Through a FOIA request to the West Virginia Racing Commission, I have confirmed the following kills at that state’s tracks through June 30:
Sassy Diva, Jan 2, Charles Town S – “founder” (three years old, yet to be raced)
She’s Quiet, Jan 18, Charles Town R (euthanized Jan 27) – “fractured sesamoids”
Chobee Girl, Feb 1, Charles Town T – “fractured pelvis”
Tumble Pass, Feb 1, Charles Town T (euthanized Mar 6) – “comminuted fracture”
Rumers Are True, Feb 3, Charles Town S – “found dead” (five years old, last raced Jan 17)
Lethal Shot, Feb 3, Charles Town T – “fractured sesamoids”
Fire Boss One, Feb 8, Charles Town S – “allergic reaction” (very first race was the day before; came in last, 22 lengths back)
Riveter Gloria, Feb 14, Charles Town R – “multiple fractures”
Freet Dem, Feb 17, Charles Town T – “dislocation”
Flip a Coin, Feb 25, Charles Town S – “equine protozoal myeloencephalitis” (four years old)
Rendezvous for Two, Feb 27, Charles Town T – “cellulitis” (three years old, yet to be raced)
Princess Rashelle, Feb 28, Charles Town R – “fetlock fracture”
Satan’s Last Train, Mar 2, Charles Town T (euthanized Mar 3) – “multiple fractures”
Ship Quick, Mar 7, Charles Town T – “fractured sesamoid”
Rush Express, Mar 10, Charles Town S – “flipped over, spinal fracture”
Purgatory, Mar 31, Charles Town S – “infection post-surgery”
Chance for Cash, Apr 1, Charles Town S – “equine protozoal myeloencephalitis” (two years old, yet to be raced)
Jenny D, Apr 27, Charles Town T – “hit another horse, never got up”
Giant Dreams, May 9, Charles Town S – “paralyzed artenoid”
Miss Casuarina, May 13, Charles Town S – “found dead, swollen neck”
Heckler’s Veto, May 15, Charles Town T – “comminuted, dislocated fracture”
Brennivin, May 22, Charles Town T – “injured starting gate – head and neck”
Shared Silence, Jun 2, Mountaineer R – “fractured sesamoids”
Tun Tun, Jun 20, Charles Town R – “carpus fracture”
Reblogged this on Armory of the Revolution.
ONE at Mountaineer? In six months? Sure thing, WV Racing Commission. OF COURSE we all believe in your oh-so-trustworthy dead horse statistics! My only question is, “Why isn’t every other track and racing jurisdiction in the country beating down Mountaineer’s rusted, barely-hanging door to get the scoop on their safety secrets? Surely these other venues would love to state that they, too, only killed off ONE racehorse in all that time, no?
C’mon, Mountaineer officials. Tell us all how you managed to keep almost every single horse alive, when no other track could. Hmmmmm?
I think it’s called the old “get the hell out of here and turn your cameras off or else” line. That is their secret, I believe.
That, and they rarely bother with all that pricey post-breakdown euthanasia at Mountaineer. No, sir! More like they just forklift the suffering horse into a shed out back and wait for the meat man. Much more cost-effective that way, with the added bonus of making them appear Super Safe to so-called regulators.
Kelly, OMG!!!!! Where are the regulators?????? The Humane Society????? Anybody?????? I know they are not against horseracing but, forklifting a live animal to a different location even if it is only 20 feet or whatever is a criminal act in itself!!!!!!!!!
Okay, I ought to walk that back. Sorry, Wanda. Little bit of over-the-top hyperbole there. I’m pretty sure they don’t use an actual forklift and/or shed out back. But, like Nancy pointed out, a business that would dump a dead horse in a public landfill…well, kind of unlikely it’s their only crime against these animals.
Okay, Kelly, but we do know that horses as well as cattle are abused egregiously and that we don’t really know how badly on a case by case basis, until someone shares it by video and so on.
Kelly …
and most of them ended up like Bridget Moloney. Take notice of the names that are given to those on the list. Really well thought out,right???
How does Mountaineer do it, Kelly? – more than one answer to that but for starters? – Burton Sipp. No need to euthanize injured horses when they’ve got a ready-made racehorse disposal system in Sipp.
It aches me to know that Mountaineer gets millions from casino profits to keep this killing show going.
The entire West Virginia horse racing industry is being funded by casino profits and, essentially, by taxpayers whose communities are supposed to be benefitting from this money.
Not horse racing.
This is state-sanctioned massive abuse and killing.
STOP the funding then horse racing will cease to exist.
Kelly, when I asked where are the regulators, I meant BOOTS ON THE GROUND type regulators!!!!
The cattle industry used egregiously INHUMANE methods to move diseased cattle referred to as downer cows. Some of the downed cows could have had Mad Cow Disease. Regardless of the causes of not being able to stand or walk, the cows were abused in horrible ways and part of that ABUSE was the use of a forklift. For anyone interested in reading more about some of that EGREGIOUS ABUSE, there is an article online: ABC News/ “Cattle abuse wasn’t rare occurrence” By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY/ March 25, 2008.
Wanda..I have seen undercover videos of this on television(unfortunately)so you are absolutely right.
Yes, Nancy, I definitely was not speaking in hyperbole. For one thing, the abuse is horrific enough without any exaggeration and every person ought to take it seriously, as serious as the suffering caused by humans to animals is, in reality.
Wanda , I know I digress, (Patrick will forgive me, I hope) but since you mentioned
Mad Cow Disease, did you notice how it kinda disappeared once they stopped feeding leftover cow parts back to the cows?!
Turining herbivores into carnivores /omnivores is stupid enough but turning them into cannibals is beyond the pale!! How could that not cause problems?! The suffering was enormous because some thought money could be saved on feed – recycling gone mad! And check out Kuru disease in humans seems to be a parallel there.
We have a lot to answer for.
I do not like horses being killed because of their injuries at horse racing. This is real cruelty!