“Fell past the wire of an apparent heat stroke.”

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From the Delaware Park Stewards’ Reports:

Jul 17: “Fifteen Royals fell past the wire of an apparent heat stroke. Track vets and the outrider arrived quickly…putting water on the stricken horse. Jockeys contacted the Stewards about the extreme heat, management was contacted. After further consideration the remainder of today’s program has been cancelled.”

So – it took the jockeys complaining about the heat – not the “stricken horse” who fell from “an apparent heat stroke” – to get the rest of the day’s races called. The temp, by the way, was hovering around 93 degrees.

Jul 24: “Divine Interventio broke down at the 3/16 pole. Horse was vanned off with a serious leg injury. The claim was not voided by DTRC Rule 13.12.3 [because] a horse has to die or [be] euthanized on the track for the claim to be voided.”

While I won’t know the definitive status of Divine until my FOIA comes in, it’s a good bet (“broke down,” “serious leg injury”) he’s dead. But tough luck for the buyer, huh?

Vile. Horseracing.

9 Comments

  1. As an English born & trained jockey ,Martin Saunders, told us many years ago “racing is a crooked , crummy , gamboling game.” We used to gallop horses with him at our now long defunct 5/8 mile state fairgrounds track. Crooked even for claimers of horses being run to be claimed! Always disliked the claiming game & now with the knowledge from Patrick`s work, dislike the whole industry.

    • This is so great to hear. That you have completely turned against this murderous, phenomenally cruel business. Speed kills. Horses are not meant to be pushed. End of story.

  2. It appears obvious that there is no living human being involved in horseracing that has any common sense. It isn’t rocket science to know that temperatures over 85 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit is a disaster waiting to happen for animals and people out in the hot sun and physically active or even 65 degrees Fahrenheit for dogs to be left in cars. What does the State Regulator have to do with Horseracing if they are not going to shutdown a race meet in ridiculously high temperatures???

  3. How many parents would force their children to compete in an event with temperatures that high? It would be bad enough just pleasure riding in that kind of heat, but forcing a young horse to race at full speed for any prolonged period of time is just cold-hearted abuse. These sadists care nothing about the welfare of their horses.

  4. Is it just me, or is Delaware going above and beyond in the dead racehorse department these days? I mean, they’re REALLY killing it. It’s like they’re vying for the title against the likes of Parx (and the other PA hellholes) and the Arizona slaughter factories. (Of course, the bar’s been set pretty high (low) in this sick game, so it’s anybody’s guess which racing state will emerge victorious this year. My money’s still on Parx, et al., but then again, my money isn’t stolen from schoolkids, teachers, and worthwhile social programs and safety nets. So who am I to say?

  6. i agree with Rebecca that these are sadists who do not care about their horses. All the more reason to stop the racing of horses.

  7. Don’t you love the lack of intervention by the race track veterinarians?

    • I am not 100% certain of who has the final say in regulating the race meet, but I believe that the Stewards have that responsibllty. I suspect that someone else could have a strong manipulative influence over the whole thing with the WAGERING HANDLE REVENUE & PROFITS being the most influential factor in any case. As long as the track veterinarian has the responsibllty to approve live horses as gambling chips for gambling on in a race and is paid to so, many horses are approved to race that are on the verge of breakdowns, to the best of my knowledge and belief. I thought maybe there is a State Regulatory veterinarian that would have been able to say it’s too hot for racing.

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