Through a FOIA request to the Colorado Department of Revenue, I have confirmed the following kills at Arapahoe Park in 2021.
Cash Kitten, Aug 30, stall – “colic of five-day duration”
Cash Kitten was six years old and had been raced 47 times, most recently Jul 5.
Rhoda’s Jewell, Aug 31, stall – “severe fibrinosuppurative pleuropneumonia”
Rhoda’s Jewell was five years old and had been raced 41 times, most recently Aug 11.
Behavin Good, Sep 27, stall – “colic, died” (not euthanized – just died)
Behavin Good was three years old and had been raced just ten days prior.
Cornstalker, Oct 6, stall – “acute 180° colonic torsion with acute colon rupture”; also: “extensive gastric erosion; moderate ischemic necrosis”
Cornstalker was six years old.
Turko, Oct 16, racing – “broke down”
Turko was two years old, and this was his fourth time under the whip.
The racing industry people who are involved in this egregious cruelty to horses are responsible for the abuse and the neglect of the horses. Period.
Please forgive my lack of medical equine experience to decifer what actually killed these horses. But even without a medical degree or expertise how can ANYONE with a conscience allow this to happen to a living creature? Cornstalker and Rhoda and then Cash Kitten with 5 days of a massive stomach problem. I hope that when you get old and need the assistance from caregivers that you get better care than what you were capable of giving here.
Looks like ny has another issue today in last race 😒
These horses should not be running in this freezing wind weather.
WHAT A HORRIBLY TORTUROUS, PAINFUL &COMPLETELY NEGLECTFUL WAY TO GO, THIS HORSE ENDURED EXTREME ANIMAL NEGLECT & CRUELTY TO ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN, WHEN ‘TRAINERS” KNOW NOTHING ABOUT A HORSE, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO THESE POOR DEFENSLESS CREATURES IN AMATUER HORSE OWNERS HANDS. WHAT A HORRIFYINGLY CRUEL WAY TO SLOWLY BE TORTURED TO DEATH. RACING MUST BE STOPPED AS THESE ARE ( THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY 98%) MONSTERS WITH ZERO TO LIMITED ‘HORSEMANSHIP ABILITIES”.
For the love of God, are there NO veterinarians or no people with any observation or basic treatment skills at these tracks???
the veterinarians are more concerned with tapping joints & injecting pain killers then caring for a painfully dying horse.
The “people” are failing these horses on every level. The “people” cannot be trusted.
On all tracks whether “A” or “B” tracks it’s all the same – racehorses dying.
Horse racing likes people to think that their “A” tracks (Saratoga, Keeneland, Santa Anita, Gulfstream) are somehow immune to this just as they convince themselves that racehorses bred on opulent farms are.
Example after example is evidence that proves them wrong.
The most recent example is LA CRETE a baby 2 y.o filly dropped in the dirt yesterday at Fairgrounds in a high profile stake race: Rachel Alexandra Grade 2 and had to be vanned-off.
Imagine that? – just a baby who was sent into heavy training at about 17 months old couldn’t even leave the track on her own volition due to injuries and can’t even begin to imagine the mental distress she endured because they are claiming that she’s alive.
Bred by one of the the most opulent farms in Lexington USA, Stonestreet Farms, and owned by one of the richest ladies, an attorney, Barbara Banke, who owns Kendall-Jackson wines whose former husband and herself bought Rachel Alexandra at the height of her career so that they could transfer her to Steve Asmussen.
Isn’t it so ironic that their filly LA CRETE breaksdown in a stake race in honor of their former racehorse?
Not to mention the fact that Ms. Banke is a prolific breeder, ardent supporter and defender of horse racing, and who doesn’t seem to have a sensitivity chip to change course after bearing witness to many of her racehorses dropping dead in the dirt with broken bone fragments flying all over the track in some cases.
You would think that a smart lady like this would be calling for an END to horse racing instead of breeding and serving up racehorse after racehorse to trainers that kill them or to people who buy and watch them die?
Or how about watching your racehorse get yelled and screamed at by a bunch of degenerate, mostly male, gamblers who care nothing about the horse other than a gambling number?
It’s all the same and no amount of money or opulence changes that.
The cruelty and disregard for the horses is so obvious for all to see. Yet, it continues with impunity
And to think this is just a fraction of what is perpetrated against them in this business.
Speaking of horses and how they are made to suffer – the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will continue to roundup wild horses during foaling season this year thanks to a federal judge’s refusal to grant a halt requested by certain groups. One can only imagine what it will be like for pregnant mares and very young foals forced to gallop by low flying helicopters over rough terrain – ultra confusion, separation, terror and death…
Patrick, I know this is outside the focus and mission of this site but it highlights the cruelty our “officials” engage in with impunity…
Rose, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it AGAIN … people are the worst thing that ever happened to animals in so many ways. Kind of like the Europeans coming over here and taking out the native tribes, who were here first.
Absolutely, Rose. Cruelty is cruelty. Thank you for reminding everyone.
Stonestreet gave a report last night on Paulick Report. They claim she is weight bearing and being watched last night and today. Their words.
Lacrete horse name. Apparently Joel pulled her up quick instead of race to the finish like most of them do.
LA CRETE owned by Barbara Banke of Stonestreet Farms should never be put into training at about 18 months nor raced as a 2 y.o baby filly, but they all do it to chase the Oaks.
Super wealthy Ms. Banke also owner of KENDALL-JACKSON wines with vineyards all over California goes to support her multimillion dollar breeding, training, sales and racing operations in Lexington, KY and Florida in some financial capacity.
That’s why I refuse to buy Kendall-Jackson wines because it would be the same as betting on a racehorse.
Nevertheless, Ms. Banke has watched many of her homebreds die on the tracks and you would think after the first one this lady would come to her senses just like Jo Anne Nomile did as described in “Saving Baby.”
She also continues to send racehorses to the same trainers who have killed some of her other racehorses so typical of horse racing’s elite.
In the end, when you strip away the money, opulence and power it’s all the same – racehorses are dying.
LA CRETE had a horrific experience yesterday and although she survived it with the jockey even protecting her (oh boy the dude deserves a trophy) that still doesn’t matter because as long as Ms. Banke continues to breed she’s supplying the gambling chips for the tracks and wagering windows.
I can only wish that a person of her stature, wealth and power turns away from this killing business and join us in our struggle to END this horror show for racehorses, but that would be like believing in Humpty Dumpty.
And what about the thousands of low level claimers who are forced to race so frequently. I’m sorry but yeah yeah yeah “royally bred” horses meeting the same demise of the claimers …. I will ALWAYS feel more for the claimers.
I feel for all of them.
It’s not the racehorse’s fault they were born on Ms. Banke’s farm just as it isn’t their fault they were born on a modest farm so it has nothing to do with their circumstances or place for that matter.
They didn’t ask to be bred for an industry that exploits them and discards them, on average, after 3 years.
Nor do any one of them consent to what they are forced to endure.
They are still subjected to the daily abusive business practices that often lead to their demise whether that’s suffering with injuries or dying on the tracks or in their stalls.
They are all victims of horse racing.
Remember, most all low level claimers started as “royalty” at the “A” tracks in the protected Maiden Special Weight categories and are eventually dumped into the claiming ranks.
I will continue to dispel the pro-horse racing myth that racehorses born on rich farms, to rich owners, with “royal” bloodlines are somehow immune to being dumped into claiming, seriously injured or killed.
Horse racing has been pedaling this line for a long time and it simply isn’t true.
My point is it’s all the same and no amount of money or opulent surroundings changes that.
I love all racehorses and I get upset every single time one of them goes down in the dirt no matter where they came from.
Totally agree Gina. But, the high-end ones get a longer leash before “things start happening” whereas the modestly bred have a short leash and are not afforded patience 🥲.
I’m ALWAYS for the underdog/the “little guy” … if you will. I just want to save EVERY claimer, what a sad awful life they have. Shut down this unnecessary evil. NOW
I would like to see all saved, but the only way that’s going to happen is when this business is shut down because they require a never ending supply of racehorses to fill races, dump and replace to serve their sole purpose of filling races and the wagering windows.
To me, they are all underdogs just as they are all victims.
I don’t distinguish from one racehorse to another..
AMERICA’S JOY – a 8.2 million dollar filly purchase from Keenland by Mandy Pope dropped in the dirt at Saratoga in August 2021 during training shattering her bones and breaking her neck.
Where was the long leash you mention?
Nowhere to be found because there’s no justification in what they do to these racehorses whether there’s a “long leash” or a “short leash.”
You seem to be suggesting that money is patience, but it doesn’t make one iota of difference because, in the end, they die from horrific injuries and those people you refer to with the “long leash?”
Well, they dump their racehorses into claiming just as often as those with the ‘short leash” does.
Just think those multi millions Mandy Pope shelled out on breeding her mares to tapit and buying tapit’s. Just think that money she wasted on tapit,how much good that money could have done for things that are important.
With millions of dollars to spend, she could have been saving the thousands of horses discarded and dumped into the slaughter pipeline. But, no, she is part of the problem.
YES. The problem and then some. From what I’ve heard,Mandy,just inherited from her Dad. Must be nice to be able to blow millions 😒.
Everyone of these deaths except the last one would happen just as easily to a pet horse! Colic and pneumonia are not trauma specific to a race horse environment. They can happen at anytime to any equine. This is ridiculous criticism of people with racehorses who probably as a whole have great animal husbandry skills with good deworming and vaccination programs. And easy access to veterinary care. Also they keep referring to 2 year old horses as “babies”. They are certainly full grown or nearly so at TWO. These are not babies. They weigh well north of a thousand pounds. They might “fill out” more—but they are damn close to full maturity.
Sorry, but you’re ignorant, and there’s no excuse for ignorance:
https://horseracingwrongs.org/2022/01/18/the-unformed-racehorse-revisited/
https://horseracingwrongs.org/2021/04/10/racehorses-and-colic-laminitis-and-pleuropneumonia/
Blair Burgess, you write as a person who is very UNINFORMED or very GUILTY OF ABUSE AND NEGLECT OF HORSES. Horses are NOT mature until AGE SIX, that is SIX YEARS OF AGE.
Look up the definition of BABY RACES on the DRF Glossary of Terms. The Daily Racing Form (the racing industry) defines Baby Race as “a race for TWO-YEAR-OLDS.”
All gastrointestinal issues that horses suffer from are horrendously PAINFUL!!!! It appears that treatment was denied to the horses listed above. These horses suffered needlessly! Racing is deliberate, selfish and CRUELTY to horses! No horse should be locked up in a stall for 23 hours a day ever. Horses should not be confined to stalls longer than 10 hours a day. Horses should be let out to a pasture with at least two or three Acres of grazing that is not too lush for the first horse and so on and so forth. Do some research. Horses should be able to get free roaming exercise while they graze for at least 14 hours a day. Racehorses are forced to endure confinement in stalls without runs for 23 hours a day, which is UNHEALTHY for horses! All of the gastrointestinal issues listed here appear to have been cases of extremely severe neglect!!!! BEHAVIN GOOD was left to die without proper medical treatment and died without being euthanized. This means that the owner and trainer NEGLECTED to attend to BEHAVIN GOOD. This horse suffered needlessly! The level of abuse and neglect committed on the horses listed above is so bad that anyone who can defend it is SUSPECT!!!! You should probably be arrested right along with the people responsible for the horrendous cruelty to the horses listed above as far as I am concerned.
CORNSTALKER was so used and abused as a gambling chip that Felony Animal Cruelty charges should be brought against all parties involved.