Back in November, I reported the death of Rebuff at Churchill Downs. Today, we have the gruesome details. The Racing Commission has disclosed that the 2-year-old filly – who, by the way, was under the whip for the very first time – sustained multiple open (broke the skin), disarticulated (bones separated) fractures in both front legs. As if not enough, she also suffered from “marked, locally extensive ulceration of the stomach.” Again, she was but a babe. Tellingly, the jockey, Florent Geroux, told the Commission that “she was a small filly and that he moved her out as he thought she was a little shy of the other horses.” “A little shy” – immediately prior to falling and breaking both front legs. Vile is too kind.
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What kind of a lame excuse is that??? He thought she was a little shy??? If he had any common decency, he wouldn’t be a jockey whipping babies!!!!! Florent Geroux, hang your head in shame and walk away from this vile EVIL of killing horses!!!!!! Stop forcing fillies to run farther and faster than they ever would if left alone to grow up and be normal, healthy horses. Horseracing is organized cruelty to horses for gambling bets.
I so agree with Wanda – this is pathetic beyond belief. What the hell is the matter with these losers. How many times do we all have to comment on the same story – she was 2 year old baby – she belonged at home not anywhere near a race track. OMG you people involved are so god damn ignorant – all about the money – NEVER EVER about the horse. This is just so tragic I wish all race tracks were shut down FOREVER – there is no need for them – all you are doing is killing off gorgeous horses daily. She was a BABY what part of this do you ignorant bastards not understand??????? The age isn’t even the total story – the story is about your daily abuse and torture of all of these horses – you kill them off without a second thought – OMG what a total bunch of assholes all of you are right from the owners, trainers, jockeys, track officials, vets – you are all just nothing but a bunch of losers.
They..meaning Caton Bredar and her husband call this particular jockey “Flo”, yeah,he’s a “Flo” alright 🤣. Anyway,she was a LATE foal I believe (May),so yes she was behind the other horses,in growth. “Flo”….🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 these idiots are AWFUL excuses of human beings. And,by the way, this is the second two year old Into Mischief baby filly Brad (fat boy) Cox has killed. Remember TARAZ? Can you tell I hate these mf’r people?
Reblogged this on Armory of the Revolution.
Look up the 2nd race of the last day of Portland Meadows 2004 racing season. A mare whose trainer we were galloping horses for used Shock Wave Therapy EVERY single day for the last 2 weeks including the day the poor mare broke BOTH legs at the top of the stretch.That was the day & a few weeks later after experiencing a nasty threat to our persons by a vet & another trainer who we were not galloping for, that is when we saw for the 1st time the reality of racing!! As Martin Saunders told us in 1986 who was a well trained & skillful jockey,” Racing is a crooked,crummy , gamboling game .” In 2005 that`s when we quit after having to struggle for 22+ years to be granted a LEGAL license to gallop horses on the track! At 4’10” & a natural 120# we were born to ride & also having good hands as well as good balance.Only some of our family knows how hard it was to give up such a license to ride. We came to hate the cruelty & abuse the horses we galloped went through!!!
Isn’t using that much shock wave torture illegal??? I call it torture, not therapy, because being shocked with electrical current is torture!!!!
Wanda, firstly, YES…using “shock wave therapy” (extracorporeal shock wave therapy or ESWT) as fredjoan reported IS illegal. Now I imagine the 38 racing jurisdictions possibly have 38 differing rules regarding ESWT…but in CA, for example, horses are now prohibited from racing or training within 30 days of ESWT. THAT SAID, there is no way to test for its application.
ESWT doesn’t use electric current but instead, acoustic or pressure waves (there is plenty of info on this – Scott McClure’s “Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy In Horses: What We Know”, published about 4 years ago now, is informative). While stimulating healing in ligaments, tendons and bony structures is, naturally, exactly what one would want for their injured horse, ESWT also causes a period of analgesia lasting up to 4 days after treatment with it…and a study at Iowa State University reported a “significant analgesic effect following ESWT from 8 hours through 48 hours after treatment.”
They can have all the rules they want – they cannot test for treatment with ESWT and they cannot prevent a trainer from taking his horse to the farm, private training center, or a damn parking lot to receive it.
Remember Arms Runner, killed racing at Santa Anita early 2019? – here, a tweet on April1, 2019, by racing mouthpiece Ray Paulick; “Arms Runner, the Peter Miller-trained horse who suffered a fatal injury Sunday at Santa Anita, was on vet’s list in October while receiving 4 legal extracorporeal shock wave treatments a week apart (from 10/2-10/23). He remained in training while being treated and raced Nov.22.”
See? – in the horseracing industry, apparently rules are made to be broken.
That particular trainer had his own machine that he easily carried onto the backside in the cab of his pickup with no questions asked or inspection of the case! SWT in our state is ILLEGAL to be used within 30 days of a race & within 2 weeks of a horse being worked on the track. Little difference those ignored rules made! Never so glad to see a place closed down & redeveloped thereby eliminating many horses injuries as well as those to people too.We saw that trainer use his own SWT equipment on the mare ourselves in her stall.
Ohh, this poor, poor 2 year old filly – just a baby!
Yes, ‘vile’ is too kind a word for her suffering.
‘shy’ of the other horses?
I can just imagine her fear, confusion and desperation for self-preservation…
It makes me feel physically ill to imagine her trauma and suffering.
And this is just one example of many like her…
All I can say is that these are monsters in human flesh who will, over and over again, so glibly and willingly, torment another being to her death. They all deserve harsh prison sentences, but what is happening instead is that they continue to bring in the money on the bodies of their victims. RIP poor Rebuff. I am so sorry for what was done to you.
A 2 yr old shouldn’t even have a saddle on it’s back, let alone a rider. This is ILLEGAL in the Quarter Horse Circuit!
Nor should a 3-year-old, 4-year-old, 5-year-old, etc. It’s wrong at any age.
Actually that’s incorrect. The AQHA all American futurity races are all 2yo races.
Pure unadulterated animal cruelty for all to see.
R.I.P. Rebuff. You were still a baby but that didn’t stop this horrible gambling business from torturing you to death.
So this baby horse had open and disarticulated fractures in BOTH front legs yet they vanned her off? – rather than euthanizing her on the track? What damn barbarians. I’d rather just believe the chart writer was lying, that they either didn’t make Rebuff hobble into a trailer, broken bones protruding skin, to endure additional pain and trauma for the ride back to the barn to be put down…or that her van ride was her dead body. Either way, providing just “vanned off” hides the reality and is something this industry has perfected.
That said, the Thoroughbred Race Day Injury Management Guidelines, developed by veterinarians who benefit from racing, state on page 7; “Prompt response to a catastrophic injury is mandatory. The regulatory veterinarian should make EVERY effort to load the injured horse into the ambulance before euthanasia. If loading is not possible, screens should be deployed. Tall screens are preferable…”
EVERY (all caps were not added by me) effort should be made to get the fatally-injured horse out of sight of the fans…unbelievable. But as always in this industry, it’s appearances before compassion for their “beloved” horses they love like their own family members.
To clarify, Joy, the Commission report said this: “The filly was euthanized on the track due to the severity of her injuries.”
TY for clarifying, Patrick – and just as we thought, chart writers pen with deceitful intention – like leaving out the fact that a horse dies.
Agree, Joy, after many years of reading the charts the intention to deceive is very clear. These chart writers would rather eat their own vomit than disclose the FACT that, once again, another horse has suffered a sickeningly cruel death when doing his utmost in serving the racing industry.
All racing participants and viewers / betters SHOULD see the horses they wager on being euthanized WITHOUT screens or tarps!
What happened to Rebuff was truly tragic, but let’s not forget that this is not unusual in an industry that exploits horses daily. Eight Belles broke both front ankles in the 2008 Kentucky Derby after she crossed the wire yet there are those who still support this sick, sick industry. I’ll never forget watching the replay…seeing her trying to get up…and I was truly traumatized by what I witnessed. That experience will go down as one of the most horrific in my many years of being around horses.
Why do people CONTINUE to support such horror? What possesses them to CONTINUE to watch “live” racing? Do they really forget that quickly about the fate of horses who died in the dirt in order to satisfy the gambling industry? After almost six decades of owning horses, I try to comprehend the enormity of it all. Why do I “worry” when I have to walk one of my horses across an icy patch on the driveway in order to turn them out yet others choose to regularly put their horses “lives on the line” in order to make a buck and experience a rush of adrenaline. I’ll never understand it. Perhaps it is time to stop trying.
We CANNOT stop trying to save the horses,because what this industry is doing is a Holocaust, pure evil is what these lazy leeches are.They are worse than scraping shit off the bottom of your shoe.
Bonnie, I think you misunderstood my comment. Perhaps it is time for me to stop trying to UNDERSTAND it because it is fruitless to do so. I have spoken out against racing for many years and that will never change. However, the approach needs to change. I’m sure the majority of those posting here realize that racing has deep pockets and every group within racing (owners, breeders, trainers, tracks, etc.) employ lobbyists who lobby for the interests of those in their group yet few lobby for the horses. Perhaps it is time to change tactics. Employ lobbyists and go after the politicians. A friend of mine who is a racing official suggested that tactic and another contact, who is nationally known as someone who advocates against dog fighting, suggested hiring lobbyists, as well. I hope I have clarified my position.
Yes, I did. One of the many reasons,NO ONE can ever stop…is because their deaths can never be in vain. Don’t worry about me, I’m a “stayer”, like a dog with a bone. Anyone who truly knows me can attest to that 😉. Things don’t just “wash over” me.
Mary, couldn’t agree more about a change of tactics as you described.
Similar is happening where I am – a senator in our federal government and a
colleague and I presented to a state government committee last year.
My information is that the racing industry here is getting a tad nervous.
Horseracing is a war against horses. Rebuff was barbarically killed. Horrible, horrible, horrible.
This is a travesty to put this young babe under the whip let a lone on the track at ALL 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 stop you money hungry pricks 🤬🤬🤬🤬
This is a fu**king TRAVESTY all you money greedy bastards 🤬 how DARE you keep abusing these horses 🤬 ROT in HELL