Yesterday, the NYS Gaming Commission reported that Have Another “developed severe laminitis” at Belmont and was euthanized. Aside from this being the 29th dead racehorse at Belmont this year – and 7th in the first two weeks of the Fall Meet – the disclosure is noteworthy for how the Commission filed it: “non-racing.”
Have Another was five years old and had been raced continuously for three years – 24 times under the whip in all. Add to that the countless “training sessions” (most recent: 11 days prior to dying), and you have the kind of wear and tear – “cartilage erosion,” “osteochondrosis,” “osteoarthritis,” “tendonitis,” “chronic lesions,” etc. – I consistently see on necropsy reports (in horses, mind you, mostly still in puberty). In short, this “severe laminitis” death is unequivocally an industry kill.
Belmont’s 29 dead racehorses, 2019:
Doyouknowsomething, Jan 8, stall – “sustained left elbow injury in stall”
Speke, Jan 19, training – “suffered a fracture to his right shoulder”
Catpsalm, Jan 29, stall – “protozoal myeloencephalitis”
Miss Marion, Feb 3, training – “fractured cannon bone…euthanized on track”
Chronos, Feb 3, training (euthanized Feb 4) – “fractured right front leg”
For Pops, Feb 26, training – “collapsed and died” (four years old)
Queen Bode, Mar 3, training – “euthanized at hospital”
Mighty Zealous, Mar 10, stall – “severe respiratory distress…euthanized”
Miss Marilyn, Mar 23, training – “leg injury…euthanasia on the track”
Miss Mimosa, Mar 28, training – “cardiovascular collapse” (three years old)
Pretty Enuff, Apr 1, training – “suffered a leg fracture…euthanized”
Luz Mimi, Apr 4, training – “suffered a leg fracture…euthanized”
La Manche, Apr 11, training – “suffered a fracture…and was euthanized”
Noble Cause, May 11, racing – “injuries necessitating euthanasia”
Anne’s Song, May 24, racing – “ambulanced off, euthanized due to poor prognosis”
Successful Mission, Jun 9, training – “sustained fractures while breezing”
Inflection, Jun 9, racing – “euthanized due to poor prognosis”
Ro Bear, Jun 16, stall – “died in the barn from an apparent impaction colic”
With Caution, Jun 28, training – “P1 fracture…died complications from anesthesia”
Fancy Persuasion, Jun 30, racing – “cardiovascular collapse” (two years old)
yet-to-be-named, Jul 11, training – “fractured sesamoids…euthanized”
La Fuerza, Jul 27, training – “fractured humeral, ambulanced to barn, euthanized”
Royal Inheritance, Sep 6, training – “collapsed and died” (five years old)
Passporttovictory, Sep 6, racing – “bad steps”
Mo Moxie, Sep 7, training – “sustained a fracture and was euthanized on track”
Deft, Sep 12, racing – “broke front leg and was euthanized on the track”
Rhode Island, Sep 14, racing – “was vanned off…subsequently euthanized”
Coffee Crush, Sep 19, training – “cardiovascular collapse”
Have Another, Sep 20, stall – “severe laminitis”
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Yet another list of horses dying when racing/training. This time it’s the Belmont track.
Twenty-nine (29) horses DEAD.
INDEFENSIBLE.
HAVE ANOTHER is yet another clear example that attests to the morally deprived parasites in this vile business.
Laminitis is a CHRONIC condition and the fact that HAVE ANOTHER died from it is morally reprehensible.
H.A. was running on a severely painful chronic condition, laminitis for a long time so his suffering would have been severe.
HAVE ANOTHER made over $250,000 and this STILL wasn’t enough for these idiots to give him a well-deserved forever home because this is horse racing.
They just kept sending him out to make another buck and they probably knew damn well that he was one step away from dropping dead in the dirt which is convenient for most of them so that they don’t have any financial responsibility to take care of the racehorse they’ve maimed that can no longer flip a buck for them.
If they happen to survive then most are vanned-off to the kill auctions and another victim is purchased for the next round of abuse – disposable gambling chips.
This is indefensible and must end.
Relax. Not every industry is perfect nor is everyone in the racing industry horrible. Plenty of horrible people killing horses in other industries. This industry just gets most of the publicity
Had a bowl of Delusional-O’s this morning, did we, T? (Don’t have the balls to use your name so you must be one of THEM). There is abuse of some sort or another in every equine sport, ie whips, spurs, stall confinement, etc. However the racing industry is wholesale abuse and slaughter on a scale seen in no other venue, and I challenge you to name a “good” person involved in racing, who doesn’t begin training horses before they’re developed, who doesn’t confine them in stalls 23 hours a day, who doesn’t use Lasix and a myriad of other drugs on them, who doesn’t use whips, who doesn’t use drugs and other more abusive forms of “therapy” to keep sore horses running, who doesn’t trade them off like an old bicycle when they can no longer bring in money, and who actually gives a shit about them beyond their short racing career and doesn’t just truck them off to the nearest slaughterhouse. We are talking about THOUSANDS of horses who die EVERY YEAR not just on the track but from “unexplained” causes in their prisons, pardon me, stalls. Horses just DROPPING DEAD at 2 YEARS OLD?! Their legs LITERALLY EXPLODING APART while being whipped down the track (whipping, because “they love to run”).
You can’t just point at other equine sports and say that there is bad in them too in an attempt to justify the misery, abuse, torment and death that are practiced, embraced, and even DEFENDED in your sick death show.
Totally agree with Tina, this horse suffered great pain just to fill a card. Too much rich grain and lack of normal exercise added to all that time standing in a stall was his death sentence.
…and who knows what the hell they were doing to him.
You see, based on direct experience, these apologists can do anything to these racehorse’s in the corner cobwebs of their prisons AKA stalls.
NOBODY not anyone can find out the doping/vet records leading up to HAVE ANOTHER’s death.
This is just the way they want it because to expose these records as they did with CORONADO HEIGHTS, trained by Todd Pletcher, confirmed he was given a cocktail of of potent pain killers to mask his pain and Todd knew that he had been diagnosed with early degenerative joint disease, but was morally challenged to do the right thing.
Instead, he sent him out to die and that’s what happened on the Aqueduct track on Feb. 25 New York Times.
NEHRO trained by Steve Asmussen was in chronic pain and should have been retired.
Instead, Steve sent him out to die.
Let’s be clear the owners are not innocent here.
They are the enablers of this abuse and they hide behind the secret doping/vet records that they pay for so they know damn well what’s going on.
They are all parasites – human leeches.
Racehorses are merely disposable gambling chips there to be used, abused, and killed.
They can count on their voiceless victims to remain silent – well I won’t.
You racehorse abusing bastards your time has come to be held accountable, finally, and to shutter you down.
To cause an animal pain is vile enough, but to continually escalate an animal’s suffering to the degree these racing industry bastards do it is an entirely different level of cruelty. The fact that this is done so blatantly to so many horses on every track with zero culpability and no consequences speaks volumes about our society – not only that we will inflict such horrors on a sentient being but that we will support and even defend this for money and entertainment. This should truly frighten us all.
Causes of laminitis…
•Digestive upsets due to grain overload or abrupt changes in diet – racehorses are fed grain-rich diets and experience many changes in ownership, hence many changes in diet.
•Toxins released within the horse’s system. This is the metabolic offender that others mentioned – increased cortisol (“stress-produced”) and lactic acid in the bloodstream are included in this and racehorses are in that high-risk category.
•Severe colic – racehorses are at an increased risk of colic due to living conditions (stall confinement and isolation, restricted movement/ambulation), grain-rich diets, “bulk feeding”, gastric ulcers (nearly 100% of racehorses suffer from gastric ulcers), NSAID use, stress, dehydration due to Lasix pre-race and withholding of water pre-race.
•Excessive concussion to the feet – this is a real concern when raced on a sealed track.
•Excessive weight-bearing on one leg due to injury of another leg – racehorses have racing “wear and tear” AND limb injuries that cause them to unevenly bear weight (Barbaro’s excruciating experience with his racing injury and subsequent laminitis is the perfect example, mentioned in another comment).
•Various primary foot diseases, poor hoof quality and incorrect hoof angles – racehorses typically have no heel and long toes.
•Although controversial, prolonged use or high doses of corticosteroids may contribute to the development of laminitis in some horses – corticosteroid injections into joints are the norm in racehorses. We took in several racehorses who had foundered (after acute episodes of laminitis) and our equine orthopedic surgeon determined the majority were due to the intra-articular (fetlocks) steroid injections.
Do horses other than racehorses get laminitis? – of course they do. But racehorses are “set up” for equine maladies, including laminitis, due to how they are made to exist and made to participate in a high-risk-for-injury-and-death activity.
When we love our horses – and I mean really love them and not just claim to – we will do everything in our power to MINIMIZE risks that could injure them or take their life. Making them race doesn’t minimize those risks.
In my youth, I was around many horses, young and old. One was one of the last U. S. Cavalry remounts and his verified age was 43. He was healthy and spirited. No longer ridden, he would gallop around his paddock with his head held high and his tail flung up like a flag. I only came across one horse that suffered from laminitis. She was a young filly that escaped her stall and found the feed barrel. With proper care and time, she recovered. She was never used hard after that, either. People that truly care about their horses, take good care of them. Obviously to many in the racing profession, the horses in their care have little significance. When interviewed during the Santa Anita coverage, one trainer who lost a horse that day maintained that people who make their money from these animals do care about them and referred to the horse he lost that day as “it.” I know lots of animal lovers and have never once heard any of them refer to one as an “it.” Verbal cues are indeed an accurate measure of how one feels about something. Obviously this trainer did not give a damn about the horse he killed that day.
“Relax”, you say “T” – I would like to thank you for your cavalier response to the suffering and deaths of sentient beings for the entertainment of humans – giving evidence of the apathy racing fans and industry insiders hold in regards to the thousands of racehorse deaths.
Additionally, the exploitation and death of any animal for entertainment purposes is barbaric – and since you bring up those “other industries”, can we assume you comment when THOSE cruelties are exposed, as well? – suggesting those in opposition of the animal deaths should just “Relax”? – and then remind them that racehorses are crippled, killed and sent to slaughter on a daily basis so why not simply “RELAX”? Sure you do…