Through a FOIA request to the Arkansas Racing Commission, I have confirmed the following deaths at that state’s only track, Oaklawn, this spring. Please note: The Commission did not forward stall deaths, so this list is incomplete.
Macho Appeal, Jan 16, R: “Pulled up on turn, euthanized on track.”
Majestic Freedom, Jan 23, R – “Pulled up, vanned off. On Feb 1, horse was unable to stand…euthanized. Histology revealed avascular bone necrosis.” Majestic was just two years old – “bone necrosis.”
Green Tea Mochi, Feb 2, T – “Returned acutely lame – pelvic fracture – euthanized.”
Torte, Feb 19, T – “This horse sustained open, bilateral sesamoid fractures [and] complete rupture of the suspensory apparatus.” (two years old)
Good Luck Charm, Apr 8, T – “Multiple fractures with rupture of collateral ligaments…euthanized on track.”
Brice, Apr 16, R – “Catastrophic injury, euthanized on track.” (chart merely said “vanned off”)
SICK.
These scumbags in racing don’t give a rat’s ass about these spectacularly beautiful animals.
Like all other tracks, Oaklawn regularly claims that their ‘safety reforms’ are working.
Does this Kill List look like it’s working to you?
Then they tried like hard to keep this track open and were mad at Churchill Downs for selling it.
So you want to keep a business open that regularly kills racehorses?
NO, your public relation stunts are not working anymore.
For those of us who do not have a working knowledge of such things: “Avascular necrosis is the death of bone tissue due to a lack of blood supply.”
“A broken bone or dislocated joint can stop the blood flow to a section of bone. Avascular necrosis is also associated with long-term use of high-dose steroid medications and too much alcohol.”
I’m speculating that MAJESTIC FREEDOM (a Kentucky-bred Filly born on March 21, 2019) who was euthanized on February 1, 2022 for not being able to stand (NOT BEING ABLE TO STAND) was, most likely, given steroids from close to the time of her birth.
I learned that they do this from a certain video revealing some of the things that breeders do to their Thoroughbred foals that they intentionally exploit for this “racing-industry-that-demands-corporate-welfare” to keep it PROPPED UP by rich people and for rich people (for the most part).
Michael J. Maker is listed on Equibase as her trainer. If you look up her auction history, you can see that she sold for $5,500 in October of 2020 as a Yearling, and again for $30,000 in April of 2021 as a Two-Year-Old in Training 2021 (buyer: Mike Maker).
Her racing record: 1 start with a total of $336 in earnings AND in this race, her only race, she was a DNF.
Imagine being so callously exploited that this 2-year-old filly couldn’t even finish her first, last and ONLY race.
Of course, by the universal birthday assigned to all Thoroughbred race horses, she was running and suffering and NOT FINISHING (and eventually not able to stand up) as a three-year-old.
She was killed on February 1, 2022 and would not turn biologically three years old until March 21, 2022. She was not given the chance to live a normal life because of these GREEDY, cold-hearted killers who are calculating how much money they can get out of the horses.
This is horseracing, where horses are a commodity to be exploited for money no matter how cruel, sadistic and INHUMANE the treatment is now in the present time, has been in the past, and will continue to be in the future, BUT THIS EGREGIOUS CRUELTY TO HORSES MUST NOT CONTINUE to be funded by the government at any level.
Avascular necrosis is what ended Afleet Alex’s racing “career” – and is very likely what caused the condylar fracture he suffered soon after the (2005) Belmont. Additionally, it’s highly probable the avascular necrosis was due to deep bone bruising sustained when the colt nearly went to his knees in the Preakness. Anyone who saw that race and is knowledgeable about equines knew the severe blunt force trauma his front limbs endured set him up for (at the very least) severe bone bruising. And sure enough, it did.
And what a racehorse’s body experiences in a race is no different than what my horses’ bodies experience running around in their pastures? – that’s an absolute lie – in my 30-plus years of having horses, not one has had bone bruising. Not one.
It’s infuriating that a 2-year-old horse, a BABY, has been pushed so hard that he/she has avascular necrosis. ONLY in horseracing.
Thank you Joy, you know your stuff. Afleet Alex exited that Preakness with a deep bloody chunk out of the top part of his left knee. I have the pictures and posters, it’s a sizable deep chunk,so much so it makes me squeamish. It’s what caused his condylar fracture of left front leg.