5-Year-Old Mare Killed at Golden Gate

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The California Horse Racing Board has finally confirmed the death of My Sweet Lou, a “went wrong, vanned off” in the 7th at Golden Gate Sunday. She was five years old; this was her 13th time under the whip. California now stands at 75 dead on the year.

12 Comments

  1. Her speed figure went from 89 to 94 to 104. I can’t help but wonder about what kind of drugs they gave her. Rest in peace, MY SWEET LOU.

  2. 75 dead at this track and no one seems to see anything wrong with this?? What the hell is the matter with people? These deaths are daily and people seem to think that this is the norm – well wake up you bunch of assholes because it most definitely should not be the norm. This is what happens when people with no clue get involved in what they call at “sport” and I call it nothing but a way to destroy and slaughter these beautiful animals. I don’t speak from not knowing what I am talking about either – my family raced horses and we never ever had a breakdown on any of them and none of them were ever started young – we did our training at home on our own track track – we went to the races ready for our horses to be there as they were all sound. If one had a problem before leaving we never ever took it on that trip. We never had to put a horse down and we were so strict on who rode for us – no jockey that was on the whip, no drugs, no buzzers no bullshit with holding a horse back to play the games that are played. We were in the winners circle steady and without any of the brutality that goes on today. We could tell when our horses had had enough of the racing and at that point we never raced them again – they become saddle horses and were looked after for the rest of the their lives. They were never dumped in a claiming race just to get rid of them. Nothing like what goes on today – this is so horrible and I am so glad that my Dad is no longer alive to see how tragic and brutal this racing has turned out to be he would be mortified beyond believe. He was a true horse whisperer!!

    • Cathy, it’s 75 dead horses in California which is more than just one racetrack.

  3. Oh. But, Golden Gate has that super-cushiony, all-weather synthetic surface that should have absorbed the bone-snapping force of Sweetie’s final steps, right racing geniuses? “Synthetic is safer!” they scream, while pointing to a bunch of made-up, fake statistics from the ever-deceitful Jockey Club’s Equine Injury Database.

    And what’s with the 3-day reporting delay? Did they not opt to end this poor mare’s suffering immediately following her breakdown? Or, did the usual racing clowns ponder an opportunity to keep her alive, and in pain, so that they could turn her into their next broodmare prospect? (Because if there’s one thing this repulsive, barbaric industry needs, it’s more of those freakishly fragile foals of the future to die horrifically on the track.)

  4. From a previous HRW post, website links to send short messages to CA’s Governor, two U.S. Senators, and state elected officials (for California) were provided (pasted below). These make commenting quite easy:
    Gov Newsom: https://govapps.gov.ca.gov/gov40mail
    Senator Feinstein: https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact
    Senator Harris: https://www.harris.senate.gov/contact
    CA State Legislators: http://www.legislature.ca.gov/your_legislator.html
    Just don’t go over the character limit!

    • Thank you Marilyn for the link. I have reached out to our governor, senators and legislators. I would not have done this without your input.

  5. What the hell is wrong with these people? GREED!!!! They only see the MONEY and don’t give one iota about these majestic and devoted animals!!! This has to be outlawed as it is Neglect and inhumane!! THIS NEEDS TO STOP NOW!!!!!

  7. I just spoke with an aide to Sen Feinstein in Washington and he indicated that their office has contacted the California Horse Racing Board about the large number of horse deaths in California and horse racing continuing during the wild fires. He said that the senator is very concerned about this issue. I mentioned to him that Golden Gate Fields continues to run races even though the Bay Area is experiencing toxic bad air conditions currently due to the wild fires throughout the region. The Horse Racing Board told me that they aren’t seeing any ill effects from horses racing in extremely unhealthy air conditions which, of course, is ridiculous.

    I would encourage everyone to contact Senator Feinstein’s office to let them know you are concerned about this issue. I received a brushoff from Governor Newsom’s office.

    • Thank you, Christopher, especially for calling the CHRB directly. I’m not surprised they say they’ve “seen no ill effects from horses racing in extremely unhealthy air.” After all, this is the same Board who also saw no ill effects from Los Alamitos’ most recent 31 horse deaths.
      So, they may not be the wisest choice of arbiter in this matter.

  8. Thank you for doing all that, Christopher, and keeping us posted. Thank you, Marilyn, for sharing those links!!!
    That line about the CHRB not seeing any ill effects on horses racing in very bad air quality is so predictable. It sounds true to form, their form. The horses should probably be evacuated to a safer area but I don’t expect that to happen.

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