The NYS Gaming Commission has belatedly confirmed the death of Cozy Dancer at Belmont April 30: “injured in stall after getting cast.” While the Commission has his age as two, he was in fact still just a year old the day he died. Imagine that.
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I can’t imagine this. And clearly no one checks these horses on off hours. He must have struggled for hours.
The cruelty of this business knows NO bounds.
We do not know any details of the death or how long that very immature horse struggled in terror and we will never know. But we do know he suffered and died.
Cozy Dancer had not even turned two but he was locked in a stall, denied the socialization and stimulation needed for normal healthy physical and mental development while being pushed unmercifully to get in that gate and make these abusers $$.
In this business of cruelty he is just one more dead horse and nobody cares and nobody is accountable.
Just when I think racing can sink no lower – it DOES. Poor baby.
This is so unacceptable and it makes me so angry that I cannot truly express it!!!!! 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
Just a baby. I can’t imagine his terror.
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It’s so horrible what these pseudo-horsemen do to these young horses!!!!! This is ABUSE AND NEGLECT as well daily routine cruelty and torture!!!! He should never have been anywhere near a racetrack!!!!!
My blood went cold when I read this – triggered what I came across or heard about when I worked in the industry.
After the last feed everyone goes home and the horses are left in their stalls from about 5pm to about 4am next morning. Not unusual to hear about a horse being cast, many survive with various injuries but some suffer a fractured leg, shoulder, head/neck trauma, etc. and are euthanased. They thrash about in desperation against solid walls like brick, concrete, timber or metal. I’ve seen the marks on the walls.
One horse was scratched from his race after being cast during the night – reason for scratching not disclosed of course.
I heard about an incident at a yearlings sale when a baby had got cast during the night. I hate to think of his fear and futile attempts to save himself (the equine being a prey animal will not lay down for any more than about an hour and if he is the red flag goes up because there’s something wrong). The yearling suffered a fractured leg and was euthanased. “withdrawn from sale” went up which usually means breeder/owner has changed their minds maybe to keep him or sell privately further down the track. Of course real reason was under wraps. At these multi million dollar sales no expense is spared, everything is laid on big time with food, drinks, entertainment, etc. Security guards are employed during the night to ensure that no one breaks in. However, the risk of a horse becoming cast during the night when his handlers have left is high but not a consideration. Needless to say that the security guard would’ve heard this baby thrashing about for many hours and that something was very wrong.
Carolyn, I remember reading your comments in past posts on this blog about horses that became cast in their stalls. I wonder how much a security guard at Belmont Park would be able to hear with the fact that the grounds are large and so many horses being confined to stalls there. I have not been there in person, but I have been to the racetrack in Tampa, Florida about 48 years ago and it was in the morning when there was a lot of activity with owners, trainers, jockeys, exercise riders, grooms and the cafeteria and the people working there. When I was talking to the security guard, there is no way that I could hear all of the goings on from the entrance of the grounds.
In another area away from the main grounds, maybe a kind of overflow area for more horses than they have room for on the main grounds, I did see another shedrow of stalls and horses standing inside with one middle-aged man sitting on the ground in front with his back leaning against the outside wall of the building. He was most likely a groom with the task of keeping an eye on the horses, and with no place else to live anyway.
I can only imagine what it’s like to be at Belmont without being there in person, but I do believe somebody was really out to lunch anyway, to say the least!!!!!!
I knew a security guard who told me no way was he going into the barns. he hated horses. When one of them got out of his stall he just slapped the door shut. Those poor babies
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Thank you, as always, for your insights, Carolyn. The terror of a trapped, helpless prey animal. Words fail.
It would be so simple and more humane to end horse racing and very much more humane to get off there butts and check these animals.
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There is no excuse to neglect a horse. The person responsible for the demise of the horse should be punished by the full extent of the law. This is criminal animal abuse/or neglect.
It would be so simple and inexpensive to install a “cast strip” in those stalls, but of course, that would mean the industry actually gave half a shit about their horses.
What you said.