From the Golden Gate Stewards Minutes:
In the 9th race on March 6, 6-year-old Know Plans “went wrong, was pulled up and euthanized on the track.” Dead. (The official chart, by the way, had the horse as merely “vanned off.” Yet more Racing subterfuge.)
Also – Generous Don, a 3-year-old gelding coming off a string of poor finishes, “fell to the ground while jogging the wrong way on the outside of the track during the morning [March 4]. Horse was declared deceased by examining veterinarian.”
Meanwhile at Los Alamitos, the minutes declare “two equine deaths this week due to racing injuries.” Identities withheld. What is particularly curious about this, though, is that the “accidents chart” on the page shows two for Sunday, March 6. Yet, a bit further up the stewards say: “SUNDAY PLEASANT SUNDAY…proceedings were very benign and this evening’s races were conducted without serious incidents.” Apparently, dead horses don’t qualify as “serious incidents.”
This is horseracing.
Patrick – My heartfelt gratitude for your work sounds in the sharing of your daily new reports by my friends – all of us aghast. They call us animal lovers. Yes, so true. The label is more accurately Respecter of all Life. FBI has finally admitted that abuse and torture of nonhuman beings is a sign of a discompassionate heart and one which would abuse and torture human beings.
The abuse of racing horses must be better controlled under the animal cruety laws. Of course, the universities and experimental study groups (labs) will fight closer scrutiny. They just don’t have the time, running from one bet to another. But it is something we must have. For those of us who rspect all life.
I don’t want to give you extra reason to submerge into this evil killing our horses, but have you made an analysis and determined if these killings (negligent risk) have increased in number as a percentage against the TBs born and registered over the last 50+ years (since television)? I don’t know how to find the figures since as you have discovered, getting the information is difficult at best. But as the drugs, violence, and noisy chaotic life of the shedrows have replaced what I knew to be a quiet place, calm for the sake of the wellbeing of the horses – I wonder if we can show the deaths have risen as a result of the new culture of racing has taken over.
At the risk of repeating myself, there is an old Shaker poem about animal abuse that has the lines “A man of kindness to his beast is kind. Brutal actions show a brutal mind”. Pretty amazing that 18th century Shaker Society was better able to connect the dots than the present day FBI and others !
It is in the Bible too. The kindest acts of the cruel is brutal. My thought is more that I didn’t hear of horses dying as often as I do now. My thought is that horses dying WAS something to be avoided and learned from. I don’t think it needs further explaining.
Since I’m not religious I don’t really care what’s in the bible. That said, one of the main reasons why we are more aware of the deaths is due to the Freedom of Information Act and social media.
So it doesn’t necessarily mean that there were less deaths.
Other factors that would affect figures is less racetracks, and less racehorses.
So again the deaths have always been there.
In order to shut racing down, it would be beneficial to show the prcentage of deaths n the tracks or in the industry to births. We occassionally have the figures of TBs born to TBs crossing the border to slaugher. Anything we can get that is informative and real can do nothing but help educate and empower those fighting for the right of the equine s to life and safety. We do have to drop the specism in our own reference to them. When peopole see nonhuman beings as imbued with the same rights as humans, we will get somewhere. I don’t follow cults either so bringing up a cross reference to recognizing a brutal heart is important in seeing that the battle to protect nonhumans from predatory or ignorant humans is ageless.
Here is a link to 1 article that gives the facts:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/us/death-and-disarray-at-americas-racetracks.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Since it’s difficult to get accurate information from yesterday because they self-regulate, it would be impossible to go back 50 years, and why even bother?
Even one death for profit is enough.
Janwindsong, you state “But as the drugs, violence, and noisy chaotic life of the shedrows have replaced what I knew to be a quiet place.”
Have you even been involved with the industry? If so, in what capacity? Why would you refer to it as a quiet place? Just wondering.
I’m not religious, but many posters are, and see all animals as God’s creation to be protected. If that’s the way they see it then great.
That’s one reason why I love animals they give unconditional love without the human aspect of religion. They are simple, and only ask for love in return. They don’t get bogged down with controversial issues such as religion.
They are a joy, and source of peace for me. That’s why I fight on their behalf. They have no voice. I do.
This report is in my backyard. I have lived with racing here in California since I was born – my grandfather raced trotters and an Aunt was an investor in TB racing in the time if the young Willie Shoemaker. I’ve been on the backside and in the shedrows, if not in person – in spirit. A racing horse breaking its leg was a risk, but it was always in spite of every precation – as in the horses did step into a hole or bumped and veered off and yes, there was an occasional youngster who fought being saddled or afraid of the gates – those horses were cared for carefully. My grandpa had one who we figured out was so excited to trot that he pulled his groom to the harness up area. We always focused on ekeping the horses calm, punished those who ran through the stable areas or played their radios loudly. Birds singing and quiet talk was the rule. There was a general acknowledgement of the risks we placed upon our horses. My family never lost one. But the news of a horse dying always was met with shock and profuse sadness – because they were conscious and we bonded as only humans and other sentient beigs can. They were not dumb, robotic. Since the moment of Three Belles (I believe it was who broke down in one of the legs of the Triple Crown) – I have been heartbroken for the horses I know are valiant, kind and forgiving. I had never seen a horse break a leg. Ever.
So w kept he stabes reatively quiet, except the farriers, who back then did shape the shoes right at the stables. We had horses that we knew were high strung. So outside of the race day activities, we tried to manage the horses in a calm “quiet” manner.
Well thanks for sharing that information. So I take that to mean that things were different then they are now? Or that your grandpas operations respected horses more than now?
Whether it’s in the past or present the basic foundation of any horse racing operation is the exploitation of a sentiment being for profit to what extent depends on the racing operations or the time era as you stated.
Sadly, whether in the past or not horses die for $2 bets, and that’s what is fundamentally wrong.
Any information helps – totally agree.
Most of us know that lack of transparency, secrecy, and denial to release information is very much a part of day to day operations on racetracks.
This is against the law because public wagering falls under the Criminal Code so they have been getting away with a lot for a long time.
Throughout this entire scenario it’s the racehorses who are paying with their lives.
I can’t support this in any way, shape or form.
I say shut it down.