4-year-old Tiz Time to Shake’s last three races (Equibase):
August 31, Saratoga – “returned in distress, vanned off”
December 20, Aqueduct – “stumbled badly, fell to face…DNF”
Yesterday, Aqueduct – “DNF, vanned off”
Two ambulance trips and a “fell to face” in succession. Imagine that.
Trainer/owner: Doodnauth Shivmangal.
Very upsetting…now what???
Shouldn’t the horse have been vet checked after each incident?? So sick!
Not only vet checked, but whenever a racehorse DNF’s a mandatory workout in front of the vet is required.
A workout is when a horse runs a “mock” race for usually 3/8th’s of a mile while the vet observes the horse during this time, and after the horse finishes the workout.
Then the vet will either approve the horse to race or will declare it “non-competitive,” which will not permit it to race.
I’m astonished that Tiz Time To Shake was permitted to run both after August 21st, and December with no required workout. This is not normal unless the connections behind the horse are hidden, and perhaps could be somebody on the commission. It wouldn’t surprise me since this Trainer is getting unprecedented access to races with horses that should not be allowed to run.
What a sorry state horse racing is in. It’s just horrific. How do these people sleep at night?
I feel so sorry for the racehorses.
This industry is allowing the ongoing blatant cruelty, and abuse of racehorses on its tracks. This is one example of many.
This industry is out of control. The racehorses desperately need federal oversight because the commissions are not doing much to protect them.
This is disgraceful.
I hope somebody reads this:
A mega-racetrack has been proposed by pro-horse racing people. They want to build in GEORGIA. They have been holding (what amounts to) secret meetings with the Senators in Georgia with very little opposition. That’s probably because hardly anybody was notified about the meetings. The only report presented, and considered was by the pro-horse racing people which paints an oasis of a picture for Georgia residents including 5000 jobs!
This will spell DISASTER for racehorses. You wait, and see.
They require 180,000 racehorses (their figures) to fill races there for 5 years!
Pro-breeders are applauding this project so that they can breed and dump.
Overbreeding, breakdowns, death, dying, kill auctions, slaughterhouse, environmental devastation. Not one of these issues is ever mentioned during the meeting. I read all the minutes last night. All 16 pages of them. What a joke our system has become when pro-horse racing people can plow through such a antiquated devastating business model. This is going backwards not forwards.
The ONLY thing that will prevent it from going through is a VOTE planned for Georgia Residents in the next few months. They will decide whether they want this or not. However, the racehorses had NO VOICE at these meetings. No animal rights groups, animal advocates, horse lovers etc. were notified about these meetings. No Georgia resident will get the REAL TRUTH about horse racing.
This makes me sick. Think about it! 180,000 racehorses required to fill races for these abusive, cruel idiots.
PETA and other groups who have the political, and financial clout will need to kick into high gear in order to educate the Georgia residents about the real world of horse racing.
Here’s the direct link if you care to check it out:
http://www.gahorseracing.org/
The contempt and outrage I feel for this sorry business is only surpassed by the sorrow and concern I feel for the voiceless horse.
Everyone in the business is complicit in the sorry treatment of the horses. And it seems animal rights groups turn a blind eye. I would ask why, but we know it has to be because of the power of money.
Gina, I’m astounded regarding what is being proposed in Georgia. And of course one of the “selling” points will be all the jobs that will be created. Of course, most jobs in racing are low paying and go to illegal immigrants but that will not deter this deceitful business from using this as an enticement.
PS I see Maggi Moss is racing an 9 yr. old gelding she claimed. He has started 74 times and has been claimed over and over since he started racing as a 2yr. old. His price has varied and has been as low as $7,000. Can’t help but wonder what his fate will be….
The fate of Moss’ nine-year-old, Rose?…probably the same as another of her racehorses, Marchwood. We told her about Marchwood but one response we received was that I should acquire and take him. Such a “good, loving” owner…meanwhile, the gelding she used to make her money and boost her ego is waiting for help. Or is dead.
Sad truth? Maggie Moss conducts her business like most. She’s not an exception. She certainly is a “poster-child” for the industry as she has all the ingredients the industry likes to promote in a male dominated industry. She’s a female, and an attorney. She effectively endorses the ongoing exploitation of racehorses in the industry.
She is a claim, improve off the claim, dump when sour, and sore owner. Very typical of owner/trainers who make claiming a large source of their income. It’s a business whereby the racehorses pay the price every step of the way.
These claiming people claim to “love” their horses. I’ll be dammed. The money comes first with the racehorse as an afterthought if at all it seems.
As long as the industry allows claiming races to be the predominant aspect of the business, there will always be people like Maggi Moss. Just another name.
When I was in the industry I made an entire proposal that completely shifted the claiming model of racing. It was a very well thought out good proposal that I presented to the HBPA. They laughed at it. It got nowhere.
Part of the proposal would have made owners more accountable, and responsible for the horses that made money for them since eliminating claiming races would do just that. It was quickly drowned.
It was then, and there that I realized that the business model is intentionally set-up to make the racehorse disposal for the most part. Many owners would not come into the business or invest money if they knew that they would be fiscally responsible for the racehorses that they race. It’s a very planned system it seems.
If anybody has ever been in this industry horse people are very different characters. They are very SET in their ways. They don’t like change even if that change is positive, and could probably yield positive results. They hate change. They fight it hard even when the evidence is so clear that the change could be better for all involved including the racehorses.
Claiming is the “genius” of the racing business as well as the backbone. It has been touted as a way for “ordinary” people to “own” a racehorse (one more lie from a business that tells the truth only by accident !)
Of course anyone can see it is the disposal system for the top tier, and others in the business, to shirk their duty to the horses, many of which made lots of money but are no longer able to compete at the level they once were. Also, some of the “wealthy” and well known owners and trainers participate in claiming such as the Ramseys and Moss because many times there is MONEY to be squeezed from the claimer before he spirals down in the game.
As far as I know, the claiming game is exclusive to this country.
PS Gina, I agree with the resistance to change. I read an article by Ms. Moss supporting the use of race day Lasix when there was talk of stopping it.
Now we hear nothing about it. The idea is dead, successfully killed by those with influence such as Moss, Romans and others.
PPS The name of the 9 yr. old gelding Ms. Moss is currently racing is Hazards of Love. He came 3rd at Delta Downs in “sloppy” conditions” on the 16th and earned $7,000 in a minor stakes race.
I thought it would be informative to follow the “career” of this 9 yr. old !!
I wrote this a few years ago but the concept of no claiming races, as is done in South America and other places is still valid.
A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE CLAIMING DILEMMA
Many of the recent letters to the Thoroughbred Times lament the claiming program as practiced here in the United States. As David Lengel stated in his letter of 12/24/11, “it would make sense to give horse time if needed, instead of medicating through all the problems, if we knew when we came back off a layoff we could race at some level without having our rehab project “claimed.” His comment “Race, jam, inject, medicate every last ounce of profit out of the claiming horse, and do not be the last man stuck with the horse when the horse is broken down and can no longer compete,” is a very sad and sometimes realistic result of the claiming game.
One of the reasons people come into racing is because they love the horse and love the idea of having a race horse. Most are told by the trainers not to fall in love with the horse as this is a business. It is okay to fall in love with horses and racing and still be a part of the business. The tough part is having to put the horse “where he belongs” when he can’t win at allowance levels.
For an owner, and many are business men, it makes no sense to spend $40,000.00 or $50,000.00 getting the horse to the races to be told he must run for $5,000.00 in order to win. If he does well in that “cheap” race, there is a good chance he will be claimed. This is a difficult concept for many to grasp.
While in Buenas Aires last year, I was surprised and fascinated to see races with conditions like “Horses that have not been fifth or better in their last five starts”. The purses are less for these horses but they still can earn money and the handicappers can find it just as challenging to pick a winner in a group like this…evenly matched.
Changing anything in racing is a massive undertaking…how many reading this would like to see changes like this one…maybe certain tracks could start writing this kind of race..and see how it goes! My goal for the last 30 years has been to bring more caring owners into racing…I suspect they would stay in longer if they felt their horses could run at any level with out being claimed!
By the way, Mr Antonio Bullrich, the head of the Jockey Club in Argentina, stated that they will be banning Lasix (Salix) for racing next year. He is a fifth generation breeder and feels that the use of Lasix and other medications has weakened the breed. He is very passionate about his horses and is a leader in the industry.
Perhaps we could learn something from our Colleagues in the South!
This person isn’t a trainer….he’s a butcher who bleeds horses dry.