Santa Anita, so proud of its recent (but highly dubious) “safety” record, has notched two kills in two days. Pray for My Owner collapsed immediately after the 7th race Friday – “sudden death.” She was just four years old, still an adolescent. Yesterday morning, Barraza went down while training. This one garnered attention in the racing press: Barraza, also four, was a multiple stakes winner and “earner” of $260,000. Said (to DRF) trainer Vladimir Cerin: “He was a really cool horse.” Now, next widget up.
This is horseracing.
BARRAZA went down but the INJURIES are not listed. Did he go down and stay down? Or, was he able to get up but the INJURIES were such that it was not realistic for Frank Stronach and the CHRB to get the horse loaded up and continue standing in order to execute their “safety plan” if you will. What happened to the “musculoskeletal” and/or “non-musculoskeletal” designations to avoid describing the injuries? It looks like the avoidance of reporting anything at all (as much as possible) about downed horses is the new norm for Santa Anita Park. Can you imagine having a wedding on the grounds where thousands of horses have been kept in the past and are kept now in the present time as racing slaves and gambling chips to the point of killing them when they are only one-third, one-half or two-thirds of the way to maturity?
I would expect California to have more organized protest activity. Somewhat disappointing. 4 tracks!?
J Brooks, what are you thinking of when you say “more organized protest activity”? Please explain.
When periodically going to Santa Anita, there are no protests to be seen. When participating in the regulatory process to insure Blea’s license remains suspended, likewise.
Thank you, James.
Pray for my owner. Huh??? Just like he’ll do for you. Horse was running first most of race. Started losing ground and jock made sure that horse crossed the finish line even though fading fast.
It’s ALL about the money!
“Sudden death” “Collapse” Isn’t this just another way to say drugs? Young animals in the prime of life don’t just collapse and die. Re: Medina Spirit.
Horse racing is not a sport it is murdering horses.
Please stop supporting this barbaric old fashioned activity.
So suspiciously strange: The SADT’s latest fatality spike isn’t being covered at all by the L.A. Times. It’s almost as if their “Sports” Department was ordered to cease any and all reporting of local horse racing news — whether “good,” bad, heinous, deadly, and/or hideously ugly.
Of course, true to Racing Press form, John Cherwa and his merry band of horse-killing-enablers at the Times might just be burned-out on scrambling around, looking for a glimmer of hope amid the ocean of carnage that is their favorite anti-sport. And maybe they’ll catch up on their duties soon…
Ha ha. Just kidding! (They probably figure the rest of the SoCal news media is saturating the market with Racehorse Death News, and, frankly, they’re tired of being whipped-on (get it?) by dinosaur blood sport addicts and the animal-loving public alike. Best that they just continue to stay silent;)
“No news is good news” doesn’t apply to this hideous cruelty called horseracing or as you so aptly put it, Kelly, “the Sport of Killings, K(ill)ings.”
Well, yeah. But you’d think that after leading the entire press corps for three years in dutifully detailing all the SADT kills, the L.A. Times wouldn’t just suddenly and inexplicably STOP.
Maybe the Stronachs commanded it;)
Kelly, I don’t know who has the controlling interest or ownership of the Los Angeles Times. I didn’t research it. There’s no doubt in my mind that there is some type of financial leverage thing going on there.
I believe that Frank Stronach wants to keep everything he has now and in order to do that he needs to control the message more so now than ever. Obviously, controlling the message means to stop reporting on the bad news about racing. So, hence, no news about racing in California and especially the “celebrity” track of Santa Anita Park. For anyone who might be planning a wedding or some other very expensive event to be held at Santa Anita, all that horse-killing might be a little horrifying for the uninformed. Wait until after the money has been spent to maybe find out that horses “hurt themselves” on the track, right!?! Also, I believe there might be competition from Churchill Downs and the NYRA for the highest dollar events in racing especially the Breeders’ Cup races. Doesn’t that require your “safety” record to “look good” at least on paper…?