Another day, another kill: 4-year-old American Hero is dead after breaking down while “practicing” at Belmont yesterday. He is the 24th horse to die on or at a NYS track this year. The complicit connections: Patrick Quick, Dream Team One Racing Stable, Aracri Stable & Breeding. This is horseracing.
25 Comments
Comments are closed.
Shared on 3 other FB PAGES. It’s the only way I know to get through to the world what is happening. Not that they care, comments are usually ” there are accidents in every sport” etc. But when I ask if same number of jockeys died in timeframe, no one says a word! Please Patrick, keep up the work.i don’t know how you have time, but the stats allow me to quickly post on other pages and have factual numbers when folks argue.
Thank you, Gale – and I’m not going anywhere.
Kathleen, on the surface, it does seem like a National Racing Commission would be a good idea but I don’t think it will ever happen.If it does, do you really think racing would then put the needs of the horse first? Also, I want racing to cease to exist. If racing goes away, a NRC wouldn’t be needed.
Gale, the pro-racing apologists always babble about accidents happening in other sports. I showed hunters for years and I NEVER saw a horse breakdown or snap a leg off…NEVER. The babbling is an attempt to deflect from the horrors of racing, plain and simple. Joy Aten has quoted Dr. John Stick, an equine orthopedic surgeon at Michigan State, who states that “speed kills”, and, if it doesn’t kill, it maims, sometimes beyond repair.
Gale, I think it’s important that we keep informing others of what is going on in the industry, and has from the beginning. It’s long overdue for the owners, trainers and also the jockeys to take responsibility for their actions. If you’re on Facebook, please share this information, and write to your representatives and Senators. I personally believe that a National Horse Racing Commission would be a step in the right direction, instead of each state making up their own rules/laws. Believe me, if human athletes were dying off like these poor horses, something would have been done a long, long time ago. Patrick is my hero.
Lisa,
I agree with you. If human athletes were dying like horses, this would have been stopped a long time ago.
Patrick is my hero, too. So is Joy, Mary, JoAnne Normille, Carolyn, Marlene. Gina, JoAnne Ward and Anyone else that has the courage to speak out and also anyone who rescues horses from being brutally mudered. They are my heroes, too.
I agree that A National Horse racing commission is a really good idea.
There is a group i recently discovered called ANIMAL ANGELS USA.
They have a website and a facebook page
They are doing investigations into HORSE ABUSE and HORSE SLAUGHTER in Canada and the US.
I get nauseous everytime I read your posts, Patrick. But the pain I feel is what every sane person should feel. There is something very wrong when a compassionate nation – with animal cruelty laws in place – would not be up in arms and run the perpetrators out of the country on a rail. That is the fight, many who respond to my posts are horrified, and more are responding every day. I alsopost to my Twitter account. Whatever you post Patrick is reposted and commented on with the proper prospective of caring. This poor horse – may he rest in peace.
Thank you.
I understand we’re you guys come from. Some stables do mistreat the horses. And it’s sad , but to knock down an entire sport due to the idiots who do harm the animals is bullshit, you and I both know accidents happen , we stop running track in the Olympics because a runner broke his ankle? ” ABUSE ! A PERSON BROKE AN ANKLE SO THATS ABUSE TO ALL HUMANS !? Football? Soccer? Any sport has its ups and downs and honestly some horses love running in circles , 24 deaths is sad but you need to decipher accident from abuse and I’m tired of all this screaming fire when you can put it out yourself , horses like Secretariat, Seabiscuit, War Admiral , Assualt ,Man O War , they raced lived a good life and died at respectable ages and they were some of the biggest names out there , and guess what? Because of publicity if they wanted to stay in the race , they ssinf mistreat animals , now Penny Chenery always took care of her horses , and they did wonders in return for her , so stop bitching and get your shit down pat, because stereotypes are bullshit
Where to begin with such density? First and foremost, your beloved sport is inherently nonconsensual, so any comparison to human sport is vacuous. Second, while you choose to emphasize the tiny fraction of elite, what of the thousands – yes, thousands – who are annually shackled, hung upside down, slashed, and bled-out? Summer (if that’s your real name – amazing how so many of the pro-racers cower behind pseudonyms), you keep your head buried firmly in the dirt; we’ll continue to speak for the voiceless.
Human athletes can speak up if they don’t want to do something. They can tell you if they’re being abused. Animals cannot tell us what they want. These horses can’t tell you that they don’t want to be whipped or tell you when they’re being pushed to their limits until they start to break down. They can’t tell you that they don’t want drugs in their system or that they don’t want bits and chains in their mouths. You assume that you’re not hurting them because they don’t fight you but just think… If you were in their position would you want to be whipped even if your giving your hardest?
No one is running their mouth here Patrick and everyone else are only stating the facts.
Hey, Summer, I always wonder why a pro-racing apologist, such as yourself, comes to an anti-racing site to attempt to “twist and spin” the truth. Also, you seem confused when you compare horseracing to human athletics such as football and soccer. Don’t humans CHOOSE to participate in those sports? Please correct me if I’m wrong but no one forces a human to play football at Paul Brown Stadium. Humans choose to do so and they get paid quite well to win games for the fans and the owners of the teams.
You say that horses love “running in circles”. Really? Why are whips needed if that is true? Do they love the drugs, both legal and illegal? What about the joint injections? Many of the breakdowns that Patrick reports on are horses that are 2, 3, and 4 years of age. Do you think those horses “love” dying in the dirt when they are still babies? Oh, and I’m sure they love being “disposed of” when their racing days are over. Just to bring you up to speed, I have brought many horses home from the track and, after the first couple of days, they barely break into a canter. Yep, that is the truth so I would assume that I have my “shit” down pat.
It is interesting that you mention Ms. Chenery. There is no doubt in my mind that she took excellent care of Secretariat and Riva Ridge. I would venture to guess it was because they were BIG money winners. In fact, those two horses “saved” Meadow Stable. I believe that Meadow Stable was in danger of going “belly up” around the time that Secretariat arrived on the scene. Now, I want to share a little story with you that I heard from a friend of mine. Bear in mind that I did NOT hear this from Chenery but from a friend. Chenery had a band of broodmares and she gave these broodmares five or six years to produce a “winner”. If a “winner” wasn’t produced, Chenery sent the mare to auction. Remember…the racing industry is all about the MONEY! Chenery couldn’t afford to provide for a unproductive broodmare so off the horse goes to an auction. I have no doubt that Chenery “got rid of” the horses that didn’t help her bottom line. She had to…she had a farm to “save”.
Now, dear Summer, it is time for you to stop your bitching and get your “shit” down pat. Oh, and please follow my suggestion that I have posted a couple of different times on Patrick’s blogs. Stop at a library, or bookstore, on your way home today, and pick up a dictionary and an English book on grammer. Learn how to put a sentence together that is grammatically correct. Got it?
Go Mary!!! A brilliant post in response to “Summer” who i suspect, given the last words in her comment, is fearful of the further damage being done to the racing industry’s already notorious reputation by the truths and facts being exposed on Patrick’s site.
Excellent post, Mary!
Actually Summer, we change entire sports because human athletes are injured. Look at how the major sports have changed due to what we now know about traumatic brain injury. This isn’t to suggest that the most critical point isn’t what Patrick and the others bring up, it is…the horses have no choice….but let’s put the call of bullshit where it belongs; squarely in that ridiculous argument that you and other apologists make.
Summer…did you REALLY SAY “some horses love running in circles”?!? I have to say, I struggled reading the rest of your comment because I was laughing hysterically at that one. But I’m glad I struggled through it…the Sea Biscuit, War Admiral, Chenery nonsense was even funnier! It’s not often we get such comic relief!
Summer, the reporting by Patrick of racehorse deaths, serious injuries and mistreatment are not isolated incidents which you are implying and unintelligently comparing with human athletes.
They are not accidents by the way, they are unacceptable incidents which occur as a result of horseracing. They are commonplace, they are constantly ongoing daily incidents and indicative of what goes on with these horses in the racing industry which has the audacity to call it a sport. People like Joy, Mary, Rose, Gina, Jo Anne Normile, Jo Ann Ward, and others and myself have had the personal experiences as to what these racehorses endure.
Therefore we are well qualified to make the comments that we do because we are armed with the truth and the facts. We have seen so much animal cruelty in the racing industry and we will continue to speak out for these voiceless, helpless, noble horses.
Summer, you are clutching at straws !
What you but forward as a defense is redicilous and you must know that at some level..
What do you do to stop, or at least, mitigate the mistreatment of horses at “some of the barns ” that you mentioned ? Do you just look the other way ? These people are the norm of this business. The Penny Chenerys are a rare exception and I guess they never enter a horse in a claiming race ?? !!!
PS Seabiscuit died at 14 which is still young for a horse but of course is “old” for a horse that endured as much as he did.
Rose, read my post where I talk about Chenery. I don’t think she is quite as wonderful as people think she is.
Thank you, Mary.
I’m not surprised re how Chenery ran her horse business. People in racing take care of their winners and even profess to “love” them. It is not difficult to see what they “love” is the money and fame. So many times, the “loved” horse is sold to the highest bidder and the winners on the decline are thrown to the wolves in the claiming game, especially when they are geldings.
The bottom line in the racing business is money. The horses are the losers and that includes the winners too . The classic example of that fact is, of course, Ferdinand.
It takes a thoroughbred that has naturally got what it takes to triumph in horseracing that makes a trainer look “good”. Many a time I’ve heard a trainer say if only an exceptional horse would just come into my stable and then I’m made. It never ceases to amaze me when a famous racehorse’s trainer is interviewed after his horse has won and audaciously laps up all the praises as though he himself has done something wonderful.
Carolyn, isn’t that the truth!…everyone clamors to get in the win picture, big smiles on their faces…and then there’s the spent horse, his sides heaving and body drenched with sweat. I have asked a few trainers just what exactly they do when training a racehorse. Their answers always came after a long pause…and the answers were quite vague. “Oh maybe I’ll add blinkers…run ’em longer…or shorter…you just have to try different things”. Just sounds like experimenting to me.
Exactly Joy. I was in charge of a filly that had won her first race and in the winning enclosure the trainer, owners and the representatives of the company that sponsored the race were very loudly rejoicing whilst photographers were busy with their cameras flashing away. And here she was seriously exhausted, gasping for breath, the tongue tie I could see had hurt her tongue so I got it off, got the blinkers off, she was dripping wet with sweat on a very hot day and all I could do was talk to her and scratch gently along that part of the mane that is nearest the wither which has apparently been scientifically proven that the horse relates to in a positive manner, some sort of communication with the human handler. I couldn’t even walk her around. She began to throw her head up in the air and got a bit fractious. I got fed up with this drawn out celebration when there was not one iota of consideration for this beautiful horse that had just won them heaps of money.
You know what Joy – she was INVISIBLE.
I just lost my cool and said “that’s enough, I’m taking her out the back to hose her down” and I just led her away with all those clowns with their mouths wide open and I just kept on walking away whilst the trainer was making excuses for my behaviour!
After hosing her down I was then able to walk her around for about 30 minutes which is vitally important for the horse after racing. Yet I would see some handlers hosing down, not fussy about scraping the water off and just walk from the hose bay to the tie-up stall and then horse is cross tied unable to move and for some of them it would be hours before they went home, waiting for a stablemate horse in the last race. Water offered but never ever any food (they’re trickle feeders) and no walking. It used to infuriate me.
On race day it is hellish for the horse whilst the people party on!
Carolyn…your ability to maintain composure during that instance (and the many others like them, I’m certain) was impressive. I’m sure other actions you would have liked to carry out were screaming in your head. Heartless, thoughtless, self-centered morons.
Yes, Carolyn, as we know, a good horse will make ANY trainer look good. The talent belongs to the horse not the trainer !