By all measures, X Y Jet was a hugely “successful” racehorse: multiple graded-stakes wins, lifetime “earnings” of over $3 million, etc. So of course, news of his death would be all over the racing press. Never mind that these same rags – Paulick, BloodHorse, Daily Racing Form, et al. – utterly ignore the cheap, pedestrian horses who die every day on American tracks. This was a “star”; this was newsworthy.
Yesterday, trainer Jorge Navarro announced that X Y Jet suffered a heart attack after a training session. He was seven years old. For those unfamiliar with the development and lifespan of a horse, a seven-year-old is just out of adolescence – in the prime of life. Heart attack. Anyhow, here is Navarro’s full “WE LOVE YOU X Y JET” statement:
“With deep regret, I am sorry to notify you that X Y Jet died this morning as a result of a heart attack. X Y Jet was more than a horse on my trained list, it [not ‘he’] was the one that took us through a wonderful and exciting roller coaster of emotions. He always fought against adversity and despite the injuries that affected him during his career, he always brought out that kind of champion he was.
“Beyond the racetracks, XY Jet becomes [sic, but then again who can be bothered with proofreading?] part of my family, was like the older brother of my children and of course, that affection extended to all those who in one way or another related to this swift, mood [sic], but noble racehorse.
“Since his arrival at my stable at the end of 2014, I immediately felt that connection with him, which remained until today and will surely remain with me until the day of my departure. I owe X Y Jet so much, that I’m sure there are no words that can specify my thanks to his nobility and class, I do not say goodbye to a horse, I say goodbye to a friend that I will carry forever in my heart. Keep running fast to your next destination X Y Jet.”
“with deep regret”
“he always fought against adversity”
“he always brought out that kind of champion he was”
“part of my family”
“like the older brother of my children”
“that connection…will surely remain with me until the day of my departure”
“I do not say goodbye to a horse, I say goodbye to a friend”
“carry forever in my heart”
“keep running fast to your next destination X Y Jet”
Vile – to the core.
On the Paulick report that posted this news of X Y passing, the comment section was not very kind to the barn and connections.
The worst thing about these messages on Twitter and other sites is the messages are about how the “connections” feel. Its about all their momentous feelings. Who cares about how Jorge Navarro feels? Or what he or any racetrack shill feels? These sappy sentiments are infuriating because they are false. These people are sad because their cash cow left. They need to say….I’m very sorry. I should have taken better care of him. There was something I missed and it won’t ever happen again.
X Y Jet a possible victim of foul play?
All the metrics are there as most of my other ones on my suspicious death list.
Highly likely that an equine insurance policy was in place based on his earnings of over $3 million.
Just a reminder that about only 10% of racehorses are insured.
Upon review of his PP’s it seems highly possible that X Y Jet was done with horse racing after his last race.
There is every indication that something was seriously wrong with him and that they were dealing with some serious pre-existing conditions that wouldn’t render them any more money.
It’s also important to note that one of the owners Rockingham Ranch (a total of 45, yes 45, horse racing syndicates) has a history of, what I deem, “suspicious” deaths.
So the hypothetical would be that they had a horse on their hands that was seriously injured, required retirement meaning they would have to pay for his upkeep in a paddock, which most racehorse people detest because dumping them is the widespread mentality in this business.
After all, that’s what parasites do.
Then, they move onto their next victim.
So not only did X Y Jet make them over 3 million, but it’s possible that they made another 3 million off of his possible equine insurance policy.
The metrics are there as mentioned and the fact that it happened during training hours, much less scrutiny, where the potential for a vet or anyone to go into that stall, inject him, and send him out to the track to die falls right into the pattern of these types of deaths.
In all of these potential scenarios there is every indication that the trainer is in on it, and that’s why they get these racehorses because the owners look for trainers like this who will do anything, including killing a racehorse, to generate money.
The racehorse killer, Jorge Navarro, “trainer” tells us that X Y Jet had issues:
“He always fought against adversity and despite the injuries that affected him during his career, he always brought out that kind of champion he was.”
Indeed, they were dealing with some serious pre-existing conditions that were, most likely, regularly treated with dope to keep him flipping a buck and to keep risking his life because parasites don’t care about their victims life they just keep sucking it out of them until they have no more to give or die which is the case here.
Now, here’s the evidence that clearly supports a business that doesn’t care about the racehorses because they continue to HIDE their secret doping/vet/treatment records leading up to their deaths.
Even the California D.A’s office investigation only stated the dope that was present at the time of all of the racehorse’s deaths intentionally, it seemed, NOT publishing the doping/vet/treatment records for at least 3 months leading up to their deaths because those records would, most likely, show exactly what this industry does.
It REQUIRES pain masking medications to keep sore, painful, pre-existing conditions at bay so that racehorses can fill races and continue to flip a buck for the tracks, for the wagering firms. for the owners/trainers and for the wagering public – everybody cashes in, but the racehorses who are usually dumped after they are done maiming them for life or crippling them and they are often dumped without giving them vet care.
They leave it up to everybody else to clean up their unwanted racehorse mess as most of us know.
Never, during this obvious animal cruelty, do the racehorse health and welfare enter the equation and NO “reforms’ will change this not even the most recent one introduced by California State Senator Dodd (D) who just introduced the “new” horse racing bill that will not stop racehorses from dying.
It’s just another ruse to keep this state-sanctioned blatant racehorse cruelty going and it also convinces the unsuspecting public that something is actually getting done when it never will.
Back to racehorse killer “trainer” Jorge Navarro.
As I’ve often mentioned this business does nothing to the doping cheaters and doping a racehorse legally to keep a sore racehorse going is animal cruelty in and of itself, but to medicate illegally, get caught with doping violations is a trainer who will go to no lengths, including killing it seems, to keep that racehorse flipping a buck.
Here’s the RMTC ruling on Jorge Navarro:
1. Jorge I. Navarro 2/11/2011 PA MEA ineligible for licensing through 12/31/11 unknown ST possession of 10 syringes, 24 needles & 4 injectable medication bottles
It should seem obvious to anybody that this business attracts racehorse abusers, killers, and people who don’t give a damn about these racehorses other than to exploit, dump, and kill them.
These poor racehorses have NO NEUTRAL legal protections from any outside agencies – NONE.
These racehorse abusers and killers know that anything they do will not be held accountable or that the fines/punishments are so ineffective, purposely, that they just return and keep on going.
Deep down, I think that X Y jet was given an injection to intentionally kill him.
I think that the trainer was in on it with the owners and they wanted another 3 million from a racehorse that had nothing left to give.
Back in the corner cobwebs of his stall that morning, when nobody was watching they shoved something into his jugular vein and, to cash in on an equine insurance policy, the racehorse must be in active training or racing, and must die on the track – he met all the metrics and I think that’s what happened the other morning.
Of course they will get off scott-free because this is horse racing and it’s so pitiful, so sad, so vile that this is probably going on because killing racehorses has been going on since its inception.
Moreover, Alydar was deemed to be killed for insurance money by the D.A’s office in Houston, TX and that was Calumet Farm, and who is one of the owners of one of the 45 syndicates that Rockingham Ranch partnered up with??? – yes, you guessed it Calumet Farm.
Gina, your knowledge and instincts are spot on. I believe you because you have had first hand experience with the morally depraved corruption in horseracing and what you are saying is in line with the information reported on in more than one video that I have watched on YouTube. I watched a YouTube video earlier this morning: “Racing for their Lives: An In-Depth Look at Doping in the U.S. Horse Racing Industry” which was published on November 19, 2012 and is 30 minutes 11 seconds long.
Gina
When I read the comments regarding the passing of this horse, it seemed to me the contributors on PR website were hinting at the same conclusion you posted. Not all of them but certain factors were brought up that would put a questionable theory in to play.
Gina-as usual you nailed it. I said to myself after his last race…this horse should NOT race ANYMORE!!! I felt it in my bones. I am a huge lover of him, I have been from the beginning, what happened to him MUST be INVESTIGATED!!!!!!! What a sickening waste of a beautiful soul. I’ll never forget him..he was Very Special.
Navarro’s statement and theatrics just…make….me…SICK. I am with you, Gina, I am pretty certain they chose to “eliminate” the problem. I don’t know how it works with equine insurance and I have to ask…do the insurance companies just simply pay out? Is there not a post mortem investigation and if drugs (causing death or masking injuries) are discovered, there is NO PAYOUT? Human insurance sure works that way..if you lie about a pre-existing condition, drugs you took etc.and die from a related illness, or become disabled, no one pays. Or are the insurance companies going hand in hand with these vile bastards?
Nevertheless, another beautiful life lost and another criminal gets off without even a slap on the wrist, I am certain. We all need to keep pushing forward to stop them…all of them!
XY Jet had had multiple knee surgeries. People were begging for this horse to be retired, and were even offering to give him a home, because of course he was a gelding and had no more financial worth after retirement. His last race was awful and people again called for retirement. Of course, this all went unheeded, whether to make more money by attempting to race him again, or to kill for insurance collection, of course we will never know.
People in racing know Navarro is a piece of trash. According to a poster’s tally on PR, he has 6 dead horses in his history just in Florida, and that’s prior to XY Jet.
And I also noticed he called this poor beautiful horse an “it”, and while I understand that English is not his first language, I noticed that he certainly had no problems with pronouncing “juice” when he was caught on the damning video extolling the virtues of using performance enhancing drugs!! He is trash, and “it” just proves that racing does not want to clean itself up and get the bad apples out, no matter how much racing apologists say that that is all that’s needed to save racing.
Peggy very interesting information provided in your comment and it further proves my hypothesis that X Y Jet was killed for insurance money because if they could have gotten him a home, as being offered, and instead he suddenly dies during training hours than that says it all right there.
The horse racing industry reveres the abusers, dopers, cheaters, and killers.
Just look at the top trainers and whose in the Racing Hall of (Sh)ame.
Not one trainer has a clean record, in fact, it’s a repeat offender record with lots of racehorses dying under their care, custody and control.
I think that there’s no such thing as “bad apples,” as I don’t think that anyone who supports, participates and/or defends this vile business is separate from the entire basket of bad apples.
Anyways, from my view, it seems obvious to me that they killed X Y Jet.
It was time to cash in on the 3 million insurance policy and I demand an investigation and a public statement with total transparency to let us know whether or not X Y Jet was insured.
Of course their secret investigations lead to nowhere and are merely empty words and public wallpaper.
X Y Jet may your spirit rain down harm to those who harmed you.
Here’s a link to the main owner of X Y Jet, the owner of Rockingham Ranch if you care to leave a message.
http://rockinghamranch.com/our-team/
It seems that there are never ending posts which suggest horses are being killed for insurance money. There is no doubt that Navarro is an animal abuser and a despicable human being. He is pure scum and no horse is safe under his jurisdiction but I do not believe that X Y Jet was deliberately killed for an insurance payout. First of all, insuring a racehorse is extremely costly…about 5% of the value of the horse. Second, insurance companies are extremely profitable entities and are, oftentimes, the “darlings” of Wall Street. Therefore, they are in the business of collecting premiums, not paying out claims. If a claim is made on X Y Jet, that claim will be thoroughly investigated and the claim can be denied if malicious intent is uncovered. I would also suspect that any company insuring a Navarro horse for mortality would look at Navarro’s background including drug positives and dead horses and he has certainly left a trail of evidence that he isn’t a trustworthy character. My guess is that most companies wouldn’t touch Navarro with a ten foot pole because the risk to the company is too great. Therefore, in my opinion, this horse was worth more to him alive than he was dead. Also, I do not believe the horse died of a heart attack but more likely a cardiac arrhythmia possibly due to drugs but that is just a guess.
Just to be clear, there are many different kinds of equine insurance. One type is liability insurance which protects you in the event your horse injures someone and, as we all know, our society is extremely litigious. My horses are covered under an umbrella policy for liability claims. There is no doubt that horses such as Justify are insured and I believe that is one of the reasons horses of that caliber are quickly shuttled to the breeding shed. Most owners don’t want to risk a breakdown/death on the track when they can make millions in profit by breeding.
God is watching you and your crooked schemes, plans and crimes done in the dark. But everything done in the “dark” is seen “in the light” so beware. God did not create animals to be mistreated by man for man’s gain. Nor did He create them to be abused or neglected. Dominion over the animals does not mean free license. It means to care, to show mercy, kindness and love.
Who the hell would treat “an older brother to my children” (suggesting he was like a child to him, not a “friend”) or a “friend” this way? Run as far away as possible from anyone who talks like that! Doping, pushing beautiful sentient beings past injuries when they should be resting (or, how about never racing at all, in the first place?!), addictively relying on riding crops to drive a horse ever forward (to his/her death). Despicable. End the suffering by eliminating horse torture altogether. (That will only happen when it’s no longer profitable, or when wise legislators make laws to protect such animals.)
I am not sure and I am very sad why United States has absolutely horrible animal law????Why all animals here JUST A PROPERTY OF SOME EVIL PEOPLE WHO ARE GREEDY AND THE LOVE MAMING MONEY USING POOR ANIMALS WHO CANT TALK AND PROTECT THEM SELVES.WHY HORSE RACING IS LEGAL????
It’s time to stop the horse racing industry, too many deaths
7 year old horses die because they’re drugged!!
This ridiculous race industry needs to be stopped. Their motto is MONEY above all else!
how about I should have noticed he was struggling and taken better care of him. Too bad the owners don’t strive for some real interest in the horse rather then how much money he can make for them.
EXACTLY!!!! Jennifer 👏👏. Well said.
What does it take for people to see horses as more than dollar bills. This needs to stop! Horses lives are more important than making money! God bless the horses 🐎.
The whole horse racing industry is disgusting. Race horses have a horrble life. It is not natural and the goal is the money. Stop this insensitive
“Sport “ altogether. There must be legislation to regulate if it is not stopped . Greed pushes the owners trainers and jockeys.
Crocodile tears…so false…not fooling true animal lovers…
Patrick you do have a way with words. “Loathesome peaons (sp?) Follow.” And it will be reformed.I hope in our lifetime.
There is no reforming this. Navarro is a prime example. They know he’s a piece of crap and yet here he is- continuing to kill horses, and laughing about drugging horses. The business doesn’t care, and it will NEVER reform. As long as this continues to happen- horses will continue to be crippled and killed.
Peggy, I agree with the statement that the horseracing industry cannot be reformed; it has become obvious that reforming the industry cannot be reformed. The owners of racehorses are profit driven. Horseracing in the United States is a corporate type of business, not a hobby.
I don’t believe in giving any of these repeat offenders of killing horses when it is profit-driven and profit-motivated the benefit of a doubt. I have a hunch that eventually we will know the difference between the owners and trainer of SUPERSTAR actually preparing/training him for a race or just pretending to train him for a race.
Reblogged this on Armory of the Revolution.
Does ARMS RUNNER ring a bell to anyone?
Let me fill you in:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1896480/Video-Racehorse-Arms-Runner-dies-accident-Santa-Anita-Park.html
ARMS RUNNER, the racehorse that snapped his ankle-off, the beautiful grey at the top of the stretch with his ankle dangling at Santa Anita – that ARMS RUNNER.
Owned by, yours truly, ROCKINGHAM RANCH.
This time they paid, via their agent (funny how an agent diverts the attention away from the actual owner right?) $525,000 for AR and he was, most likely, insured for that amount.
Upon reviewing the PP’s it seems obvious to me that AR had issues, pre-existing conditions that would affect his lackluster performances and than the dope and/or shock wave therapy would kick in.
AR was one of the racehorses that the California D.A’s office “investigated,” and cleared all of these racehorse killers of wrong doing.
Ain’t that a shame? Absolutely disgusting.
Plus, they didn’t release the doping/vet/medical treatment records PRIOR to these racehorses dying.
They merely checked for dope present AT THE TIME OF DEATH.
These private vets are smart, they know the system, they know the withdrawal times, most of them have it down to a fine art because they know the timing of the doping tests and, incidentally, some top trainers tests took days to arrive at the lab with the further potential of tampering and/or diluting what was there to enhance performance.
Anyways, I bet that the D.A’s office didn’t investigate whether the dead racehorses had equine insurance policies and whether they were paid out.
Gina, I think they also do evil things when they just want a claimer to be “gone”. I don’t trust any of them, lord knows the evils that have been done. This is why animals and money should never cross!!!
Thing I remember most about Arms Runner is that SADT (Santa Anita Death Track) shut down their downhill turf course following his highly public breakdown. This was at the peak of their “crisis” and all the racing whiners were yelling and screaming to “Bring back the downhill, or I’ll never play SA again!” Once again, degenerate gamblers who “study” horses (yet couldn’t keep one alive for a week, for all their so-called knowledge) couldn’t care one iota about preserving an animal’s life. Give ’em something to bet on day in and day out, and they’re perfectly content in the throes of their addiction, regardless of how much harm and suffering it causes. But threaten to take away even one tiny portion of their “life’s work” (ha ha), and better stand back: the spittle will fly. You’ll experience more sensibility standing between a heroin junkie and his loaded syringe.
Does anybody remember a racehorse called RICHARD’S BOY (RB)?
Well, RB was run into the ground by ROCKINGHAM RANCH while making this greedy parasite over $700,000.
When RB’s, most likely, pre-existing conditions gave out, when he could no longer perform in the high stakes race and churn the big bucks for RR did he give him a nice paddock on his farm?
Did he “care” for RR after the horse made him over $700,000?
NO, because this is horse racing.
Instead, Richard’s Boy would either wind up dead from his injuries or get claimed.
The later happened when he was claimed by “trainer” Steve Asmussen and owner/attorney Clark Brewster for $40,000.
Richard’s Boy needed retirement, but that wasn’t to be.
Under lots of pressure Clark Brewster gave him a rest not Rockingham Ranch, but Clark Brewster.
Yes, after running his ass-off consistently for 6 years he got a 3 month rest probably long enough to heal his pre-existing conditions enough to force him back out there for some more abuse.
He’s now a former shadow of himself just barely getting through his last race all the while being beaten.
The truth of the matter is that if Clark Brewster hadn’t claimed him than somebody else would have, probably not give him the 3 months off, and run him until he dropped dead or Rockingham Ranch would have kept running him until he died – that’s his “reward” for generating over $700,000 for this creep: GARY HARTUNIAN.
This is the man behind Rockingham Ranch and this is the heartless, greedy bastard that sends racehorses out to die more or less and laughs all the way to the bank.
Richards boy got 60 days, and go figure hes back in for 40k after Brewster claiming this https://horseracingwrongs.org/2019/10/09/ontarios-canada-dead-racehorses-2018/ rockingham ranch is a bunch of greedy money grubbing bums richards boy, stormy liberal, xy jet, and look at the trainers they use all drug cheats with a long rap sheet of drug violations. They even sent xy to dubai with a bum knee in 2016 and knew it, raced him anyway. A handful of knee surgeries, a throat operation, and 3 million still wasnt enough to secure him a good home, and to stop racing him xy jet deserved better, but of course they all do every horse after giving all they have for racing. In xy jets case its an odd deal, drugs? Overexertion from his last race…bumped hard at the start ran a very fast half mile fades badly dead 2 weeks later. This is horseracing, and nobody will do a damn thing about it buissness as usual. I called him the great grey and will never forget him, or any of the others. Knowing what goes on, i cant fathom how people accept this for what it is and continue to support it
X Y Jet’s death just shows a horse can never give enough to these people. The trainers/owners/betters never stop demanding.
Thanks to all of you, Patrick and commenters, for the information on X Y Jet and others enslaved to Rockingham Ranch.
I heard you today (January 9, 2020), Patrick, on KQED Radio. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO FOR THE HORSES!!!
There are many inquiring about equine insurance and, Patrick, I hope you don’t mind me explaining what I know because I took out equine insurance on most of my racehorses when we were in the business.
A 100% disclosure before I continue: we NEVER had a racehorse die on us and we NEVER had 1 insurance claim whatsoever during the course of my involvement in this business.
Equine insurance as it relates to racehorses:
About 10% of the entire racehorse population is insured.
The bulk of that 10% are racehorses who are purchased for 6-figures or more.
Most all equine insurance policies are based on the financial “value” of the racehorse.
So how do they determine that?
1. The price of the racehorse upon purchase. 2. Upgrade. A racehorse who was not initially insured due to the lower cost of purchase, but becomes a money earner on the track like X Y Jet. The policy is then upgraded to the amount of earnings, in this case, 3 million since he’s a gelding. Otherwise, a potential stallion has a much greater value on the insurance policy. 4. Downgrade. If a racehorse was purchased for $300,000 and doesn’t perform or break its maiden (the time allotment varies, but it does give a certain amount of time for a racehorse to perform and to live up to its price) than the policy is downgraded especially if a racehorse is dropped into a claiming race than the policy is automatically downgraded to the amount of the claiming race.
There are almost always 3 mandatory caveats to collect on a dead racehorse: 1. The racehorse must be in active training and racing. 2. The racehorse must die on the track. 2a. Some policies include dying on the track grounds, but to ensure payout dying on the track is a given. 3. Their private vet and/or state vet must recommend euthanasia. 4. The bigger trainers who are well-versed in the details of equine insurance payout (because they have so many racehorses die under their “care,”) almost always calls the insurance agent, tells them that the racehorse is suffering, that the vet recommends euthanasia and gets “pre-approval” and guarantee that they will payout on the insurance claim. During these calls there is a racehorse writhing in the dirt or in a van with shattered limbs, suffering greatly, like WHATASONG while they guarantee insurance payout. Incidentally, Whatasong was purchased for 1.9 million and was obviously insured for that. Trainer Bob Baffert.
Anyways, here’s a typical scenario.
A racehorse is purchased for $525,000 like ARMS RUNNER (under a “agents” name no less to protect the owners real name it seems), doesn’t perform well, needs to run in a stakes race to maintain his equine insurance policy (if he had one) because dropping him into a claiming race where he obviously belonged would have downgraded the insurance policy, It was time to cash in and because only the owner/trainer/private vet knows all of his pre-existing conditions and knows that he’s one step away from dying, he gets sent out, and dies. He would have collected the purchase price of $525,000. A nice tidy profit for a bunch of greedy parasites and sleezebags.
X Y Jet. Purchased for $56,000 probably didn’t have an insurance policy, but turns into a performer (wonder why?) and makes 3 million so he would have been eligible for an upgraded equine insurance policy in that amount of 3 million. So now he’s, most likely, lame, crippled, and maimed with the doping no longer working. They now had a racehorse on their hands that would have been downgraded if they entered him into a claiming race, or should have been retired. Of course we know that this is horse racing and not even 3 million is enough for these morally bankrupt parasites to give the racehorse a home. They wanted that 3 million insurance policy, and they could have pumped him up with something, maybe even an overdose of Lasix, and sent him out to die. I’m told by experienced equine vets that there are many drugs that can be given to a racehorse to cause a heart attack and CAN’T be traced during a necropsy OR is a naturally substance, like Lasix, that can’t be proven.
Of course they can count on a voiceless victim, that can’t speak, to perpetrate such inhumane acts and even possibly killing them for equine insurance money.
These are just hypothetical scenarios since we don’t have access to the doping/vet/treatment records leading up to any racehorse who dies – this is guarded like Ft. Knox by the horse racing business.
When an insurance company pre-approves a payout (via the trainer or vet calling prior to euthanizing a racehorse) it’s almost never disputed and the payout is given, which is why these owner/trainers with lots of experience with racehorse deaths know what they are doing and know how to process the payout.
If an insurance company orders a necropsy that still may not reveal what was given as mentioned above.
Never doubt one thing: horse racing is a morally deprived, deeply corrupt, evil, sleezy business that attracts these kinds of people because there are NO NEUTRAL agencies or investigations or even laws to protect the racehorses.
Most of the laws on the books protect the abusers and killers.
The only thing that will change is when we SHUT THIS DOWN – BAN HORSE RACING please.
I am not inquiring about equine insurance, just to be clear. The point to my comment was that many people, with limited knowledge of the racing industry, automatically assume that most horses are insured and insurance companies eagerly step up, when a horse is killed, to pay the claim which is simply not true. A former Beulah steward told me that he could recall only one horse, a stakes horse, being insured over the many years he worked at Beulah. The horse broke down in a stakes race. The owner wanted to euthanize the horse because the injury was serious but the insurance company wanted heroic efforts to be made in order to “save” the horse which shows, unequivocally, that they didn’t want to pay the claim. In the end the horse was euthanized and the claim was paid but the insurance company even requested vet records on the horse and I vividly remember the steward telling me that the insurance company interviewed him.
X Y Jet may have been insured but we don’t know for sure and I prefer not to speculate on that issue. Do I think Navarro killed him? Yes, I do but not for an insurance payout. If the horse was insured, I highly doubt it was for 3 million. The horse was declining in form and was a gelding. Therefore, no future value as a breeding stallion for him. Again, with so many horses dying under Navarro’s care, insurance companies would have been reluctant to insure any horse of his for mortality, imo.
Yes Mary as I stated about 10% are insured and although I agree that insurance companies don’t like paying out on claims they also must stay in business so they do pay out on some claims.
Anyways, I want full disclosure when a racehorse dies within any racetrack enclosure to include whether a racehorse was insured or not.
This should be part of the “registry” information just to see if there is a pattern.
This would be another way to protect them, but I know it’s wishful thinking on my behalf.
What are they hiding?
If they have nothing to hide than why isn’t this disclosed?
Furthermore, I don’t put anything past these parasites.
I do know that one of the largest equine insurance companies in Kentucky is owned or was owned by 2 brothers that owned racehorses and paid out when they died.
There’s just something here not kosher.
Mary Johnson, you are certainly entitled to your opinion as are the rest of us, regardless of what those opinions might be. I respect the fact that insurance companies are in the business of creating revenue and that a reputable insurance company is not going to pay out money willy-nilly to anyone just because they file a claim. That is a no-brainer as far as any automobile insurance company that I have ever paid premiums to and I would logically expect any insurance company to do their appropriate investigation no matter whether the insured was a horse or an automobile or anything else.
Thank you Gina for this very informative yet extremely heartbreaking post. I have a much better understanding now as to how these bastards (I am including the insurance companies as I am sure they are well aware of the abuse, cruelty and greed going on) operate.
You mentioned Baffert.. I despise him and the likes of him which seems to be all of them. You are absolutely right… the ONLY way to protect the horses is to STOP HORSE RACING. And we will. We have to!
I have to share a recent story here… I live in Canada and went to the Woodbine track about 2 months ago as there was an auction going on. I was there for 2 reasons 1) to see the horses because I simply love them and 2) in my naïveté to spread the message re: how I felt about racing and how opposed I was to it. Thought I would meet people there who would be willing to at least listen. I saw a beautiful horse in a stall pacing around trying to escape out of the stall. I had carrots and apples and thought he would calm down if I called him over to get a treat. No chance of that happening. He kept pacing and neighing constantly and I knew he was nervous and restless. I kept talking to him hoping he would calm down and come over. No way that happened. I refused to leave him there like that. .a woman showed up and accused me of trying to “ bribe” the horse. It just so happened he was a Stronach stables owned horse and I am pretty sure she was an employee there. I told her I was trying to calm the horse down not “bribing” him…wth!! She told me he had just gotten out of the auction “ring” and that is why he was so restless???!!! She asked me if I was there to purchase a horse. I told her I am a horse lover and I would buy them all if I could and spare them of their dirty stalls and horrible treatment they are subjected to. Well, that did it for her! She told me that if horses wouldn’t race, they wouldn’t have a job??!!! I didn’t back down and voiced my opinion about racing and injuries, drugs etc. She proceeded to tell me that horses break legs even when they are running in the field. Have you ever seen sound horses break a leg in the field or pasture? I haven’t… my grandfather had horses and they all lived a beautiful, full life and never broke a leg. Granted, those were riding horses and I never had experience with race horses. To me, it seemed like such a stupid comment and I respectfully told her I disagreed 100%…I started telling her of some of the things I have learned ( here on HRW)
Next thing I know is she calls this butcher of a man over and he tells me I am not allowed in the stables??!!! What??!! I contacted Woodbine track, sent e-mails complaining… no surprise there… no one even answered. I sent a letter to our local member of parliament, no answer. I have been working on a letter to the prime minister that I wanted to have perfectly composed that I will send. I mentioned everything from the cruelty and abuse to the slaughterhouses here in Canada. I will not stop and will make sure our voice is heard throughout North America (Mexico is next on my list). So, yes, I had first hand experience with parasites in this business and was kicked out because they did not like to hear what I had to say. It hurts but we won’t stop! Just thought I’d share my experience and if you or anyone here Pat, commenters have any other suggestions in terms of what more I can do, please feel free to let me know. Or, if my approach at Woodbine was not the correct one, please also let me know. Always open to suggestions from people with way more experience than me!
Bloody, brainless idiot!!! Twat!!! Pretending he cares!!!
I know the parasites in the racing industry have to at least pretend to give a shit about the horses they exploit and destroy, but this guy’s statements are going overboard in the nausea department. The only thing this stain of a human will carry is the money X Y Jet made, and it sure as Hell will not be in his heart. The adversity he fought against was the constant drugs and other abuses he faced on a daily basis for his seven short years of life, and if X Y Jet had not dropped dead he would be running fast to his next destination alright: the slaughterhouse. Comments like these are an insult to those of us who actually do love our horses like family – and would NEVER consider putting them in harms way for any price.
Racing knows who the bad actors are in this business. But racing has never done, and never will do, anything about them because the business is inherently corrupt. In fact, if the business did have meaningful consequences for the abusers, high profile and others, it would hurt itself in terms of revenue – absolute and blatant conflict of interest.
Integrity in this gambling business would be it’s demise. It would implode!!
We will never know why or how XY Jet died, What we do know is he was thoroughly abused all of his short life. and his low life connections will never be held accountable. That is a given because this is racing.
Carry in your heart forever? This young horse was one of many horse deaths as they are raced beyond endurance. Dead of a heart attack, injuries what is the difference? Horseracing is a so called sport for profit. If horses don’t die from injuries and actually live beyond their racing days then many unceremoniously are sent off to slaughter. So much for honoring their legacy.