A week ago, I wrote this about Illinois racing: Illinois is a subsidy state, meaning the three remaining tracks there subsist mostly on corporate welfare. This non-racing-related gaming revenue also allows for first-last payouts. Everybody wins – except, of course, the horses. Again today, I present the (added) evil of subsidization.
Yesterday at Hawthorne:
In the 1st race, Beg Borrow N Steal finished last, 30 lengths back; her exploiters (and yes, I include the jockeys) – Chris Block, Constantino Roman – still cashed in ($2,040).
In the 2nd race, Storm’s Reflection finished last, 24 back; his exploiters – Manny Perez, Constantino Roman – still cashed in.
In the 5th race, Boozin At Bozos finished last, 24 back; her exploiters – Anthony Didier, Bruce Riecken, Javier Ortega – still cashed in.
In the 7th race, Wanda Strong finished last, 50.5 lengths back; her exploiters – Janice Ely, Patti Miller, Constantino Roman – still cashed in.
And most egregious, in the 3rd, says the chart, “Marys Last Song was reluctant to load when asked to enter the stalls for the first time, acted fractious in the gate when the field reloaded after a scratch, chased at the rear on the turn, was urged in upper stretch and driven near the 3/16, stopped just past that pole, was pulling up as he [sic: he’s a she] crossed the wire and was vanned off after the race.”
This poor girl was “reluctant to load” and “fractious” before the race. Then, she “chased at the rear,” but was still “urged” and “driven” (whipped and forced, that is). She was not “pulled up” until after the wire. Then, she was “vanned off” (dead?). For this, her exploiters – Rigo Rosas, Doug Matthews, Carlos Ulloa – netted $960.
This is what happens when you subsidize animal cruelty.
All these subsidies need to be eliminated! If a business can`t be sustained on its own it should be allowed to fail. Racing clearly can`t sustain itself on wagering handle alone anymore.
Many of these morally depraved people involved in this abuse of horses would still abuse horses even without the public funding. They wouldn’t be able to do it as much right out in the open for everybody to see it. The new foal crop numbers of Jockey Club registered Thoroughbred foals would decline at a much more rapid pace than they have been for the last 36 (thirty-six) years. Many more breeding farms would not stay in business. Many of the people who claim to be horsemen or horsewomen would think it was terrible that the government didn’t keep them in a paycheck producing young horses for slaughter and/or racing and then slaughter (because some young horses are shipped to slaughter without being raced and some young horses are raced first and then, if not killed directly by racing, shipped to slaughter after their racing “career” is over.
This is a very sick game of killing horses one way or another. It needs to be punished by law!