In the $1M Breeders’ Cup “Juvenile Turf Sprint” this afternoon at Keeneland, Tyler’s Tribe (below) was “vanned off” after suffering epistaxis, which means that he bled from his nostrils, which means that he bled in his lungs. A vet from the AAEP told BloodHorse that this – pulmonary hemorrhage – is “a common occurrence” in horseracing. “A common occurrence.” Tyler’s Tribe is but two years old.
Well, we don’t call it the Bleeders’ Cup for no reason, do we?
Did the veterinarian remember to add that race horses suffering from fatal injuries and being subsequently euthanized are also common occurrences? Did he or she say that abusing and killing horses is just part of the game? Causing harm and bleeding to a two-year-old colt is not something that could be dismissed so easily if these criminal abuses of horses were prosecuted as the felony animal cruelty that it is.
“Career-ending” injuries (AKA permanent damage for life) and dying is presented as collateral damage that everybody should accept because that’s just the way it is.
Racehorse abusers and killers who perpetrate widespread suffering on living beings thinks that it’s perfectly okay when it’s not.
Yesterday, in Race 9 at Keeneland in another “prestigious” (according to industry standards) stakes race “Fan Duel BC Juvenile” (AKA babies whose muscu-skeletal system is years away from being mature) LOST ARK barely made it through the race and, in fact, struggled just to get to the finish line.
This 2 y.o baby colt was “eased in the stretch and walked off” and his issues will never be known to the public because they bring him back to his jail cell where all the abuse takes place far away from the crowds or prying eyes.
LOST ARK yet another victim of Todd Pletcher who didn’t seem to give a damn because he was busy celebrating in the winners circle with a longshot called FORTE owned by owner Mike Repole whose has plenty of racehorses permanently mangled or die under TP.
Then this (like I said they are getting awfully creative these days) they pointed out that this race was presented by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance just to remind the public that, after all, horse racing takes care of their racehorses when they are done mangling them.
Anybody who knows anything about horse racing, who knows the facts, who has ever visited a kill auction or even rescued one of their disposable gambling chips knows damn well that the majority of racehorses end up on the slaughterhouse floor.
That’s their retirement and for this industry to continue to project an image that they have adequate homes for all of these racehorses is deliberately deceiving the public.
To this day, there isn’t one racetrack in North America nor any sales auction houses (Keeneland) nor any multibillion dollar wagering company that has a 1% mandatory aftercare contribution for racehorses while they boasted that, yesterday alone, $66 million in wagering profits!
Horse racing is a modern day version of slavery and it’s downright vile.
Gina, thank you for posting about Lost Ark. I too, noticed he had crawled across the finish line, and stopped right after, whether from sheer exhaustion or pain.
I, too, find irony in the race being sponsored by the TAA. They give the winners the blingy coolers and other gifts, which is money they could have spent rescuing another TB out of a kill pen.
This, at the risk of sounding terribly redundant, is why, as a bettor, I left this game for good last year.
This weekend, the Breeders Cup, is supposed to be the finest weekend of racing with the finest equine athletes in the world, all year. As a former handicapper, at this time of year, I would study the PPs in depth before placing a bet on what I thought were sound, healthy, ‘cream of the crop’ animals – the best of the best, ready to do what they do best -run like the true stars that they are.
Well, guess I was, uh, like, dead wrong, huh?
For just a moment here, putting these poor horses’ abject cruelty and horrid suffering aside, one has to logically ask – are these people downright STUPID as well? Some of these horses cost more money than most people will make in their lifetime. Why on earth would one place an incredibly large investment like that at such high risk by racing them when they KNOW they’re unsound??
Isn’t that kind of like competing in the Indy 500 with a race car that you KNOW has a damaged motor?
I’ll repeat: are they that STUPID?
In addition to the horrors that these poor animals are subjected to, these fools that are running the show are doing a great job of destroying their own game. Running sick, infirm drugged-up animals cannot be hidden forever. Most reasonable, rational people HATE to see animals abused – whether they’re horse racing fans or not.
And no likes to be cheated, or, to feel like a fool because they’ve been ‘taken’, by unknowingly participating in a highly crooked game.
Little by little, more bettors will follow suit and leave. Other than than the ‘big days’, horse racing is dying a slow death, and these cheaters brought it on themselves.
The ugly trifecta: stupid, greedy and cruel.
Me, I’m glad I left
-Joe
DRF posted that wagering was down 5% across the board in October. I know the handles are down dramatically this year at the tracks I raced at. I can’t imagine they even cover a full day of racing with the money they are bringing in. I love it.
Your commentary is welcome here, Joe, regardless of how much you might feel that you are being redundant. This is a situation where the message cannot be repeated enough until the crimes committed against horses stop.
This is horseracing meaning a gambling racket that deceives the betting public AND knowingly and willfully injures, maims, mangles, cripples and kills horses and attempts to hide the true number of horses injured, euthanized, shipped to slaughterhouses and all for the “Almighty Dollar” regardless of what, who and how those dollars are poured into the pockets of the rich such as the Stronachs as well as many other people in this morally depraved industry. All government subsidies and government-directed benefits including tax write-offs need to be stopped. All legislation that supports the horseracing industry needs to be replaced with legislation that will recognize the abuse, neglect, cruelty to horses and punish the offenders (with real punishment) rather than rewarding them with public funds.
I totally agree with you, Joe as I really love horses too much to see them abused and killed by these incompetent and cruel maniacs who handle and control these horses in the horseracing competitions. They need to go to jail for these cruel crimes against the horses. I hope that more people will leave as you did This will help end this cruel sport eventually.
Tyler’s Tribe was raced 5 times prior to yesterday’s race – he was given Lasix in all 5 of those races. So they knowingly raced him, a bleeder, without Lasix, (again) knowingly subjecting him to pulmonary hemorrhage. And BLEED he did.
EIPH is a “common occurrence” in horseracing? – yes, we’re well aware. That said, how many of you need to give your own personal horses Lasix to prevent pulmonary hemorrhage when they’re running around in their own pastures? Never? – I didn’t think so.
There’s no difference between a horse running a race and a horse running in his/her pastures? – just one lie in all of the lies.
Here’s a good one, tweeted by a Derek Merkler to me, regarding Tyler’s Tribe bleeding badly yesterday…
“Do gooders ban medications to pretend like they accomplish something in their lives and then blame us when the horse gets hurt racing. No, asshole, his injury is on your shoulders.”
They get a bit testy when the cruelty they defend comes under the spotlight. He wants us, who speak for AND rescue the racing industry’s horses, to “burn in hell”…he might want to rethink that one unless HE is going to provide homes for the countless crippled, used-up and unwanted racehorses.
How convenient to blame someone else for the abuse these horse-abusing, horse-doping, horse-killers inflict on the horses everyday including race day. Sounds like a typical incorrigible criminal.
He is exactly the kind of animal abuser that should be behind bars. Obviously, he has no genuine compassion for the horses and is not ever going to have any empathy for the horses.
Just saw that one, Joy. What a freaking greedy, narcissistic hothead he is — so OF COURSE he’s a racehorse breeder. Blaming YOU for his own animal cruelty and inflicted suffering — now I’ve seen it all. Or, at least I hope I have.