(At least) two horses “broke down” yesterday on U.S. tracks; a “broke down” on the charts is virtually synonymous with dead.
3-year-old Sawyers Mickey in the 6th at Thistledown. Trainer, Peter Walder; owner, Loooch Racing; breeder, Susan King; jockey, Scott Spieth.
4-year-old Drive in the 6th at Penn. Trainer/owner, David Jacobson; breeders, Robert LaPenta/Nicholas Zito; jockey, Trevor McCarthy.
This is horseracing.
Another two young horses sacrificed for $2 bets and “entertainment”??????
Jacobson claimed Drive on 3-18 worked him 6 times in 5 weeks. No older horse should have 6 workouts in 5 weeks. Jacobson should be banned for life. He’s not a trainer he’s a monster.
Totally agree David.
Cruelty to animals.
Like I’ve said before the 3 necessary traits are: heartless, irresponsibility, and entitlement.
These 3 traits are deadly for the racehorses as they are whipped, dumped, maimed, and/or killed in action.
So many are. Trainers ‘training and running’ their young horses with bucked shins. Bucked shins are actually hairline fractures in the cannon bone due to stress of training and running. Many young horses with bucked shins snap their cannon bone in two, and the weight distribution will also snap the other leg. http://www.lsuagcenter.com/topics/livestock/horses/educational%20resources/lameness/understanding-the-condition-of-bucked-shins-so-we-can-take-better-care-of-our-horses The undeniable proof that racing destroys it’s athletes are horses dying in the dirt of the track, and standing in the kill pens waiting for slaughter.
We were so lucky! When we first trained thoroughbreds to saddle/ bridle in 1982 we unknowingly worked them too fast/ hard as they were willing to gallop. The owners were idiots! The best colt and the best filly of the group all shin bucked so bad that you couldn`t touch their cannon bones at all with your hands. Later we were fortunate to work with an owner who allowed us to take reasonable time and none of his horses ever shin bucked because we had learned to go slow in training for speed.Julian never raced his horses shin bucked. Thank you for the link, it is interesting article.
Many thanks for this link, 20yr+ industry insider.
Jacobson should not be allowed near horses. But instead he is given recognition for the most wins and generally “praised” by the commentators. He starts horses with as little as 3 or less days between races among other things and this is all fine with this sick gambling business..
He was even getting soo many negative comments from racing fans on the Paulick report at one point, the article was taken down in a big hurry !
Sadly, Jacobson is one of many.
As a former Owner/Trainer you reach a fork in the road. You either make a conscious decision to continue the exploitation or leave. I left.
That exploitation varies from Trainer to Trainer, but in order to be successful in this industry you must exploit, train/run when sore, dope to address ongoing chronic issues, become heartless and desensitized to the plight of horses leaving your racing stable.
It’s all part of it. There’s no such thing as a Trainer who does not partake in one or all of the above.
Sawyer’s Mickey is extremely disheartening for a couple of reasons. He was an Ohio bred maiden ridiculously and dangerously entered in the Grade 1 Florida Derby earlier in April. The Florida Derby matched who many considered to be the fastest 2 3 year olds in the country. The winner will be the favorite in the Kentucky Derby Saturday. An Ohio bred maiden had no business whatsoever being in this race. He went off at like 150-1. He ended up performing quite admirably and ran a really great race to be 5th. He likely had to expend himself more than any horse of his ability should have to just to try to pick up the big check that came for a decent finish in the race.
So how do his connections reward him? By shipping him halfway across the country to run in an Ohio-restricted maiden race at Thistledown just three weeks later. This was the race he should have been in all along. He went off as the 1 to 20 favorite and the rest, including unfortunately the horse, is history.
These are the under the radar stories that need more attention. Everyone knows David Jacobson is evil and cares not about the horses. These were connections that entered a horse over his head strictly for a check. They put their financial interest ahead of the horse and they got their check and the horse lost his life. That is evil.
Daniel: Racing, the industry, is evil.