From the most recent Stewards Minutes at Los Alamitos, December 28:
“The hearing for the penalty portion of the Methamphetamine case against Trainer Jose Flores took place this afternoon. Mr. Flores’ horse Look of Love MV was the winner of the fifth race at Los Alamitos Race Course on May 17. The post-race blood and urine samples showed the presence of Methamphetamine…a split sample confirmed the original findings.
“[Mr. Flores’] defense centered around the fact that once he was aware of the positive test, he ordered all employees in his barn to be tested for drugs. He also volunteered to test. All samples came back clean except for one. Victor Arias, who was the horse’s groom, tested positive for the drug found in the horse’s sample – Methamphetamine. Arias has since been barred from these grounds by management.
“Equine Medical Director Dr. Rick Arthur stated in the investigative report that the level [of Methamphetamine] in both blood and urine were extremely high, leading him to conclude that it was not an accidental positive test – someone purposely gave the horse Methamphetamine. We will…render a decision in the near future.”
By the way, the 2-year-old Look of Love Mv remains in the possession of Mr. Flores; in fact, Flores raced her at Los Alamitos December 27 – just a day before this hearing.
In other news:
In the 2nd at Sunland Tuesday, says Equibase, Sea Merman “bled outwardly and was vanned off.”
In the 2nd at Fair Grounds yesterday, J Rob “…came under the whip…responded well…and prevailed under vigorous urging [more whipping] then was vanned off after returning to the winners circle [yes, he ‘won’].” J Rob was one of three horses to be “vanned off” on the Fair Grounds day.
This is horseracing.
For those people who are religious, believe in heaven and hell, should have realized long before now that Hell will be getting very crowded. They’re all bastards!
Speed is a cause of heart attacks.
“Came under the whip…..responded well….prevailed under vigorous urging” and then had to be vanned off after his moment of “glory” in the winners circle. How many strikes are considered vigorous? 20? 30? 40? I wonder if J Rob has the fortune of being considered like an older brother to his trainer’s children? Or does his trainer honestly even know his name beyond dumping him in a race? And a big congrats to the jockey who beat this horse over the finish line – I hope the adrenaline high was worth it.
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So disgusting drugging a horse! When are owners and trainers going to put the horse’s health first not the money!
I think it is safe to say that the answer to your question is: NEVER.
Three(!) vans on one stinking day at Fairgrounds? Last time that happened at Del Mar, they ultimately had three dead horses to account for, and, at the very least, the public was informed immediately.
Oh, but this is Kentucky; the outcomes for all three horrors-in-the-dirt might be acknowledged in a couple months, if at all. Ground Zero for horse racing carnage is not exactly embracing the concept of transparency, are they?
Thank you for this report, Patrick. Will there be a follow-up story or report on any of these horses? It seems like it always take several months for the results of drug testing to come out when there is a known drug violation. I suspect that the racetrack personnel in charge of security and keeping track of who is doing what and to which horses are either overwhelmed or maybe don’t care enough. I can only speculate since I have not been to Los Alamitos. I believe that a 2-year-old should not be on or at a racetrack to begin with but I know the horseracing industry could not care less what is best for 2-year-old fillies, colts, or geldings. I am also wondering the rest of the story on Sea Merman and J Rob. What in the world happened that J Rob could be standing in the winner’s circle and then be vanned off. Is he still alive?
Horseracing is cruel to horses and must be banned, because no one inside racing is stepping up and stopping the cruel exploitation of horses and preventing death to horses forced to perform beyond their limitations! Not even the District Attorney, having the right and responsibility to prevent cruelty to horses, is stepping up to protect horses from unlawful conduct by breeders, owners, trainers, jockeys, grooms, veterinarians, all racetrack personnel and management. Is it okay to give everyone in horseracing a green light to continue the abuse, doping, drugging, whipping, shocking, and running a horse to its death? No! It is NOT OKAY!
Will you be watching the Kentucky Derby this year? It brings in more money than the super bowl. If everyone stopped supporting the sport, perhaps it could fall by the wayside.
I seriously doubt that’s true. You have some reference for that? The super bowl generates about $500M in advertising revenue alone and the total economic impact is about $15B.
Sandy, do you have anything to back up your statement about how much money the Kentucky Derby brings in versus the Super Bowl? I question the validity of that statement. Of course, the Kentucky Derby has been in existence for many more years than the Super Bowl has but I have never seen anything close to the populariy of advertising during the Super Bowl as compared to the Kentucky Derby. It costs at least a million dollars or more for 30 seconds or 60 seconds of advertising during the Super Bowl. It’s ridiculous! Some people say they watch the Super Bowl just for the advertisements. Not me but to each their own.
Wanda, Exactly!! I was thinking same thing! That doesn’t sound right to me.
Bonnie, I researched it online: Super Bowl versus Kentucky Derby. There is an online article published January 27, 2019. It states the similarities and the differences between both events. The wagering handle for the Kentucky Derby was $149.9 Million in 2018 while the Super Bowl wagering handle in Las Vegas sportsbooks was $158.58 Million in 2018. They were close, more than $1 Million and less than $2 Million in 2018 in (legal?) wagering alone.
Oops! How stupid of me…I said $1 Million when I should have said $100 Million and instead of $2 Million I should have said $200 Million. Anyway, a lot of freaking money…
I did not interpret the comment as being about wagering. The Super Bowl generates way more revenue.
Alan, I agree with your interpretation but I could only pass on specific numbers regarding wagering. If I had more wherewithal to share more facts, I would. There are so many other aspects of events bringing in money than wagering. I can refer you to the article for more information regarding the different revenue streams (of which there are many) regarding the Super Bowl vs. Kentucky Derby…
The horse racing press is so utterly laughable; a so-called story was just posted in the Courier-Journal that seems to allege Kentucky horse deaths dropped by 40% in 2019. Pretty incredible, right? But, go to peruse that story, check out their stats and methodology, maybe read up on who’s doing the counting? Nah. You’ve got to be a subscriber. Hilarious. They seem to want to get the word out about their phenomenal “safety” successes, but only to those who wouldn’t question their assertions. Lame.
Kelly,that probably means out of sheer fucking terror- they are sending MORE to the slaughter house!!! Pure F’n Evil and GREED. I don’t believe ANYTHING that comes out of them.
And they claim that Kentucky is having a sudden burst of “transparency,” LOL
Oh, and speaking of blood, SADT (Santa Anita Death Track) just vanned off a DNF named “Amatara.” I’m sure if she dies, they’ll fall all over themselves to NOT talk about it.
2020 horse racing strategy is to not talk about the dead racehorses I’ve noticed like you Kelly.
Neither The Blood Horse, pro-horse racing publications, pro-horse racing Twitter accounts are even acknowledging or mentioning the dead racehorses so far.
Notice that?
I suppose they’ve decided to just pretend that racehorses snapping their legs-off and dying are not worth mentioning anymore because they don’t want to bring attention onto themselves.
Utterly despicable and so incredibly stupid in an era of social media, transparency, and responsibility.
They are back to their old ways of hiding their dead and dying because it’s all they got.
Well, let them go ahead because HRW will post the facts and the Death Lists and the media is finally exposing them as well and not going back to business as usual, all is forgotten, and let’s move on – no we are going to make sure that people know about all the racehorses your business kills.
As for their ridiculous claims like Kentucky it’s just going to make it worse and it already has.
What ever happened to all the reforms that dominated the pro-horse racing entities?
Suddenly, “reform” is non-existent and so are all the dead racehorses.
Can this vile business get any more vile?
There just seems to be no bottom.
So tragic.
Is there a way to find out how many and which ones were sent to slaughter?
Bonnie,
I don’t have the answer to your question. I have wondered the same, “How many racehorses are sent from the race track to an auction and then hauled either to a kill buyer’s feedlot or shipped directly to a slaughterhouse in Mexico or Canada? Also, how many racehorses are sold directly to a killbuyer without going to an auction at all?” There are several different breeds of horses used for racing and also some of these horses are killed somehow before they even live long enough to be hauled to a racetrack. It is overwhelming to think about for me! I have not been following racing enough to know if they still have races for Arabians, Appaloosas or Paints. I think the races for APHA registered Paint Horses are or were mostly in Texas and Oklahoma.
Unbelievable! He still gets to keep the horse in his care??? Why doesn’t the Humane Society/Animal Control take the horse away from him??
Ok CNN, FOX, New York Post, do another news clip on this! Get it out there in the world for everyone to see.
HORSE RACING MUST END!!
I have lost faith in mankind, we are not so kind.