New York has been commended for having the first (2009; since joined by California) public database on racehorse deaths. And I suppose that’s fair. Still, for the most part, detail is sorely lacking. Consider this from the Gaming Commission today:
“Tri Saint Lorenzo [stabled at Belmont] was walked to Ruffian [hospital], where he was euthanized due to his condition.”
His condition? Your guess is as good as mine. I do know that the 5-year-old had just been “worked out” (trained) three days ago. In any event, chalk up another kill for the super-proud-of-its-safety-record New York Racing Association – #51 on the year.
They walked him to the hospital?! How far did the poor horse have to go? If a horse is injured that badly it seems cruel to us for him to have been walked over. One can usually see & tell if a horse is not able to be saved.Portable X-rays you know.
How can these so-called horsemen, that are not true horsemen, not tell if a horse is seriously in distress and suffering to the point he should be euthanized? If the horse is so bad off that the horse has to be euthanized, isn’t it obvious that the horse should not be walked? Is inflicting pain and suffering on a horse EXPLOITED for racing such a routine practice that just one more layer of Animal Cruelty is nothing to these demented and DEGENERATE people? Evidently so.
The famous racehorse, Ruffian suffered a shocking death on the racetrack.
Tri Saint Lorenzo was finished with as far as racing was concerned. Reason for killing him is a secret.
Messy to do it in the stable, people around and then having to drag his body out to be disposed of somewhere…pfft.
Yep, get him in here no matter his condition. Likely not sedated first just give him the green needle, get it done and over with. And then easier to get him out of the back door.
No fuss.
All quiet on the western front.
N E X T H O R S E
According to equibase he last raced in May 2021 at Belmont coming home 6th/8 horses.
Chart stated he was ‘no factor’ in the race.
He’s not performing. Is it viable to keep forking out the $ to continue with him. Probably not.
21 starts for this horse who earned about $94,000 in prize money.
It is possible that –
he suffered an injury in his last race
he suffered an injury in training
he didn’t recover well enough to race again
his confinement for 3 months brought on colic
BUT we don’t know the truth.
Racing hides its ugly truths as much as it can when it comes to the welfare of the horse.
Carolyn, I thought of colic as well but the connections didn’t want to spend the money on surgery. It certainly could have been a combination of all the possibilities you mentioned for discarding a used up racehorse. Whatever his condition was, it evidently was too serious to send him to Puerto Rico on a ship. That seems to be popular these days.
Yes, those poor horses being sent to Puerto Rico 💔💔💔💔💔💔
Inexcusable.
🤬 🤬 🤬
“Joined by California…” (in having something resembling a racehorse death database.) I suppose that’s fair. Except Cali’s Kill List was foisted upon the highly-credible CHRB following the SADT Disaster of 2019. And the super-trustworthy CHRB was forced to make every attempt to count up the fatalities publicly — because the whole world was watching.
But now that the high-integrity CHRB has figured out that they only need to include a handful of their ongoing horse kills on their (super-scientific) Equine Fatalities List — namely the sudden deaths and those few who can’t be hauled off-site for their euths — they’re using these exemptions to claim a 50% reduction in horse deaths(!).
So, I know I’m a broken record about this. But I believe the CHRB (and all of Cali racing) deserves zero credit for public transparency. Unlike NY’s, their “database” is absolute trash.
For the record, NY’s only came about because of outrage over Eight Belles. Like Cal’s, forced transparency. And I’m sure we don’t get all of NY’s either.
I’m sure you’re right about NY withholding release of at least some of their carnage. Sigh. But I believe the CHRB counting method(?) is a full-on FRAUD. Tri Saint Lorenzo’s death, for instance, wouldn’t have even made the fatalities list in California, since he died off track property. Doesn’t count, to the super-safety-minded CHRB.
If Eight Belles wouldn’t have been caught on full view camera with a large audience watching the Derby….different story indeed
Yes, it was mighty inconvenient for the fine folks of racing to have her go down on their biggest stage. They all had to pretend to be shocked and surprised that such a horror could occur. But at least she had the decency to wait until AFTER she was whipped across the wire to shatter both forelegs. In doing so, she made it easy on poor, poor NBC “Sports” to cover up the hideous sight of her breakdown for television. Maybe that’s why there’s a stakes race named after her.
Thanks, Eight Belles:(