Yet another colic death from NY. Patriot Lady, the Gaming Commission reports, succumbed to “unresolved colic” Friday at Finger Lakes. She was seven years old and had been put to the whip 34 times, most recently in September. Over her final five races, she finished a combined 83 lengths back for trainer/owner Beverly Wheaton. Oh, and Wheaton also had Patriot “For Sale” before each of those races. As to the cause, for those who are inclined to absolve Racing for colic deaths, see this.
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This vile industry needs to be shut down!
The sadness of senseless loss continues😢🙏🙏🙏
Ever wonder why there are so many more colic deaths in racing barns than there are in any other type of stabled horse environment? Besides the obvious reasons: (stress, drugs, box-only stall confinement, rotating clown cast of owners, trainers, feed, and conditioning “methods”)?
I believe the biggest reason is that with racehorses, there is no concern for the LONG TERM health of the animal. It also explains the near-omnipresence of stomach ulcers in their necropsies. Poor Patriot Lady may have been only seven, but in racing years, she was freaking ancient. So, why should Beverly Wheaton (the sucker left holding the bag) have even attempted to alleviate Lady’s suffering? That way would have been too costly.
This way, Ms. Wheaton is free to go out and (literally) claim her next victim. Good for her!
They don’t care about the overall wellbeing. There have been articles in my local paper saying horses passed from some mosquito disease or similar. A simple injection would have prevented it. But no why spend $100 bucks ..just take your chances.
Nancy, the West Nile virus is from mosquito bites and horses are very susceptible to that. I don’t know how many people get their horses immunized by getting the vaccination. Anyone that uses their horses in any kind of competition, hauling them, or live anywhere near mosquitoes should make sure their horses are vaccinated against West Nile.
I think EEE is a much bigger problem this year. Depends on where you live.
The wickedness knows no bounds. Seems NY is a true killing machine. People as well as horses. Shame on you Wheaton! Shame on you NY! “Unresolved colic”, right? RIGHT!!! Well maybe Wheaton got to at least collect the insurance money. Despicable human being!
You did not deserve to be to abused or neglected by your racing connections, PATRIOT LADY!!! I’m so sorry that you had to live and die in agony. Rest in peace🙏💔💔💔💔💔
Wanda. Thank you for input
Nancy, you’re welcome. These reports of horses being in such a state of suffering are so heartbreaking!!! No horse deserves to be abused or neglected in any event.
#endhorseracing
Andrea, there is more evil and wrong with people…especially in this country, than there is good. How sad.
Alan. I couldn’t remember that disease ( could only think of EE and did not want to put wrong name. Thank you for your continuous wealth of knowledge you bring to the table!!
And speaking of deadly Finger Lakes abuse and negligence, ever notice how chartwriters are getting deliberately more deceptive about recording Van-offs? It’s like they’re told not to phrase them as such, so they just avoid admitting anything at all about an injured horse’s, um, dispensation.
Today’s race 6 is a perfect example: Maddy Black (a 3-year-old chestnut filly in a race for her life against TEN other baby girls) was “In distress, pulled up.” And in the footnotes, “MADDY BLACK Close up, appeared in distress and was pulled on the turn.” That’s it. Was pulled on the turn? Yeah, and then what happened?
Was the VAN her mangled body got hoisted into PULLED ON THE TURN, too? By a truck, presumably, so that all the other baby girl horses out there in that moment could continue being whipped to finish THEIR death race?
Or, rather, was poor Maddy forced to stumble, hobble and drag herself back to the barn for her “treatment?”
Nah. If she’d “walked off,” the ever-so-honest chartwriter at Finger Lakes would have stated it proudly. As in, “Maddy Black was pulled on the turn, but walked off the course UNDER HER OWN POWER.” So I’m gonna guess she was vanned off, but the fine folks at Finger Lakes just won’t admit it.
Anyone know?
I don’t know, but I’m guessing that “pulled on the turn” means “pulled up on the turn” and after that it could be that she was forced to walk off in distress so the chart writer didn’t want to call attention to that additional bit of cruelty. I think you’re probably correct in assuming she was “vanned off” but evidently the chart writer wants to keep people guessing; at least the people that even care about what happened to MADDY BLACK are asking, guessing, wondering. For most of their gambling addicts, the chart writer would not have to worry about what they think. Most of the people making bets on these young fillies most likely would not care if she was beaten to death or vanned off or humanely euthanized. After the grotesque whipping and injuries and gambling addicts keep coming back for more, the chart writer just needs to use a little creative speed writing of sorts. Leaving out words could work, right???
Thank you for the reply and excellent analysis, Wanda, but my heart just sank.
I was wrong on both counts, and the New York Gaming Commission just confirmed how wrong I was.
I think I’m going to be sick.
Deadly Finger Lakes…
I think you’re right about that…