I received this after Rillito recorded four kills on its opening weekend. (She wishes to remain anonymous.)
I happened to be at the soccer fields next to the track walking my dog when I saw the horse go down. It was horrible. Something I still can’t get out of my mind.
I was on the west end of the track prior to the horses going down to the starting gate and noticed horse #6 going nuts. He was rearing up and really going crazy. The lady on the lead pony holding on to him was screaming at him and yanking on him. She kept screaming at the jockey, “should we scratch?” “Should we scratch?” It was my opinion that horse had no business running. I decided to walk to the corner to watch and make sure the horse safely got into the gate because I was so worried about him getting hurt. Fortunately he made it in and they all started running.
I wish now I had just turned and walked my dog back to the car. I stood watching as they ran around the entire track and got back to the corner where I was. The chestnut stumbled and the jockey was on the ground. It all happened so fast. I believe another horse ran over him. Anyway it was obvious to me at that point that the chestnut had broken down. I was devastated and walked away. I did look back and saw the curtain and knew what was going to happen next.
I read in the paper the article trying to justify all the deaths last weekend. I assume that the race they mentioned a horse being bumped by another horse was the one I saw. I can’t help but wonder if indeed it was the #6 horse that caused the accident. There is no reason in the world for four horses to die in two days. There should not be any deaths.
Thank you for sharing your story. ..The abuse and torture of horses has NO place in our society.
Thank you for sharing this side of horseracing that you will never see or hear on NBC Sports televised broadcasts of horse races.
That poor chestnut horse probably knew he or she was not going to make it out of another race & that`s why the horse was acting up for fear of its life! Horses are very smart & know when something is not right.
This is a horrible story. I hope that the cruel practice of racing horses will end.