Last week on American tracks (not including training and harness casualties):
“Broke Down” (racing-speak for dead); “Collapsed and Died”; “Euthanized”
Ruhl Paul, Mahoning
Playmetheblues, Parx
Running for Annie, Turf
Tough Fame, Golden Gate
With Love Too, Turf
Mydancingshadow, Turf
“Vanned Off” – required horse ambulance to get off the track; many of these names will re-surface on my year-end FOIA death-reports
Honest Iago, Golden Gate
Barcelo, Golden Gate
White Coco, Parx
Erase the Deficit, Penn (“went bad”)
Gumbo of Choices, Delta
Candu Cait, Gulfstream
Catira Rock, Gulfstream
Siberian Olympiad, Los Alamitos
Tinian, Santa Anita
Lilly Lips, Sunland
Jrs Runaway Tonight, Louisiana
Jackie Jo, Mahoning
Voluntary, Los Alamitos
(source: Equibase)
according to Don Stevens (track announcer at Delta) on Twitter, Gumbo of Choices, “walked onto the van just fine I am told,” so there is hope for him
Also, “vanned off” can mean vanned off dead or vanned off alive. Since two-thirds of the foal crop will eventually end up dead, either in the dirt or on the slaughterhouse floor, I am thrilled that there is hope for Gumbo of Choices. Please continue to follow him and make sure he ends up in a loving, forever home, “forever” being the operative word.
Gumbo of Choices is entered to run today, at Delta, in race 6. She’s had 2 works since her DNF.
GoC is a late afternoon vet scratch, which, I guess is good & bad, bad that she was entered, if not physically good to go, but, showing vet checks work, because she was scratched.
Mindy…”GoC” is not on the casualty list. But can you provide the correct name/spelling of “GoC”? – I am unable to find this particular horse.
Vet checks have a chance of working if they were done 100% of the time. They won’t when 1), the horses have received medications or procedures to decrease or alleviate their pain and 2), they are simply not adequately performed.
How telling of the owners/trainers whose horses ARE fortunate enough to be scratched. But it’s not one bit of a surprise.
Gumbo of Choices, I was just trying to save time by abbreviating (figured you’d get it, since i was replying right under the previous posts about her), and she was on the above list from her DNF last out, I was simply updating you, and everyone else, when I saw her entered again, and then, later, when she was scratched.
Yes, I see that Gumbo of Choices is on the casualty list (and no, I obviously didn’t get your abbreviation – I missed your 5:39 AM post about GOC…thank you for clarifying). And although it was reported she walked onto the van “just fine”, she is very clearly not fine. Further, she’s at a track in a state known for discarding their racehorses into kill buyers’ hands in disgustingly high numbers.
also, Voluntary was placed on the California Vets’ List (exhausted), I doubt you can be on the Vets’ List if you’re dead
(and before you attack, I have never, and would never, bet a penny on horses)
Well since the horse racing business is adept at hiding their dead racehorses, it’s them that you should question – not the posts here.
Since this entire business model deliberately omits race replays that show racehorses going down in the dirt – writhing in pain waiting for the needle – then it’s them that you should question don’t you think?
“walking onto the van just fine I am told,” still doesn’t confirm what you are suggesting.
Walking onto the van could mean just about anything in this business because often the “walk onto the van” translates to euthanasia in the corner cobwebs of the stable area.
In fact, I would even go so far to say that a horse on the Vets List doesn’t necessarily mean they are not dead. They could have been put on the Vet List, and then subsequently euthanized.
I wouldn’t put it past them to put up such smoke and mirrors.
As Patrick reported on January 9, two horses were killed at Turf on the 8th – With Love Too and Mydancingshadow. But another horse on this casualties list was confirmed killed at Turf on the 3rd…Running for Annie, a little chestnut filly. Running for Annie – dead before her 3rd birthday.
It’s horrific enough that 3 horses (that we know of) were killed in just two racing dates at Turf. But industry members add insult to injury in their minimizing of those deaths. Just read the Paulick Report article titled; “In Wake Of Fatal Racing Injury, Turf Paradise Seeks To Tighten Rules On Eased Horses.” Vince Francia, Turf’s GM, said Running for Annie “stepped in to what appeared to be a soft spot and broke down.” And regarding the track the two days prior to the filly’s death race, Francia stated; “Ninety percent of it was okay, but now and then we would run into a soft spot.” Isn’t that amazing – 90% of the track is just fine but the three now-dead horses just happened to “find” those soft spots.
But read this, from the same article; “In the seventh race, Mydancingshadow, ridden by David Lopez, broke a foreleg and fell at the top of the stretch. Mydancingshadow, trained by Valorie Lund, was eased in the stretch of his last start on Dec. 20, a $3,000 claiming race at one mile. Mydancingshadow prompted the pace for six furlongs, but jockey Scott Stevens did not persevere in the final furlong when the horse was hopelessly beaten [in other words, he only stopped whipping the chestnut gelding when he literally couldn’t keep running].”
And continued from the article; “After Mydancingshadow broke down on Jan. 8, Francia went to the jockeys room to check on the condition of Lopez. ‘I spoke to Scott (Stevens), who had ridden this horse in its previous race, and Scott felt the horse was lame right after that race,’ said Francia. ‘But because he didn’t get beat 35 lengths he didn’t have to work back.’”
Mydancingshadow, LAME after his last race on December 20. But his owners – Valorie Lund (trainer, as well), Kristin Boice, Marylou Holden and Leslie Cummings – didn’t give a damn about the not-yet-five-year-old gelding and raced him again. No one said anything, no one did anything to protect him. No one.
http://www.paulickreport.com/news/the-biz/wake-fatal-racing-injury-turf-paradise-seeks-tighten-rules-eased-horses/
FYI…don’t miss the comments.
I have observed that most racehorses who die on tracks have, in their PP’s, at least one of the following: DNF, eased, non-competitive performance, lug in/out, refusal to load into the gate, lay-off, and/or whipping to beat them out of their tired and/or sore state to pick up a check.
These PP’s amount to a “recipe for disaster.”
This self-managed business model must increase wagering profits at the detriment of their product: the racehorse.
It’s the exposure, via social media, that is holding them accountable because no other outside neutral agency is protecting the racehorses.
They claim that the connections of the racehorses “care,” and “love” them, but we know otherwise.
The industry claims that racehorses are “born to run.”
“Born to die,” is more like it.
Candu Cait and Catira Rock are both dead – euthanized due to their racing injuries.
Horse racing kills – please keep sharing.
CANDU CAIT & CATIRA ROCK – both victims of this despicable business.
First of all the Trainer of CANDU CAIT is Kathleen O’Connell.
Now for those of you not familiar with K.C. she is right up there with Baffert, Pletcher, Linda Rice, when it comes to multiple racehorses dying under their direct training methods.
When I trained in Florida (2000), a friend of mine was a groom for K.C. at Tampa Bay Downs.
He said the ongoing abuse, breakdowns, and deaths in her barn was unbearable.
He quit after 1 month. He couldn’t stand it anymore, and this is a seasoned racetracker!
So this Trainer has been permitted to continue Training, and killing racehorses with no repercussions whatsoever, since at least 2000, and still permitted to continue this carnage!
This is no different than re-licensing a DRUNK DRIVER year in and year out while they continually maim and kill other drivers on the road.
The example of K.C. clearly demonstrates that NOBODY in this business gives a damn about these racehorses while they are maimed and/or killed because they keep handing back the keys just like the drunk driver and that makes anybody in this business (racing commissions etc) enablers of the dying.
In the least, they would publish DEATH RATE STATISTICS, hold Trainers accountable for their dead racehorses, and invoke suspensions of their license just like a drunk driver.
It’s no secret that racehorses getting maimed and/or killed is inherent in horse racing.
There are not enough mint juleps, fancy hats, and entertainment that can cover-up this fact.
As for CATIRA ROCK? She was a stakes-placed filly of over $100,000 run into the ground at 2, and most likely running with pre-existing conditions by the time she was 3. Typical racehorse scenario.
How many times were her joints injected, her jugular vein injected, her muscles injected?
Nobody knows, and nobody will know because this business deliberately covers-up this daily abuse just so you can bet on a racehorse?
This is insanity, and it’s got to stop.