I can confirm that Dame of the West, a “fell, vanned off” in the 2nd at Emerald Saturday, is indeed dead. She was three and under the whip for the eighth time. As previously relayed, the race in question was stricken from Emerald’s website, a sure indication of the gruesomeness involved.
This is so sad. What will it take to get people to stop attending the races?
Dame of the West was literally run into the ground in less than FOUR MONTHS. Her Past Performances read like they were TRYING to kill her:
Well, congratulations to her breeder, BG Stables (Breakdown Geniuses?); her multi-millionaire owner, John E. Parker (can’t stay away from the killing and carnage of the lowest-level claiming ranks, can you, “King Parker”?); and her apparent serial-killer so-called trainer, Candice Cryderman. You all did it! And you achieved your goal in such a phenomenally short time frame with a big ol’ helping hand from Emerald Downs. So, here’s to Team E.D. for making this happen. And on Sept. 11th, no less. Way to go.
I admittedly know very little about horse racing. How do the owners benefit from killing this poor horse? I just don’t understand it?
Hi, Lisa. Satirical. Obviously. they DON’T (benefit from any of their kills) — with the rare exceptions of those few, high-end racehorses that are insured, which, clearly, was not the case with poor Dame of the West. My point is that racing creeps pretend to do everything in their power to keep these BABY animals “safe,” while doing them ONLY harm by racing them.
Can you think of anything sicker for the idle rich to engage in as a “hobby” than to mass-produce thousands of progressively-more fragile baby animals, isolate them, drug them, beat them with sticks, then dump (slaughter) 95% of them while they’re still YOUNG because they didn’t make the cut as champions? I can’t.
It must cost money to board, train and enter a mediocre racehorse in that many races. If she wasn’t cutting it as a racehorse owners could afford to have given her away rather than run her to death. Does this owner have so much money that, absent a conscience and compassion, he can destroy a horse? There’s not even apparently a financial reward in this sad tale.
Could have given her away? Therein lies the problem, Lisa. You can’t just give away a horse (or ten thousand of them) every year and expect to have found an appropriate, forever home. They’re exorbitantly expensive to keep, often have long-term physical and mental issues from their years (months?) on the track — and their obscene “training” methods, inbreeding and isolation. They’re essentially valueless, which is why half the annual foal crop of thoroughbreds is sent to be slaughtered EVERY YEAR in the U.S. (The tiny handful that get rehabbed, retrained, rehomed once their racing careers are over is NOT reason enough to perpetuate the obscene make/use/kill cycle of the Sport of Kings.) Like I said, it’s a hobby for the wealthy. And their little game is finally being exposed on a nationwide scale, thanks largely to this site, for what it is: a sick blood sport that kills young horses for bets, then eliminates nearly all of its survivors within a couple years.
Thanks for your insight. Very helpful.
Kelly you’re post is awesome, but I would have to disagree with the wealthy part. The sad truth is, the many of the folks at the small, low tier tracks, are barely squeaking by, so they skimp on vet care, or they feed their horses crap feed and hay, or they can get yet another race out of that same pair of horse shoes, in the meanwhile, their horses toes are long as hell, putting a huge strain on their soft tissues. There are so many trainers and owners that I wonder why the hell they are even in this, they barely ever win a race, if at all. I wonder why anyone in the coming generations would ever think this is a fun way to lose money. Sadly, this is why sending the horses to slaughter is a viable option to these folks. The $500 they get for the horse they just ruined, can buy another cheap one to break down, or a few more bales of hay or feed. They know if they tried to sell them outright, no one would want a crippled broken down horse, and so they would be stuck with a mouth to feed until someone mercifully took that horse off their hands.
And the joke I often heard at the track: “you know- some people become millionaires in the racing business! Course, they started out as billionaires….:”
All true, but they’re all about to BECOME wealthy — just ask ’em. They’re thiiiiiiiis close. Just as soon as they each cycle through (hundreds of) dumped and dead baby horses, they’ll get that one champion who will make them Kings and Queens;)
“Stricken from the record”. How clever while depending on the public remaining ignorant. Need the video. Then need it mounted on one of those trucks that can be used at demos. All of this needs to be blown wide open. It’s heinous.
Agree with all of you! This needs to be shown to everyone that is even thinking of participating in racing as we once did.
DAME OF THE WEST was born on May 3, 2018. All 8 (eight) of the races she “performed” in were claiming races, all at Emerald Downs, and all in 2021.
She was raced on:
1) May 26,
2) June 9,
3) June 20,
4) July 15,
5) August 5,
6) August 19,
7) September 2, and
8) September 11.
The claiming price of her first race was $25,000. Her last two races had a claiming price of $2,500.
Remember, this year of 2021 has been record breaking hot temperatures and wildfire smoke in the Pacific Northwest.
In Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington the temperatures don’t usually get so exceptionally hot that you need Air Conditioners; so there were human casualties just from the heat, especially among the elderly living alone and without A/C. I can’t imagine how much heat these racehorses had to tolerate in addition to the regular routine abuse and brutality of HORSERACING.
This is heart-wrenching news of hidden horse racing callous cruelty that must be outlawed along with the so called “sport”. One cannot imagine what this 3-year-old horse endured before death finally released her to a kinder reality.