3-year-old Boom Boom Bango was killed in her very first race Sunday at Santa Anita. Apparently, the filly snapped both front legs – yes, both front legs. In reporting the incident for the Daily Racing Form, Jay Privman said this: “Screen is up for Boom Boom Bango, so it’s pretty obvious what her fate appears to be.” “Her fate.” Still, as is their (the apologists) wont, most of Privman’s attention went to the dinged-up jockey.
While we here at Horseracing Wrongs focus on the U.S. industry, we do on occasion relay goings-on abroad. In the just-concluded Cheltenham Festival in England, six horses were killed in just four days – four on the final day alone. The RSPCA (BBC): “The fatalities are extremely concerning and it is essential that the announced review by the racing industry must be completely comprehensive to reduce the likelihood of such tragedies occurring again.” Wouldn’t it have been nice if the RSPCA, the oldest animal-advocacy organization in the world, had instead said this: There is no place for the barbaric killing of sentient beings for gambling in the 21st Century. End it. Now.
Sandsend, one of Friday’s victims. The picture speaks for itself.
Justify this racing apologists!
Oh they already are, Carolyn.
For the love of God… how does this happen??!
I guess a better question would be, ” Why does this happen..?”
With all the money that the racing industry rakes in each year you would think that these horses would be in better hands..
Tragically, they are not. Worse, they’re treated as things, mere pieces of property to be used, expended, and, ultimately, discarded when no longer profitable.
How gruesome is that, This is what racing does to the horse.
The picture should be on a billboard next to those promoting racing at every major track and at every major meet – freedom of speech !
Agree, Rose. This picture should be given unlimited exposure.
BOOM BOOM BANGO – so sorry for you, so sorry that you died in the dirt at Frank Stronach owned Santa Anita.
DOPING, brutal training methods, total lack of neutral oversight, lack of racehorse population, way too many racetracks with not enough racehorses to fill races puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the existing racehorse population, outdated racing facilities most of which don’t even have an equine hospital on the grounds, corruption, and/or the steady stream of financial welfare has greatly contributed to racehorses snapping their legs-off and dying in the dirt.
The BILLIONS in wagering profits controlled by the HBPA, The Stronach Group, and all other wagering companies fail these racehorses miserably.
They know damn well that in order to keep their steady stream of BILLIONS coming in that doping is required to keep these abused, and over worked racehorses going.
Another yearly industry-funded meeting last week with another round of “lip service.”
I swear I can rewind these meetings to 20 years ago, when I used to attend them, and they are all the same.
They seem to be just public wallpaper because nothing ever comes out of them as the doping, corruption, dumping, and lack of aftercare is still very much part of this business.
As a former industry insider, you get to the point where you can no longer defend this legitimized animal cruelty, you can no longer be delusional, you can no longer rationalize the horrific lives and endings for these voiceless racehorses.
The only right thing to do is to leave, use your voice to educate people about the truth, get active on blogs like this and be part of the solution not part of the problem.
The ONLY solution to end the massive suffering of racehorses is to SHUT these hell holes down.
There is no other reasonable and/or moral conclusion that any compassionate or rational person can come to – NONE.
This continued abuse and exploitation of horses is disgusting and tragic! It is all about greed and ego, sadly! The animals always pay the price for man’s stupidity and ignorance!! Look at “Soring” of Tennessee Walking horses. How this can be legal in the US is mind-boggling! The public needs to boycott all horse races and “soring” events! If the demand is not there, it will stop!! Thanks!
OMG 😲💔 and I mean that in the most literal sense…And this photo SHOULD be a billboard for ALL to SEE PRIOR to walking 🚶♀️~ 🚶🏻♂️Into their racetrack of choice 🐎 …
How absolutely tragic for this young filly to die this horrific painfilled unnecessary death 💀 ALL DUE TO GREED 💴 💰 … Shameful☹️💔☹️💔☹️💔☹️💔☹️💔☹️💔☹️💔
And 3-year-old Boom Boom Bango will be used to support racing’s oft-repeated mantra that 2-year-old racing is safe as they claim 2-year-olds suffer less catastrophic injuries YET a review of Equibase shows that this poor youngster was in grueling race training with work outs AS A TWO-YEAR-OLD on 11-6-17, 11-13-17, 11-20-17, 12-24-17 and 12-30-17 and the workouts continued on 1-5-18, 1-15-18, 1-23-18, 1-29-18, 2-3-18, 2-12-18, 2-24-18, 3-7-18 and DIED in her first race on 3-18-18 so the Equine Injury Database and racing PR will continue to obfuscate the truth. This horse died no doubt from bilateral fractures from pre-existing injuries in her 14 workouts (5 as a 2-year-old) shortly after leaving the gate in her first race. Racing’s own research shows that in up to 90% of catastrophic injuries, the horses had pre-existing conditions — meaning they were continued to race while injured — Just like Boom Boom Bango who was in race training as a 2-year-old. For shame!
Horses are raced to death at EVERY AGE and don’t try to make the age an excuse — “Oh, gee, our Jockey Club Injury Database continues to show that more horses die at ages older than 2-years-old so how lucky are those other dead horses? They got to be imprisoned in a stall and forced to race under whip but by golly, they got to live longer than 2-years-old!! Intelligent people are suppose to accept that as celebratory news????
Racing KILLS. Period. Boom Boom Bango and many others that began race training as 2-year-olds but died as 3-year-olds or older are testament to the falsehoods promoted by the industry.
There is no integrity in racing. These people will lie, spin and manipulate data in order to maintain their modus operandi – abuse and destruction of the horses for money and ego.
MANY racehorses are in HARD TRAINING BEFORE they are 2-year-old’s because the industry uses January as their date of birth.
So ALL racehorses have the same birthday according to The Jockey Club, which is just another way to hide the truth about racehorses actively training BEFORE they are 2-years old.
I use the ACTUAL racehorse BIRTHDAY as my guideline because how in the hell can you take into account a racehorse who wasn’t even born yet??!!
Just like all their delusional crap this is one of the biggest.
I saw strong evidence to suggest that top name trainers are actually running 3 year-old’s as 2 year-old’s to give them a huge advantage, and some of the biggest breeding farms are, evidently, in on it.
This is totally possible under the current system that only microchips can rectify, but the industry has been very resistant to change.
ALL racehorses of ALL ages, “royally-bred” or not, rich or poor owners, running for stakes or running for their lives – they are all subjected to the brutal operations of this vile business and they are ALL one step away from dying.
This is the truth behind the 2-minute “thrill” for bets, and it’s got to END.
-Another senseless death, and a horrific way to die. My heart breaks for these beautiful animals, they deserve so much more. Thank you for keeping the information coming, and one day this abuse/murder will stop.
cant understand how this has happened, could have been done on an ordinary run. There has to be a reason, was it a loose strap?was it an old injury?