Three days ago, a horse named Shakeyogroovething “went wrong” in the 2nd at Turfway and “was vanned off.” In fact, he is dead – euthanized, according to multiple sources, for his injuries. This, of course, is nothing out of the ordinary – racehorses are killed on American tracks every day. What is particularly gut-wrenching about this one is this: Shakeyogroovething was 12 years old; his death-race was his 106th. 106th. Ponder that. Furthermore, this was his sixth time under the whip in the new year. In other words, it seems the industry was determined to get every last red cent out of this animal – to run him right into the ground. Congratulations.
This is horseracing.
These curs aren’t satisfied until they get the last drop of blood out of these innocent horses.
106 races with an average of being struck with the whip about six (6) times each race means this horse was beaten with a whip 636 times during his racing career.
And the horseracing industry has the audacity to call it a sport.
SICK!
The bloodhorse had written an article a few years ago about this horse and his owner/ trainer. They made it sound like he cared so much about this horse. Had he cared, this horse would’ve retired long ago – and in a lush green pasture that he certainly earned with his earnings. I saw him race in person a few years ago- beautiful horse. And you’re right Carolyn- I feel the owner felt he was a guaranteed paycheck- as this horse was a hard-knocking horse who always tried his heart out. And I am shocked at the statistics about being whipped 6 times. I feel it is so much more. I see jockeys just wailing on these horses incessantly at times. There are states with whip laws- but they all need to enact a whip law! I just saw a race a few weeks ago – the jockey was hitting the horse on the rump and the shoulder very aggressively – and flagging the whip in his face – then pulled the horse up directly after the wire and had him vanned off because he felt he was sore! And yet he was beating him?? That’s when I decided I was never racing a horse again.
SD, the six (6) times was a finding by a study conducted in Australia several years ago. It was a small sample based on a Sydney race meeting (one day). The total number of hits with the whip captured on sophisticated camera equipment with footage taken on a number of angles was then divided by the total number of horses. I rely on this when calculating the number of times a horse has been beaten with a whip during his racing career such as Shakeyogroovething. This horse might’ve been hit 10 times in one race and 5 times in another. My estimation of 636 is probably conservative and likely he was hit more. Excluded in my calculation is the number of times he was beaten with the whip in workouts.
You are absolutely correct, SD when you say the horses are often hit many more times than six (6). Rose has pointed out the abhorrent whipping of American Pharaoh (I think it was 32 hits in about 37 seconds if my memory serves me right). Here where I am, I have in my data a horse that was beaten 28 times in a race.
Carolyn McDonald and SD not sure that you understand that the whip is a necessary aid to protect the horse. It should be used only to help the horse change leads. Horses can lead their stride to favor their right or left side…switching their leads during the race can offer better traction in the corners or more stamina in the straightaways. While cropping six times may seem excessive to you it might be necessary to change the lead to protect the horse. That being said most jockeys and trainers know that the crop does not make the horse go faster in most cases…it is done to satisfy the people wagering. If you truly want to fix this you need to educate the people wagering, make them understand (and I can give you the science behind this) that continuous cropping for speed causes undue stress creating muscle tension that reduces speed. Once the people wagering understand this, they too will protest when the horse is cropped excessively.
You are obviously invested in horseracing and thus rationalize what is clear to anyone with functioning senses – whipping hurts; whipping racehorses is blatant animal cruelty. Read this.
Thank you, Patrick for putting this link up.
Then why the brutally excessive whipping of American Pharoh in the Kentucky Derpy , a high profile example. Was he not switching leads, Bruce McNeill, or was the jockey trying to make him run faster. Maybe it was just to please the fans, as you say whipping is about !!. But, as you may remember, Mr. McNeill, it kinda backfired on that occasion, did it not.
Whatever whipping is about, it is just plain wrong. A tap can get a horse to change leads, beating him over and over is outrageous. Period.
I’m on your side Rose Smith. I never claimed to know what is going through a jockey or trainer’s mind. I feel the anger but it is not a vehicle for change…It’s about education. The crop is the least of the problem for now, The focus needs to be on the farriers and veterinarians they are the problem. I sent my study to Patrick Battuello it details the number one cause for injury in TB Racing…you can email me for a copy.. bmc06239@yahoo,com …will you join in trying to fix this…bruce
Horses change leads without the use of a whip.
Wow are you wrong! If it’s to switch leads- why are quarter horses beat incessantly when they are run on a straightaway with no lead switch required?? And yes, Bruce, I had racehorses. And my last race mare went crazy when she was hit. I told the jockeys that rode her to never hit her! And guess what? She had beautiful fluid lead changes without a whip ever touching her! And she still does to this day with no one on her back!
SD I’m on your side…but no horse ever died from the whip and few are injured heading to the wire. The crop is the least of the problem for now, The focus needs to be on the farriers and veterinarians they are the problem. I sent my study to Patrick Battuello it details the number one cause for injury in TB Racing…you can email me for a copy.. bmc06239@yahoo.com …will you join in trying to fix this…bruce
Bruce look up armani the one and what happened with him
Billy yiengst March 28, 2017 at 1:47 pm “Bruce look up armani the one and what happened with him” Billy…All it took was photo of this horse for me to know this horse was suffering from caudal hoof pain…like I said it’s time for education…not anger. bmc06239@yahoo.com
Mr. McNeill, is that why American Pharoah was whipped in excess of 30 times during his stretch run in the Kentucky Derby two years ago? Bob “the bastard” Baffert said it was to keep the horse focused yet, according to you, it was to satisfy the bettors. Regardless of the reason, whipping a horse is animal abuse. I just wish we could inflict the same abuse on the person doing the whipping as well as those that support it.
Bruce McNeill, could you please provide the scientific evidence to support your comment re the wagering aspect.
I would like to respond to other matters you raised but currently in transit and intend to get back to you.
Bruce McNeill, if you feel no anger over the suffering of defenseless creatures, YOU are part of the problem of the rampant abuse of animals – including that of our nation’s racehorses.
Education is needed, most certainly and without saying…what do you think this blog is for? – entertainment? The public needs to be “shocked” out of their apathy and ignorance and must GET angry – damn angry – over the senseless deaths of horses used as gambling tools.
Bruce McNeill – Whipping racehorses is a contributing factor to horses breaking down because the relentless whipping pushes the horse beyond its physical limitations placing extreme stress on the animal.
Google the celebrated jockey into the hall of fame, Chris McCarron, and have a read of his opinion of whipping racehorses. Suggest you have a read of the link that Patrick Battuello put up.
Your comment “that the whip is a necessary aid to protect the horse” leaves me speechless.
What I wrote about the whip is the argument that is presented at any debate to eliminate the crop, and it wins out every time. I am as outrage as you but smart enough to know no one will ever listen to you if you allow rage to put blinders on, and demand change without real facts. Cruel or not the whip has never killed a racing horse…meaning that the root cause of death was NOT the whip. I am not arguing in defense of abuse. Horse racing is not going to stop using it and nothing you write here in the comment sections will change that. What have you changed in the last two years? I want to change things and I know how to do it. I have presented valid facts about the root cause for injury to many important representatives in racing. Facts that are undeniable but are being suppressed by the veterinarian world, college professors…people like the vet’s at Rood & Riddle. The fact that veterinarian care is big money means it takes big money to fight them…I have a better way but I need like minded people. If you want to stop the abuse of the whip you must first make the racing world understand hoof care only then will you make them understand stress…then no one will want to use a whip. bmc06239@yahoo.com bruce
Rest assured, Bruce McNeill, I do not allow ‘rage’ to blind me.
Having investigated hundreds of racehorse deaths, a necropsy will never find that whipping was a contributing factor. The factual causes of death in relation to limb injuries, which are by far the most common, will be either fractured bones such as the cannon, scapula, etc., sesamoids injury/fracture, suspensory apparatus, severed tendons, etc. Other causes of death include, fractured pelvis, fractured skull, fractured spine, exercise induced pulmonary haemorrhage, cardiac failure as a result of high speed exercise and sudden death. I have witnessed racehorses decelerating when clearly they cannot go any faster, jockey gets stuck into it with the whip and within a few strides the horse breaks down and is euthanased on the track. It is my belief that if a jockey accepts that the horse just cannot keep on going at breakneck speed for whatever reason such as fatigue, running with a pre-existing injury, muscle soreness which racehorses suffer badly, running on dysfunctional feet such as underrun heels, and puts the whip away, then the number of deaths and career ending injuries would decrease significantly.
Someone else commented here that the problem is with the trainers and owners – how very true.
Most jockeys whip ride and will do whatever it takes to please the trainer and owner he’s riding for, not giving a damn for the welfare of the horse. I have some real facts which includes pictures of racehorses with welt marks on them, droplets of blood oozing from the horse’s flesh where the repetitive whipping has cut the skin, an official stewards’ report (here they’re public documents) which disclosed welt marks on a horse and that was with the so-called kinder padded whip! In your response to me you asked me what I’ve changed in the last two years? I’m a co-author of a Sydney University study/report recently published by Animals (Switzerland) on whipping racehorses. The whip rules here (for every horse in Australia) have recently changed for the better. But, it is very disappointing that the rule that a jockey can whip his horse in the final 100m to the line as many times as he likes, and that is potentially 13 times consecutively given about 13 strides to go, still remains in place. In Sydney recently a horse was whipped about 20 times in a big prizemoney race for an interstate owner whose horse won last year’s Melbourne Cup. I may not have changed anything re whipping but i have certainly tried.
I do know a gelding that began racing at two (2) and clocked up 196 starts and was retired at 14 years of age (he was just 2 months off 15 from his foaling date) – he was regarded as a freak. A colleague and I travelled hundreds of miles over a couple of days to get to one of his races (it was to be his 183rd start) and we approached the Stewards and requested a vetting, provided a document on this horse’s history backed up with scientific evidence. Raceday vet did a ‘vetting’ and didn’t even trot him up so we requested a proper vetting. Apparently the powers that be in Sydney became involved and another vetting was done and found him to be lame and we got him scratched but he did go on to have another 14 starts after a lay-off but raced poorly, would lose his balance and fall – he escaped serious injury and death by the skin of his teeth! The owner/trainer was determined to get him to 200 starts to make history but intervention forced his retirement. My colleague and I did make a change – Racing Australia then implemented a Rule that no horse over 12 years of age could participate in racing. Most horses here retire at 6-8 years of age or earlier but at least this new Rule gives some protection e.g. a famous steeplechase horse in Victoria was officially turning 13 a week before a high profile jumps race and he was prevented from racing, owner threatened to take him overseas but common sense weighed in and he was retired.
This poor gelding. 12 years old and 106 races. I guess the money ment more than your life. Heartbreaking. Run free now Shakeyogroovething. No more pain. You never got the retirement you so deserved.
Sad, depressing news. The hypocrisy is reeking off this story – the owner getting his publicity of compassion. The reality being swept under the rug. Par for the course.
Here is a dose of reality. Though this brave boy died at the hands of the life he was bond to – he knew no covert betrayal some thoroughbreds aren’t so “lucky.”
A 20 year old thoroughbred stallion named Brad Pitt (do not know his number or real name) found himself starved and tagged for slaughter at a disgusting kill pen called sunnyside in Washington. An intelligent woman bought him, to save him. For one reason or another the kill pen owner (Donny Nowlin) refused access to pick up the horse. Donny Nowlin actualy had taken this beautiful starved boy and injected the horse up with amphetamines (the use of a chain across his gums was so violent, and caused so much damage, the vets stated he must have fought the restraint with everything he had) to energize Brad Pitt’s participation in a Mexican rodeo. Nowlin has a reputation for participation in these Mexican rodeos, contributing victims from his kill pens and he has a big name in cockfighting The vets examining Brad Pitt’s body fluids (post mortem) determined he had predictably been impossible to handle and with little urging would have run frantically in the arena while chased and ropes whipped at him to frighten him. . He was roped (a number of events at Mexican rodeos violently attack horses – one event is tripping. The legs are roped at speed and the rope is snubbed to a saddle horn stopping the forward motion of the fleeing horse) and somersaulted at speed. Brad Pitt broke his elbow and his neck but was alive. His body suffered multiple injuries, bruising (pre mortem). He was at some point afterwards shot up again with a toxic chemical which killed him. He was not shot to make his death instant.
This gallant thoroughbred, dead in. The filthy kill pen was then cut open. One haunch was so flailed, and the hip dislocated it is thought he was possibly to be harvested for the ghoulish meat of the Mexicans. But someone may have reminded the butcher the meat might just kill someone. Instead, his bladder was removed. The vets surmised, to mask the degree the horse had been drugged before chased for the tripping occurred.
The owner was innocent of what had happened to her rescued horse and was called and told Brad Pitt was dead of unknown reasons. Nowlin knew.
The owner insisted she be given the body since she had donors who (who would need to be informed and shown proof the horse was dead) had contributed to the exorbitant price charged by the kill pen (Donny Nowlin at Sunnyside in Washington, the broker is Sabrina Connoughton). Nowlin did after days released the horse’s mutilated and tortured body to the owner.
Facebook page: Justice for Brad Pitt, the 20 year thoroughbred stallion
Mr. McNeill, the problem is racing. The farriers and the veterinarians do what the trainers want because if they decline they won’t be working,. In turn, the trainers do whatever it takes to win and make an name for themselves and hense more money.
No, racing can’t be fixed because it is a business that USES the horse as a means to make money and enhance egos. The horse is the disposable commodity. In addition, racing makes it’s own rules and polices itself.. No wonder it is a corrupt business without any basic protection for the horse and no consequences for illegal activity and blatant animal cruelty. There is no oversight.
SHAKEYOGROVETHING – I mourn for you.
You were clearly used, abused, and forced to die for this despicable business.
Sherri L. Greenhill – the Owner Jeffrey L. Greenhill – the Trainer – You are both parasitic scum bags.
You are blood-sucking leeches who sucked every last drop of blood from this poor horse.
There are only 3 types of people in horse racing: 1. Abusers 2. Enablers of the abuse. 3. Both.
Sherri and Jeffrey you are in Category 3 – hands down.
I can’t imagine the pain, suffering, and torment that this poor horse went through.
It’s not only the death of SHAKEYOGROVETHING that is repulsive, but it’s the total lack of accountability behind this killing.
Not one of these scum bags will be held accountable for this murder, and it’s a murder.
This is a blatant homicide perpetrated on an innocent, defenseless, and voiceless feeling being.
The private vet who treated this horse is a parasitic leech just like them, but so is the racetrack Turfway Park, and the Racing Commissions.
It’s an entire group of people that permit this systemic cruelty, abuse, pain, suffering, and DYING to continue.
I checked out the “Statistics” on these two and they have been using and abusing racehorses for a long time.
We will NEVER know how many times this poor horse was injected into his joints, needles in and out of his veins, how many colic’s, how many times did he get sore – we will never know.
We will never know because Kentucky loves to hide the medication records, the Death Statistics, and now they even took away the racehorses last leg to stand on (pardon the pun) when they classified them as “livestock.”
For Kentucky, it’s business as usual.
They are a sickening bunch of people, and this business has got to go.
Horses MUST NOT be treated as if they’re stuffed animals — HORSES ARE TO BE RESPECTED & LOVED!
I’ve located the Owner/Trainer on Facebook if you care to leave a comment?
He’s under Jeff Greenhill.
He has pics of the horse when it was alive.
Let’s call these people out for what they are.
Let’s tell them how we feel without any threats of course.
RIP, poor Shakeyogroovething. You came into this world on March 6, 2005 bred solely to be used as a gambling device. Having raced as a 2-year-old, you would have been broke to ride in your yearling year and off to the racetrack to live in a stall 23 hours a day. You toiled for 11 of your 12 years in 106 races.
The fact that you were a gelding meant that you were worthless as a breeding machine so you had to continue to fill races for a corrupt industry. That you earned $357,103 or an average of $3,369 per race, meant that you would be raced and whipped whether you were tired or sore or both. It meant that you would be raced to your death with no rules to protect you in your “old age” — by racing standards but in your prime outside of racing.
Your murderers who profited from your pitiful life are not just the obvious — your breeder, owners, trainers but also your jockeys, jockey agents, grooms, veterinarians, farriers, the racetracks, racetrack employees, the racing commission employees, the Jockey Club, the HBPA, TOBA, NTRA, ARCI, TRPB, Equibase, every pro horseracing blogger or writer, those that wagered and cashed tickets — money earned on your back, and yes, those that nearly break their arms from patting themselves on their backs congratulating themselves while they try to sell the public that there is “aftercare” for racehorses.
The life and race to the death of Shakeyogroovething is the all too real and shameful example of what “aftercare” means in horseracing: NO ONE IN RACING CARES.
Thank you, Jo Anne.
People complaining over how many times the horse was hit with a whip . Are you serious ? The horse was 12 years old and still being raced ! Do you get it ? Apparently the bigger problem escaped you. 🤔
Angie…those who commented regarding the whipping “get it” – they do. We all realize that being whipped while running their hearts out is the least of the abuses they endure.
The jockey’s whip is used to force the horse to exert itself to even greater levels of intense exercise during a race. The horse is doing his best and suffering fatigue, whilst his central nervous system is telling him to slow down to prevent a catastrophe. Suggest you read the link that Patrick put up (see his comment above).
All of this over whipping the horse. That has nothing to do with the horse being euthanized or dead. I own a 7 yr old mare who has had 7 out’s. So not everyone looks at the horse’s as a paycheck. The problem is education and training for all who work with the horse.
Yes Joice, the whipping, doping, confinement, pain, suffering, cruelty, inhumane treatment of a living being, cheating, and the DYING both in the dirt on a racetrack and on a slaughterhouse floor.
That’s what it’s about, and that’s why this business needs to shut down.
There is no amount of education or training for anybody because this business is based on the exploitation of a racehorse for profit – profit for the connections of the racehorse and profit for the wagering windows.
For the rich it’s solely to boast their ego, some trophies in their den, some chitter chat at the country club.
These are the primary motivations for racehorses to be maimed for the rest of their lives or to pay with their lives every single day.
Now if that’s not enough for you to denounce this antiquated business model then I suggest you check-in to your local psychiatrist.
Your delusion is beyond my capabilities.
Joice – if you think that whipping has nothing to do with racehorses breaking down and dying, then you need to educate yourself. You probably don’t know that whipping is related to horses bleeding during a race.
Joice – I meant to add the following:
“Whips are designed to force the animal to exert itself to even greater levels of intense exercise, particularly during a race. It is intensity of exercise that causes internal bleeding, when the horse has not been properly conditioned to tolerate high stress levels.
Whipping increases the intensity of the physical stress on the animal and thus may directly increase the amount of bleeding.
…… pain has a purpose, in that it is nature’s warning to the athlete that further exertion could cause physical damage not only in terms of increased internal bleeding but also in terms of damaged tendons and muscles.
The most effective way to eliminate this factor which causes internal bleeding, is to ban whips in both training and racing.” DR PHILIP SWANN
The above are quotes by Dr Philip Swann from his book titled “Factors that Destroy Race Performance and V200 Plus Scientific Training Method”. I understand Dr Swann was a Vet, Chief Executive of the Victorian Racing Board and Director of the Victorian Government Racing Drug Analysis Laboratory (Australia).
I have no doubt that there would be ethical vets in America that would support Dr Philip Swann’s view and findings.
I remember a few years back, before I left racing. A friend of mine (an exercise rider) made the statement…You cannot love horses and love racing. This is after we witnessed the worse spill I had ever seen. She nailed it, with that statement. And yes…she is still in the business. I am glad I am not…
Carolyn McDonald: You talk but do not listen…I pity you. You argue points that I am in full agreement with as if you need to convince yourself. You state facts of bone fractures that are rooted in hoof care yet your focus is on the whip not the hoof care. People like you will never change things…and this is my last post here. bmc06239@yahoo.com bruce
Clearly, Bruce McNeill, you just don’t get it. And sadly you ignore the findings of Dr Philip Swann. It appears that you didn’t pick up on my reference to the fact that many racehorses run on dysfunctional feet. I am fully aware of the feet problems being the cause of many limb injuries and breakdowns.
Dr Bowker travels from America to Australia every 2 years to lecture here and he’s just brilliant, his research and knowledge of the equine feet is amazing. NEHRO was an example of the abysmal standard of hoof care in the horseracing industry in the USA.
And it’s also bad here where one of the deaths I investigated found that the reason for the breakdown of a horse was the shocking condition of its feet and farrier work.
Imagine being whipped/beaten to run faster when you have sore feet?
Imagine if you had painful blisters on your feet you would most likely slow down while walking or even avoid walking for some time.
Imagine being whipped to not only walk, but run when you are sore like this?
These racehorses not only have sore feet, but probably sore limbs as well.
Carolyn states ” NEHRO was an example of the abysmal standard of hoof care in the horseracing industry in the USA.”
Not only bad hoof care, but the owners were evidently well aware that NEHRO was in pain, and suffering.
Yet, they ordered the Trainer to keep training and running him – direct enablers of the abuse.
The Trainer didn’t deny their order, which he should have.
Instead, the Trainer Steve Asmussen perpetrated the abuse in conjunction with his Assistant Trainer, Scott Blasi, and continued to run this horse.
Even after NEHRO had some life threatening episodes of colic which was more than likely a result of his extreme pain – they STILL ran him and he finally gave out.
NEHRO was not only a victim of numerous bad things with evil people, but he was a victim of this despicable business like most are.
This business is legitimized systematized animal abuse, and everybody in it are all abusers or enablers of the abuse and the dying.
NEHRO is a prime example of this.
Earlier this week, I saw a post concerning the death of Shakeyogroovething on a FB friend’s wall. This friend was NOT defending this racing fatality, but, of course, there was a pro-racing supporter who needed to make a comment to try to convince us how much Shakey “liked to run.” The poster was Ms. Christine Tutcher, who is the Secretary/Treasurer of TROT (Thoroughbred Retirement of Tampa), a very small “rescue” that takes in a few discarded horses from Tampa Bay Downs. Ms. Tutcher was quick to jump to Jeff Greenhill’s defense and I quote, “His (Shakey’s) connections are devastated. Don’t be so quick to judge. The horse liked to run.” Now, Ms. Tutcher is a HUGE supporter of TB racing and its history, so it isn’t surprising that she would attempt to defend the indefensible but her desperation was palpable. After I made another comment about Shakey “liking” being stalled 23 hours a day, Tutcher came out swinging and this is her response to me…”With all due respect, Mary, back off! I won’t play your games.” Games? Is Tutcher delusional or incredibly stupid? I don’t consider a horse snapping its leg off so that Tutcher and her ilk can be entertained to be a game but, again, Tutcher was desperate to deflect away from the horrific injury and defend the industry at all costs. She then states that Greenhill “knew the horse the best.” Well, Tutcher, is right about that. Since the Greenhill’s owned the horse for years, they should have known him best and I bet they were devastated since he was a money producing machine. It isn’t easy to give up those cash cows as racing connections squeeze every last drop of blood out of the horse. Oh, and since Shakey “liked to run,” (according to Tutcher), I bet he also liked the drugs, the whipping, the joint injections, being stalled 23 hours a day and breaking his hind limb which, I was told, was a catastrophic injury and that comes from someone who viewed the race from head on. Shakey “liked to run?” Ridiculous, Ms. Tutcher. Shakey was FORCED to run by those who exploited him. He was running for his life and he LOST! Got it?
Now, I would like to put Ms. Tutcher’s concerns to rest. I am NOT going to “back off.” In fact, I am going to continue to speak out against an industry that maims, and kills, horses DAILY. That may not sit well with Tutcher but I don’t give a damn. She loves the industry and I love the horses. There is a big difference. By the way, TROT’s President is Ms. Summer Thurber and the rescue has six horses in it’s program (according to the website), five of which are adoptable as pasture pets. It is difficult to find a sound horse, that can be ridden, a soft place to land so it is even more difficult to find horses that are only lawn ornaments a place to go so you would think that Tutcher wouldn’t be so quick to tell me to “back off.” Being an official of an organization that depends on donations from the PUBLIC, I would think that she would watch her mouth a little more closely and not spout off but, again, Tutcher is desperate to defend the industry that she loves so much. Perhaps someone should reach out to Ms. Thurber and tell her that Tutcher needs to “zip her lips.”
After I pushed back on Ms. Tutcher’s comment telling me to “back off,” Ms. Tutcher took her comment down but not before I got a screenshot. She promptly blocked me. I guess the truth didn’t sit well with Tutcher. It never does.
I noticed tutchers FB picture is a set of dog tags that state “Ottb” . How ironic. Dog tags are used by the military to be able to identify the dead in time of war. Guess an Ottb is lucky to survive the battlefields of the track- to become an OFF track thoroughbred!
SD, yes, I noticed that, too, before Tutcher blocked me. Since Shakey “liked to run,” according to Tutcher, I wonder if Tutcher has asked her OTTB if he “likes to run.” If the answer is in the affirmative, she should send him back to the track so that he can put his life on the line for her entertainment. All these “huge” supporters of horseracing truly nauseate me. What I can say is that I currently have six OTTB’s and not one of them would change places with Shakey even though the freaks who support racing would babble that TB’s “like to run.” Mine meander around the pasture and rarely break into a canter and, when they do, it is for a few strides. However, pump them full of drugs, put a jockey with a whip on their back, place them with a herd on a track and I’m sure they, too, would be running for their lives just to keep up with the herd.