The 1st at Delaware yesterday for 3-year-old Maracaibo: “fell with a catastrophic injury near the quarter pole and was euthanized.” And the video (listen as the scumbag announcer gaily calls the finish while the crumpled Maracaibo awaits death):
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This is business as usual in horse racing — racing, gambling and killing horses.
What can we do today to stop this horror from happening again tomorrow???
Sad and everyday a same old story of abuse and callous commentary.
While curious about the announcers call…
I dont feel I can watch this video.
I can never bring myself to watch any of the videos either.
The track announcer is clearly not shook up about the horse (or the jockey) going down.
I don’t watch, either.
The race caller continuing on while one of the “sport’s” “beloved athletes” goes down – well isn’t that what ANY sport announcer would do if that was a human athlete? Laughable, right? This damn industry shows its true colors to all who choose to watch with open eyes, hearts and minds.
We always watch every video so as to remind us of why we quit the industry in 2005 & of the many break downs we have witnessed of horses we used to handle & ride at the track. One must never forget & always advocate for better lives for the horses outside of racing!
Yes, fredjoan, one must never forget – and I never will. What I witnessed for nearly ten years on the backside, rescuing the racing industry’s “athletes”, provided me with enough to remember for more than my one lifetime.
Never forget and always be their voice…I don’t need to watch another horse killed by this unnecessary gambling industry to do both.
Thank You. For this response. I concur.
We were involved within the industry both at farms & 1/2 mile bull ring tracks,( class” C” as well as our sole class ” A or B ” type track from 1977 until 2005. We saw many break downs but until we experienced 1 ourselves as a rider we finally realized that this was a typical event of racing & a good well trained English born & trained riders saying 18 years earlier hit us like a ton of bricks with his saying “racing is just a crooked , crummy , gamboling game”. That racing has nothing to do with a horses talents or abilities in the long run. Racing is only about $ & bragging rights & social gatherings of various types, eg, gamblers, owners, trainers. Most all of the people involved are hardcore gamblers & bettors. We never gambled or bet except when galloping a spirited thoroughbred at something like 37+mph! Older & wiser were content just to go for distance & slower speeds.
Death, destruction and cruelty are integral to this out of control nefarious business.
This is what you get when there is no oversight – this what you get when society is uninformed/indifferent – this is what you get when the truth is ignored and covered up and this is what you get when money trumps laws and human decency…
I’m so hyper-sensitive,I turn away from a paper cut. When I was a very young child my family had to ban me from watching episodes of LASSIE, because I would get so upset thinking those things really had happened to Lassie. I would cry uncontrollably. 50 some years later…I’m Still that Way! To sum it up …animals are awesome and too many people suck!!!!
Yes animals deserve so much better.
How we treat them says so much about our integrity.
Sad to say we left our working dogs behind in Vietnam and all those years later nothing has changed.
We abandoned out dogs once again. This time in Afghanistan.
I can’t watch the cruelty of racing nor can I watch the crates of abandoned dogs in Afghanistan.
Rose, as if the simpletons didn’t LEARN from the world trade center….they send the search and rescue dogs out this year for that Miami condo catastrophe without boot protection for the dogs paws! Walking on that horrible toxic ruins. Do humans EVER learn? No.
Bonnie, humans are not worthy of the services of these amazing animals.
All they care about is how the animals can be used. There is little to no consideration for the safety and well-being of these “servants”- just use, abuse and discard.
We see this daily in horse racing, dog fighting, dog racing, as well as the war dogs and more.
We see it with the environment – all take and no give means there is no balance…
I can’t watch Bambi.
Old Yeller is another one
Just before the collapse the jockey used the whip. The jockey barely had the chance to grab the reins with his left hand (whip hand) before the collapse. Then Maracaibo is seen running amok in the background. Which means he was running around with a (broken leg, hip, pelvic, neck, etc.) Poor baby, R.I.P. sweet Maracaibo.
The jockey is a she, and she is from one of the trashiest families at the low tier track level.
There have even been stories in the paulick report on the mistreatment this family has done to horses in their care.
Skyler Spanabel is the daughter of Kelly Spanabel and step-daughter of the owner-trainer of STAR PLUS (ARG), George A. Iacovacci.
George A. Iacovacci raced STAR PLUS which was in violation of the agreement that this stallion would not be raced ever again. Kelly Spanabel was the jockey that rode STAR PLUS (ARG) knowing that he was to be retired from racing before she rode him in races.
Yes, Wanda, and Spanabel was more than Star Plus’ jockey – although she might not have been the owner of record, she and Iacovacci were partners in his ownership. In fact, during all of the outrage over the severely-injured gelding being raced (in Michigan, West Virginia and Pennsylvania), Spanabel was posting lies on her Facebook that she and Iacovacci had sold Star Plus to “overseas interests” to continue racing. Finally, Star Plus was purchased from that disgusting duo for $7000.00 to ensure his overdue retirement from any use in the industry (more info regarding this can be found in the March 2012 article, “Finally Peace for Star Plus”).
Iacovacci and Spanabel have done their share of crippling and killing horses. Without checking my files, I recall the following horses were raced by them and taken in by us (CANTER-MI) only to have to euthanize them after full veterinary evaluations revealed they were too injured to live comfortably as “pasture ornaments”; Sunder Bay, Whitmark, Buckflanker, Winds of Love, Magic Conqueror.
Sadly, we have ridden with many of those types of riders. They are very common in the western area of the US where we live.Those types of riders & trainers are another reason we quit in 2005 after seeing so many horses beaten in the face with whips!