Last week in U.S. Thoroughbred and Quarterhorse races
Chazy “appeared in distress” at Finger Lakes – subsequently confirmed dead
Halloween Horror “vanned off” at Belmont
Granderella “appeared in distress” at Finger Lakes
Bridget Moloney “took a bad step” at Mountaineer – subsequently confirmed dead
Gio’s Happy “bled bilaterally” at Thistledown
Count On America “fell, DNF” at Charles Town
Black Jacket “eased while bleeding profusely” at Penn
Rock You “took a bad step…euthanized on the track” at Gulfstream
Its No Sin to Win “vanned off” at Prairie
Cisco Bay “came back bleeding from the nose” at Charles Town
Good as Money “vanned off” at Delaware
Desirable “vanned off” at Lone Star
Two Weeks Off “injured himself, vanned off” at Parx
Stagecoach “vanned off” at Prairie
Sunset Dreamer “vanned off” at Remington
Bamboozler “vanned off” at Santa Anita
Emtech “suffered a catastrophic injury” at Santa Anita
Silver Crescent “vanned off” at Foxfield
“Vanned Off”: unable to walk off course under own power; many of these horses will resurface on my FOIA kill-reports
“Bled,” “Returned Bleeding From Nostrils”: usually indicates pulmonary hemorrhage
(source: Equibase)
On this latest list is a horse who’s been on my mind a lot lately,I know for a Fact this poor mare was Constantly being run non stop at Ny,Pa,NJ…..you name it,she was just being run down into the ground.And now her life ends at Lonestar. These KILLERS need to be brought up on Charged of Animal Cruelty.
If you treated your pasture horse this way you would get a visit from animal control and probably end up in court. If it’s govt sanctioned you can do anything you want.
Why are there no rules in horse racing about how frequently you can run a poor horse? There should also be a rule about how many different tracks you make the horses travel to. Too much stressful travel. I HATE the humans who are perpetuating this Evil beyond words. May they all Rot in Hell and suffer the pain and suffering these beautiful gentle innocent God’s creatures have endured. We Must End this TORTURE.
Horses are considered property, so as long as the paperworks in order in the racing office, and the horse passes the pre race exam, in the gate they will go. The jockey club recommends 10 days but seen plenty of horses on 3 day, 7 day rest, some even back to back days.
Yes, horses are considered property. There are lots of rules and regulations concerning real property but no rules when it comes to the racehorse, a sentient being!
That fact alone says volumes about this business and our society. Racing facilitates animal cruelty and has no interest whatsoever in ANY RULE, no matter how basic, to protect the horse.
Scroll through the racing rules of any state and it is obvious what is important – money – the horse is just the means to that end. No PR effort by this gambling business can convince otherwise.
The rules and regulations of horse racing are there to protect the billions in wagering profits NOT the racehorses which is why the racehorse abusers, cheaters, dopers, maimers, dumpers and killers are protected and continue doing the same thing year after year.
The entire system is set-up this way from inadequate repercussions to no accountability while in any other setting in this country these animal abusers would be up on Felony Animal Cruelty charges.
The industry does a good job of putting out false information and it’s easy to do when your operating under a shroud of secrecy, lack of transparency, answerable to NO NEUTRAL agencies.
Even their racing commissions, paid for by TAXPAYERS, are merely instruments to protect the wagering for the most part and not the racehorse.
Furthermore, most all members of racing commissions OWN racehorses, have INVESTMENTS in horse racing and want nothing more then to keep this killer freak show going as we see in California with the total deliberate inaction of Bill 469.
As a horse owner for 20 plus years and all-around animal lover, I’m disgusted and embarrassed that I was so unaware of the status quo of the racing industry until recently . I certainly will not be watching the few races on TV that I had I the past. Is anyone aware if Arabian race horses break down at such a rate? I’m interested because I know they cannot race until three years (which is still way too young – don’t start my Arabs til 5). Thanks and I am so glad that this resource is available.
A heartfelt thank you, Ann. As to your question, I do not have specific data on Arabians.
I have an off the track Arabian who was a claimer – came in dead last in all of his six races. He turned 14 this year and has no physical problems. You won’t find a lot of purebred Arabians racing because thanks to a bribe, pardon me, donation, from the French (I believe it was) it is now permissible to run Arabian/Thoroughbred crosses and the purebreds can’t compete with them, so most owners are using the Anglo-Arabs, which basically look exactly like a Thoroughbred, taller, longer legs, just a bigger horse all around. I don’t know what it’s like on the east coast but the the man I bought my Arabian from had quite a few ex-racers and horses in training, and none of them had physical problems. Contrast that to the Thoroughbred farm down the road I visited and there were broodmares walking around with their fetlocks practically touching the ground and horses kept locked in stalls 24 hours a day.
This gets more and more sinful
For what it’s worth, I know little about Arabians but I had Standardbreds for years. They don’t have the catastrophic breakdowns that thoroughbreds do so that wasn’t my issue with racing. The horses are much sturdier, they aren’t kept in stalls all day, they are exercised regularly, and striking the horse with a whip is not allowed. My issue is that trainers still pump them full of performance enhancing drugs and drugs to mask lameness. Testing is meaningless because nobody ever does anything about it. My favorite was “the horse tested positive because the groom had a prescription and peed in the stall”. Of course, if you’re a trainer who makes money and fills races you get away with it. The end for a lot of horses is still slaughter (or worse, the Amish) when they are broken and no longer earn their keep. I just couldn’t be part of a business like that no matter how I cared for my horses. In the end they’re still throw away commodities and they deserve much better than to be exploited for gambling.
Are you sure that whipping is not allowed? I’m sure I read a post or two in here about excessive use of the whip in harness racing – one was a ten year old mare hit sixteen times, and the other was a horse literally beaten down the backstretch to a last place finish. I can’t believe whips are not used since I received a harness and race supply catalog and there were whips galore, plus some of the harness racing equipment looked like it belonged on a table in a torturer’s dungeon, with spikes and everything else.
Yes Rebecca, rules may vary by jurisdiction but, in general, it’s a violation to strike the horse with a whip. Generally, you may strike the shaft or wheel. You may not strike between the shafts or below the level of the shafts (I.e. legs). You can not raise the whip from the shoulder, wrist and elbow only, and you must keep a line in each hand for the entirety of the race to prevent placing both lines in one hand to use one hand for the whip only. The length of the whip and snapper are restricted to prevent whipping the horse. Of course, anyone who’s ever banged on a metal gate knows that the noise will make the horse move and striking the horse probably won’t get the desired result. Good drivers have always known that. If you read about excessive use of the whip there was likely a fine and suspension. It’s also possible that someone thought the horse was being struck but, in fact, was not.
Guy’s, I made a boo boo…the horse’s name was Desirous, I mistakenly thought it was Desirable. BUT, I’m still right,about the extreme peril this hard – knocking mare is in. I pray to God she hasn’t already been sent to slaughter. I beg all of you to look up her past results on equibase,her astronomical odds and her ZERO speed figures. This dear soul is BEGGING for relief. By the way I discovered my error.I have no problem at All letting you guys know when I’ve misremembered a name.