Two more dead horses in NY (from NYS Gaming Commission):
Wednesday, 3-year-old Miss Lucky Lauren broke her shoulder while training at Belmont. Prior to dying, Lucky Lauren was raced twice, both at Aqueduct this past February; in her last race, she “was reported to have bled.”
Saturday, 4-year-old Retaking, under the whip for the very first time, snapped an ankle at Finger Lakes (euthanasia came yesterday).
So far, 55 racehorses have lost their lives at NY tracks in 2015.
Again another death at AQUEDUCT THE DEATH TRACK!
MISS LUCKY LAUREN’s first start was in a claiming race – why would they want to get rid of her in
her very first start? Almost 4 weeks off then her second start and she bleeds and then has about 5 months off. Then they brought this 3 year old filly back into training at Belmont and she breaks a shoulder. One wonders how long it takes a vet to attend a horse with a broken shoulder when it’s not a race – this was in training. Is there a vet on duty with a lethal injection at the ready, no matter what time of the day it is?
According to equibase.com, her trainer, owner and breeder are as follows –
Trainer: Bruce R Brown
Owner: Cardinal Racing Stables
Breeder: Anthony Grey
And then we have RETAKING, a 4 year old gelding, having his very first race start at Finger Lakes on Saturday 11 July. This was a claiming race so, unless I have got it wrong, the connections wanted to be rid of him. According to equibase.com he placed 5th and there is no mention of his injury in the chart.
Apparently this horse “snapped an ankle” and, if I have understood correctly, he was in a bad way for about five (5) days and was euthanased on Thursday 16 July. Hmmm…. standing on 3 legs with the 4th leg seriously injured for so many days before being finally euthanased is a concern. Or, perhaps, they had him in a state of the art equine hospital where he was in a sling type set up to hold him up (like has been done in the past with very valuable racehorses) and injected with pain killers (only part pain relief).
According to equibase.com, his trainer, owner and breeder are as follows –
Trainer: Luis Gutierrez
Owner: Carlos V Dominquez
Breeder: Herbert & Carol Schwartz
Carolyn, thank you for your keen observations and deductions on these two (MORE!) deaths.
Retaking’s suffering is heart-rending to read about. Great thought – a sling to afford him some comfort and necessary assistance while living with a broken limb as he waited for the veterinarians to properly diagnose and come up with a treatment plan. But I can tell you, that’s not what happened. Finger Lakes is a cheap track with low-level horses and owners/trainers – Retaking was on his own…waiting for help…silently begging for pain relief…and merely existing until his death.