Short recaps on three of the beautiful, intelligent, sensitive creatures who were killed for gambling in Ohio last year.
The last seven races – the final four claiming, all at racinos paying first through last – in the life of a mare named Love Bunny:
March 11, Mahoning – second-to-last, 20 lengths back
April 17, Mahoning – “pulled up,” DNF
May 20, Thistledown – last, 21+ back
June 26, Thistledown – 9th of 11, 15+ back
August 8, Thistledown – last, 51+ back (“failed to make contact with her field”)
September 5, Thistledown – last, 26 back (“offered little”)
September 19, Thistledown – broke down, dead
Her exploiters: Nancy and Thomas Thornton.
The last five races – all claiming, all at a racino paying first through last – in the life of a gelding named Little Scoot:
May 23, Thistledown – last, 11+ lengths back
June 20, Thistledown – last, 49+ back
July 20, Thistledown – 7th of 10, 11+ back
August 3, Thistledown – second-to-last, 23+ back
August 19, Thistledown – broke down, dead
His exploiters: Jeffrey Radosevich, W.A.R. Racing.
And finally, the FOIA information on a gelding named Whiskey Rebellion:
“Horse was Gr 2/5 lame RF after race 4 [on May 30]. He was sent to test barn as there were multiple claims. Horse became more lame while waiting for new owner. Horse was specialed by request of stewards, then treated with banamine and [illegible]. The horse was then vanned and euthanized.”
“Horse became more lame while waiting for new owner.”
His trainer the day he died: Jeffrey Radosevich (yes, the same as above).
This abuse, cruelty, and destruction ends when, and only when, you – the American public – stops betting on animal races. Gamble if you like, but gamble on things that cannot bleed, cry out in pain – die. Please, for the horses.
(A reminder: Although racino gambling involves those suggested inanimate objects, a portion of every racino bet goes to prop up the largely dying racing industry. So – patronize casinos sans racetracks.)
I’m sickened. While there are so-called advocates gushing their admiration for Horse of the Year American Pharoah with statements such as “No other horse is more deserving”, horses such as Love Bunny, Little Scoot and Whiskey Rebellion endure pain and suffering. Then they die. These three didn’t have the “gift” AP has. But their desire to live was just as great. They were not as deserving of life, apologists and “advocates”? In your support of the industry that exploited them, you share in the responsibility of their deaths.
Thank you Joy. Well said. For every “champion” there are thousands of racehorses running for their lives on racetracks in America.
They are the blue collar slaves, the ones who are running for a ham sandwich, the ones who carry the majority of the business on their bones, and backs.
They die every day. The industry does little or nothing to protect them.
To allow a horse like these to ENTER let alone RUN shows the heartless, evil, bast***s that they are.
So happy that I’m not one of the “good” folks part of this horrific exploitation.
Jeff Radosevich – “Radosevich says a horse won’t be in his stable for long if it isn’t a winner, and that he has no favorites.”…from 4/28/2009, the link below…
http://www.cleveland.com/horseracing/index.ssf/2009/04/thistledowns_opening_week_rado.html