With the close of racing this past Saturday, the ’21-’22 season at Turf Paradise is officially in the books. Over that six-month, roughly 120-date period, Turf, I have confirmed, hosted 43 kills – and that, of course, is only what they are disclosing. Here are the victims. (I’ll get more detail with my FOIA.)
Florida Two Step, Oct 28, training
My Proposition, Oct 29, training
Cats Blame, Nov 9, racing
Ambers Storm, Nov 10, stall
Half Cocked, Nov 30, racing
Wasjuannowpaul, Dec 6, stall
Naughty Swagger, Dec 14, racing
Originate, Dec 17, training
Midnight in Maui, Dec 20, stall
Alleyesfollowbelle, Dec 27, training
Tazeeti, Dec 27, training
Midnight Luck, Dec 29, racing
Creative Plan, Jan 7 (euthanized Feb 11), racing
C Dub, Jan 10, stall
Pay Tavasco Rent, Jan 13, stall
Raagheb, Jan 14, racing
Tamarando’s Mine, Jan 17, racing
Adorable Brittany, Jan 17, racing
Wed O’s Champ, Jan 19, racing
Aries, Jan 21, stall
Lily Malacara, Jan 21, stall
Cause I’m Leavin, Jan 26, training
Circus Ride, Jan 27, racing
Ms Michelle, Feb 9, racing
Sky’s the Limit, Feb 10, racing
Kodiak King, Feb 16, racing
Supah Sista, Mar 4, racing
Copper Peg, Mar 9, training
Distinguished, Mar 11, training
Black Drop, Mar 11, racing
Brewery Gulch, Mar 17, training
Bud Lovweiser, Mar 20, stall
Reign On, Mar 21, stall
Lil Ms. Phyllis, Mar 22, stall
Declared Best Card, Mar 24, racing
Sawmill Favorite, Apr 4, stall
All American Candy, Apr 6, racing
Green Eye Woman, Apr 19, training
Launch Pad, Apr 20, training
Bellybutton Icon, Apr 28, racing
Make Me Blush, May 3, racing
Autism’s Ribbon, May 4, training
The Valiant One, May 5, stall
FORTY-THREE (43) racehorses died on the Turf Paradise racetrack in about SIX (6) MONTHS.
How utterly sickening. This is outrageous.
The government of that state (Florida?) should shut that racetrack down immediately never to open and conduct horseracing ever again. And it should also establish an inquiry and make those responsible accountable for this atrocity.
Arizona
Turf Paradise, a special hell for racehorses – a good number of racing supporters and even diehard gamblers admit it. Particular apologists go ballistic when well known stakes winners end up there running for cheap tags. Telling, isn’t it?
From racing mouthpiece Natalie Voss in her PR article not too long ago, this;
“Yes, [Arizona] promised change during that uncomfortable period in 2019 when outsiders noticed that horses were dying in Arizona racetracks at a much higher rate than the national average. Reforms instituted in 2019 included a promise veterinarians would conduct pre-race soundness exams on ‘up to’ ten horses daily, and that a committee would be formed to review fatalities and identify risk factors regulators should watch for in the future.
“Beginning Feb. 16, Dr. Sue Gale became the only state veterinarian available to do pre-race examinations at Turf Paradise, which runs the majority of the state’s live race dates. Gale indicated in a March 10 meeting of the racing commission that working alone, she wasn’t able to get to all horses pre-race each day. (This, despite the proud declaration on the Arizona Department of Gaming’s page that it performs ‘100% pre-race exams on all horses entered to race’, along with a link to ‘the latest equine safety report’ dated 2017-18.)”
Of course racing apologists were all over those promised changes – “see how much racing cares?”. We knew it was smoke and mirrors. So did they.
The excerpts in my previous comment were from the PR article dated May 2, 2022 and titled “Voss: Arizona Racing Can’t Afford To Put A Price Tag On Safety”.
Where are those people who were telling us we don’t know anything about horses because WE DISAPPROVED of an OUTRIDER who INTERFERED with the process of what normally happens after the race is over and made the choice to put his outrider pony horse AND himself in the position to be bitten???
Hey, punching a horse in the face made Greg Blasi a hero in their eyes!!!!!
So, what do these people think of all of these horses being killed at Turf Paradise Race Course/Track, 1501 West Bell Road, Phoenix, Arizona (AZ) 85023; (602) 942-1101; turfparadise . com
ARE THESE HORSE-KILLERS considered “GODS” IN THEIR EYES????
On 23 Jan of this year Patrick reported on the shameful overworking of Out for Justice.
OJ survived Turf and now Alejandro Gomez will continue the torment at another illustrious track, Mountaineer. Just one more of the many that are glad to provide the venues for abuse!
And not only is the track deadly for the horses at Turf, but the stalls are also!!
No less than 12 (maybe more) died in their stalls!!!
That”s a lot of stall deaths!
Turf Paradise takes first place in the race to the bottom, which is quite an achievement in this business but well deserved.
In the 2017-2018 report there were all kinds of “recommendations” to improve safety followed by the standard disclaimers such availability of money and the fact the changes were just recommendations !!!
Also, an annual safety report was “promised” each fall . To date, I have been unable to find any such report.
Further, I made some calls to the commissioners concerning the horse, Out for Justice, and spoke to the state veterinarian., Dr Gale, re the frequent starts . She thanked me for bringing it to her attention!
This horse hell needs to be shuttered. Period
P.S. Out for Justice is now being run into the dirt at Mountaineer by the same owner/trainer, Alejandro Gomez. The 3rd start for this horse since the end of April will be 16 May. It will be his 12th start in 5 1/2 months. And of course, this abuse is “legal”. Outrageous!
If they don’t kill the horses by racing them to death, they will sell them to killbuyers. That’s how much they love the horses.
Horse racing is deliberate ANIMAL CRUELTY!
Thank you for the information on this particular horse, Rose! This INHUMANE TREATMENT of a horse IS OUTRAGEOUS AND UNACCEPTABLE to this horse and to the many, many others!!!!
Absolute truth, Wanda. A “We Support Horse Racing” follower and one who has had comments disallowed here – Deb Curtis Olivas – actually SUPPORTS horse slaughter. It’s my understanding she is or has been employed at Turf Paradise. Her kid has also run his mouth about trainers (not the vets) injecting joints, “dirty tricks” to win races, and horses being raced with existing injuries. Turf is a cesspool and should be bulldozed over ASAP – it would save a lot of suffering for a lot of racehorses.
Oh, so Make Me Blush is dead after all, huh? I should have known, since Turf Pairo’Deaths sure loves giving every horse-killing reprobate “trainer” at their desert dump many multiple chances to kill again. And again. and again.
Make Me Blush was just the latest victim of Wade Rarick, best known for racing to death poor Creative Plan. This monster Rarick knew he’d always find a warm welcome at Turf Pairo’Deaths, so his killing streak can and will continue unabated.
RIP to all AZ equine victims, but especially to Make Me Blush, who didn’t have a chance in hell once Rarick got a hold of him.
99% of the horses entered to race at this dump(dump is benign word for it) should not even be cantering let alone running a full race track.
Speaking of Turf Paradise Race Track in Phoenix, Arizona being a dump, I seriously wonder if anyone who dared use their restrooms got an illness from the filthy facilities…? From what I’ve read on the reviews on Maps, they don’t clean things up every day. They should definitely be shut down! Of course, a permanent shutdown would be the best, but at least temporarily as opposed to not at all. It would be awesome if Turf Paradise was not allowed to have any racing days in 2023!
Horrible! It is time to stop horseracing now!!!!
Why and how do so many die in their stalls ? So sad poor babies
Some horses die of colic in their stalls.