The 2nd at Belmont this afternoon was 8-year-old Playthatfunnymusic’s 48th “career” race. It was also his last: “advanced under coaxing from the three-eighths, bobbled three wide at the quarter pole, suffered a catastrophic injury to the left front and was protected and pulled up…and was euthanized on track.”
Good thing he was “protected,” huh?
For Belmont, one of America’s premier racetracks, this makes 21 dead horses since the first of the year. This, after 53 kills last year. Reform is a ruse, safe racing a lie. Horseracing kills horses, always has, always will.
He had also been claimed during the race, but hey, since he was dead, they graciously voided the claim
Yeah, those horse”men” gotta love that voided claim provision. Without it, they’d have to eat the cost of buying abused dead animals who can’t be abused anymore. Where’s the value in that?
We keep reading, and reading and reading, sending money and reading and reading, where are the fines, what type of ligation is in process – what kind of investigations are going on – the best I can tell is NONE – what are you doing?
Beverly, Horseracing Wrongs is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Our mission: to end horseracing and save the lives of horses. We are in fact the only organization dedicated to this mission. Horseracing Wrongs is doing: educational billboard campaigns, preventing new horseracing legislation in multiple states (two down – MA and GA – working on MI and NC), we are in a coalition to end the subsides given to the horseracing industry in NYS, we are also doing this work in Pennsylvania, we sponsor ongoing protests across the country with another big protest planned next Saturday at the Belmont Stakes. We facilitate rescue, we work with media – Philadelphia Inquirer, Washington Post, The New Yorker (more on the Horseracing Wrongs in the News tab on this site) – to educate the public that horseracing is animal cruelty. We put together actions each week on our social media to empower people to reach out to their representatives to tell them that they would like horseracing banned in their state. And we are working on much more behind the scenes. Thank you for reading and for donating and for your support. And most importantly caring about the horses.
Nicole Arciello
Executive Director, Horseracing Wrongs
Thank you for this explanation of all that the organization is doing. There is no other like it. You have strong support with many signing petitions, donating, protesting and writing legislators. You have great respect and are an inspiration for the horses who have no voice.
Beverly, in order for the public to call for an end to animal abuse they must first be aware of it. The racing industry has done a great job of fooling the general public for many years. But Horseracing Wrongs is changing that – and we need everyone to share the truths provided here. THANK YOU for coming alongside in this daunting battle – keep the faith – stay the course. Racing WILL meet its #DeathByAThousandCuts.
The chartwriter’s use of the word “protected” is such an insult to everybody’s intelligence and it’s just such a filthy lie!!! The horse was AGGRESSIVELY FORCED by a jockey that was most likely instructed to whip the horse into submission, to gallop FAST and faster than any horse would run under normal conditions or circumstances and therefore was injured catastrophically. The horse’s injuries were human induced. The humans in horseracing are misusing the word “protected” and they should be charged with Animal Cruelty!!!
#HorseracingisAnimalCruelty
R.I.P. PLAYTHATFUNNYMUSIC💔💔💔💔💔 You deserved compassion, not the cruelty you got from these greedy, morally depraved human beings!!!
NYRA deleted the race replay as soon as it happened…
Race unavailable and undoubtedly he died in the slop.
What the chartwriter should have said was they threw up the tarps to “protect themselves from being seen while killing/euthanizing the horse on the track” because they know the public is/was watching.
#HorseracingisAnimalCruelty
And yet, the same demented people who have witnessed this beautiful animal being abused and ultimately euthanized right before their very eyes, will continue going to the races, betting, supporting this disgusting industry. It is absolutely sickening!!!
Andreea, we can hope for the best and expect the worst, right? We can hope that there are some people who will have a conscience and listen to it once they have seen the reality of the cruelty and killing of racehorses passed off as the “Sport of Kings” and know that it’s all a big lie!!!!
What in the world is an 8 year-old horse doing racing? and it was his 48th! Someone had a death wish for him!
Eight years old is the prime of life for a horse. They are mature adult horses at six years old. Horses are forced to gallop FAST when they are babies in this business of extreme exploitation of horses for gambling bets and financial gain by degenerate human beings. Once these cold, callous people get their hooks into a horse, they are not letting go until the horse is dead or not profitable for RACING.
#HorseracingisAnimalCruelty
“Advanced under coaxing” is simply racing code for being beaten with a whip. And the jockey who was flailing away did no more to “protect” him than he did to “guide” him. It would be refreshing if these chart writers would just say what we already know instead of trying to sugar coat shit.
Multiple doping violator and racehorse killer “Trainer” Bruce Levine was in charge of Playthatfunnymusic at the time of his death.
Prior to that, this poor gelding endured torture and brutality at the behest of this vile business.
He earned over $383,400, the hard way, being bought and sold so many times fighting for his life in the claiming ranks while consistently flipping a buck for every parasite that claimed him.
Like most of these deaths, when you look into the Trainer, there usually is a nefarious history behind the parasite who was his final abuser.
Bruce N Levine, heavily connected to the NY HBPA, has a long history of claiming, maiming, racehorse’s dying, and some doping positives – the usual abusive cocktail that is prevalent in this business.
Back in 2014 he was suspended 21 days and fined $5,000 as a result of a positive test for Vardenafil, the active ingredient in the erectile dysfunction drug Levitra, in the post-race sample taken from Santa Elf, second-place finisher in the ninth race at Belmont Park on May 2.
He has no problem shoving a impotent drug, made for human males, into a horse for a possible win.
Now comes the usual defense that’s like a broken record and eerily similar to Baffert’s recent positive.
Andrew Mollica, attorney for Levine, said the positive resulted from an “over-the-counter paste” from the anti-bleeder supplement called EIPH sold by the Ergogenic Labs compounding pharmacy in Wellington, Fla.
Yet, the same drug was found in a post-race sample from a Levine-trained horse that raced at Parx Racing March 16, for which he was fined $3,000 by the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission.
True to industry form, especially when you’re probably training for Commissioners, he gets a slap on the wrist because his original suspension of 30 days by the NYSGC was stayed to 9 days, provided he received no further medication violations over the next 180 days. His suspension runs from Oct. 19-Nov. 8.
Without skipping a beat he’s back into his racing stable being given a pass to intentionally and maliciously harm racehorses to get a win.
Playthatfunnybusiness, could no longer endure the abuse and one can only imagine what was shoved into his veins leading up to and including the day he died especially when Bruce Levine has no problem using an erectile dysfunction drug on previous racehorses with little repercussions.
It seems evident to me that the only one needing medication for erectile dysfunction is Bruce Levine.
Thanks for that background on Levine, Gina. I had noted on twitter that this poor boy also belonged to the professional horse killing family, the Engelharts, at one point, and seemed to be claimed and traded often. This poor boy was doomed.
Thx for pointing out the racehorse killing family the “Engelharts.”
These people who claim racehorses intentionally, maliciously, and gratuitously reap pain, suffering, and abuse on these poor back-class money earners like Playthatfunnybusiness.
Indeed he was For Sale throughout his miserable life as a servant of this repulsive killing business.
They wore him down, year in and year out with not even a scarce thought for his well-being because their sole purpose is to squeeze every last cent they can out of him with no intentions of giving him a well-deserved and earned home.
They are there to be used, abused and exploited until they drop dead.
They are supported by a vile industry who facilitates the horrors perpetrated on their voiceless victims.
A pro-horse racing apologist once attacked me for “hating” the horse racing business.
Yes – I do – I despise every single horse racing apologist including this entire business.
In fact, I despise them so much that I actually make a concerted effort not to live in any community that has a horse racing track because I can’t stand driving by them knowing the abuse going on in the stable area.
I make no apologies for my feelings because these pro-horse racing people are savages and they all belong in the dinosaur age because they certainly don’t belong in a civilized society.
You pretty much summed it up: “this poor boy was doomed.”
These apologists have mental issues in some capacity because you can’t possibly watch this play out daily and find it acceptable unless you have a piece of your brain and heart missing.
“Wore him down” Just like Lethal Grand who earned >$400,000 racing all over the NW for the most part & had 80 races under him! We saw him run many times & never forgave the cruelness inflicted on him for racing him to his death! Were so glad Portland Meadows is GONE & now redeveloped to an Amazon warehouse & others. We saw him race before we also became aware of the cruelty involved with the daily lives of the horses. We later learned of the cruelty from 1st grooming than later galloping horses at that track. We like you Gina are so glad not to have to drive past PM & before it was demolished we would try to avoid it after we left in 2005 having been licensed for several years since 1978.