In reporting on another Kiaran McLaughlin-trained horse, the Daily Racing Form had this: “Meanwhile, McLaughlin said that Takaful, the winner of last year’s Grade 1 Vosburgh, was euthanized earlier this year due to an injury suffered following routine surgery. McLaughlin said Takaful underwent surgery on a hock, and when he tried to get up in recovery, he took a bad step and suffered a fracture that proved fatal.”
Takaful was four and was last under the whip in January. The DRF, of course, saw this as newsworthy because – and only because – Takaful was a very successful racehorse as measured by the kind of races he ran (“stakes”), where they took place (Saratoga, Del Mar), and, most important of all, his “career earnings” (almost $500,000).
This is horseracing.
I know this can happen, but I thought this is why they place horses in recovery pools to wake them from sedation so if they thrash or scramble about, the chances of injury are minimized. But, I’m still trying to figure out what a “routine” hock surgery is??
Why am I skeptical – “a bad step in recovery” ! Something is amiss here. But, of course, it is horseracing and so many “stories” don’t add up !!
How do you break a leg in a padded stall? That por horse – they couldn’t just retire him?
Yet another “bad step” is declared to imply that his death was an accident. A distraction from the real reason that he had to have surgery in the first place.