The 6th at Belmont Friday was Rock Show’s 51st “career” race. It was also her last, as the 6-year-old mare was euthanized back in the barn after being “vanned off” for an undisclosed injury. She is the 29th racehorse to die at a New York track this year.
This is horseracing.
Please STOP this cruelty circus, and death camp!
I can’t stand it.
Zero accountability to the racehorse, wagering public, animal cruelty laws were on display today as the comment says: “undisclosed injury.”
This industry doesn’t even have to disclose what happened to the racehorse on a publicly-funded track (to a certain extent), with publicly funded wagering money, and doesn’t have to disclose the vet records leading up to this poor mare’s catastrophic breakdown resulting in death.
This can’t be happening in the 21st century. I feel like I’m living in a nightmare.
Upon review of Rock Show’s PP’s, there is one thing that is consistent: she was having issues, and they were ongoing. Once in awhile she would perform, and be in the money, but many times she was non-competitive probably due to ongoing chronic issues common in this industry. The ongoing doping to address the issues is usually the case in these scenarios, and usually the major contributing factor to the racehorse’s body giving way – the dope no longer working.
IF there was an independent body USADA, and if I had anything to do with it I would review the PP’s of racehorses, and as soon as I see the pattern, that horse would be subjected to out-of-competition testing. This is the key to possibly reducing and/or preventing breakdowns. If the racehorses tested positive or over the legal limits as set out for races, then it would be banned from entering and/or running.
However, since every state has it’s own laws, it’s very common for these Trainers to be banned from one racing jurisdiction only to set-up shop in another one. Absolutely zippo protection and/or accountability to the racehorses.
The Trainers, usually in conjunction with the private vet, have these formulas down pat. Under the current system, they can dope them up beyond legal limits to keep them training, keep them fit, and then withdraw just before the race. It’s what’s being administered during training that can be the issue, and since there is no out-of-competition testing, there’s no way to monitor this. So by the time racehorses like Rock Show get to a race, her injuries were more than likely ready to give way, but the dope during the training hours kept her going perhaps. Very common scenario.
Anyways, another day – another death. So sorry for you ROCK SHOW. So sorry that you were yet another victim of this cruelty circus, torture show, and death camp. May you find peace away from these slave masters.
Yes…this!
Yes, Gina , We agree! Lets have out of competition testing for medication that is unannounced and conducted by an independent organization.We have been at our local track on the backside when the announcement was made” tomorrow test day, everyone be clean”! In our state we have a program where all the foals registrations will be paid by the breed association upon presenting the papers of the foals registration and verified with the Jockey Club. This program is funded by a wagering hub tax levied by the racing commission. Our state has several large internet based wagering hubs located in the eastern/ central part of our state.We would rather have the monies go for unannounced, out of competition medication testing conducted by an independent group not affiliated with racing. According to a friend of ours who is a member of the breeders association the number of reimbursed foal registrations are up to 25 so far. The program is only set to reimburse up to $225 per horse and includes yearlings as well as up to three- year- olds too That`s how desperate they are to increase numbers of state bred horses they are. . We will never participate in this program. We would consider it blood money. We are now marketing our farms horses outside of racing. We have found there is a market for good tempered thoroughbreds with good bone/ intelligence as family oriented riding horses. We have many pictures of families whose children are enjoying the company of them. We have even had a customer who very intently observed us load their new filly into their trailer, that once she was loaded, make the comment” That if we had not loaded the filly gently and in a manner they approved of they said they would have walked away and told everyone not to buy a horse from our farm”. We feel that is a tremendous responsibility to raise horses and we do everything we can to screen whose hands our horses go into. We discourage anyone from racing our horses by being upfront with our experiences with racing in our state. We tell them everything we know! Many times these prospective buyers admit they know of some of these things but because there are so many tax advantages for racing stock they go elsewhere to buy a horse so as to have a write off on their income earned sometimes through environmental analysis contract work.
The HBPA ensures that memos, and warnings are put out to Trainers in the stable area of most racetracks. It’s usually posted on their website.
They also work in conjunction with the Racing Commissions demanding that Trainers are warned IN ADVANCE of what drugs they are about to test for.
The HBPA usually has a drug representative in the drug testing barn – another thing shrouded in secrecy that many people don’t know.
Here comes the worse part: the HBPA Board Members gets huge allocations of stalls, PLUS controls the Interstate Horse Racing Act which controls billions in wagering income. Many of the races are filled with HBPA members who travel throughout North America to fill races.
If they happen to get a drug positive, they are just shuffled around to another racing jurisdiction like priests being guilty of pedophilia being shuffled around to different diocese’s.
So they control almost every aspect of horse racing, behind the scenes, while any Trainer that doesn’t support them doesn’t get too far in their career.
So they support the ongoing doping (in some capacity) to address chronic issues which can result in death.
Just another pleasant entity of this horrific industry.
First race after long layoff. Poor baby. RIP Rock Show
Thank you Peter. Because of you these athletes will not be forgotten, and the industry cannot deny the facts. People are starting to pay attention and open their eyes to the cruelty of horseracing.
How about 11 year old winner of over $300k hasn’t hit the board in 2 years named Court Band. Why run Court Band? Absolutely disgusting and should be a crime but instead we call it a sport. I know some are making calls about this situation but even if the horse ends up not racing in the future, I imagine slaughter will be the solution. Praying for Court Band
Thank you for this, Patrick, and all your alerts. You are so appreciated!
Do you know anything about Uncle Lino? L.A. Times, Sunday reported that he “was vanned off the track after he finished seventh” in the Preakness. He “led the early part of the race” but after the race “they discovered he had a little bit of inflammation in the right front tendon. So rather than walking him back to the stakes barn, they decided to load him up on the ambulance and give him a ride back. It sounds like a minor injury.” Please let us know if you know how he is.
I’ve been commenting on the various recent articles about the two horses who died in pre-race as follows:
“What does it take to end horse racing? In the big business of horse racing about 24 horses die per week on U.S. tracks. They’re under the whip and driven to and beyond their limits. Thousands of horses are bred annually to get the best/fastest horse; hence thousands of horses end up being slaughtered. The horses are raced too young (2-years old) and they haven’t fully developed. Drugs are used to mask sores and injuries. These beautiful, sentient beings should not be used for entertainment and greed.”
Many folks should also comment as much as they can against all the cruelty that encompasses horse racing.
This is the most recent update on Uncle Lino: https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/211858/connections-of-uncle-lino-laoban-regroup
The connections aren’t saying much, but a tendon which is a soft tissue injury takes a long time to fully heal. Moreover, many tendons never heal 100%, and many racehorses are dumped into their disposal system called claiming. There are many racehorses probably running on prior tendon injuries that are chronic, and treated with drugs.
What can often result from a bad tendon is secondary lameness that can extend to the bone, and lead to fractures because the bone is not being properly supported or subjugated when a tendon is compromised.
Even when treated with drugs the tendon is compromised.
I’ve never seen too many racehorses bounce back 100% from a tendon injury or perform like they did prior to the injury.
Uncle Lino, another victim of this cruelty circus – all the best to you.
Thank you, Gina, for the update on Uncle Lino,–doesn’t sound good.
I am soooo saddened and upset abiyt all these horses needlessly dying. STOP IT NOW!!!!! They are precious creatures, the most beautiful animals in the WORLD to ME,and racing them is a SIN. Money is the only selfish reason these owners and corporations race these gorgeous animals. It must STOP!!!!
and are you going to adopt one and put it in your garage?…there are many retired and unraced throughbreds available for adoption check out https://www.facebook.com/new.vocations1/?fref=nf
We already have! We kick out our truck and our Seattle Slew granddaughter sometimes actually does go in our garage! She is very smart and has figured out we always have a little hay inside so we don`t always have to go the barn when feeding them in the summer. We rescued her from a race owner who basicly was looking for someone who would pay slaughter price but was hoping they would take a chance on her and allow her slab fracture to heal by not racing or riding her for quite sometime. We took the chance and after some years later we had her front legs x-rayed and our farm vet could not find any sign of fracture! Just this morning she was running around the front of our farm like a two- year old despite the fact she just turned 20 last month!
Can I second this 100x times?!?!
What is going on at Belmont, my old stomping grounds. However, I think 51
races is a bit much for any horse.
Another beautiful horse wasted. When
will this end ?
I watched on The news that 2 horses died ,one at the beginning fell and broke a leg the other a heart attack! Not sure if it was the same race but it was over the weekend! Raining
No, this is animal cruelty. Ban horse racing.
I’m confused. I tried to find more information about this tragedy but you provide no source. There are NO reports of a horse being euthanized at Belmont on Friday & according to the official race schedule for the Belmont Racetrack, there wasn’t even a race on the 20th. What’s going on? How did you find this out? What’s your source?
There was indeed a full card at Belmont Friday – 6th race here. The death confirmation came direct from the NYS Gaming Commission.
Horse racing sucks.
greed and lack of compassion for all animals is surely becoming the insidious face of humanity!