Plum Dandy, six, died at Del Mar yesterday of what the CHRB is calling an “accident.” He had been put to the whip 22 times, most recently August 16 at that same track. There are those (apologists, the exploiters themselves) who would dismiss these deaths as “flukes,” “acts of God,” “beyond their control.” In truth, however, there is not one scintilla of difference – morally speaking, that is – between racehorses who die back in their stalls/the barn and those who snap legs out on the track. Casualties of racing, all. (Plum Dandy is the 78th such casualty in California this year.)
Interesting new obfuscation system the CHRB started just today. Since they’ve made it quite clear they’re NOT going to record every horse death the old way (each track or training center separately by month, only for this year, and minimal explanation by way of “notes”), are we expected to believe they’ll all be recorded the new, “improved” way?
Santa Anita shows ZERO deaths since June 21st. Yet they also show ZERO workers (and zero starters, obviously, after their latest meet ended) since July 5. Has there been no training there for almost two months? Have there been no fatal accidents/illnesses of any of the horses stabled there this whole time? If true, that’s pretty incredible that Santa Anita suddenly stopped hosting horse deaths, isn’t it? You’d think they’d be shouting out the great news for the world to hear…
Unless, of course, there’s a whole heap of training and “other” deaths that the CHRB just hasn’t gotten around to recording, for some reason.
I guess we will never know just exactly what kind of accident caused this horse’s death. PLUM DANDY was exploited to the age of six-years-old and now is dead by some sort of “accident” that the CHRB categorized as “other” and we are supposed to accept that as something that rarely, if ever, happens. It is UNACCEPTABLE that the horseracing industry causes so many injuries and deaths. I can’t help but wonder if this accident was one of those accidentally-on-purpose accidents; sort of like ALYDAR was injured and it was made to look like an accident to claim insurance money. Maybe PLUM DANDY didn’t have an insurance policy on him but he is dead at the hands of the people involved in the racing industry nevertheless.
Bonnie, according to a video I watched, it was said that the Thoroughbred foals were injected with steroids. I know that contributes to a lot of problems. Being confined in stalls too long, too much of the time prevents horses from getting enough of the sunshine vitamin. It’s the UV-B rays that gives Vitamin D which is essential and crucial for CALCIUM absorption. [Racing for their Lives: An In-Depth Look at Doping in the U.S. Horse Racing Industry; published on November 19, 2012. Thirty minutes, eleven seconds, YouTube video.]
And, meanwhile, today was the day that Churchill Downs triumphantly returned to proudly host its rescheduled, Fake-Derby-Week Horse-Killing Celebration Extravaganza. And, to kick off the festivities, they managed to contain their Van-offs to ONLY one horse: a 2-year-old filly named Fortuna Adiuvat. Trained by D. Wayne Lukas, she was pulled up and vanned off soon after the start of race 5.
Anyone know if she’s become their opening day kill? The racing press has not reported word one, as expected. Thank you.
Kelly, I don’t have any information on the 2-year-old filly but since you mentioned that she was “trained” by D. Wayne Lukas, I wanted to mention that I got a notification that he recuperated from a case of COVID-19 so there’s that. Otherwise, I wasn’t aware that he had been sick. I suppose he has an assistant trainer…?
Yeah, those assistant trainers sure do come in handy in the racing world, don’t they? Whether you’re laid up with Coronavirus, or weaseling your way out of a doping suspension, all the top racehorse “trainers” need someone on their team who can give ’em that EDGE;(
Day 1. Doesn’t that just say it all. These poor babies can’t catch a break. What did THEY do to deserve this? Moral Depravity…thy name is horse racing.😞
Reblogged this on Armory of the Revolution.
Shame on you humans for abusing and causing the death of such a precious horse. A pox on those who are responsible for this!