Explain to me again how the multi-billion-dollar horseracing industry is not ultimately responsible for the fate of each and every one of its erstwhile “athletes”:
“For Louisiana racehorses, failure at the track can end in a deadly fashion”
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The thing that amazes me in all this is that people are vilifying Hal Parker and Dina Alborado. Do they deserve it?? Absolutely!!
But – what about the former connections of all those horses – how did the horses end up with that fate?! Why aren’t they being called out and vilified by racing apologists?! Why are they still allowed to be racing and there’s no uproar from the pro racing public that the LA tracks have not held them accountable for dumping their horses? And many of these horses popped up at kill auctions a day or 2 after their last race, with their race plates still on their feet. That is not a “teenager wanted to take him to be a show pony” – that is a DIRECT DUMP of some still very active racehorses! Everyone involved in the schemes are scum from the top down!
Absolutely, Peggy – Maggi Moss is as guilty for DUMPING racehorses as the next (racing) guy. Racing breeders, owners and trainers “love” the horses so much? – then KEEP them. For LIFE. And stop expecting the general public to take care of their used-up horses that are “sound for light trail only” for the next 20 years. It’s so damn sickening.
Is anyone honestly surprised at this? Seeing that horse with the drag rope still tied on his leg brings home just how callous and vile these people in the horse industry really are. I believe there is a special place in Hell for those who abuse children and animals, and they truly deserve it.
Just heartbreaking, to see horses treated like bags of garbage. By bags of garbage.
Not surprised at all, Rebecca – sickened, infuriated, heartbroken, yes – but not surprised.
The road to slaughter is wide & well-traveled – racehorses are well represented on that road. Every racehorse found in that predicament has many individuals to blame…included, their former racing connections.
“Oh, but owner Bob didn’t put his horse there!…he hasn’t raced him in YEARS and he put him with what he thought was a good home!” OK…but owner Bob no longer wanted his racehorse, did he – because his racehorse wasn’t giving him what he wanted. So owner Bob opened that door – to the road to slaughter by the very act of GETTING RID OF THE HORSE HE NO LONGER WANTED.
And then, owner Bob begins the process all over again. He buys ANOTHER racehorse he KNOWS he will eventually need to GET RID OF – because there WILL come a time (and usually, quite quickly) that THAT racehorse won’t be able to give owner Bob what he wants.
Racing breeders, owners and trainers know full well what a precarious and dangerous predicament they put their unwanted racehorses in when they choose to unload their non-producing horses. And every time they purchase another racehorse, they know they will want to unload THAT one, as well. They throw the door to slaughter WIDE OPEN. Every time – with every racehorse. And now that magnificent, sentient being who never consented to be used for owner Bob’s wallet and entertainment finds himself unprotected – and at GREAT risk of being butchered.
Owner Bob blameless? – please.
BINGO! Thank You, Joy Aten, as you have explained yet another HORRIFIC REALITY imposed on innocent horses by the Horse Racing Industry! Horse Racing Isn’t A Sport! Horse Racing Is Ongoing, Publicly-Sanctioned ANIMAL ABUSE! It’s time to “call a spade a spade!” END ALL HORSE RACING NOW!
Joy. Was this guy Bob the one on a documentary awhile back claiming he did what was best for His horse and didn’t know of the abuse and demise til he was enlightened. I have been following this site for a long time and took me awhile to post my 2 cents. With that being said you and GIna are amazing women telling it like it is..
Hey Nancy…”Owner Bob” is EVERY horse owner, trainer and breeder who is in the racing business – their horses are for one thing and for one thing only – to earn money for them. If that is via their horses getting checks racing, using mares as foal factories, or selling their racing colts to stand at stud and their fillies to be broodmares, the point is every horse they “create” or acquire will one day be homeless…unwanted…for sale or “free to good home”.
Bred for racing. Used by racing. But NEVER given a forever home nor supported for life by racing.
What every racing owner/trainer does when they no longer want their injured or used-up racehorse – give or sell them to someone else – is no different than the individual who dumps his old dog at the shelter because Fido isn’t fun anymore…so he’s being replaced with a new pup. Now repeat that countless times…..
Racehorses aren’t pets. Racehorses are not “family members”. They are tools of the gambling trade – and every one of them will become unwanted by their racing connections.
Racing sets their “beloved athletes” up for bad endings.
In addition to what Joy so eloquently stated:
Isn’t it funny how they never phone the people who they supposedly sold or gave the racehorse to?
No, in this day and age of cell phones they simply can’t call the people to see how their “beloved family” member is doing – can they?
Better still, go by the place where their former racehorse(s) are supposedly living the life of Riley – remember with that teenager in the grassy forever paddock?
No, this would be a little too much for them to check up on their “beloved family member” – would it?
The truth is: they know exactly where their racehorses go and subsequently end up – the slaughterhouse floor.
Of course nobody should be surprised because for a person to be involved in this business, to continue watching the broken bones and bodies and not leave, not support, and continue to defend this is a person who is evil to the core, morally bankrupt, and has some sort of psychological problem.
Which brings me to the breeders.
Oh yes, they too, project the Life of Riley on their million dollar, grassy paddock, large stalls, the best of everything farms in the Bluegrass – Lexington KY.
Of course they breed and supply this evil business with their disposable gambling chips, but they are a “special” breeding farm because their horses will end up back on million dollar farms – pleeezzzeee.
Just peruse the PP’s of racehorses on any day and there you will find plenty of these “royally-bred” racehorses running for a low claiming tag, and then you see that they started out with such promise, sent to the big name trainer, put into Maiden Special Weight – yea right.
Some even make over $200,000 but that STILL isn’t enough for these blood and life sucking leeches as they watch their “beloved family member” get sold and sold again without doping/vet records following them.
The former trainer/owner who knows that the horse has a previous hairline fracture drops it into the claiming ranks, or knows that the horse is a bad bleeder laughs all the way to the bank as the horse gets claimed.
“Rat” remember as Scott Blasi, Assistant Trainer to scum bag Steve Asmussen so joyfully proclaimed as he’s not the only one – they all do it and they don’t shed a tear when that same horse snaps its leg-off.
Most of them look at it like, thank goodness, they got rid of the problem and made the last buck off of them.
I’ve seen it, I’ve heard it, and I directly witnessed it.
These people are the lowest form of life on the planet.
Then there are the million dollar profit pro-horse racing entities such as the sales and wagering firms that do little to nothing for their profit slaves.
Not them not anybody because they’ve been getting away with this for years and please people wake-up.
Racehorses are one of the most abused animals for profit because they have no protections.
Please help us stop this, do something, write your politicians, educate people, peacefully demonstrate donate if you can, but don’t sit back – so something.
AMEN Gina – you nailed it in your very first paragraph – I would like to offer confirmation to that but it’s going to have to wait until later today or tonight when I have the time. Thank you for acknowledging what is mere common sense!
As I said earlier Gina, you hit the nail on the head. The racing industry has been sending its unwanted, used-up and injured “beloved family members” – the racehorses – to slaughter for decades. Racing knew it then, they know it now. From an old article, “The Horse Rescuer” (about Old Friends’ founder Michael Blowen and his time working at Suffolk Downs in the 80’s), this; “Sadly, the dark side of horse racing soon presented itself…and [its] tendency to unload losers. Blowen would steal away to watch [as]…those gorgeous Thoroughbreds would be corralled like criminals into the backs of stifling “killer trucks”, their broken limbs held together with duct tape, destined for the slaughterhouse.”
In 2012, “Asmussen family mares [were] found at [a] slaughter auction” (the title of the July 12, 2012 Daily Racing Form article). TEN BROODMARES. From the article, this from Keith Asmussen, father of trainer Steve Asmussen; “I sent the mares…to be sold. I didn’t even know there were any slaughterhouses left.” Asmussen, in the horse business for 50-plus years, added he “would not have hauled [the] mares 200 miles up the road…if I knew about the Mexican slaughterhouse.” Anyone who has been in the horse business for as long as Asmussen has – especially the horse racing business – knows about foreign slaughterhouses. So is Asmussen an idiot? – Or a blatant liar? You pick.
But it gets even sicker. Racing-employed Donna Keen is also quoted in the article, coming to the defense of Asmussen’s despicable act of sending the mares, ages 7 to 20, to the Round Mountain auction AND of planning to send them through the ring without riders (“loose horses” – typically sold cheaper than those being bid on while ridden in front of auction-goers and therefore, more often purchased by kill buyers. In fact, two of the mares, 13-year-old Ethel is Best and 14-year-old Karitsas Punch, had already been purchased by the kill buyer and bidding against the kill buyer(s) was needed to acquire 7 others). Again from the article, this from Keen; “’This wasn’t a sneaky, underhanded action,’ Keen added of the mares’ arrival at [the auction]. ‘I don’t know what’s going on, but [Keith Asmussen’s wife] Marilyn is a super-nice person and I’ve always thought a lot of Keith, and I’m sure not going to run them into the ground, because I don’t know what’s going on.’” Keen didn’t know what was “going on”? – It was quite apparent what was going on…10 broodmares of Asmussen’s had been DROPPED OFF at a kill-buyer frequented auction. Idiot? – Or blatant liar? You pick.
Earlier this month, 10-year-old Right to Vote, earner of over $500K, was found in the possession of a kill buyer. And while the Paulick Report spun a nice feel-good story about the dark bay gelding’s last racing trainer Ron Moquett (Right to Vote was “retired” after his last race for Moquett in 2016 and required rehab for an injury), the article left out one very important and damning fact…Moquett never contacted the “home” where “he was going to be a riding horse for young girls to train on” (the Moquett quote, from his FB page). Because if he HAD, he would have discovered that this “home” didn’t exist. Evidently the “vetting” that Moquett did on the livestock dealer he handed his horse over to was enough for him – no call to the “permanent home” where little girls would dote on the gelding and no visit to ensure the farm was, if nothing else, safe. Idiot? – Or blatant liar? You pick.
Thank-you Joy for your fact-based exposure of these idiots, blatant liars, apologists, and blood/life-sucking parasites.
Here’s the article for those of you who are skeptical of such egregious acts of cruelty, and inhumane treatment on these broodmares:
https://www.drf.com/news/asmussen-family-mares-found-slaughter-auction
Donna Keen, a horse racing apologists runs to the defense of people who dumped broodmares that made them a very good living – you are scum because as long as there’s people like you continuing to defend this common practice of dumping their unwanted racehorses at kill auctions than they will continue with no accountability.
Of course Donna Keen is married to multiple racehorse doping violator and killer Dallas Keen.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree does it?
I invite anybody to look up the race records and the foaling records of these broodmares.
All racehorses count, but these racehorses were considered “blue-bloods” “royalty” some high level stake winners and some producing high priced foals and what happens to them after they’ve taken care of just about anybody who touched them?
Well, like most racehorses they get dumped when they are no longer financially viable – in this case most were past reproduction age so they were no use to this racehorse abusing family who also exploits human beings in the name of Mexican labor.
It’s a known fact and I talked to several Mexicans who made their way off of their farm in Texas that recounted horrific tales of racehorse and people abuse.
Yet, the industry continues to revere Steve Asmussen and never once mentions all the racehorses who have died under his care, custody, and control.
Further information to add to this is that of a multiple-stake winning mare: MY MISS AURELIA.
At the time of this massive dumping of broodmares Steve Asmussen “could not be reached for comment,” because he was busy training stake mare My Miss Aurelia who was bred by no other than hardcore racing apologist Ms. Barbara Banke of Stonestreet Farms.
This clearly shows an owner, Ms. Banke, who was probably aware of this story, knowing that Steve Asmussen’s family, and probably him, were directly responsible for dumping broodmares, but continued to support him!
It’s called the “enablers” of the dumping and the horrors of this business as a whole.”
Now it gets worse.
Just out of curiosity I looked up My Miss Aurelia’s broodmare record since Ms. Banke is busy turning her into a breeding machine for either herself or to sell – forced impregnation because I’m sure My Miss Aurelia didn’t consent to probes up her vagina and probably plenty of reproductive dope.
https://www.equineline.com/report.cfm?dl_type=pdf&download_pdf_list=48946435
Anyways, here’s her record and there you find the first foal DIED under, what appears to be, mysterious circumstances.
Now we will never know how this unnamed foal died because I’m sure Ms. Banke won’t disclose that and it, most likely, had a equine insurance policy in place because these upper level owners usually ensure that because there’s a ton of money involved.
Yet, she didn’t skip a beat and the next foal by Medaglio D’Oro is by the same sire of Golden Julia.
Remember Golden Julia – the filly who died last week at Saratoga under mysterious circumstances “acute blood loss.”
Again, we will never know the details unless it’s investigated AND released.
Ms. Banke didn’t stop there because her reproductive machine continues with yet another 2 foals, one born in 2018 and 2019 – all this going on while GOLDEN JULIA died with “acute blood loss,” and while she had ROCK FALL snap BOTH legs-off at Keeneland.
Un- fucking -believable – there are no words.
Reblogged this on Armory of the Revolution.
I honestly can’t comprehend the level of callousness and coldness displayed by these so-called horsemen (and women, who can be just as bad, if not worse). To inflict constant pain and abuse on a living sentient being, use them up and then let them suffer the atrocities of a slaughterhouse. Or dump them on some other soulless monster to let them slowly starve to death. There has to be justice soon – there is too much misery to be accounted for.
WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH US HUMANS WE HAVE BECOME MONSTERS SOOO SOOOO SORRY
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________________________________ Från: Horseracing Wrongs Skickat: Tuesday, July 23, 2019 1:34:59 PM Till: tovecharles@hotmail.com Ämne: [New post] The Evil That Men (and Women) Do – Former Racehorses Rot to Death Without Food, Shelter
Patrick Battuello posted: “Explain to me again how the multi-billion-dollar horseracing industry is not ultimately responsible for the fate of each and every one of its erstwhile “athletes”: “For Louisiana racehorses, failure at the track can end in a deadly fashion””
There are people who try to help some of the thousands of young horses discarded by those in the business when, in spite of the joint injections and drugs, they can no longer get them to the starting gate.
These young horses are sold by the owners/trainers for more than they would bring at auction. People purchase them to keep them from the slaughter pipeline and with the hope they can be repaired and rehabilitated.
But in most cases, these young horses are so damaged there is no hope for any quality of life. Cartilage is completely eroded, multiple bone fractures (chips) are present, severe arthritis described as “end stage” and in one case (but am sure it is not an isolated instance) the knee joint in a three yr. old was said by the surgeon to look as though it had been “hammered”. The only thing to do for these unfortunates is to humanely end their suffering.
This lawless business has so many facets of abuse and cruelty it is beyond any semblance of human decency.