3-year-old Clear Steps was a “went wrong/vanned off” at Churchill Sep 26. “Went wrong,” as we all well know, is one of racing’s go-to euphemisms for dead, especially at Kentucky tracks. And indeed she is. From the KHRC: “open comminuted fracture of the medial sesamoid, complete failure of the suspensory apparatus [ligaments], severe soft tissue damage with disarticulation of the fetlock joint.”
According to the Commission, the jockey, Joseph Ramos, “said that the horse warmed up a little funny in the post parade, that she was sweating and seemed to be stressed [and] that she stumbled slightly coming out of the starting gate.”
“she was sweating and seemed to be stressed”
For his part, trainer Kenneth Miller “speculated that the horse had taken a bad step.” Yes, just a “bad step,” Mr. Miller. Abhorrent. Horseracing.
Knowing that it is not right to demand that young, underdeveloped colts and fillies perform as though they had been allowed to mature to SIX YEARS OLD first, the description of the injuries to CLEAR STEPS, a three-year-old, sounds similar to the diabolical experiments such as are described in the White Coat Waste emails I have received.
This is unacceptable abuse!!!!!
And the so-called vets and stewards were where?
She was telling them she was “sore”, in pain, or something was not right. But being fully insured I suspect she was sent to the track on purpose, maybe to collect on a “not a good investment”. I do not put anything past these vermin.
To anyone who works with horses that has two brain cells to rub together and even a modicum of empathy, it would have been beyond obvious this filly was in distress and was in no condition to be out on the track. But why worry about that when there’s a chance to make some money, right Joseph Ramos and Kenneth Miller? Darn that pesky “bad step” that we all know you two upstanding horseman had no way of foreseeing or preventing. I’m sure you two parasites didn’t lose any sleep having reduced a gentle, sentient being to a carcass just for the chance to make some extra blood money.
Your day is coming.
EXACTLY. Rebecca. Animals are smarter than humans. They know what they are doing. Humans (most) are Dumber than a sack of ****
Trainers know how their horse is going prior to raceday and occasionally a horse will be scratched due to the fact that the horse has a health issue or is showing signs in training that she’s not going well. This innocent young filly knew she wasn’t up to the task and this was revealed by her behaviour, she was seriously in fear. Her jockey should’ve called the vet over and vet qualified to scratch her at the gates.
Based on my research only very occasionally does this happen. Recently the high profile Australian trainer had one of his horses scratched at the gates when jockey noticed all was not right with the horse. There’s always a vet on duty at the gates here, however, I’ve come across cases where because horse was the hot favourite, vet passed horse fit to race. One very successful black mare was not right behind the gates, jockey oblivious to her condition as was the so-called vet. I was watching closely on the screen and the sweat was dripping off her, she was not right and not keen to go into the gates. She raced poorly, never raced again, went to the breeding barn, not so successful there and highly likely went to slaughter after winning hundreds of thousands of dollars in prizemoney let alone the punt.
Kenneth Miller played Russian roulette with Clear Steps as did the horseracing industry.
How utterly sickening.
The Rules & Regulations of horse racing is as follows: once a racehorse leaves the gate (even if one step) then all bets are on!
So if a racehorse DNF’s then the tracks/wagering companies don’t have to legally honor any wagering monies on said racehorse.
So they have it both ways because even a racehorse who sustains either a catastrophic or career-ending injury they still make their money and they set-up the system that way.
This is precisely why many racehorses are forced into the gate, even when in distress, so that they can get their gambling money knowing that the health and welfare of said racehorse is in jeopardy.
A former vet who worked the gate (wants to remain anonymous for now) said he was under tremendous pressure not to scratch a racehorse at the gate and most are.
As I’ve said before, the majority of rules and regulations of horse racing are put in place to PROTECT THE MILLIONS IN WAGERING NOT to protect the health and welfare of the racehorses.
As most of their public relations stunts they try to convince us otherwise, but make no mistake about it this is a deeply corrupt gambling racket that kills racehorses with zippo accountability.
Gina, your mention of the former vet who worked the gate reminds me of what Dr. Sid Gustafson (an equine veterinarian who specialized in Thoroughbred sports medicine and equine behavior) said; “Regulatory veterinarians become puppets to management. You lose your job if you scratch too many horses not fit to race.” – June 1, 2019
How is that for integrity????? It appears evident that a lot of the racing industry participants DO NOT know what the word INTEGRITY means! They certainly are not practicing integrity.
Horseracing cannot be reformed.
Horseracing exploits horses for money.
Horseracing itself is inhumane treatment of horses.
Horseracing must be outlawed.