Through a FOIA request to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, I have confirmed the following kills at that state’s tracks in 2019. Please note, however, that the Commission did not forward stall deaths – in other words, this is an incomplete reckoning. (This is Part 2; Part 1 here.)
Ucanalwaysbebetter, Jan 23, Keeneland T – “cannon fracture; bone embedded in tendons and ligament”
Euro Zing, Jan 26, Turfway T – “broke both front shoulders”
Dona Spey, Jan 27, Keeneland T – “open, comminuted fracture”
Hoped For, Apr 18, Keeneland T – “fractures, tearing of digital artery and vein”
My Majestic Rose, Jun 12, Keeneland T – “complete, comminuted cannon fracture”
Bless His Heart, Jun 20, Churchill T (euthanized Jun 22) – “rupture with tearing”
unidentified, Jul 3, Churchill T – “[multiple] fractures; ruptured tendon, ligament”
Proud as Punch, Jul 4, Keeneland T – “complete fracture of humerus”
Sir Navigator, Aug 4, Ellis R – “horse finished race, collapsed and died”
Run Nancy Run, Aug 24, Ellis R – “open, comminuted fracture; [torn] ligament”
unidentified, Sep 2, Churchill T – “open fractures”
unidentified, Sep 9, Churchill T – “open fractures, extensive soft tissue damage”
Branson, Sep 11, Ellis T – “trained on racetrack, started showing signs of colic, progressed rapidly (five minutes)…euthanized”
Believein, Sep 13, Churchill T – “[multiple] fractures, severe soft tissue damage”
unidentified, Sep 19, Churchill T – “comminuted fractures”
B P Rocket, Sep 20, Keeneland T – “shoulder fracture, [torn] tissues”; “extensive gastric ulcers present” (three years old)
Allied Party, Sep 21, Churchill R – “[multiple] fractures, acute cartilage excoriation”
Stella d’Oro, Oct 4, Keeneland R – “multiple fractures, massive soft tissue damage”
Fast Dreamer, Oct 4, Keeneland R – “fractures, traumatic cartilage excoriation”
unidentified, Oct 9, Churchill T – “open fractures, severe soft tissue damage”
Triggerman, Oct 9, Keeneland R – “open fractures, severe soft tissue damage”
Integral, Oct 16, Keeneland R – “open fractures, severe soft tissue damage”
Call to Victory, Oct 20, Keeneland R – “[multiple] open fractures, extensive soft tissue damage”; “extensive ulceration of stomach” (three years old)
unidentified, Oct 22, Churchill T – “collapsed and died on the racetrack”
unidentified, Oct 26, Keeneland T – “hit rail, broke left knee”
unidentified, Nov 2, Churchill T – “open, disarticulated fetlock”
The Keeper, Nov 2, Keeneland T – “open, highly comminuted fractures; fragments missing, large fragment embedded in ligament; tearing of tendons”
Run for the Gold, Nov 10, Keeneland T – “compound, comminuted ankle fracture”
Frank Senior, Nov 21, Churchill T – “comminuted fracture, marked tearing”
unidentified, Nov 22, Turfway T – “multiple complete fractures of the scapula”
Tigers Rule, Nov 24, Churchill R – “[multiple] fractures with tearing of artery and vein”
Third Edition, Nov 25, Keeneland T – “fetlock open and luxated”
Elegant Bay, Nov 30, Churchill R – “multiple fractures, soft tissue damage is severe”
Pallaso, Dec 2, Churchill T – “complete fracture of humerus, tearing of musculature”
Rock n’ Candy, Dec 5, Turfway R – “pulled up lame, developed large hematoma…euthanized”; “grade 4 gastric ulcer disease” (five years old)
Happy Peddler, Dec 21, Turfway R (euthanized Dec 22) – “fracture, acute excoriation”
Olly Wonder, Dec 31, Turfway R – “severe tearing of tendons and ligaments”
As per usual I know some of the horses on this list…..and they died for what?,people’s gambling addiction,is what they died for. VILE
Where are the men in this effort to stand up for the horses? At the Del Mar demos last summer I was one of only three men in a group of about nearly twenty women who seemed to give a damn about the ponies. What is it about the seemingly insatiable blood-lust in men that they feel compelled to carry it over to torturing helpless animals for entertainment?
We all know these “reported” deaths are just the tip of the proverbial, horse-killing iceberg. Kentucky has almost zero in the way of reporting requirements; the few they’ve enacted recently have been brought about through real horse advocates and groups, like Horseracing Wrongs, who’ve ripped the cover off the whole industry’s secrecy.
Meanwhile, Arkansas runs a close second on the dead racehorse front. They vanned off another one today: Oaklawn, race 3. They’ll never tell the outcome, though, because, quite simply, they HAVE NO STANDARDS. No rules, no enforcement, no integrity. Oaklawn is as bush league as it gets. Proof of this is a COVID-19-infected NFL head coach, Sean Payton, openly mingling with all the other “essential personnel” on race day, March 14th.
I guess infected pseudo-celebrities are allowed to spread deadly diseases around the “Winners” Circle at Oaklawn. And, why shouldn’t they? There’s literally no regulatory body that’s gonna even try to shut ’em down.
Another horrific list of racehorses dying for this vile business.
i can’t and will never understand how a person can participate, support, defend, and watch this horror show play out before their eyes and still stay in it.
You would have to be morally bankrupt and deprived of any sort of compassion.
Horse racing should be banned across the country with California being the first state to lead the way.
Gina, I don’t see how the tracks that rely on taxpayers money will survive???? Life is going to be VERY different…even when this airborne killing machine is over. What ‘s your opinion?
100% agree.
Both taxpayers money and casino profits were supposed to go to communities not to support horse racing, but attorneys representing the “horsemen” AKA HBPA were at the bargaining table when these partial deals went down.
Neither representatives for the racehorses nor key members of the community were invited or present during these deals that netted the horse racing groups and some politicians billions that should have went to our communities.
Further, the Interstate Horse Wagering Act needs to be cancelled which is a huge source of their income and requires the consent of “horsemen” groups AKA HBPA on tracks in order to carry the signal.
Not even a mandatory 1% was put aside for racehorse Aftercare because all they cared about was the money.
All of these “back room” deals need to be revisited and cancelled.
Then these hell holes will start to close one by one.
I agree, Gina. I’ve seen comments on numerous sites where people have phrased some variation of “everyone come home safe and sound”.
In what other sport do people hope the participants SURVIVE? And if they do happen to survive, that they are sound at the finish line? The more I notice this – the more I want to come back to them and ask them why they support something where they hope their “elite athletes” SURVIVE??
It’s really ridiculous and I can’t understand it.
Just look at these food pantry lines in this country…Beyond Mind Boggling. Food insecurity in USA is a MAJOR issue,the lines of people needing help and food goes for miles and miles,it’s overwhelming,this is not a problem that is going away anytime soon. People are going to need assistance,not throwing money at racinos and their ilk.
Forgot to wish all of you a happy Easter 🐣..or Passover ,and here’s to good health 🍻🥂 stay safe.
This is mismanagement and barbaric selfish treatment pushing them beyond what they can bear and not fully examination before and after every workout and race. This is human error all the way. Barbaric and wasteful.
All of these deaths make me so sad and angry. But one in particular, Call to Victory, makes me doubly sad– extensive ulceration of stomach. Just try to imagine how much pain this poor horse was enduring. I’ve never had a stomach ulcer but I’ve frequently struggled with mouth ulcers due to my system being so acidic at times. I have no doubt that overuse of lasix and other drugs cause this. Horse-racing simply cannot be “cleaned-up, so to speak. It’s deteriorated into nothing but a cruel waste of beautiful horses. it must end!
Just a reminder that up to 90% of racehorses get and/or have ulcers during their incarceration.
I would say it’s more like 100%, but this reputable equine study claims up to 90%:
https://aaep.org/horsehealth/equine-gastric-ulcers-special-care-and-nutrition
Another thing, the more stress the more likelihood of ulcers and by the time a racehorse is dumped into the claiming ranks most all have ulcers at that point.
It only gets worse because the majority of racehorses running in the claiming ranks have owners that can’t afford even the most basic vet care.
Ulcer medication is expensive and horse racing doesn’t hold owners/trainers accountable who denies critical vet care to any racehorse – they operate with total impunity.
In any other setting an owner gets charged for not providing essential vet care to their domestic pet.
Plus, racehorses in the claiming ranks are being bought and sold, barn to barn, trainer to trainer with multiple major changes to their diet (not always good diets) and scheduled feed times, habits, different things all the time which is detrimental especially to a racehorse.
Furthermore, the vet/treatment records don’t follow them so there’s no continuity of care and this is malicious on the part of horse racing.
Claiming horses are the worse-off because they almost always have some sort of pre-existing conditions that don’t get treated and many are one step away from dying.
Yet, they are the ones who are continually run to flip a buck and they account for 90% of the racehorse population.