Mongolian Groom Killed at Breeders’ Cup – And Whipped Right to the End

In the 12th and final race of the richest day in horseracing, Mongolian Groom “broke down” and according to the Daily Racing Form’s Jay Privman, is dead. The 4-year-old was being whipped right up to the moment his leg snapped (see below).

Ignore everything else you’ve heard and read about “safety” and horseracing. Here’s all you need to know: If they can’t prevent a kill at this track, on this day – with the whole world watching and vigilance (not to mention handwringing) at an all-time high – they can’t prevent, at least not in any meaningful way, kills period. It’s inherent to what they do. And it must end. Now.

Mongolian Groom being carted away – to his death

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I’m sure most have seen Mongolian Groom’s necropsy revealed he was being raced with pre-existing injuries (stress fractures in the lower portion of both hind cannon bones – from the Paulick Report, “Breeders’ Cup Releases Bramlage Report On Mongolian Groom, Along With Six Areas For Policy Improvement”). Is anyone surprised? I’m not even surprised at Larry Bramlage’s excuses in his report – he benefits greatly from racing’s existence and has (obviously) chosen to defend it despite the blatant equine abuse in it. He CHOOSES to enable needless horse suffering and death.

Let’s start here, from the DRF article titled “Breeders’ Cup report: Mongolian Groom had pre-existing joint injuries.”; “According to Bramlage, the assessment of lameness in Mongolian Groom was complicated by the fact that the horse was sore in both hind legs, due to the lesions [fractures] on the cannon bone in both fetlock joints. As a result, Mongolian Groom did not display classic signs of lameness in one limb because when a horse is ‘lame in both hinds or both fronts they look symmetrical because the horse can’t choose to shift weight from one limb to the other,’ Bramlage wrote.” Stay with me here…

From the Paulick Report article titled “Breeders’ Cup Releases Bramlage Report On Mongolian Groom, Along With Six Areas For Policy Improvement”; “Bramlage also reviewed videos of the horse’s workouts in the days leading up to the race…which several veterinarians [stated] revealed lameness in the horse’s left hind. Bramlage agreed that left hind lameness was visible in a couple of videos, and he revealed one veterinarian observing workouts questioned the horse’s soundness in that limb on Oct. 31…[Mongolian Groom] underwent additional examinations, several of which noted shortness or choppiness in both hind limbs, but could detect no lameness. Multiple veterinarians over the course of 2019 had made note of short or choppy movement in the horse’s hind end, but these observations were typically not limited to one limb over the other.” Again, stay with me and keep this in mind – a “short” and choppy” way of going was noted by MULTIPLE veterinarians prior to AND during the week leading up to the race.

Which brings us to this article from the Paulick Report titled “Voss: What Songbird’s Vet Report Might Reveal About Racehorse Injuries”…it addressed the BILATERAL hind limb issues Songbird had upon being retired from racing per the veterinary reports of LARRY BRAMLAGE. From the article, this; “The fact she had discomfort in both her front and hind legs reminds me of something Dr. Mary Scollay, equine medical director at the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, [stated] about the difficulty in preventing fatal injuries. A horse with pre-existing issues in both front OR both back legs probably won’t bobble from one to the other like a conventionally ‘lame’ horse. Instead, [they] may move in a short or choppy way”…

Then Bramlage continues in this same article and I’ll list what he said/what was reported he said for ease;
– “The problems in the bottom of the cannon bone, though they bother a horse, they’re not exquisitely painful”
– “Bramlage did think Songbird’s case was a good example of how lamenesses can ‘hide’”
– “There are many horses that are just not going right…where that’s important is people say ‘How can the horse have a condylar fracture [fracture of the distal cannon bone] and never have shown anything?’ Well, that’s perfectly plausible if you have some low-grade problems going on in the cannon bone, and that causes them to get sore behind”

Mongolian Groom was screaming he had something wrong. Bramlage admitted – in the 2017 Songbird article – a horse “not going right” would (and should!) lead a veterinarian (and why not a knowledgeable horseman, as well) to the probability there is an INJURY. YET, in his report on the findings of Mongolian Groom’s necropsy report, the MULTPILE veterinarian reports of the gelding’s “not going right” are NOT indicative of injury? “Short and choppy” movement was just his way of going? What more did you want the poor gelding to do, Bramlage, to get the message across? SEVEN veterinarians looked at him at least TEN times (one of Santa Anita’s additional “safety measures” prior to the BCC) yet not ONE of them insisted – for HIS welfare – he have diagnostics, x-rays at the minimum.

I am only someone who has had horses for 30 years. Over the course of those 3 decades, I have fostered many TB racehorses directly from the track and have provided a forever home to three of them. I’m no “top equine surgeon” as the PR describes Bramalge…but even I know that a horse who travels with a choppy stride needs a comprehensive evaluation. Neglecting that for Mongolian Groom and then demanding he run against “competition” even his trainer bluntly suggested (in an article from The San Diego Union-Tribune) he could not rival (“this is not a great horse”, “not a very fast horse”, “this is a very good ALLOWANCE horse”…but [trainer] Ganbat continued, laughing, “we’re just pushing him…‘go, go, please, we need the money!’”) was digging his grave and running him into it. Bramlage, in his report, just kicked a little dirt on that grave.

81 Comments

Joy Aten

January 19, 2020 / 12:09 am

I’m sure most have seen Mongolian Groom’s necropsy revealed he was being raced with pre-existing injuries (stress fractures in the lower portion of both hind cannon bones – from the Paulick Report, “Breeders’ Cup Releases Bramlage Report On Mongolian Groom, Along With Six Areas For Policy Improvement”). Is anyone surprised? I’m not even surprised at Larry Bramlage’s excuses in his report – he benefits greatly from racing’s existence and has (obviously) chosen to defend it despite the blatant equine abuse in it. He CHOOSES to enable needless horse suffering and death.

Let’s start here, from the DRF article titled “Breeders’ Cup report: Mongolian Groom had pre-existing joint injuries.”; “According to Bramlage, the assessment of lameness in Mongolian Groom was complicated by the fact that the horse was sore in both hind legs, due to the lesions [fractures] on the cannon bone in both fetlock joints. As a result, Mongolian Groom did not display classic signs of lameness in one limb because when a horse is ‘lame in both hinds or both fronts they look symmetrical because the horse can’t choose to shift weight from one limb to the other,’ Bramlage wrote.” Stay with me here…

From the Paulick Report article titled “Breeders’ Cup Releases Bramlage Report On Mongolian Groom, Along With Six Areas For Policy Improvement”; “Bramlage also reviewed videos of the horse’s workouts in the days leading up to the race…which several veterinarians [stated] revealed lameness in the horse’s left hind. Bramlage agreed that left hind lameness was visible in a couple of videos, and he revealed one veterinarian observing workouts questioned the horse’s soundness in that limb on Oct. 31…[Mongolian Groom] underwent additional examinations, several of which noted shortness or choppiness in both hind limbs, but could detect no lameness. Multiple veterinarians over the course of 2019 had made note of short or choppy movement in the horse’s hind end, but these observations were typically not limited to one limb over the other.” Again, stay with me and keep this in mind – a “short” and choppy” way of going was noted by MULTIPLE veterinarians prior to AND during the week leading up to the race.

Which brings us to this article from the Paulick Report titled “Voss: What Songbird’s Vet Report Might Reveal About Racehorse Injuries”…it addressed the BILATERAL hind limb issues Songbird had upon being retired from racing per the veterinary reports of LARRY BRAMLAGE. From the article, this; “The fact she had discomfort in both her front and hind legs reminds me of something Dr. Mary Scollay, equine medical director at the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, [stated] about the difficulty in preventing fatal injuries. A horse with pre-existing issues in both front OR both back legs probably won’t bobble from one to the other like a conventionally ‘lame’ horse. Instead, [they] may move in a short or choppy way”…

Then Bramlage continues in this same article and I’ll list what he said/what was reported he said for ease;
– “The problems in the bottom of the cannon bone, though they bother a horse, they’re not exquisitely painful”
– “Bramlage did think Songbird’s case was a good example of how lamenesses can ‘hide’”
– “There are many horses that are just not going right…where that’s important is people say ‘How can the horse have a condylar fracture [fracture of the distal cannon bone] and never have shown anything?’ Well, that’s perfectly plausible if you have some low-grade problems going on in the cannon bone, and that causes them to get sore behind”

Mongolian Groom was screaming he had something wrong. Bramlage admitted – in the 2017 Songbird article – a horse “not going right” would (and should!) lead a veterinarian (and why not a knowledgeable horseman, as well) to the probability there is an INJURY. YET, in his report on the findings of Mongolian Groom’s necropsy report, the MULTPILE veterinarian reports of the gelding’s “not going right” are NOT indicative of injury? “Short and choppy” movement was just his way of going? What more did you want the poor gelding to do, Bramlage, to get the message across? SEVEN veterinarians looked at him at least TEN times (one of Santa Anita’s additional “safety measures” prior to the BCC) yet not ONE of them insisted – for HIS welfare – he have diagnostics, x-rays at the minimum.

I am only someone who has had horses for 30 years. Over the course of those 3 decades, I have fostered many TB racehorses directly from the track and have provided a forever home to three of them. I’m no “top equine surgeon” as the PR describes Bramalge…but even I know that a horse who travels with a choppy stride needs a comprehensive evaluation. Neglecting that for Mongolian Groom and then demanding he run against “competition” even his trainer bluntly suggested (in an article from The San Diego Union-Tribune) he could not rival (“this is not a great horse”, “not a very fast horse”, “this is a very good ALLOWANCE horse”…but [trainer] Ganbat continued, laughing, “we’re just pushing him…‘go, go, please, we need the money!’”) was digging his grave and running him into it. Bramlage, in his report, just kicked a little dirt on that grave.

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- Wanda Diamond
  
  January 19, 2020 / 2:39 am
  
  Dr. Lawrence (Larry) Bramlage is an educated idiot and paid mouthpiece for the racing industry. He makes himself a despicable and despisable piece of ……! The horse, MONGOLIAN GROOM, was reported to be on a watch list. I don’t know what the definition of watch list is according to the genius Bramlage or the racing Secretary who accepts entries into a race but it defies common sense that MONGOLIAN GROOM was allowed to be entered to run in a race on November 2, 2019 when he was on a “watch list” on October 31, 2019. Despicable, despisable people killing horses deserve to be punished in a way that they would not have to ask, “but before I go, what is my punishment?” They would be knowing what punishment is like they have never known what punishment was before in their lives!
  
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