As the New York Racing Association desperately tries to generate interest – Rich Strike here, Rich Strike there – in next Saturday’s relatively insipid Belmont Stakes, its host track keeps on killing. Yesterday, Gold Panda, four, was felled while training. He is the 26th – 26th – kill at Belmont this year – a year, we note, that has more than a half to go. (Of course, Belmont has averaged 50 kills over the past three years, so…)
Relatedly, HW will be hosting a massive protest at the Stakes, with guaranteed media. Please, if you’re within striking distance, join us. Strength in numbers.
If I had the wherewithal ($$$$$) to travel that far, it would make more sense (to me) to just donate that amount of money, in my opinion. I would love to be there and participate in the protest first-hand, but I give you my moral support instead.
Me too!
I’m with you Wanda! I would love to be there but it’s too far and too many $$$$. But I will be with y’all in spirit!
OMG – the name of the racing stable which raced Gold Panda to death is Happy Face Racing Stable. You know the “happy faces” aren’t the horses, just the people counting their bankroll.
Of course, none of Belmont’s recent kills will be mentioned by anyone in the (highly credible, super-journalistic) racing press; they’re all in Save Our Belmont Blood Sport Mode this week. Plus, they’re busy backpedaling on Rich Strike’s “trainer,” Eric Reed.
After his unlikely Derby win (the HORSE’s, not Reed’s), racing reporters wanted sooooo badly to promote Mr. Reed as one of racing’s likable and upstanding “good guys” who was gonna help revitalize racing’s decimated image and garner hope for Growing the Game. Instead, Reed very publicly proved himself to be quite the opposite of their Dream Man: he revealed himself as another misogynistic dinosaur animal abuser — complete with a sordid history of cruelty allegations, and a shitload of documented rule violations.
(Also, he doesn’t have a clue on how social media works, apparently;)
In other words, this certain individual with these certain characteristics represents the horse racing industry as a whole — he is the epitome of horseracing… Abuse and cheat, ABUSE AND CHEAT, abuse and cheat, rinse and repeat.
Eric Reed is disgusting in more ways than one. From one of a number of articles, this…
“Eric Reed, the trainer of Kentucky Derby long shot winner Rich Strike, appeared to sidestep ESPN’s questions on Wednesday about a demeaning tweet he allegedly wrote about Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Reed has been accused of making a sexist slur in a Twitter response to former Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka, the New York Post reported.
“Gorka asked on social media in January, ‘So what exactly are Kamala’s qualifications?’ To which an account that appears linked to Reed replied: ‘Heard she’s good on her knees!!’” (It WAS Reed’s Twitter account.)