhat safer for the horses to run on than dirt. They got rid of them because the so-called horseman complained synthetic was not as fast as dirt. Better for the horses so they got rid of the synthetics to please the horsemen. What a travesty. Not caring about the throughbred will be their undoing, and not soon enough. Marlene Thornley
Just to clarify, the racing industry “got rid of the synthetic surface of the track, because the horsemen complained that the synthetic was not as fast as dirt. However, there were less breakdowns on the synthetic surface and it was somewhat better for the horse than racing on dirt”. Of course, the horse lost out again. There was an article published in the Daily Racing form in the summer, of all the tracks converting from synthetic surface back to dirt. Marlene Thornley
Speaking of terrible animal abuse.
I just paid 19.95 for a year subscription so I could watch portions of the sled dog race in ALaska that has reached the 1/2 way point..
There are dogs that have already been dropped out of the race.
The dogs have ice on their faces.
This is such blatant abuse and cruelty.
http://iditarod.com/videos/checkpoints/
By not disclosing the fact that there were less races with less horses racing compared to previous years, they are not only being deceitful but also trying to fool the public which they’ve done for decades. However, the public are becoming more and more informed and made aware as to what really goes on behind the scenes with these noble horses suffering abuse and cruelty day in day out. It is mega-cruelty.