The 4th at Aqueduct yesterday, as described by the Equibase writer: “Quizzical Cajun bobbled near the nine-sixteenths suffering a catastrophic injury, got placed to a firm protective hold and was expertly pulled up by the rider, then was subsequently euthanized on track.”
The jockey, Jose Lezcano, is praised for the “expertly” way he handled a doomed horse he had a direct hand in dooming. But it’s not the first time we’ve seen this in NYRA write-ups. In fact, just this past Monday at “The Big A,” Dark N Cloudy was said to have “vied with vigour” before dying in the dirt. Not sure if the same writer, but contemptible doesn’t begin to describe this person (these people).
The 3-year-old Quizzical, by the way, is the 9th horse killed in NY (since the Gaming Commission began disclosing such things) with Lezcano at the whip. And that’s just NY; surely he’s been atop other kills around the country.
Joy, It’s a chestnut…again
These horse killing dirtbags need to be locked up. How far can a dying horse run? Do we really need a jockey to slow the horse down? He could have jumped off the horse entirely. Better yet, if there were any real justice, all of these dirtbags that write race cards for two-year-olds and three-year-olds would be locked up for Animal Cruelty and TORTURE! Protect horses from Animal Cruelty and TORTURE! Enforce the PACT ACT!
Actually, Wanda, these “protective holds” are, like everything else in this hideous anti-sport, designed to protect the industry, not the poor, doomed horse. It’s the OPTICS of a struggling, mortally wounded equine that they’re trying to eliminate. And they can do that only when someone has firm control of the tormented animal’s head. Who is better suited for that role than the abusive little maniac who’d been whaling on him/her just seconds prior?
“Expertly bring out the screen again, boys! The expert jockey has saved us yet again. Expertly. Now bring on the expert track vet to expertly administer the pink stuff. Then, our expert clean-up staff will expertly mop up the blood in time for our next round of experts.”
You’re absolutely correct, Kelly. It is absolutely despicable and despisable how these dirtbags protect themselves and the horse racing and horse killing business from which they make their filthy money.
Let’s be honest – the jockey was just trying to save his own ass from being dumped off a horse about to go down at full speed. They make it sound like this sadistic little prick was showing this poor horse some sort of compassion – “placed in a firm protective hold” – when what was really happening was he was holding that suffering horse’s mouth in a death grip using a piece of metal. Yep, great job there, Jose. Glad you made it out to abuse another horse another day.
And this act of brazado happened in the major slop in New York yesterday. So aside from not wanting to take a flying Superman thru the air on TV, the mud bath probably would be more embarrassing for the superhero
These poor horses are merely a means to make money little care is taken for there welfare. Everyone is racing should be held accountable for this abuse. It is unacceptable that so many owners trainer jockeys Vets and stable staff regards the death of a horse just one of those things. It is NOT just one of those things it is pure Evil that they are dying daily.
Don’t blame the jockey. Its the trainers and owners that are always at fault. The trainers are supposed to get the horse ready for a race and and the owner either directs or is complicit with the entering of a horse. But the track does have rules for entering too. Please get after the owners who in this particular case was the mercenary Michael Dubb. His trainer I am ashamed to say was Jason Servis who I believed was the only ethical trainer on the east coast. I know that is false now. The jockeys have to please the trainers to get work. And that is a difficult position especially if you like the horses you ride. Lets put the blame where it belongs: the trainers and owners.
I believe everyone involved in the Thoroughbred racing industry is at fault including the racetrack owners and racing Secretary (and others) along with the breeders, owners, trainers, jockeys, grooms, the breeder’s sales and all of the gambling side of horseracing. It’s all bad for horses. The horses are being exploited, sadistically tortured, hurt beyond anyone’s imagination, and run to death or sold to slaughter for meat. The jockey knows what he or she has to do and if all of the jockeys had a protest and refused to ride, the owners, trainers and racing commissions and gambling industry would have a screaming conniption fit.
Don’t blame the jockey? Why the hell not? Sure the owners and trainers put the horse out there, but the jockeys are the ones beating the shit out of these poor young horses – refusing to let up even when they’re 25+ lengths behind with no chance in hell of catching up. And what about all those “excessive whip use” fines these little sadists are continually slapped with? There is something seriously wrong when a person can bring a whip down IN AN OVERHEAD STRIKE 20, 30, or even 40 times IN A ROW on the bare skin of a horse, a horse the age equivalent of a human toddler. And their excuse? “Caught up in the moment”. Don’t delude yourself. These jockeys are serial animal abusers protected by an archaic exploitation system. They enjoy what they do.
I think you pointed out something that is important to clarify.
Everybody, all the apologists, supporters, owners, trainers etc. and people who place bets are to blame.
They are condoning this brutal unacceptable business practice and so do the spectators that watch.
You would have to be an abusive parasite to think that this is acceptable – it isn’t.
As I’ve always maintained on this blog horse racing is widespread, legitimized, racehorse abuse, cruelty and inhumane treatment operating with total impunity.
To add insult, because I’m aware of many of the rules & regulations, jockeys are actually fined for not beating the crap out of a racehorse when they know the racehorse is done, needs to protect itself.
They must exhaust all beatings to not get fined and they often fight during steward meetings to tell them that the racehorse was spent and was unable to give anymore to avoid a fine.
Here’s why: the gamblers, the people who bet on racehorses constantly call the racing commission (I know because I’ve received calls) complaining that the reason why they were unable to cash in on their bet was because the jockey didn’t whip the racehorse enough to finish in the money to pay off their exotic bets.
The owners and trainers will also complain to the jockey that they didn’t whip them enough to finish in the money to give them a bigger check – no kidding!
So they risk losing a mount for next time and the big trainers with big racing stables dictates to that jockey and mosts of them will do just about anything to maintain their riding relationship with that trainer even if it means carrying a buzzer or whatever else they scheme up.
This is COMMON in horse racing and this exemplifies what I’ve always maintained – the rules & regulations (contrary to what the business would like you to believe) are there to protect the billions in wagering profits NOT to protect the racehorses.
Almost always, the ruling will come down on the side of the gambler, the person who doesn’t give a damn about the racehorse only their bets.
So jockeys are, right away, conditioned to beat the crap out of a racehorse so that they are not called into the stewards office to explain why they didn’t.
More often than not the jockey is seen as fixing a race for themselves over the gamblers who are complaining.
Now my explanation in NO WAY exonerates the jockeys from blatant racehorse abuse and they can always get another job that doesn’t involve such horrific cruelty.
They have a choice the racehorse’s don’t.
Remember it has always and will always be the gambling profits over the health & welfare of the racehorses and that’s why NO REFORMS to alter the fundamental operations of horse racing that has always and will always result in racehorses dying for this pathetic, antiquated business model that has no place in our society.
Wow, Gina. Thanks, as always, for your insider info. Your comment about the whip bears repeating:
“So jockeys are, right away, conditioned to beat the crap out of a racehorse so that they are not called into the stewards office to explain why they didn’t.”
This is a huge reason that the CHRB is tiptoeing through whip “reforms” right now, and won’t make any meaningful changes, ever.
The public is shouting, “Stop beating horses!”
While the grizzled old bettors are shouting, “Beat ’em again!”
Which group are they more likely to try to appease?
Yes, Gina, thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience of how the horse racing and gambling industries abuse the life out of horses for $2 bets and God knows there are people spending a lot more than $2 on a horse race! The wagering handle in 2018 for the Kentucky Derby was over One-Hundred Forty Nine Million Dollars, $149.9 Million. That was another “reason” that the drug violations against Bob Baffert and Justify were not enforced, in my opinion, but instead horseracing got a Triple Crown winner. Yeah, so who cares if they had to cheat and abuse a 3-year-old colt to get “the job done” so to speak. Does anyone believe that morally depraved addicts care about what the horses feel?
When I was an Associate Steward for the CHRB and, at the time, I was a full supporter of horse racing.
I saw my position as an opportunity to finally change things for the betterment of racehorses.
I laugh now when I think about how naive and artifically hopeful I was.
It was countless committee meetings full of empty rhetoric that resulted in absolutely nothing getting done.
Oh, it sure sounded good.
I thought, wow, this is great we’re talking about things so that we can change them, but in the end it was only talk, psycho-babble it was appeasing the public when absolutely nothing got done.
In fact, all the issues today, albeit exacerbated, they are still talking, talking, talking,………
LIttle to nothing gets done and back then the public, for some reason, wasn’t interested in all the racehorses dying because there were plenty dying back then.
Then it was back to business as usual.
Thankfully now, due to peaceful demonstations, education, HRW,and those of us calling for the shut down of racing it’s not back to business as usual and it’s thrown this antiquated business model on its ass.
Now, they go silent, they don’t even know how to respond because how are they?
How can they possibly justify tarp after tarp, dead racehorse after dead racehorse – they can’t other than telling us that we are supposed to accept this as an “inherent risk.”
Well horse racing your inherently wrong because our society and our younger generation doesn’t accept this and that’s why you will be shut down.