According to the California Horse Racing Board, Data Hawk died at Golden Gate Friday: “accident – skull,” no other details given. Data Hawk was three years old. Prior to his most recent race, January 10, he was sold – yes, the ubiquitous “claiming race,” our answer to all who claim to love their horses as their children.
Meanwhile, the killing, as expected, returns to Santa Anita. Saturday, the track says, Double Touch dropped dead while training – “cause unknown.” Double Touch was only five years old, not yet fully mature. Dropped dead. This is horseracing.
If they don’t know the cause, they are not smart. But I suspect it might be a cover up to “hide” the fact that this horse, DOUBLE TOUCH, dropped dead while training because of severe abuse and severe neglect of what the horse needed. It could also be partly that the racetrack still has issues causing horses to go down. I don’t watch these races on paid television. I don’t have paid television. I don’t have any desire to make bets on my cellphone either. Horseracing is a very disturbing activity for morally depraved people such as Dr. Bramlage who can exploit abused horses and make his fame and fortune at the expense of innocent horses and their suffering.
Please stop the horse racing until the cause for the deaths is found!
The cause, Mary Lou, is racing itself. The killing is built in.
Mary Lou, when I was taking injured racehorses to Michigan State University for the racehorse rescue I was with – for diagnostics, treatment and (sadly too often) euthanasia – my fellow board member and the renown equine orthopedic surgeon Dr. John Stick would look at me and say, while I had the injured horse in hand, “SPEED KILLS”.
Racing demands a speed and distance no horse in the wild would need to run to escape a predator – additionally, racehorses are given drugs that negatively affect their skeletal systems and their cardiovascular systems – RACING KILLS. Always has – always will.
“Accident-skull”??? Really?? Well, I guess that could mean anything- hit head in stall, was hit in the head by something or someone, head on collision with another horse ( they are known for that), the damn stress caused by being sold and abused some more, and a multitude of other reasons. They call it an “accident”- these are not accidents! They are inflicted injuries by these…obtuse, heartless, disgusting pricks! And “cause unknown?? Another blatant lie! 2 more beautiful horses GONE. DEAD. Heartbreaking!! This cruelty and abuse needs to stop. NOW! Thanks Patrick for your tireless efforts. RIP Data Hawk and Double Touch
Another 2 victims of this vile business and why is Santa Anita still open?
It was supposed to be shut down months ago and racehorses are still dying there.n
DOUBLE TOUCH (DT).
DT was trained by John W. Sadler who has plenty of dead racehorses under his belt.
The owners of DT are brothers Kosta & Pete Hronis who operate under Hronis Racing LLC.
These owners got into this game in 2010 and since then has forced racehorses to run 1598 times.
Just this stat alone should tell anybody that the horses are mere gambling chips there to flip a buck, dump, sell, and kill with no remorse it seems.
They own a full service thoroughbred farm in San Joaquin, California including stallions for the sole purpose of furnishing the industry with more.
DT wasn’t their first racehorse to die and it probably won’t be their last.
So many folks don’t understand the real abuse of horseracing. This is shameful. Stop horseracing throughout this country. It is not necessary for our entertainment. I have better things to do with my time. Shameful!
NO , this is NOT horseracing !!!! Something is REALLY wrong. Shut down Santa Anita to determine WHY this KEEPS happening and what can be done to correct it . I enjoy watching horses race IF THEY FEEL LIKE THEY WANT TO !!!!! The problem is they can’t say if and when they want to. Therefore they are pushed to run. Often their signals of not feeling up to it get ignored and I don’t doubt that”s where many issues stem from.
Dale, perhaps you should acquaint yourself with this site. It’s not Santa Anita; it’s horseracing.
Patrick , you are spot on !! It is every race track out there–Its horseracing period !! We need to keep publishing the vile atrocities over and over in order to get through to some people. Sad but true. Cant wait to sign up and protest at santa anita. Would love to see racing shut down nationally as well, but i’ll take baby steps and go with shutting down tracks in CA first and hopefully that will get this party started !! Can’t stand horse racing and all the unregulated, non-humane cruelties that are forced and put upon these gentle, majestic creatures.
Patrick, thank you for all you do spotlighting the horrible way these poor creatures are treated or not treated and ground into the dirt they are forced to run on.
Thank you, Sue.
Dale, horses are used in horseracing as gambling chips and the racetrack owners/operators need horses to fill out a race card. Anyone that believes in exploiting horses for racing and for slaughter and forces them to race at 2-years-old is not interested in whether or not the horses feel like racing. Key words: the horses are forced, whipped, doped/drugged to run. Horseracing is cruelty and torture to horses.
The L.A. Times finally posted this story, an hour ago. Of course, it was written by none other than John Cherwa, the Times’ resident “special contributor,” SoCal horse racing advocate, and all-around general assignment blood sport reporter. True to his usual method of defending the industry — as opposed to using actual journalistic standards and practices to conduct interviews and collect data on the death toll — Mr. Cherwa has once again clamored to the aid of the Stronachs, the SA Death Track, and the entire horse-killing community by reiterating the tired, old apologists’ standby drivel:
“Santa Anita has not had a repeat of last year’s disastrous season in which 37 horses died, including Mongolian Groom in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Last year, to this point, Santa Anita had 13 fatalities.”
Funny how he fails to remind readers that 37 deaths was and is a pretty “safe” season for the SADT, which boasts an average of 50 dead TBs per year. He also doesn’t acknowledge that the SADT is running fewer horses, in fewer races, on fewer racing days than ever before. So the implication that their safety reforms are somehow working to curb the carnage is based on (yet another) set of racing falsehoods.
Not surprising, though, considering every other SoCal news outlet is breaking/featuring/leading with Double Touch’s death.
Guess the old die-hards at the L.A. Times are going to have a rough time of it when the inevitable happens and all California animal racing is banned;)
I don’t understand why they go around patting each other on the back when “not as many” horses die. THEY STILL DIE! The fact that these parasitic animal exploiters can accept ANY death as just a part of their sick “sport” is beyond disgusting.
Rebecca, yes, you’re right it is disgusting. It is sickening and horrible that horseracing industry insiders believe in not only torturing horses to run in races but also believe in sending them to slaughter as a way of “retirement” from the cruelty and torture of racing.
Excellent, Kelly. Thank you.
Disgusting! Racing needs to end. Getting rich running horses to their death, grand sport, not so much!!!