I first reported on the ungodly abuse of Fox Rox back in February. At the time, he had been raced 113 times. Two more races since, and now Fox, who will turn 11 on May 27 (if he makes it, that is), is slated to go again next Wednesday at Tampa Bay Downs. That will make it 116 times under the whip. As I previously wrote: Considering that upward of 90% of active racehorses suffer from stomach ulcers, and considering that we see time and again 4-, 3-, even 2-year-old horses dying with chronic conditions like osteoarthritis and degenerative joint disease, imagine what this poor animal’s body looks – and more important, feels – like.
Current abusers remain owner Mark Hoffman and trainer Dennis Ward.
Tampa Bay Downs: 813-855-4401 (racing office: option 2)
Horseracing is already beyond horrible and sick.
And then you have this poor horse …
END his Servitude!! He’s More than earned his freedom.
If this EVIL atrocity was put to a straight up ….. “up or down” Vote, this morally depraved activity would take down the scumbags involved. And, they (the humans) would deserve it …. and then some.
There is no way out for most of these horses except to be either killed at the track or shipped to slaughter.
The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority is about “racetrack welfare” first and foremost, above all else. Tampa Bay Downs just wants to use this horse, FOX ROX, along with hundreds of other horses to fill out their race card.
These people really know how to make themselves despicable. I despise their Modus Operandi.
This is such a depressing situation. 😑🙏
Ring Ring.
Racing Office.
Hello, my name Is Gina and I’m a former owner/trainer.
I would like to bring to your attention a racehorse called “FOX ROX,” this gelding is 11 years old, has made over half a million dollars and is being sent out on Wednesday to go under the whip for the 116th time.
What are your thoughts on that?
Slammed the phone in my ear.
Was totally polite and courteous the entire call and that’s the response I get.
First of all, Stella F Thayer owner of Tampa Bay Downs is a truly evil person.
Back in 1999 I was in Florida and I spent some time at Tampa Bay.
Back then, even as an apologist, the stable area was a deeply disturbing place where widespread suffering, abuse and outright inhumane treatment of racehorses was going on.
This was all condoned and defended by the powerful Florida HBPA.
One of the regular vets there, who did work for me, was just as disgusted as I was and he made me aware of the kill pens and how most of them went there.
I was astonished and went to see a kill pen for myself.
Needless to say, I ended up buying 2 that were going to slaughter.
Anyways, the vet’s wife and myself teamed up and she was more aware of the situation than me because she had been trying to get some sort of aftercare in place for the racehorses.
At the time, she had about 8 racehorses pulled from local kill pens that had just raced at Tampa within days.
She was also trying to get a minimum financial contribution from Ms. Stayer so we decided to book an appointment to go and see her.
Our approach was totally amicable, but we were met with hostility from the racing office to her personal assistant.
Ms. Thayer refused to meet with us and she sent a clear message via her assistant: “racehorses are not pets.”
That says it all and that’s why racehorses like FOX ROX will continue to suffer under this track owner whose a multimillionairess, an attorney, who owns slaughterhouses in Florida and/or butcher businesses, whose responsible for a large portion of the pollution blooms off the Florida coast.
She has been dictating to the politicians there for years and guess who she’s buddies with?
Yours truly – Frank Stronach.
Together they hired attorneys to fight environmental groups in Florida who tried to make them responsible for their pollution into the ground water and into the ocean.
Make no mistake about it FOX ROX is just another gambling number for Ms. Stayer like the thousands that have become before him and the enablers are the FLHBPA and all those who gamble on them.
Incidentally, Ms. Thayer is around 95 years old and only has 1 daughter who is set to inherit everything.
Her daughter is very low key and hasn’t expressed her intentions with the track once Mommy dies.
That line that “Racehorses are not pets” is exactly what I was told by a man at Tampa Bay Downs in 1974. Nothing about their attitude has changed in all of these decades, obviously.
Another thing I was told decades ago — “They’re babies.”
Horses don’t have to be pets to be given at least halfway decent treatment – I have no idea why the parasites in this industry think that insisting a horse not being a “pet” gives them full right and immunity to exploit, abuse, torture, and kill these horses. But I stopped thinking that these people in the racing industry have even a remote shred of humanity and decency a long time ago.
Let`s hope Gina that the daughter sees the light & redevelops her mothers track.Perhaps economics & higher uses of the land will convince her for changes.That`s what happened at our old 1 mile track here in Oregon when Amazon bought the land & redeveloped the property as a warehouse operation.
HA! Saturday Night Live just did a skit … about things that are in … and things that are out. One of the things that was “out” was fancy derby hats. 🤣
People involved in horseracing don’t ‘love horses”, they love the money that they are illegally receiving from this bloodsport.
Race 8 at 4:22 eastern time
Nancy, can you help me connect the dots? Do you mean today? Is FOX ROX in Race 8?