All this happened yesterday, Kentucky Derby Day – and remember, this is just racing (no training included):
Abscond “bled” at Churchill
Kentucky Ghost “vanned off” at Churchill
Madison Joy “fell while injured, vanned off” at Evangeline
Dare Felix “vanned off” at Fonner
Malintent “vanned off” at Oaklawn
Mrs. Beans “vanned off” at Oaklawn
Speedcuber “vanned off” at Santa Anita
Axis Charm “vanned off” at Sunray
Dazzling Sunshine “vanned off” at Tampa Bay
I am, of course, working on confirmations, but you can take it to the bank that at least three of the above are already dead. Here is Madison Joy at Evangeline – her violent fall, by the way, was called a “spill” several times by the track announcer.
And these are just the van-offs that made the charts. How many others were quietly hobbled off the tracks to be disposed of (or not) away from public view on Derby Death Day? That said, the Santa Anita Death Track is the one that can least afford to admit another fatal breakdown. Especially of a half-million-dollar filly who was visibly injured on-camera in the stretch run on DDD(!). So who knows what kind of torment the Stronachs are putting poor Speedcuber through right now to save face?
Kelly, blanked out replay at SA with Speedcuber. Honestly there is no hope for Madison Joy.
Thanks, about Speedcuber. Someone posted a still shot of her breakdown though. And that one image looks about as fatal as every other breakdown at the SADT (and every other track.)
My concern for her specifically is that the Stronachs might try to use their super-duper horse “safety” system to avoid reporting her death — take legal possession of her ownership and pay for expensive surgical intervention/recovery themselves, then just wait it out with their buddies at the CHRB until the public stops asking questions about her outcome.
Never mind that her suffering would be exacerbated a hundred-fold. To them, that’s just one less kill that has to be recorded:(
Inflicting pain and suffering on horses is one of the biggest thrills these perverts get out of horseracing. I say it is because if it weren’t, they would stop this egregious cruelty to horses.
In every sport, in every discipline we are have to take it to the extreme to the point where animals are abused and killed, that’s in every discipline. That’s why I hate watching any of it
I dreaded Kentucky Derby day and for good reason. More severe injuries. More “no news” about the suffering and death. Typical hell for horses day. The SF Bay Area news stations had all of the excitement of the winner, of course. They should have shown at least one horse in agony. Come on.