The entire racing “career” of a horse named Lovelibuzz:
November 27, Parx, “maiden claiming” – last of 8, 26+ lengths back
April 18, Parx, “maiden claiming” – last of 8, 45+ lengths back
May 3, Parx, “maiden claiming” – “broke down…humanely euthanized” (Equibase)
So I wonder: How, Donald (trainer) and Jane (owner) White, did you sleep last night?
Another example of a horse being run that is hopelessly outclassed “LOVELIBUZZ,
wide and far back, broke down in her right front in early stretch and was humanely euthanized”. This horse went off at 60-1…might as well have been 5,000-1.Clearly not suited for racing and should have been flagged as a non-competitor. There needs to be a national initiative barring horses participating in pari-mutual races that fail to be competitive in two straight races. That would have saved Lovelibuzz. The pattern is clear and the state regulatory agencies (and individual tracks) need to address this carnage. No one wants to see this continue.
“No one wants to see this continue”?….well quite obviously Glen, there are MANY who don’t give a damn that it does.
And even if there were “policies” in place to prevent the non-competitive and might I add, the injured, from racing, that in itself doesn’t save even one horse…the slaughterhouse awaits countless numbers of discarded racehorses that aren’t “suited for racing”.
The horse racing industry is rotten to the core, does nothing to benefit the animals held captive in it, and being the unnecessary entertainment and gambling industry that it is, has no business existing in a civilized society.
But horses would not be being destroyed as without racing there would not be overbreeding!
Should of been given away to a new home after her first loss, sad for a filly who never got to be a horse. RIP Lovelibuzz!!!
Joy, I’m beginning to wonder if the people involved in the racing industry are “civilized?” I’d like the people who place their $2 bets with their hearts pounding with anticipation to feel what those slaves on the track are feeling with their hearts pounding in fear trying to escape the whip and the pain as they literally are running for their lives. Cruelty with no boundaries…
First of all, let’s talk policy. As most of us know, “policy” means nothing in this cruelty circus. There are policies on the books that specific relate to “non-competitive” status. LOVELIBUZZ over qualifies for this policy clause, and should have never been allowed to enter, let alone run.
This policy is left to the discretion of the racing commissions whom state their priority objective to protect the health and welfare of the racehorse. Well – that’s completely laughable.
Time and again the racing commissions have shown that they protect the profits of the industry by permitting racehorses like LOVELIBUZZ to enter, and run. She is one of thousands whom, over the last couple of years, have lost their lives for this cruelty circus.
Which brings me to my next point regarding LOVELIBUZZ. As a former Trainer, a racehorse shows their potential during morning training hours out of the public eye. There’s no doubt in my mind that LOVELIBUZZ demonstrated her lack of talent, inability to perform, and/or serious physical/mental issues during her training PRIOR to her first race.
For example, the PP’s show that she had a substantial absence for 5 months before showing up again to finish last. That indicates a physical issue bad enough to warrant time away. Either her connections are incredibly dumb, heartless, and/or masochistic to continue to even train LOVELIBUZZ let alone run her!
So her connections failed her every step of the way, but this is where the racing commission is supposed to implement their mandate of the “health and welfare of the horse.” Just this example alone clearly demonstrates that the commissions are not doing their jobs, but it’s pretty obvious it’s deliberate so that horses can enter, larger fields result, and so does the PROFIT which is their main objective.
In addition to the “non-competitive” policy there are specific stall policies regarding any Trainer who has sent their non-profitable racehorse to a kill auction will be denied stalls. Well – that’s completely laughable as many of us have reported such Trainers, with direct evidence I might add, whom either continue to get stalls allocated or are permitted to run at that track. So even this policy to protect the racehorse is a complete joke.
Third, there are multiple drug violating Trainers (Steve Asmussen, Doug O’Neill, Todd Pletcher, Mike Maker) that are still Training, revered by the industry, and have horses die in their care. That would be like permitting Lance Armstrong to continue competition after he was caught with doping, and later admitted it. These Trainers should have been suspended for life long ago, but instead have been permitted to continue Training, and racehorses have paid with their lives.
What desperately needs to happen is that another independent governing body should be addressing the ongoing animal abuse occurring daily on racetracks, and that should be the court system. The ongoing drug abuse on racehorses should have neutral oversight such as the USADA.
Even if they were to implement these options it really wouldn’t matter.
The only way to stop this ongoing abuse of what amounts to a profit slave (racehorse) is to shut the entire business down. The entire business model is based on the exploitation of a voiceless, sentiment being, and that’s why it needs to go.
The connections that are on record (in this case Donald and Jane White) at the time of a racehorse dying should negate mandatory charges of animal cruelty. Period.
Beating/whipping, doping, maiming, dumping, and killing an animal is blatant cruelty and has no place in the 21st century.
Gina you are absolutely right! It’s the 21st century and none of this should be happening. Where is PETA and the rest of the animal protection advocates? PETA was so quick to criticize Justin Bieber for taking a picture with a captive tiger but nowhere to be found when there is a daily occurrence of horses being whipped, drugged and breaking down on tracks all over the nation. Lovelibuzz was clearly being abused and no one did anything to stop it. These policies and rules put in place for the welfare of the horse by the commission are all just for show. It’s sad how people don’t see it.
You are absolutely right, Tracy. But it’s even worse: The HSUS is not philosophically opposed to horseracing. Imagine that.
Tracy, PETA is the only animal rights organization to actively conduct an undercover investigation of daily operating procedures in a racing stable – Steve Asmussen. As a result of that video charges were filed, and some charges were laid.
However, it didn’t surprise me when the horse racing industry just last week indicted Steve Asmussen into their Racing Hall of (S)hame! They basically endorsed blatant animal cruelty which is the basis of their business model. So their true colors are showing the country just how bad it is when they endorse a multiple drug violating Trainer who exploits horses and some have died in his care.
It’s also a prime example of how low participants in this industry has become when they go silent over blatant animal cruelty, doping, maiming, and killing. Just business as usual.
The video is available on YouTube for your viewing, and it shows blatant animal cruelty. PETA has also stated that they don’t support horse racing, has educated the public, and has pursued a vigorous campaign against horse racing. PETA has done more than any other organization.
More recently, they filed a complaint with the District Attorney’s office in PA regarding the incessant beating and whipping of a filly in a race there – nobody else has done this. Still waiting to see if the DA’s office pursues the complaint filed. Hopefully they will.
So PETA has been a fervent voice for the racehorses, and all animals.
As for HSUS – of course I’m dismayed, and disappointed that they have come out in support of such barbaric, and horrific cruelty to horses. That said, it wasn’t too long ago that HSUS supported the brutal, and inhumane confinement of orcas at SeaWorld. They have since retracted their support citing that no facility can replace the ocean which we all know. Their motivations are often skewed although they do some good work on behalf of animals.
Tracy what disturbs me about your comment is your focus: what is PETA doing?
What you really should be asking is what in the f*ck is the horse racing industry doing? We all know that they are abusing horses – that’s a given. Their very business foundation is one of exploitation of a voiceless, and sentiment being.
The horse racing industry should be doing something like shutting the bloody horror circus down.
Yes but PETA backed off, Gina, and their message on Racing is often muddled – not clear and consistent (as it should be) at all. In truth, as Tracy points out, there is no large institutional leadership on this issue; that, to me, is unforgivable (and why I will not financially support the mega groups). How they – or anyone, for that matter – cannot take an unequivocal stand against Horseracing in the 21st Century is beyond me.
Gina your right the racing and breeding industry need to stop all the lying and exploitation and start taking responsibility for their mistakes.
This may shed some light on why the HSUS is not opposed to horse racing
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/211180/horse-caucus-takes-testimony-on-drug-bill Reply to my comment. Sorry, II forgot to add the link
Thank you for the link, 20yr+…but I believe there’s more to it than that. On another note, since the article mentions Bobby Flay as a supporter of the bill, I’d like to mention this…
Bobby Flay was the co-breeder of a horse named One Hundred Laughs. Sparing everyone the details of his horrific racing “career” and the just-as-horrific racing ownership he ended up in, Jo Anne Normile and I were lucky to have snatched him up just in time (with full financial support from the individual we reached out to). And I mean JUST in time. Three weeks after his last race – where he finished last of 9, 26 lengths behind – he was rescued and transported to safety. Upon arrival, he literally collapsed to the ground when being led out of the trailer. He was so malnourished and weak that an emergency call was placed to the farm veterinarian. It was only AFTER I went to visit OHL several months later that the farm manager informed me they were not certain he was going to live. He had been deprived of the most basic of necessities and the simplest of racehorse ownership responsibilities – food. And he RACED being hungry. Of all of the rescues I’ve been blessed to have been part of, this is one of several that brought me to my knees. I was so angry and heartbroken.
It matters not who breeds, owns, trains…wealthy, celebrity chef Bobby Flay didn’t know the chestnut horse HE co-bred was literally starving to death while being made to run at some dirt-cheap track in Ohio. This industry sets horses up for failure…no damn bill is going to ever change that.
Joy-Yes, you are right, ‘there is always more to it’.
Absolutely, Gina…once again, you’ve stated exactly how this barbaric industry does business – putting their own pocketbooks as a priority over the welfare of the non-consenting, sentient beings they USE and ABUSE. I think the majority of industry members are so conditioned to the exploitation of the horses they view it as normal. I am still appalled at how cold and callous they are.
Joy, it’s called deliberate or ignorant delusional denial psychosis. I developed this term just for participants and supporters of horse racing.
There is no way any racing entity or individual track will adequately and consistently bar non-competitive or injured horses from racing! Not one has any real authority and bottom line, they need to fill races! Here, a recent example:
-racing trainer Marcus Vitali has been charged with 24 medication violations since 2011. He was the 3rd-leading trainer at the Gulfstream (Florida) meet this past winter…he was also a member of the HBPA’s board of directors. To escape having his license suspended, he voluntarily relinquished his Florida license. And sure enough, the charges against Vitali have been dropped because he is no longer licensed…in Florida, that is. Additionally, from the Paulick Report; “as long as Vitali doesn’t apply for a license in Florida, none of the pending medication charges against him…are on his record in any other state. And if he happens to pick up a positive test [wherever he runs his horses], it might be treated as a first offense in that jurisdiction.”
Now this is where it gets good – Vitali is again licensed…in Maryland. Maryland is a state that adopted the “national uniform medication program” – once again, quoting from the Paulick Report; “[the national uniform medication program is] the voluntary initiative that the National HBPA says makes federal legislation unnecessary.” Did you get that?…Maryland racing claims there doesn’t NEED to be an independent federal oversight of horse racing (at least to oversee the drugs) because THEY can be fair and honest and humane managers themselves! So they license a guy who’s been charged with 24 drug violations and relinquished his license in a state where he was the third-leading trainer at one of their tracks to avoid suspension? Those in racing who make these decisions CLEARLY have no sense of right and wrong! Or do they?…but they’re so corrupt that choosing the wrong thing for the horses simply doesn’t matter to them? Regardless, this constant cruel disregard for the horses just disgusts me. Here is the link to the Paulick Report article on Marcus Vitali, drug pusher.
http://www.paulickreport.com/news/ray-s-paddock/vitali-case-gives-congressional-horse-caucus-real-life-example-broken-system/
In a follow-up article on this piece, Vitali’s entries were supposedly not be to accepted by Laurel Park’s racing office pending further investigation of his drug violations…although his entries for this past Saturday and Sunday WERE allowed. I found this commenter’s words pretty sickening concerning Vitali; “A couple of years ago I and an inexperienced trainer looked at horses for a year, we wanted to claim a Virginia bred horse and finally settled on one. He was a closer…[yet] the horse went to the front and won by miles. We brought the horse home [after the claim] and he was so strung out it took weeks to settle him. He never won or performed to his printed record again. I never asked Mr. Vitali what he fed him…”. (http://www.paulickreport.com/news/ray-s-paddock/report-vitali-cant-run-horses-maryland-jockey-club-tracks/)
Once again Joy has provided an excellent example of the mayhem occurring in this industry. Vitali is one Trainer of many which makes it even more disgusting. Of course the worse part of this entire scenario is that racehorses are paying with their lives.
This example clearly demonstrates: 1. The HBPA who has massive power over the entire industry operates under a shroud of secrecy. They control the Interstate Horse Wagering Act, without them no money would be made. They control the majority of racetracks, and most of their HBPA Board members get all the stalls allocated, are caught with numerous drug violations, and control most of the purse money. They are a corrupt organization that needs to go. Either the Interstate Horse Racing Act must be cancelled or they need to be eliminated as a mandatory entity. I’ve witnessed many Board Members of the HBPA enter, and run horses with broken bones – knowingly! Vitali is just another one of their scum bags. 2. The racing commissions are useless. 3. The racehorse has little or no mechanisms in place to protect them.
In short, a legal and traditionally accepted cruelty circus that involves beating/whipping, doping, maiming, dumping, and killing.
That said, yes Patrick all animal rights and advocate organizations that accept donations from the public should all be opposed to this blatant animal cruelty, and they should make their statements very clear on it.
Yes Tracy entitlement to their “property slaves,” and irresponsibility to them is business as usual.
It’s absolutely pathetic, and often frustrating for me that this cruelty, and inhumane treatment of a horse is allowed to not only continue, but be socially acceptable (even revered) as the “Sport of Kings.”
It’s not the “Sport of Kings.” Rather, the “Circle of Death.”
Thanks to all for your comments and interaction.
Bobby Flay spoke at the Barr-Tonka Congressional Horse meeting last week.
Bobby Flay stated that he wanted the USADA neutral oversight to control the doping in the U.S.
He stated that he has investments in broodmares, and foals that he sells in Europe, and his investments are not making him as much money because the “product” is seen as tainted. This was the jest of his comment.
Nowhere in his submission did I hear him be motivated by altruistic measures. Rather, money and profit.
Here’s the link and his exact words. He speaks at interval 28:15.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zea9_kTQIfM
I strongly urge anybody who buys and/or rescues a racehorse to do the following steps:
1. Check the tattoo on the upper lip of the racehorse. Mark down what you see. A flashlight will help you read the combination of letters and numbers. If you are having trouble reading it, get your vet to give it a try. They are usually really good at reading tattoos on the upper lip.
2. Once you get the tattoo, contact the Jockey Club, they will give you the official racehorse name.
3. Once you have the official racehorse name you can find out a plethora of information about that horse including the Breeder, and connections of that horse when it was on the racetrack.
4. Once you find out who owned the horse and was, usually, responsible for dumping it at some point, directly contact the connections and/or farm to tell them that their horse was in harms way. You can even solicit for financial donations. You probably won’t get any, but make these people aware and responsible for the living animal that they dumped.
5. Post the name of the racehorse and the connections on this blog or on any racehorse blog so that these heartless people can be held somewhat accountable.
Horse racing is a heartless turnstile of crippled/lame horses that are beaten/whipped while tired, run while sore, dumped when no longer profitable, and/or dying on the track or possibly the slaughterhouse.
Please don’t support this. Racehorses are dying almost every day on tracks all over the place.
Good advice, Gina. Thank you.