The following racehorses were killed at New York State tracks in 2019. While reading, please bear in mind that this is surely but a partial reckoning as the Gaming Commission typically only discloses deaths occurring on-site (or occasionally at equine hospitals) and those within 72 hours of injury. And, of course, nothing from the many private training facilities strewn across the state. In short, the carnage is worse than what you see below, and below are 99 dead horses.
Whata Hustler, Jan 2, Monticello – “severe chronic right forelimb infection”
Doyouknowsomething, Jan 8, Belmont – “sustained left elbow injury in stall”
Westerdale, Jan 12, Aqueduct R – “suffered RH fracture…euthanized on track”
Speke, Jan 19, Belmont T – “suffered a fracture to his shoulder…euthanized on track”
Regal Delight, Jan 23, Monticello R – “fractured LF distal limb”
Tommy T, Jan 27, Aqueduct R – “fractured sesamoids…euthanized on track”
Catpsalm, Jan 29, Belmont – “protozoal myeloencephalitis”
Miss Marion, Feb 3, Belmont T – “fractured cannon bone…euthanized on track”
Chronos, Feb 3, Belmont T (euthanized Feb 4) – “fractured RF leg”
Tracey’s Desire, Feb 7, Yonkers R – “collapsed on track”
Tiger Man, Feb 8, Aqueduct R (euthanized Feb 9) – “sustained injury to LF leg”
Celebrity Tsipras, Feb 10, Monticello – “euthanized following fall”
For Pops, Feb 26, Belmont T – “collapsed and died” (four years old)
Queen Bode, Mar 3, Belmont T – “euthanized at hospital”
Queen of Umaill, Mar 9, Aqueduct T – “pulled up lame…euthanized”
Mighty Zealous, Mar 10, Belmont – “severe respiratory distress…euthanized”
Miss Marilyn, Mar 23, Belmont T – “leg injury…euthanasia on the track”
Bonafide Bandit, Mar 26, Finger Lakes – “cast in stall”
Miss Mimosa, Mar 28, Belmont T – “cardiovascular collapse” (three years old)
Shooby Said, Mar 30, Buffalo R – “took bad step at finish, ambulanced off, euthanized”
Pretty Enuff, Apr 1, Belmont T – “suffered a leg fracture…euthanized”
Owen’s Express, Apr 2, Finger Lakes T – “fractured right shoulder”
Luz Mimi, Apr 4, Belmont T – “suffered a leg fracture…euthanized”
La Manche, Apr 11, Belmont T – “suffered a fracture and was euthanized”
Atomic Sealster, Apr 11, Tioga T – “fell over…subsequently stopped breathing”
Twincreeks Jack, May 1, Monticello R – “euthanized following severe injury”
Noble Cause, May 11, Belmont R – “injuries necessitating euthanasia”
Facade, May 11, Finger Lakes – “colic”
Classiesistar N, May 14, Monticello R – “broke down, euthanasia administered”
Anne’s Song, May 24, Belmont R – “ambulanced off, euthanized due to poor prognosis”
Golden Julia, May 25, Saratoga T (died May 30) – “acute blood loss, pelvic injury”
Heaven Rocks, Jun 1, Buffalo R (died three days later) – “in distress, collapsed”
Investment Analyst, Jun 7, Saratoga T – “sustained leg injury necessitating euthanasia”
Successful Mission, Jun 9, Belmont T – “sustained fractures while breezing”
Inflection, Jun 9, Belmont R – “pulled up, vanned off, euthanized”
Easy Livin, Jun 15, Monticello T – “collapsed on track and died”
Ro Bear, Jun 16, Belmont – “died in the barn from an apparent impaction colic”
Rumor Goin Round, Jun 20, Yonkers R – “sustained injury to LH leg”
With Caution, Jun 28, Belmont T – “P1 fracture…died from complications”
Fancy Persuasion, Jun 30, Belmont R – “went down dead on the track” (two years old)
Gattino Marrone, Jul 3, Saratoga T – “fractured sesamoids – euthanized”
Dash For The Cash, Jul 9, Monticello R – “died following 2nd place win”
Ransom Note, Jul 10, Finger Lakes R – “fractured 3rd carpel”
yet-to-be-named, Jul 11, Belmont T – “fractured sesamoids – euthanized”
She’sakittykat, Jul 12, Finger Lakes – “laminitis”
D Emcee, Jul 12, Finger Lakes T – “fractured sesamoid necessitating euthanasia”
Fight Night, Jul 12, Saratoga R – “fell heavily after the wire…euthanized on track”
Total Fidelity, Jul 14, Saratoga T – “fracture to LF sesamoids – euthanized”
Fabulous Prince, Jul 15, Finger Lakes R – “flipped in the gate, skull fracture”
Overlord, Jul 15, Saratoga – “colonic rupture”
Freespin N, Jul 18, Monticello R – “broke down in stretch – euthanized”
Verravanni, Jul 25, Saratoga – “pleuropneumonia”
La Fuerza, Jul 27, Belmont T – “fractured humeral, ambulanced to barn, euthanized”
Misspent Youth, Jul 27, Saratoga T – “cardiovascular collapse” (five years old)
Umetuka, Jul 31, Saratoga T – “injured, vanned off, euthanized”
Avon Gold, Aug 3, Finger Lakes T – “suffered a fracture to the pastern”
Divine Miss Grey, Aug 3, Saratoga R (euth Aug 26) – “complications [after] surgery”
Sundae On Sunday, Aug 4, Saratoga R – “collapsed…euthanized on track”
Frosty Millions, Aug 13, Finger Lakes R – “unresolved splint and suspensory injuries”
It’s Flashy, Aug 17, Finger Lakes T – “expired after breezing”
Take Charge Jamie, Aug 24, Finger Lakes T – “injury to leg necessitating euthanasia”
Go Big Or Go Home, Aug 28, Saratoga R – “went wrong”
Sister Beauty, Aug 31, Saratoga T – “inoperable fracture – euthanized”
Borough Boy, Sep 2, Saratoga R – “took a bad step, fell heavily, euthanized on track”
Warrens Vengeance, Sep 3, Finger Lakes R – “fracture[d] limb”
Royal Inheritance, Sep 6, Belmont T – “collapsed and died” (five years old)
Passporttovictory, Sep 6, Belmont R – “bad steps”
Mo Moxie, Sep 7, Belmont T – “sustained a fracture and was euthanized on track”
So Surprising, Sep 7, Saratoga T – “fractured sesamoids”
Deft, Sep 12, Belmont R – “fell…suffering a fatal injury”
Rhode Island, Sep 14, Belmont R – “vanned off…subsequently euthanized”
Noble Spirit, Sep 16, Saratoga T – “sustained injury…subsequently euthanized”
Coffee Crush, Sep 19, Belmont T – “apparent cardiovascular collapse” (four years old)
Have Another, Sep 20, Belmont – “severe laminitis”
Meet Me in L A, Sep 21, Belmont R – “went wrong…euthanized”
Chazy, Sep 23, Finger Lakes R – “took a bad step – catastrophic injury to limb”
Queen Elsa, Sep 23, Saratoga Harness – “found deceased in stall” (raced Sep 19)
Grady, Oct 7, Finger Lakes R – “broke down…euthanized on track”
Sweet Timing, Oct 9, Belmont T (euthanized Nov 29) – “pelvic injury”
Corey Q, Oct 9, Finger Lakes – “euthanized due to worsening pneumonia”
E Z for You to Say, Oct 10, Belmont – “euthanized for severe laminitis [both front] feet”
B B Molly, Oct 10, Finger Lakes R – “carpal slab fracture necessitating euthanasia”
Mo Fun, Oct 14, Belmont T – “suffered a cardiovascular collapse” (three years old)
Bet U Cant Find Me, Oct 25, Finger Lakes T – “sustained injury to leg”
Maytime Terror, Oct 26, Saratoga Harness R – “broken pastern”
Iswear I’ll Behave, Nov, Belmont T (euthanized Dec 21) – “suspensory injury…laminitis”
Kid Robin Hood, Nov 2, Belmont T – “sustained a fracture at the 5/16 pole”
Darken a Day, Nov 10, Belmont T – “sustained injury requiring euthanasia on track”
Candy Smile, Nov 20, Aqueduct R – “injury to left front”
Long Haul Bay, Nov 21, Belmont – “euthanized due to severe colic”
Goneonamission, Nov 24, Belmont – “found deceased with apparent head injury”
Clear the Ramp, Nov 27, Aqueduct R – “suffered a catastrophic injury”
Giant Sandy, Nov 27, Finger Lakes R – “sustained injury…euthanized”
Gio Game, Dec 6, Belmont T – “cardiovascular collapse” (four years old)
Dino Three O Nine, Dec 8, Belmont T – “injury to RF leg…necessitat[ing] euthanasia”
Bright Diamond N, Dec 14, Yonkers R – “fell over, died on racetrack”
Riot Worthy, Dec 16, Belmont T – “sustained leg injury…necessitat[ing] euthanasia”
Outside Influence, Dec 21, Belmont T – “compound, open distal fracture”
Solar Fire, Dec 29, Belmont – “sustained an elbow injury in his stall”
I cannot imagine the pain and suffering that these 99 horses (that are known to be dead) had to endure before they died. I suspect that there are many cover-ups involved in the connections to these 99 dead horses. For example, there was/is a known cover-up regarding a drug violation by Bob Baffert, the trainer of Justify. The California Horse Racing Board chose to dismiss the drug violation of Bob Baffert giving the second place horse and trainer no legal recourse to have Justify disqualified as winner of the Santa Anita Derby. If it were known by the general public that any veterinarian was violating the laws against drug abuse “in the treatment of racehorses” I think some of these veterinarians could very realistically lose their license to practice medicine if the outcry was well-funded.
Wanda, There is an article in bloodhorse daily today about Mongolian Groom. I know you shouldn’t say this , but ….. I don’t even like the looks of that vet. Baimbridge,or whatever his name is.
Bonnie, I found the article you mentioned and saw his repulsive face; Dr. Lawrence (Larry) Bramlage, the horse killer.
That is why I said earlier anyone who can euthanize Secretariat is capable of anything.
Nancy, I knew that Secretariat had laminitis and I knew he had to be euthanized since there is no cure for laminitis. It cannot be reversed. The only option to end the pain of laminitis was euthanasia. I don’t know who administered the barbiturates to Secretariat to end his life. The article said they loaded him into a trailer, administered the barbiturates into the jugular and 45 seconds later he dropped. Afterwards, a necropsy/autopsy was performed on him and that was how it was discovered his heart was much larger than a normal size heart.
Wanda..
I know it had to be done but I just had to say it. The horse God built. Also Mrs
Chenery was not happy with them making him walk into the van to be taken care of. And Eddie Sweat had a broken heart
I re-read the article about the veterinarian who did the evaluation of MONGOLIAN GROOM. I mentioned the Blood Horse article yesterday. The correct spelling of his name is Dr. Lawrence (Larry) Bramlage. The fact that Dr. Bramlage needs a well established law firm – STOLL KEENON OGDEN PLLC – to be his legal counsel in order to give a report on his evaluation of the injuries to MONGOLIAN GROOM as well as the decision to end the horse’s life by euthanasia suggests to me that there were laws broken that could possibly cause the veterinarian, Dr. Lawrence (Larry) Bramlage, to lose his license to practice veterinary medicine. That would mean a significant loss of income for Dr. Bramlage as well as his clients, if they were found out for their violations of drug abuse laws. It could be very humbling for DR. BRAMLAGE to lose his license to practice veterinary medicine.
To me, any veterinarian practicing on the race track today is a disgrace to their profession and simply a butcher with a fancy certificate. A person cannot possibly be a witness to and participate in the daily abuses and horrors that these horses endure and still be part of a profession whose sole purpose is to heal animals. This Dr B, like the rest of those so-called vets, should be barred from ever going near a horse (or any other animal) for the rest of his existence.
And again the racing apologists defend these deaths with the utterly ridiculous “horses die from freak accidents all the time” BS. Explain how a (supposedly) healthy horse can snap s leg completely off while running on a smooth level track? And explain how HUNDREDS die from severed spines, broken shoulders and pelvises, and shattered limbs EVERY YEAR? Show jumpers, endurance horses, they experience incredible stresses on limbs but how many get the catastrophic injuries of racehorses? If any other equine venue had horses dropping at this rate for this long with these types of injuries there would be suspensions of competitions, investigations, and reforms, but “it’s just Horseracing” is the only explanation thrown out from the racing industry. HORSES ARE DYING. And there is NO defense anyone can make against that. One death should have been enough.
AND- how the hell did that many vets on “duty” for that Breeders Cup…F’n MISS what was so OBVIOUS to EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!! Mongolian Groom was LAME in his left hind. These people are CORRUPT.
Rebecca, I completely agree that one death is enough to alarm normal people but it evidently takes people with extreme moral depravity to accept the death of their “beloved” horses as a routine occurence, and instead of making honest reforms to prevent injuries including lameness to horses, they resort to using a well established law firm and use a strategy to blow smoke in an attempt to dupe the public into thinking that horses dying is a big mystery of some kind. It is an obvious falsehood to suggest that it’s a mystery. It’s an insult to everyone’s intelligence. It’s unacceptable!
99!!! That we know of!! 99!!! This is beyond disgusting for a “civilized” society. Rhetorical question: how many more have to lose their lives in servitude to these damn parasites? How many more before people finally realize HORSE RACING KILLS HORSES and actually do something about it??? Apropos Bramlage Outrage, I tried to read the whole article published in the Toronto Star in May 2019 ( yes, even Woodbine engaged his services because he is soo “amazing”) titled “why horse racing is good for horses”… but got so sick of his idiotic “theories” that I gave up. Fact is, everyone praises this butcher. Disgusting to the core! I suppose Bramlage took a different oath when he became a DVM! In his case DVM clearly is the abbreviation for Disgusting Vile Man.
Dog racing was voted out by the voters- and they didn’t have anywhere near the number of deaths as horse racing. Think about that.
Thank-you Patrick for lending a voice to all these dead racehorses that were forced into servitude and killed.
99 racehorses – absolutely vile.
Aside from the obvious moral issues of killing racehorses what is equally disturbing is the billions in casino profits, sanctioned by New York state politicians, going to support horse racing.
It’s mind boggling the amount of money given to this vile business.
These deals are cut in the back rooms by “horsemen” “politicians” with no members of the community being invited or present to give their input.
It’s obvious that this entire process is corrupt and the funding needs to stop because it’s a total waste of previous taxpayers dollars.
Other more deserving business enterprises need to replace these death rings and more jobs, decent jobs, would be generated far more than horse racing.
Racehorses are dying and this business is already dead.
Vile.
And jobs that would benefit people and society in general.
Jesus. There’s just no end in sight to this non-stop bloodbath. Fairgrounds, Golden Gate, Gulfstream all vied to kill off the most TBs today. From what I can tell — which, as a newbie, is not much — Fairgrounds won the Daily Death Prize with two vanned-offs, followed by a “spill” involving THREE horses. No idea what the conditions of any involved is/was, but I’ll hazard a guess that Patrick will have even more than the usual high-count death reporting to do this week.
Don’t these nasty, horse-racing/killing creeps ever want to give him a day off?
Reads like the horror it is, horses treated as a commodity to make money.
Totally shocking and disgusting! Everyone involved in all these deaths could not have a heart or a soul. They know what is done wrong and do nothing about it. It all amounts to greed and the mighty dollar. Horses hurt and feel pain just like people but as long as money can be made on their pain it will continue to happen while all the women and men show off all their hats and fashions at the racetracks, they could care less about what happens to the horses!
There is an X-Ray Machine that can detect micro fractures which are often the reason for breakdowns in Racehorses. Dr. Sheila Lyons discussed this at a hearing before the NYS Senate last June. However, the racing industry wants nothing to do with them. What does that tell you? This is an industry that is run by a bunch of thugs!