The Dead Athlete as Afterthought

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The reporting (if one can call it that) of the Daily Racing Form’s David Grening on the death of Sander’s Empire yesterday at Aqueduct betrays (yet again) the racing people’s true priorities. Here is Grening’s full tweet:

David Grening @DRFGrening 2:02 PM · Jan 1, 2021
A pace-pressing Miss Moon Pie ($5.90) runs away from the field in AQU 4th to kick off Empire 6 with $143,907 wagered in pool. Remember, each day in January the pool will be distributed. Unfortunately, Sander’s Empire suffered a fatal injury early on in the race and was euthanized

First and foremost, the betting information, for that is why we’re here. Oh and by the way, a fully sentient being – intelligent, sensitive, feeling – was killed in the process. Loathsome. But no more so than some of the responses that followed:

Alfred Frank @Buddy5051
Why is the pool going to be distributed everyday?

Charlotte Brown @Charlot53053143
Bummer.

Becca B @BeForrest45
Damn shame to lose a horse like that & glad I didn’t have to witness any thing. Condolonces [sic] to Samder’s [sic] Empires connections.

Rena Sherwood @Renasherwood
Glad I didn’t bet this race.

This is horseracing.

11 Comments

  1. Horse racing is not a sport, nor is it a racehorse loving business as they publicly proclaim.
    It’s an unnecessary, antiquated gambling venue whose existence requires the massive exploitation of their voiceless victims, the racehorses, for gambling profits.
    The non-consenting and defenseless racehorses pay the price every step of the way literally.
    Most racetracks today are so unpopular that they can’t financially sustain themselves, based solely on their diminished gambling profits, and this has been going on for years.
    So the only way to keep them going is to drain our public coffers and/or casino profits in partnership with, what seems to be, corrupt politicians.
    This amounts to billions of dollars that should otherwise be going to support essential community services mainly educating our children – our future.
    When it gets right down to it this is a state-sanctioned killing business and us taxpayers and casinos are unwillingly supporting it and this has got to stop and it will.
    The words coming out of these apologists are downright vile, but it shows just how immoral horse racing is.

  2. Glad I didn’t bet this race? Don’t lose your lousy $2 AND can not even get the poor horse’s name right

  4. U see the horse was not running good why keep pushing him all far back races she was hurting injections covered up masks pain where injuiry

  5. God forbid a HORRIFIC death of an innocent ruin their day. Karma is a F’n bitch.

  6. The above statements from the pro-racing crowd are vomit-worthy! It is very clear that the “horse” in horseracing is an afterthought as you stated. Any Jockey Club horse will do at Aqueduct or any New York horse racing track as long as the gambling addicts can bet money on the horses as objects, not as sentient beings. The Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and the race tracks make money off of the wagering handle (in addition to some type of government subsidy and/or casino profits) and that is what the HBPA is/are most concerned about. Oh, well, a horse died. Next… Next race. Next horse. Next victim. Money is their god.
    SANDER’S EMPIRE was raced way too young, as all of these horses are, and way too many times. These people appear to be so “whatever-whatever” that, if they were racing machines, literal machines, it is highly probable that they would forget to change the oil and run the machine until it quit running sooner rather than later. They obviously have no empathy for horses as loveable companion animals. Inhumane treatment of the horse is the watchword they exist by.

  7. Well, I, for one, appreciate Mr. Grening’s candid, daily tweets about all the NYRA tracks’ breakdowns, van-offs, and on-track euths. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not under the illusion that he does it for the sake of journalistic integrity and transparency. Nor for “getting both sides of the story.” Nor because he believes “the public has a right to know.”
    Oh, no. Far from it. I believe the one and only reason that he and he alone reports the daily horrors at the races is because if he doesn’t, THE GAMING COMMISSION WILL DO IT IMMEDIATELY ANYWAY, and show the world he’s omitting the facts. Notice how none of the other DRF reporters give out the truths about any of the carnage that occurs on tracks nationwide? They just pretend the horror show that just occurred never happened, and tweet only about the so-called winners in each death race. They’re all fortunate enough to be assigned to a jurisdiction with an equally shady, secretive set of “regulators” — those who have a vested interest in keeping the public in the dark about their daily racehorse kills. So, why should other DRF reporters tattle? Just pisses off their employer and their industry:)

    • Scumbag tvg, is the most egregious example of brain dead unfeeling idiots,who just want to cling on to their little non-job. I think the majority of us are reacting to the responses of the people to David’s tweet. The responses were worse,I mean FTW?

      • That’s what I’m saying: those responding with what apparently passes for “thoughts” on the daily bloodbath at NY tracks don’t have that privilege with any other racing reporter. Because every other member of the racing press shields the public from carnage coverage. In fact, that’s become their prime responsibility in the social media age: NOT to acknowledge horse injuries, van-offs, on-track euths, gate carnage, and sudden deaths. At all, ever. Especially not on Twitter. And especially not the moment it happens (you know, like REAL sports reporters have to do.) I believe Grening goes against this philosophy because the NY Gaming Commission is so diligent about quickly recording and publicizing these incidents as they happen.
        But we’ll soon see if they’ll all start doing this, too, under the terms of the laughably-titled Horseracing Safety and Integrity Act. The entire racing press forced to practice some feeble form of journalistic integrity? Not holding my breath;)

        • I know. Every time Todd Shrupp says “nothing is more important to us than the safety of our equine athletes” … I guess that’s why tens of thousands die EVERY year! He happens to say that hackneyed bs A LOT. Do they (tvg) think we are all stupid?

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