As a follow-up to the grisly list I recently published on Camarero, I’ve decided to highlight some of the more egregious cases, horses who were without question run into the ground – to their graves. Here are three more:
After being bred and initially raced in NY, U. S. A. Sweetie was shipped to Puerto Rico in February 2019. 15 races followed:
26+ lengths back
13+ lengths back
12+ lengths back
43 lengths back
8+ lengths back
8+ lengths back
14+ lengths back
13+ lengths back
23 lengths back
56 lengths back
9+ lengths back
18+ lengths back
15+ lengths back
17+ lengths back
19 lengths back
Her final race came on July 19, 2020; next day, she was was euthanized for “arthritis and hyper calcification of the pastern.” Sweetie’s last race in NY was for owner William Butler and trainer Chris Englehart. Presumably, they are the ones responsible for shipping her to Puerto Rico. From there, for her entire run at Camarero, she was owned by Establo Piloto and trained by Angel Calderon and Jose Delgado.
Priority Run was also bred and raced in NY, but she also made stops in Florida and Pennsylvania before shipping to Puerto Rico in January of last year. Six races followed:
24 lengths back
15 lengths back
17 lengths back
17+ lengths back
19+ lengths back
119+ lengths back
Her final race came on August 24; one day later, she was euthanized for “palmar metacarpal disease.” Again, one day after “finishing” 119 lengths back, she was euthanized for what can only be interpreted as chronic lameness. Sick. Her final owner/trainer at Finger Lakes, and the person probably responsible for selling her to the island, was Michael LeCesse. Once there, she was owned by Establo Babalu Aye PR and trained by Jose Garcia and Alvin Encarnacion.
The same day Priority was euthanized so too was the NY-bred Rethinkme. In fact, the pair had been entered in the exact same race the day before. In that race, Rethinkme was a “DNF,” or more accurately, a “Did Not Start” – “refused to break,” said the chartwriter. Over her last four completed races, she finished a combined 53 lengths back. So why was she ultimately euthanized, a day after “refusing to break”? “Severe arthritis, both legs.” Owner, Alamo Stable; trainer, Ricardo Negron.
Why not retire them and adopt them out or turn over to a Sanctuary?
There is an aftercare agency in PR. However, they are constantly begging for funds, and PR is a small island with limited resources.Which makes the possibility or probability of finding a loving forever home for a crippled horse next to impossible.
Sadly,the most merciful thing that could have been done to these horses was just this, being euthanized. They most likely would have lived with chronic pain the rest of their lives had they not been euthanized. It’s the sad reality of the cast always of the “Sport of Kings”.
Euthanized or actually sent to a slaughterhouse????
There was an article years ago in the ESPN magazine that stated that often race horses in PR are euthanized in essentially an assembly line fashion. They are lead out behind the barns and the vets euthanize them one after another. Again, very limited resources on a tiny island. Not sure there are any horse slaughterhouses in PR, when I googled it, none came up. Most of these connections don’t have the funds to ship these horses to Mexico to be slaughtered, so I would assume euthanized.
That sounds about right, Marie. On the FOIA document, often several horses were euthanized on the same date.
My theory is that these lame, used up horses are only run to fill out a racing card. The morons who bet on the races haven’t a clue as to what is going on.
You need people to adopt them for that to work.
If this isn’t institutionalized animal cruelty and abuse I don’t know what is. These people are sick.
Both owner and trainer and vet that OK her to run,should be prosecuted for abuse
The racing Secretary and the whole racing industry platform, the owners and operators of the racetrack and all of those people who take in the money from betting/wagering handle ARE GUILTY OF EGREGIOUS ANIMAL ABUSE, ESPECIALLY HORSES exploited for racing. The horses are being exploited as gambling chips for the WAGERING HANDLE. The veterinarians are the most educated about the anatomy and physiology of animals. The veterinarians are the most knowledgeable, if they actually went to college for at least eight years to get their college degree in veterinary medicine. There is NO VALID EXCUSE for this level of egregious animal abuse. Shut down horseracing altogether!!! All of the perpetrators of these EGREGIOUS ABUSES of horses need to be and should be PUNISHED SEVERELY in the interest of JUSTICE!!!!!!!
The most egregious reason for this Shit-Show called horse racing is that the EVIL industry creates too many new lives. THIS. Is why this god ugly shit show even exists.
Bonnie..it’s that time of year when all the little babies are being born.
Yes, Nancy. And, these pure innocents did not ask to be born into this evil torture.
I DESPISE these wretched degenerates and their horse abusing, horse killling archaic, obsolescent “industry”. If the slaughterhouse is not the final stop for these babIes…the disgusting “connections” are shipping them to Camarero knowing full well how horses are treated there. Knowing full well that will be the final stop. And so, they wash their hands off of them and make room for another poor soul next in line to be abused so the mob can be entertained. It is sickening!! It is inhumane.it is barbaric. It is monstruous. It is horseracing.
Andrea,you are RIGHT. These cretans need to be brought up on FELONY charges. Pure and simple. EVIL has a face and a name..horse racing. How dare these uneducated assholes torture and abuse INNOCENT animals.
Bonnie, it is BOTH the uneducated assholes and the EDUCATED A**HOLES AS WELL. The veterinarians know better than to do these EVIL THINGS to horses. There is no excuse for being involved in this organized TORTURE AND ABUSE of horses.
Awesome point Wanda. In that case, it makes it even more insidious!!!!!
Wanda, we all know money and favors take precedent over honesty and clear conscience. So unfortunate.
Right, Nancy! Another word for insidious, as Bonnie said, is CORRUPT. HORSERACING IS INSIDIOUSLY CORRUPT!!!! IT’S HIGH TIME FOR CRIMINAL CHARGES FOR THIS NEVER-ENDING CORRUPTION USING HORSES AND PUBLIC FUNDS!!!!!!!!!!
Horse racing is no different than the “canned hunting” going on.
For those of you not familiar with “canned hunting” it’s a farm (usually located in South Africa) that breeds lions/lionesses for one reason: to kill them.
Racehorses are just as expendable as the lions on a canned hunt farm with the end result, dying, being one in the same for most racehorses whether that’s dying on their tracks or on the slaughterhouse floor.
The only difference is that the canned hunt farms are financially supported by private enterprise, but horse racing double dips.
On one side horse racing is a private enterprise business on all accounts, but it also double dips into the public coffers PLUS gets millions in casino profits that are supposed to be going to public coffers.
Or, as in the case of historical machines in Kentucky, little to no taxes were paid on them while horse racing made billions in profits.
Horse racing is a vile business on all accounts while the racehorses and our communities pay the price, but it’s our elected politicians who are to blame because it seems clear that they are in bed with horse racing for their financial benefit.
Canned hunts are popular in Texas too.
Just when you think you”‘ve heard it all! Canned hunting??? I hope the jackals who do this are real proud of themselves. That includes the ones who make it happen
It’s a business of providing animals for bloodthirsty people who think it’s cool to shoot an animal with a gun and/or bow and arrow. It is barbaric, of course. It is for people who consider themselves to be “sportsmen” and “sportswomen” which is disturbing and nauseating!!!!! They have had this type of so-called hunting for many years in the United States. The upland gamebirds such as pheasants and quail are grown commercially. There are live pigeon shoots that take place in Pennsylvania. There are privately owned ranches/ farms that provide deer for those who want to “hunt” and shoot a more or less farm-raised deer. Can you imagine shooting an innocent deer when they come into the feeding trough? It’s like the bloodthirsty humans are shooting these innocent animals at their “dinner table” because the feeding trough is their dinner table. It is so unsportsmanlike that it is absolutely (words I can’t even think of to describe it); vile to the core really!!!!
Horseracing is vile to the core!!!!
Some people just enjoy killing. Maybe it feeds a need for ultimate dominance.
But canned hunts are just plain SICK.
Canned hunting is practiced in Colorado too as well as many many other states…the bottom line is that there are a whole lot of people out there who think using, abusing and killing animals is their right as long as they pay yo play.