From the NYS Gaming Commission:
Queen of Umaill “pulled up lame” Saturday while training at Aqueduct – sesamoid fracture, euthanized. The 2-year-old had been raced twice – dead-last both times, a combined 41 lengths back.
The following day at Belmont, Mighty Zealous “developed severe respiratory distress and was euthanized in its [not his, its] stall.” Apparently, he had been suffering from pleuropneumonia for the past three weeks. Mighty Zealous was eight and had been put to the whip 54 times, most recently at Aqueduct in January.
Dead horses every day – this is horseracing.
Another 2 dead horses – gee these insurance companies must pay big bucks to you assholes who own these horses. Imagine another 2 year old with 2 starts running dead last and now DEAD period. What does it take to get it thru your god damn thick skulls that these horses are far too young. You people just make me sick.
How can so many beautiful horses be dying every day on your tracks – do any of you stop long enough to look at the reasons or are you only fixated on the winners circle and the payout windows. What a disgusting bunch of assholes. All racing needs to be banned in its entirety. The sooner the better before more and more horses die these horrible deaths.
I cannot agree with you more; I am tired of crying since I love horses so much. Owned one when I was younger and we rode and ran for fun all over the ranch. If you don’t bond with your horse, then what is the point. It’s a business and they are treated like the greyhounds were treated and so many of those tracks have closed down. We have to keep at it but there is so much money involved and it’s going to be very hard to bring down these abusers of these poor beautiful majestic creatures. Makes me sick and sad.
Both count, but I will display the precipitous decline of MIGHTY ZEALOUS (MZ).
Starts out with Linda Rice racehorse dumper and killer, but this business calls her a “trainer.”
She makes around $300,00 off of MZ the first 2 years and then she dumps him into the bottom claiming ranks when he stops performing at Allowance level.
He changes hands 8 times performing for everybody who claims him totaling $444,961.
He races on January 19 for his 8th and final trainer Carlos Martin.
So from January 19 to March 12 he was, most likely, sick and doesn’t appear to be treated for his illness because pleuropneumonia usually results when initially a lung infection is NOT treated with basic antibiotics.
It appears that cruelty and neglect was bestowed upon MZ.
Again, the secret doping/vet records or lack thereof would tell the story.
I can’t imagine how much Mighty Zealous suffered.
Where was Linda Rice who made about $300,000 from him?
Well she was out claiming some more victims (COOL AS YOU LIKE IT, WARRENS VENGEANCE) while Mighty Zealous was fighting for his life.
Linda Rice, the blood sucking parasite, is the lower than an amoeba.
Thank you for your insight into some of the horrors of this “sport”. I am crying.
Unbelievable, running 2 year olds! Boy, these people are not only evil, but dumb as he’ll!
Yes, in addition to the horrifying deaths they say “died in it’s stall” not died in “his” stall) calling an animal an it makes them sound like less than a sentient being. This whole business has to end.
SANTA ANITA PROTESTS – LOS ANGELES, CA. – 22 DEAD & counting…
My name is April C. Montgomery. I protested on March 3, 2019 at Santa Anita Race Track. I protested today (March 14, 2019) in front of the Hall of Justice in Downtown Los Angeles. I have waited 4 years to expose Santa Anita nationally when nobody wanted to do it here in Los Angeles. So, I did what I could and then rescued a horse. It took OVER 20 horses (today marks 22) to die since December. Please hear me when I say this. I have been to the DA’s office and LA County Sheriff’s Department. Nothing is going to change until this animal cruelty is OUTLAWED!! The DA’s office is useless and enablers. Heck, they bet too!
LA County’s government and the state of California protect the interests of the owners and trainers and the “underbelly.” This is a MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY that lines the pockets of greedy, hard-core, and cruel people. That’s right, cruel people. I’m tired of hearing that these people love their horses as they put them down from traumatic and painful injuries from a violent sport only to replace them and do it all over again.
Please keep up the fight. Let your voices be heard. Educate the public. But, the change comes from the legislative branch!!! Again, this is a billion dollar industry. The bets are not just happening at the tracks. They are online and “underground.” I live here. I know how it works. I’ve seen the horses go down and drugged out of their minds and whipped!!! Now, read the open letter that came out today for the Stronach Group who doesn’t give a flying flip about animals.
https://www.santaanita.com/press-releases/an-open-letter-about-the-future-of-thoroughbred-racing-in-california/#.XIrEhihKiUl
Stronach Group is an entertainment and real estate company in North America with Thoroughbred horse racing and pari-mutuel wagering at the core.
Stronach admits against its own interest what we have been saying all along. Drugs. But mark my words, they will never stop the drugs and it’s not just about drugs, is it? It’s about horse racing PERIOD.
PETA needs to speak out against it “at its core” and not give kudos to Santa Anita’s people for anything! Playing nice isn’t the approach when the subject is “death.” You need to be truthful, assertive, but very direct.
Keep in mind that “commercial protests” like PETA unfortunately control the narrative. I’m glad they were there today but note that private protests like we did at the race track almost 2 weeks ago (Horseracingwrongs.com being behind us) were from people who did not speak from a script and did not care about hurting people’s feelings. I had to ask PETA to chant at the protest today and then I was told I could not give a statement to the media because they had “trained people” to do that. I’m a lawyer and a concerned citizen and I have to have training??? “Gimme” a break. The media needs to hear from people like you – like me – everyone who wants this to stop.
Peta, there is NO SUCH THING AS SAFE HORSE RACING with or without drugs!!!
Horse racing is LEGALIZED ANIMAL CRUELTY!
Hear, hear April.
Thank-you so much April for your post.
Everything you say is true.
First of all, shame on PETA and the USHS.
That said, there’s NO WAY that any animal lover or any group can call themselves an “animal rights group” while they endorse this massive pain, suffering, maiming, dying, and killing of racehorses unless they advocate for the total shutdown.
Secondly, Belinda Stronach has spent exhaustible hours in the past year touting her “modernization” plan, but nowhere in that plan (as I stated on a previous post) did she ever mention all of the racehorses dying.
Let’s be clear racehorses dying are not an anomaly and there have been hundreds of racehorses maimed and/or drop dead on Stronach owned tracks and all tracks so this is now “willful ignorance.”
Furthermore, in order for Belinda to actually implement these changes it’s going to be enormous because the systemic cruelty and dying is endorsed, enabled by every single layer of countless racetrack groups especially the HBPA or “horseman’s groups” who have been fighting and winning for the liberal use of Lasix and dope.
The only time I will applaud Belinda Stronach (not that she cares about this pea on the pod) will be when she announces that her family, The Stronach Group, is shutting down their horse racing operations.
Folks, these people are filthy rich elite people who don’t need to exploit horses to get richer.
They could be doing so much more for this planet, with the money they have, GOOD THINGS that help animals, children our environment, but instead they CHOOSE to exploit racehorses to fill their wagering coffers.
The racehorses don’t choose to be their profit slaves.
Thirdly, every person interviewed today spewed out the same old lines: “we love our horses,” “we treat them like family,” – NO they don’t.
If they loved horses then they wouldn’t exploit them.
Thirdly, special attention should be given to multiple drug violating “trainer” whose had multiple racehorses die under his brutal training regimes: BOB BAFFERT only because he was present when this poor filly snapped her 2 legs-off, and watching them flop over while she was trying to balance on her knees was extremely disturbing and should be enough for people to demand the shut down of horse racing in California (as if all the previous deaths were not enough).
But for Bob Baffert, he seemed to try to cover it up right in front of the camera without batting an eyelash while he watched this filly snap her 2 front legs-off.
This lack of compassion can only come from a seasoned racehorse killer like Bob Baffert, but we know that killing racehorses (deliberately or otherwise) is a mandatory trait for “trainers’ to get into the Racing Hall of (Sh)ame.
This dude has to be one of the lowest forms of life on the planet and that includes his wife, enabler, Jill Baffert.
You two are despicable. You both make me sick. My only hope is that the racehorses dish out their karma on both of you, for all the pain, suffering, and dying that you’ve perpetrated on racehorses over the years.
Bob Baffert – you are NOT a “horseman” you are a horse killer like most top “trainers.”
It’s an entire acceptable culture of racehorse abuse and dying and that’s why it needs to shut down.
Let’s relive WHATASONG – remember that filly Bob?
She was the one who was suffering for hours while you made sure that the equine insurance policy was going to be paid out to your super rich owner (the late Bob Lewis) if you euthanized her.
This example is just one of many.
Finally, I want to make clear to anybody reading this that I grew up in this business.
Mom and Dad sacrificed their lives, for this vile business working 7 days a week to placate wealthy owners and to fill races for Woodbine Racetrack.
All of us paid a price as a family because you don’t do much with your folks when their working 7 days a week from dusk to dawn – the only time you see them is when you go to the racing stable to help them, but it was there that I grew to admire and love the racehorse in all my childhood naivety.
I was a strong supporter of this business, I later invested with my late husband and fully participated in this business as a delusional apologist.
I went out to California, in the capacity of Associate Steward, to change things for the betterment of the racehorses – I went there on a very positive note, hoping to change things, hoping to make a difference for the racehorses – I wasn’t out to get anybody.
What I found out there was a complete and total lack of empathy, compassion or caring for the racehorses on many levels to the point where I cried almost every night when I went home.
What I also found was a company, then called Magna Entertainment Group now called The Stronach Group, who had no interest in changing things for the better – they were flying high with the millions pouring in.
Plus they were doing a great job at controlling the message every time a racehorse died.
I tried so hard to raise the alarm bells, but didn’t get anywhere.
Oh, they sure talked the talk, every single one of them blabbed out of their mouths proclaiming that they “loved” and “cared” for racehorses, but they were all empty words and nothing changed.
I was crushed out there, plain and simple, and when I started to get death threats taped to my golf cart in the morning I high tailed it out of there.
Then the newspaper article that labeled me, more or less, as an evil witch when I was just doing my job – protecting the racehorses (or trying to) that I loved so much.
I’m heartbroken over all of this, but I now realize that racehorses must die to fill races and that’s why I can no longer rationalize supporting it.
May all the racehorses who have been killed in action for this vile business, may their spirits forever run free in horse heaven, and may their vengeance rain down on those who exploit them.
My post was put under the wrong section – Should go under Santa Anita Race Track – Horse Deaths Protests. Can we put it under that section. It’s just too important! Thanks!