The Horror: (At Least) 228 Dead Horses at One Track, in One Year

31 Comments

1. They literally race these horses to death, looking at all those double digit race histories. And the number of horses with BOTH front knees broken – are they racing them on cement, or what?
   Yet, how is their death show any different than ours? The great equalizer of nations: the exploitation and abuse of animals.

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   • I hope every sub-human who is involved in this torture killing evil show goes to hell,because they ALL, and I do mean ALL,should be in hell.

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   • Rebecca, from what I have heard, their track is like racing on concrete. The surface was very compromised during hurricane Maria, and they were in such a rush to get back to racing they never really fixed it. Plus I’ve heard lack of funds prevented a proper fix.
     I read an article years ago in ESPNs sports magazine where the author followed the stories of horses that were either injured, or too slow, and, due to limited resources on a tiny island, with not many homes for crippled horses, the owners would lead the horses out of the barns and the vets would systematically euthanize them right behind the barn.
     There was also a story last year where multiple horses died due to heat exhaustion, and poor conditions, in cargo boxes on a cargo ship, on the way to Puerto Rico to race.
     The fate of a horse heading to race in PR is essentially a death sentence.

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   • How is it different than ours? They’re more honest about it, aren’t they? But, what else would one expect from a culture with a meaningful portion of its population that still embraces horse TRIPPING, cockfighting, bull fighting, dog fighting, and other similar horrors as a few of their SPORTING events and traditions? In the U.S., we prefer to try to hide the shame of all our inflicted carnage, to pretend it doesn’t happen, and then feign shock and outrage when it’s inevitably exposed. They’re not horrified by their daily bloodbath, and have no reason to pretend to be. Whereas we’re comfortable in the knowledge that ours MUST be kept hidden, denied, covered up, and downplayed at all costs. That is, if “our” beloved blood sport is to survive.
     I believe these Latin countries (and territories) actually have more INTEGRITY about their animal-killing games than we have, here in the States. Go figure.

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2. Whoa. Look at all those American names. The breeders of every one of these dead horses needs to be publicly named and shamed. They’re even worse than puppy mill scum: At least a few of those poor dogs eventually go to a good home. Not a chance with born-to-be-dumped racehorses.

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   • Kelly, I agree that the breeders and all of the applicable owners and trainers in the USA of these horses KILLED IN PUERTO RICO should be published in a way that more and more people can see what kind of people breed Thoroughbreds for racing, dumping and killing.
     It’s interesting to me that you mentioned puppy mills, because I read and signed a petition on January 20, 2021 about an Amish man wanting a permit to breed dogs, which would be in a puppy mill environment. Of course, that means dogs of breeding age confined to small, filthy cages, also in sometimes extreme temperatures, for their whole REPRODUCTIVE life just so the puppies can be sold for profit. I signed the petition to hopefully prevent the permit from being issued.
     HORSERACING & PUPPY MILLS ARE VILE AND CRUEL!!!!!!!!!

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3. Puerto Rico horseracing is evidently not trying as hard as California horseracing is to hide their killing of Thoroughbred racehorses. I’m not sure why. Since Thoroughbred breeders and owners in the lower 48 states of the United States ship some of their used, abused and ready-to-dump racehorses to Puerto Rico, I think they might realize that they might be a little bit exposed by the names of horses they shipped to P.R. showing up on this horrifically tell-tale list of 228 DEAD RACEHORSES.

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   • Don’t you think the horse racing participants in the various horse-killing states in the USA would give the horse-killers in Puerto Rico some lessons on how to sweep a lot more of their carnage under the proverbial rug????

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     • On above list it looks like these poor souls came .mostly from Florida
       Soooo much quicker than going North to Canada or south to Mexico (and probably cheaper)

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       • That is correct. A large majority come from FL. Transportation is much less. Even cheaper if they are shipped on a 40 ft container via cargo (3 days over rough seas, can’t turn around, lie down or move).
         Lot’s of older horses are also shipped over as well.

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4. Penn National race #4 horse #5 Kiss My Note pulled up just 5 minutes ago

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   • Looks like the chartwriter had a momentary lapse of mandated secrecy: he or she admitted the poor horse “suffered a catastrophic injury to his left front…” before noting the van-off. Oops. Maybe Penn has decided to practice some intellectual honesty when covering their own carnage. Just kidding, Nancy! There’s about as much chance of that as of Gulfstream admitting the outcome of THEIR daily van-off today:(

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     • Kelly the track announcer even mentioned the horse’s name and that he was pulled up AND their website allowed a replay to be seen!!

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       • Ugh. Maybe they think they’d better work on their “Integrity” in anticipation of the upcoming HISA. Ha ha. Just kidding again:(

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         • From your note I guess the poor horse did not make it out of the horse hearse

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5. So some comments focus on the cement hard track and maybe it is, BUT remember that the MAJORITY of these racehorses are running with serious pre-existing chronic conditions.
   They should have been put out to pasture a long time ago, but instead they were run to their near deaths in the U.S. (some big named stakes horses that made over $100,000 10 years ago) and instead of them doing the right thing by the horse these owners/trainers sell them for as little as $1000 knowingly shipping them out for more torture, suffering and death.
   Moreover, they are passed on with no knowledge of their horrendous condition solely due to this business intentionally keeping secret their vet treatment records.
   Some of these racehorses are probably running with fractures and most all with extensive ulcers.
   The majority of racehorses running at Camarero Race Track in Puerto Rico are recycled gambling chips.
   I’m sorry to say that Caribbean Thoroughbred Aftercare is in desperate needs of donations.
   I find it so repulsive that this multibillion dollar gambling industry, after all these years, still has no mandatory donation system in place and expects everybody else to support their unwanted racehorse mess.
   It’s so sad and heartbreaking that the racehorses pay the price every single day for the parasites that host off of their bones, blood and flesh with no remorse.

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   • Gina, I’m quite certain you read the same horrific things about U.S. mainland racehorses being sent to Puerto Rico as I do…and your mention of stakes horses reminded me of one that should bring anyone who loves and respects horses to their knees. Unstoppable U. Google him along with “Maxxam Gold Cup” and when looking at that beautiful grey gelding, know that only 4 years later, a “survivor” of hurricane Maria when it devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, he would be dead. The following, all from Shelley Blodgett’s (CTAI) tweets about Unstoppable U;

     “After Maria, [Unstoppable U] was moved to [a] barn with [a] roof, but when our team checked on him a few times, he was standing in muck.”

     “We [are] gutted [to] hear Unstoppable U (8y KY-bred [gelding], Belmont [Stakes] runner, Maxxam Gold Cup winner), [was] euthanized this [morning] due [to] founder.”

     “He was euthanized Oct 19, 2017 due [to] founder. He had pressure sores on parts of [his] body indicating, per vet, that he’d been lying down on cement [and] muck a lot (due [to] pain in [his] feet), & had swelling in [his] legs. He shouldn’t have even been there! There’s more, but I’ll leave it at that for now!”

     Was the “MORE” exposed by the following two Blodgett tweets?;

     “Unstoppable U was an accomplished, magnificent, and kind horse who was all heart despite [a] myriad [of] health issues (dating back to his 3 y/o year).” And according to Ken McPeek, UU’s trainer when he won the Maxxam Gold Cup, “he had some breathing issues as a 3-year-old” (from the March 3,2013 “American Racehorse”).

     “[Unstoppable U] had longstanding breathing issues. Here’s a video of him in August 2017 [pre-hurricane Maria]. He had two fans on him and was still struggling. Perhaps not sweating (anhidrosis)?”

     The video, the photos, the suffering this gelding endured…it’s indescribable and unspeakable. But then there is this, another Blodgett tweet, pre-death of Unstoppable U;

     “[Unstoppable U’s] breeder [and former co-owner, Shawn Mojallali] said he offered [UU’s last mainland connections] $5K [before] he left [Finger Lakes] [for Puerto Rico] last year. They demanded $10K which [Mojallali] felt wasn’t fair. They’re still asking for $10K.”

     Unstoppable U made over $200K while breeder Mojallali was his co-owner (so you can imagine how much he pocketed). And made over $375K while in service to the American horseracing industry. Yet $10K to spare his life “wasn’t fair”?

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     • Joy it’s all coming back to me now with the direct examples you provided.
       So incredibly horrific and, evidently, the breeder Mojallali and the owners of Unstoppable U were contacted and did nothing like most of them.
       Furthermore, it was all over Twitter and the horse racing tracks and apologists were well aware of what was going on down there.
       Yet, little aide was sent citing the impossible logistics to provide assistance post-hurricane Maria.
       Always an excuse from this vile business, but why wasn’t there emergency plans in place to begin with?
       They knew the hurricane was coming and isn’t it sad how horse racing can find the cargo planes to ship them down there to flip a buck, but they can’t send them to get them out of an unsafe situation.
       They abandoned these racehorses without food, water, care, and/or dry bedding.
       Left them their to suffer and slowly die.
       How’s that for treating them like “royalty?”
       Anything to thwart their responsibility to the very racehorses that carry this entire business on their backs.
       I live for the day when the next track shutters until these torture chambers and killing rings are all shut down.
       In the meantime, I educate and write letters to politicians demanding that they stop funding this horror show.

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       • Exactly, Gina – they knew Maria was coming and one would think having been impacted by Irma only weeks prior would have urged all of those “horse lovers” to DO SOMETHING. What a joke – although not one bit laughable. What person in their right mind thinks it’s a good idea to send countless HORSES to an island the size of Connecticut? – horses that WILL need a place to go after their bodies can no longer endure the “wear and tear” of racing? Good GOD, all of those horses could live another 15-20 years (if not so racing-ravaged)…do they really think there are enough wonderful homes with enough land to accommodate them all? And to get them back to the mainland takes thousands of dollars per horse…like that is going to happen for every one of them when they’re used up. And then, of course, there are those that wouldn’t be allowed back anyway because they are piroplasmosis-positive. Horses purposefully bred for and used in racing are SET UP for bad endings…sending them to PR (to continue racing) is akin to signing their death certificates.

         Had you seen that Fish Trappe Road has been sent to PR? Now we know the racing industry doesn’t even PRETEND to give a rat’s *ss about the majority of American racehorses, you know, those low-level claimers…as evidenced by racing’s and fans’ lack of mere acknowledgement of their deaths. There are no “condolences” to connections on social media like when a GSW breaks down and dies in a nationally-televised race, one that can’t be denied nor hidden…so why would anyone expect industry members to care if a boatload of “cheap claimers” was shipped to the island?

         BUT…apologists and fans are APPALLED that Fish Trappe Road is now running for $8K there! Is it additionally sickening when the greedy ba****ds who used FTR cannot just be satisfied with the $660K-plus the grey gelding gave them via the risking and labors of HIS body? Damn right it is…and as much as I loathe his being sent there, little 3-year-old Chili Nelson – only 5 starts, earnings of less than $6K and with two broken knees – wanted to live as badly as FTR does. And you didn’t see HIS name on any “watch list”.

         Maggi Moss piped up about Fish Trappe Road being sent to PR – seems she was even asked to acquire him to prevent it. Moss; “I simply will never comprehend WHY a horse like [Fish Trappe Road] that has won so much for so many has to show up in Puerto Rico [without] any hope of a now dignified retirement”…No, Moss? – you can’t? How about a horse like Chili Nelson? – can you comprehend that? But oh don’t act like you don’t get it – remember your mare, So Many Ways, who you sold to a Japanese farm? Such a “difficult decision”…but DAMN it was just “so much money” they gave you for her! I think you comprehend quite well, actually,

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   • Gina, thank you for your support. And you are absolutely correct in noticing that many horses are much older, already have a considerable amount of racing wear and should have never been shipped to a small island with limited resources and very little chance of a decent retirement. Many should have been retired before making the journey to PR.

     I think many of the tracks use PR as somewhat of a dumping grounds, like a place to ship scrap cars. The US owner can make a few bucks off the horse and disposing of it after it’s done becomes someone else’s problem (usually Caribbean After Care).

     We have been asking (actually, begging, pleading, screaming and yelling) the government impose more restrictions to make is cost prohibitive for older horses to be shipped here. Furthermore, we are adamantly opposed to horse being shipped via boat. It’s a horrifying and inhumane experience for horses. There is NO reason that should be acceptable. Here is an article on horrific incident: https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/241511/dark-voyage-dangers-of-cargo-shipping-to-puerto-rico

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6. Oh, shit. That’s it. I have had it for the day! I AM OUT.
   I’ll leave it to Patrick to call out the shitshow in the shitty, shitty West Virginia shithole those shitheads call “Hollywood” Casino. If I scan even one more breakdown race chart today, I’ll vomit. So, good night, all!

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7. Reblogged this on Armory of the Revolution.

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   • Thank you!

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8. I question how euthanasia is defined in practical terms in Puerto Rico?
   I remember a post on Paulick Report by someone who said she grew up there and witnessed groups of horses being confined and having their throats slit!!
   Her name is Ida Lee and she said the horrifying blood bath scene will remain with her for life.

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   • Oh. My. God….I thought I had read the horses (or some) were shot – horrifying enough in this day and age of a humane death by proper timing and use of appropriate euthanasia medications…but their THROATS SLIT?

     And Ida Lee is one of the PR’s regular and “loved” commenters (needs her blinders knocked off, IMO) – but she’s certainly not one to report something that is NOT true that would put her “beloved” horseracing in a very ugly light!

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     • To be clear, she did not say when the event happened. However, she was very clear that it did occur and she witnessed it.
       Her comment was posted under the report about the eight horses that suffocated in the freight container being shipped to PR.

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       • PS I did find her post and she said she saw the photo. I was in error when I said she witnessed the killing. Also, she said it was “some years ago” In addition she said animals ate treated badly in PR, especially horses.

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         • Goats and chickens are used as live animals sacrificed in Santeria religious rituals. If they treat horses worse than that, no person in their right mind would send their horses to Puerto Rico. Horseracing is evil in any country!!!

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   • That is not a humane way to kill anything while still alive and it takes BARBARIC to another level. Horseracing is evil.

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9. I can tell you all firsthand, that rescuing racehorses in Puerto Rico is a GUT WRENCHING and heart breaking endeavor. We often have a front row seat to some of the most horrific neglect and abuse cases one can imagine. Then, after they have been broken down and can barely walk, when the only humane thing left to do is to euthanize them, we get to have that burden. This is after we’ve tried our best to nurse them back to some form of health so they may be lucky enough to find a new home. After we’ve fallen in love when. After we’ve seen their beautiful souls, and the unwavering willingness to do ANYTHING for a person that shows them even the slightest bit of kindness.

   It fucking sucks. It makes you want to scream and punch. But, we pull ourselves up, and do it over and over again, because SO many horses need us and our help. It’s a thankless job with very little to no support from governing board, or race track admin. We’re grateful for the work from one of the clinics at the track who do their very best to help us intervene…and of course the donors whose generosity allows us to help these gentle and deserving giants.

   We are hopeful that more and more people will listen to our story, and demand change and action, as we believe that may be our only hope for change. Thank you all for caring, and for knowing that we CAN do better for horses – they DESERVE BETTER.

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   • Thank you, Chrissy!!! Thank you for sharing information here!!! Thank you for all that you do for the horses!!! Bless you and everyone who believes in rescuing abused and neglected horses!!!! Thank you for enduring the heart-breaking, gut-wrenching experience and persevering!!!

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