As I’ve reported ad nauseum on these pages, the racing industry has a tried-and-true modus operandi in dealing with negative media coverage (on kills): feign shock and outrage, promise intensive investigations, and most important, assure that “safety” and “welfare” are its highest priorities.
Because of activist pressure, Mahoning Matters has, of late, been reporting deaths at Ohio’s Mahoning Valley. Wednesday, the paper wrote: “Racing Commission Executive Director Chris Dragone said the commission has raised concerns about the race track conditions, since it’s unusual to have four horse deaths in two months – and that’s a higher rate compared to 2020 and 2021. The racing commission is now paying closer attention to Mahoning Valley Race Course fatalities, he said.”
Okay. Recent kill totals at Mahoning (note: the track is only active six months/year):
2017: 13 dead horses
2018: 23 dead horses
2019: 17 dead horses
2020: 22 dead horses
2021: 28 dead horses
“Unusual to have four horse deaths in two months,” Mr. Dragone? “Higher rate compared to 2020 and 2021 [22 and 28 kills, respectively]”? Now you are “paying closer attention”? They, and yes this includes regulators like Dragone, deceive, distract, dissemble – dare I say, lie – because they have to. Their product kills, as a matter of course. Now, to get the media to pay closer attention…
For the Racing Commissioners to pay more attention to Mahoning Valley Race Course fatalities doesn’t mean much as long as having any fatalities at all is not a cause for alarm. Having one horse killed by racing ought to be reason enough to get out of this horse-abusing, horse-killing gambling racket. It appears evident that the Ohio Racing Commission stands to lose a lot of money if they admitted to the truth. Otherwise, they might be concerned about the condition of the horses besides the condition of the race tracks.
This Executive Director of the Ohio Racing Commission, Chris Dragone, could take a lesson on “paying close attention” to racehorse injuries that lead to the horse’s death/euthanasia from the vice chairman Rory Goree in Arizona by taking a close look at the injured horse/horses behind the screen.