On Yesterday’s Kills: “Things Happen,” “Life Goes On”

In the wake of yesterday’s kills at Pimlico, Racing shrugs…

Sal Sinatra, Maryland Jockey Club (The Baltimore Sun): “Things do happen.”

Roy Jackson, Pramedya’s breeder/owner (The Baltimore Sun): “We haven’t fully digested the whole thing. But life goes on.” And to be sure, the death “[will] not dampen [the Jacksons’] love for racing.”

Jackson, who was also Barbaro’s breeder/owner (Associated Press): “It’s ironic, right?”

Joe McLaughlin, 74-year-old racing “fan” (The Baltimore Sun): “[It’s] the only downside in racing. It’s going to happen from time to time.”

Two more intelligent, sensitive beings killed for lousy $2 bets – but you know, “things happen,” “life goes on.” How profoundly sad, in more ways than one.

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17 Comments

  1. MSN Sports USA TODAY SPORTS
    by Christine Brennan, USA TODAY Sports
    11 hrs ago
    ” After such tragedy, it’s natural to ask what happened next at Pimlico. The fifth race was run as scheduled, that’s what happened. And then the sixth, and the seventh, and so on, all the way to the 13th, the Preakness Stakes, the race that thousands in the muddy infield and tens of thousands more in tents and in the grandstands had come to bet on, and see.
    The show went on, that’s what happened. That’s what always happens in horse racing. The sport moves right along, and us with it. ”
    Please comment on that page. I did & BTW, there is a troll there named Stacie.

    • Horses, what part of the human race treats them with respect and love, after all the horse has done for us. BLM ? well that is a whole book of comments, they hate the horses period. Horse Racing, its about the money. Horse Soring, evil owners who dont know horses have feelings and suffer, horse Tripping, the horrible hispanic tradition they think is funny to mistreat a horse till it dies. illegal horse racing drugging horses with cocaine, and any illegal drug they can to make the horse act wild, rodeos, cruel inhumane treatment of horses and animals, Horse Carriage rides, again cruel, run the horses till they drop. Will this world ever do what is right? or is the mission to kill off and destroy our animals. Shame on all.

  2. This is the height of delusional psychosis as many paid supporters (Christine Brennan) of horse racing always justifies the dying of racehorses for this despicable cruelty circus, and death camp.

  3. For as much as I hate to say this. I am not cruel in any way. Patrick shows us how horses die every day. Maybe these 2 innocents lost their lives on a day that many watched, nation wide, to show the country, the world that it is just plain inhumane. I hope the message got across to some

    • I totally understand what your saying nohorseslaughter ortiz.
      These sad deaths happened on a day when many people, who are watching, don’t fully grasp just what they are supporting.
      Hopefully, they will now.
      Make no doubt about it, this business model operates under the guise of a sport. It’s not a sport. It doesn’t qualify as a sport.
      Back in the Roman days the blood sports at the coliseum were conducted under a sport montage. It involved maiming, and killing while people thought it was entertainment. Replace the gladiator with the Trainer, and you’ve got the same thing.
      The racetrack is a cruelty circus not unlike the blood sports of the Roman Empire. The end result is the same for many racehorses: maiming, and killing while being “entertained.”
      The unacceptable maiming, and deaths of innocent animals in the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD in Roman coliseums are now replaced with the same only it’s called horse racing.
      How can our society in the 21st century find it acceptable to continue with such barbarism?

      • I’ve gone from walking a Triple Crown winner with colic, standing for AP & smiling with Affirmed to despising the racing industry. It’s very emotional for me. I’ve now expanded to fight horse slaughter, wild horse roundups, the BLM and so much more. It’s overwhelming how cruel man has become.

      • Have you both heard of the plan by Oregon State University to spay BLM horses at the Hines Oregon holding facility under field conditions?Supposedly to study as to see if it would be a viable method of controlling horse numbers! This study we feel is barbaric and cruel idea that should not be allowed to happen.It also would be dangerous to the vet tech students who would participate in the study. We like you have gone from assisting trainers to winning races to individuals who now wish never to be involved with racing again.Were glad to see the followers of this website going up in numbers too.

  4. We must end this worhless, cruel, barbaric and deadly activity. This is NOT a sport. It is animal cruelty disguised as a sport. Hopefully people will see it for what it is and will fight against this nefarious industry.

  5. The biggest irony is that while only a few horses may die every now and then at the track, thousands die every year when they are done racing at the slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. Racing is a very dysfunctional industry

    • Correction, anne russek….”only a FEW may die now and then at the track”?…nearly one-thousand confirmed deaths per year are not a “few” and we KNOW there are more deaths due to racing injuries. This gambling industry kills thousands of horses every year – in training/racing and after their connections are finished with them. The numbers are staggering.

  6. These comments are excellent and Patrick does a great job of “informing the pubic”. I simply do not
    go to races period. I ride horses for mental and physical stimulation and love them Rose

  7. The Blm doing the sterilizing of the mares along with Oregon state, is cruel and may will die. 2 days ago information stating there has already been mares die to this inhumane method. The BLM could be handed the best plan for the horses and they choose to ignore it as THEY didnt think of it. They are selfish, know it all morons. They admit they dont know how to manage the horses. Their method of managing is killing them off. They refused shelter from the heat and cold at Palomino valley. Someone offered to donate shelter and they refused. so what now? Obama admin ok’s more and more money for roundups and feeding our wild horses in holding pens. This is not what the Congress decided years ago. Why dont they do their job and stand up and say enough. How many MILLIONS of Millions go to BLM, their buddies and they know they are getting the horses to their buddies to send to slaughter. They have done this for years, and years and NO ONE stops them. These folks are run by the Cattlemen. while the cattlemen spend a few dollars a month for cow and calf to feed on our range while they take off the horses they CLAIM are starving. Thanks Obama for giving them all the money they want yet cry they dont have any more money. When does someone pay attention when ALL the horses are gone missing and dead.

  8. We daily commit unspeakable crimes against these beautiful creatures, to which human civilization owes so much . . . I am every day, ashamed to be a member of the human species. My species fills me with loathing.

  9. I have questioned some of the people in racing that are like the Jacksons and claim to be in the sport for only the love of the sport because in all honesty, they certainly don’t need the money. How many horses have to die for them to realize that the love they have for this sport is at the expense of the horses? Then you have all the little hypocrites out there that feel sorry for the Jacksons and yet claim they care about the horses as well. I agree with you Patrick, it is sad in more ways than one. SHAME on them all!

    • With all due respect Mary – do you really think that this cruelty circus, and death camp qualifies as a sport? I certainly don’t.
      Yes, many owners don’t need the money, but that’s what makes it so horrendous because many racehorses are dying for people’s egos. That makes it much worse.
      While OTTB’s are standing at kill auctions many of their rich owners will not cough up even $200 to get them out of harms way. While these rich owners sit on acres of land, and grassy paddocks they don’t even take care of the racehorses that they campaigned.
      I find this absolutely despicable.
      Who is saving their racehorses? Usually somebody who never exploited them in the first place that is financially a working class person that takes out the $200 dollars to rescue the horse.
      Do you see how despicable it is?
      Some of these rich owners who deny racehorses safe haven from the slaughterhouse are the same ones that go to the sales and buy another one for six figures.
      The Jackson’s are nothing more than mouthpieces for this industry. I think that they are doping their horses with something that we may not even know about. I also don’t think that the results of the necropsy will show anything because the industry will have a hand in it probably, and ensure that negative results are not released to the public. They will find a way.
      The necropsy is just some more window dressing by the industry it seems.
      The Jackson’s like many other owners are suffering with what I refer to as deliberate delusional psychosis. How in the world can anybody watch their horse die and then turn around and defend this despicable slave trade?
      Shame on them, and shame on anybody who participates in this antiquated business model that involves whipping/beating, maiming, dumping, and killing.

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