Burton Sipp’s Trail of Abuse

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In the 8th race at Thistledown yesterday, Equibase reports that 4-year-old Coosa River “pulled up bleeding from the nostrils and was vanned off.” Enough said. Noteworthy too, though, is Coosa’s human in charge: owner/trainer Burton Sipp. Mr. Sipp is about the worst that this industry has to offer – an industry, mind you, that is pervasively bad. Here are just a few of his previous mentions on our site.

From July 2014:
10-year-old Chillin Villain’s last four starts (all under trainer/owner Burton Sipp):
May 10th at Mountaineer, last, 20 1/4 lengths back
May 27th at Mountaineer, “DNF, fold[ed] early”
Jun 16th at Mountaineer, last
Jul 6th at Mountaineer, 7th (of 8), 18 lengths back
Chillin Villain has been raced 74 times.
(update: Chillin disappeared from the charts shortly thereafter; fate unknown.)

From July 2015:
I have confirmed that 6-year-old Slot Machine is dead after breaking down – “took a bad step” – Tuesday at Mountaineer. In his two races before dying (Jun 20, May 31), Slot Machine was whipped to consecutive last-place finishes – a combined 85 lengths back. 85 lengths back. The person most responsible – trainer/owner Burton Sipp.

A post on West Virginia’s 2017 dead:
Hazel Meadow, Nov 8 – her second race in 10 days; trainer/owner, Burton Sipp
Mias Mark, Oct 6 – “flipped, fractured skull – dead on arrival”; had been raced three times – all last place, combined 90 lengths back; trainer/owner, Burton Sipp

And most revealing (and despicable) of all is this 2019 expose by our own Joy Aten:
“Racehorses Sold to Kill-Buyer, and the Authorities Don’t Care”

This is Burton Sipp. This is horseracing.

9 Comments

  1. It says a lot about this human stain’s method of “training” when his horses do so poorly. Is it the drugs and doping? Poor nutrition? Severe treatment? Or just a general lack of will to do anything on the part of the horses in his stable?
    This parasite may be one of the worst, but he has lots of company down there.

  3. If racing cared anything about the welfare of the horse, at the very least, Sipp and his ilk would not be tolerated.
    Racing is blind and deaf to even the most egregious horse abuse.
    Racing has no soul, no integrity, no mercy .
    It never will.

    • The fact that they force yearling colts and fillies (as well as TWO-YEAR-OLDS) to perform as adults is the first most basic wrong, in my opinion. It seems that the whole industry needs these morally depraved individuals and lots of them to keep the business of taking wagers on race horses going. No person who truly cares anything about the quality of life for the horses and true horsemanship would violate the code of conduct for common sense and common decency in protecting the horse from egregious abuses.

  4. My God isn’t there anyone, I mean anyone that can stop this horrible trainer. (If you can call him that)These poor horses under his care are harmed and/or killed by this man. Wake up, owners!!!!

  6. This man needs to be behind bars where he can never hurt another horse again!

  7. I have racehorses of my own and can’t stand Burton Sipp. I don’t race at tracks where he is but he is widely known for sending horses to auction. I have offered to buy horses from him that were performing poorly and he has yet to let me buy one. But he sends them to auction. He needs to be barred from racing.

    • And Burton Sipp isn’t the only one who should be “banned”.

      When CANTER-founder Jo Anne Normile and I provided exhibits to the 2008 Congressional subcommittee hearing on the drugs and breakdowns in TB racing, while compiling the lists of hundreds of horses we rescued off just one MI track, we were appalled when we realized that TWO-THIRDS of the trainers were racing their horses with pre-existing injuries. TWO-THIRDS. And there were trainers we never got horses from because they chose to dump their used-up and crippled equine slaves directly to racing-employed kill buyer Jaroslav Gold. Gold, BTW, is also still racing.

      It’s telling, isn’t it – that even those in racing acknowledge Sipp should be thrown out. Yet, he’s not. Two things here…all of those supposed “good people” in racing can’t demand and convince the “authorities” to rid their “sport” of Sipp? – secondly and worse yet is that the “authorities” have chosen – AGAIN AND AGAIN – NOT to.

      Because the “authorities” don’t care.

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