She’s a Black Belt Among Two More Dead at NYRA Tracks

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She’s a Black Belt has been confirmed dead after “sustaining an injury to her RF” in the 4th at Aqueduct Saturday. She was seven years old, and this was her 37th race.

Also from the Gaming Commission: Lord Brownie was euthanized at Belmont Friday for “progressive worsening of support limb laminitis.” He was three years old, had been raced 18 times (most recent Jan 21), and had a timed workout Feb 2.

47 Comments

  1. Laminitis is usually a consequence of an underlying hormonal disorder and/or an inflammatory condition. It can happen in ungulates other than horses and has absolutely nothing to do with racing. Symptomatology can appear suddenly and present in less than a day up to 72 hours and is quickly debilitating.

      • Interesting that you claim your non-profit is “educational” yet when someone comments with a simple educational fact directly related to your post, your immediate reaction is to be offended and call names. Why fear clarification? My guess is, as regularly happens here, this response will not be published.

      • Being callous and indifferent to the forced suffering and the daily routine cruelty to horses exploited for racing and for the wagering handle is a sign of being a psychopath and/or a sociopath especially when so many horses are killed as a consequence of this FORCED suffering.
        Despicable is one of many words to describe this callous indifference to the horses’ needs.

        • Please point out to me where I was “callous” or “indifferent” in my response to anything posted. I simply made a factual statement to educate on laminitis. Any ungulates (hooved animal) can suffer this naturally occurring condition. When was the last time you saw cattle or goats racing? Are you aware horses that have never seen a track also contract laminitis? This includes wild mustangs who have never been touched by a human hand. You talk about the cruelty of racing yet I do not see what efforts your organization is making to protect wild horses being culled for no reason. Mr. Battuello posts about how horses should be free to do nothing more than graze and live their best life but these animals are literally being killed, not as a buzz word to tug at heartstrings, for no other reason than being a horse with no one to protect them. Where is your indignation for that? Where are your BLM (Bureau of Land Management) protests to be the voice for those innocent lives?

          • kellycrimmins, where are our protests regarding the other animals being exploited, harmed, killed and disposed of by their respective industries of exploitation and abuse? – that would be on the appropriate platforms.

            Do YOU go to sites that work towards the end of the BLM round-up’s or to those that expose the Big Lick torture and exclaim “hey, why aren’t you calling out the crippling and killing the horseracing industry does to its horses”? Think about it. But then, don’t bother – whataboutism is so overused by the supporters of this industry it can be spotted from miles away even with blinkers restricting one’s vision.

            So what’s the magic number one needs to reach in their support of animal welfare causes before one or any are worthy of that support? Ludicrous, isn’t it?

            • I would think a non-profit under the guise of an “animal rights activist” misnomer would be more concerned for the voiceless animals themselves as a whole than an agenda hyperfocused on an industry. I would think said organization touting education to maintain their tax-exempt status would welcome educational facts instead of instantaneous spewing insults as deflection and perpetuating inaccurate information unchecked. I simply questioned how you pick and choose which horses matter more over others. I am chastised for bringing up the many thousands of mustangs being slaughtered. Seems hypocritical.

              • So again I ask you, kellycrimmins, do you question the wild horse advocates (on THEIR platform) “why aren’t you addressing all of the horse crippling and killing by the horseracing industry”…you DO, correct? Because aren’t they hypocrites for focusing on that one terrible exploitation (the BLM roundups) and not ALL (horseracing, Big Lick, carriage industry, rodeos, etc)?

                Of course that’s ludicrous – but it’s what you want to suggest here. And why? – because you cannot argue the message, all you’ve got is to attack the messenger. And regardless of who that messenger is, the facts remain – horseracing cripples and kills horses. Daily. Then sends countless more to slaughter.

            • As usual, people like you try to deflect by pointing to another equine venues and insisting that we all focus on that instead of the archaic blood show you shamelessly support. Yes, there is abuse inherent in every “sport” that uses horses because humans will go to any lengths to win at the expense of the health and well-being of the horses involved. Go ahead and support the fight to save Mustangs, work toward stopping the soring of Tennessee Walking Horses, or join the cause for any other breed you want, but don’t try to make us feel like we are doing some sort of disservice to every other horse that is suffering out there because we focus specifically on the exploitation and disgusting abuse rampant in the venue that you hold near and dear to your heart.
              No person with even the remnants of a moral compass and a trace of basic decency could support an industry that exploits, abuses, maims, tortures, and disposes of sentient living beings the way horse racing does. A person who claims to fight for the “voiceless horses” yet supports the carnage of the racing industry is no hero. They are a hypocrite.

          • Again, In Case You Missed It: kellycrimmins, this blog is HORSERACING WRONGS. This blog is about the WRONGS that HORSES exploited for RACING by human beings are forced to endure because of the intense greed, the sadistic mistreatment and callous indifference to the horses by the die-hard horse-abusing, horse-doping, horse-killers in the HORSE RACING INDUSTRY. As a child and as a teenager, I saw horses and ponies in the 1950s and 1960s that were not raced, but had foundered. But for you to DENY AND DEFLECT that a RACEHORSE that was RACED 18 times and got Laminitis had nothing to do with racing is callous indifference to the suffering inflicted upon the horse. This RACEHORSE suffered from other afflictions by the very fact that the horse was being used as a RACEHORSE. You failed to show any concern or regard that the horse may have had an injured limb from RACING, and as Marie points out, this racehorse’s NON-INJURED LIMB was the supporting limb.
            [Read it again: “…LORD BROWNIE was euthanized at Belmont Friday for “progressive worsening of support limb laminitis.”] This is obviously what Joy Aten refers to by the first letters of each word: Support Limb Laminitis or SLL.
            It is not difficult to decipher that a horse must support his own weight, and with ONE INJURED LIMB, use one limb that is not injured in order to use the NON-INJURED LIMB to support weight. How can I be more redundant? You asked me to point out your callous indifference.
            The point that you make about horses getting laminitis that aren’t subjected to racing is true; and very elementary, I might add. However, to say that this horse, LORD BROWNIE, having laminitis has nothing to do with racing is false. So. Very. False.
            When Mr. Battuello reports on a horse that was raced 18 times and had a recent TIMED WORKOUT on February 2nd, and you say that when he got laminitis, it had nothing to do with racing, well, you were simply being indifferent to the horse’s situational suffering. I don’t know how I could point out your “callous indifference” anymore unless you are willing to see it for yourself. I could point out that you have conveniently chosen to completely ignore the killing of the horse mentioned at the top of this post. Do you care one iota about the horse named SHE’S A BLACK BELT confirmed dead after “sustaining an injury to her Right Front” in the 4th at Aqueduct Saturday? This selective blindness on your part appears to be very callous indifference because I think you are old enough to know better.

          • There are websites dedicated solely to saving wild horses. This one is about racehorses.

    • No she’s not. She shared factual information. People need to see both sides of the story. Yes it’s sad horses die and we want to see that minimized but sharing lies and propaganda to eliminate a sport and some people’s livelihoods is also despicable. I went to the Big A yesterday and didn’t even see a trace of the equine ambulance. All horses finished their races and walked back under their own power. Report the good days too!

      • In Case You Missed It: The name of this blog is HORSERACING WRONGS. The emphasis is on the constant daily abuse and abnormal forced confinement and forced exercise to the point of fatalities to so many of the horses. To confine horses to stalls 23 hours a day is wrong. To force horses to run at a full gallop every day is wrong. To exploit weanlings, yearlings and 2-year-olds for racing and wagering is wrong. All of these things done to horses for racing and wagering are cruel and morally wrong.
        These things done to horses are not even horsemanship, but abuse. What part of abusing horses for your entertainment is morally depraved and wrong can you not understand, “Honest Truth”?
        You know you could put on some kind of costume and get down in the dirt and in the starting gate and have someone shock you and whip you to make you jump out of the starting gate real fast and then run on foot in the dirt real fast while being whipped and shocked yourself and tell us about how much you enjoyed that, “Honest Truth”.

      • Livelihood🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮you make me sick. Don’t be LAZY. There are So many jobs that need filling right NOW. And, you know what? They DON’T involve torturing AND killing animals. There is a worker shortage in this country!!!!!!!!!!

        • I have my money and a career. And no I don’t directly work in the industry. If ends tomorrow, my life goes on. I made my money elsewhere than the horse racing industry. But I know a lot of really nice people who depend on this industry. Some owners, trainers, jockeys and betters. Maybe facts would matter. You make it seem like a horse goes down every race which isn’t true. But what’s the solution to the worker shortage? Maybe we can train some of these horses to wait tables, answer phones or clean a restroom? I think it would be fun. But what if a horse gets hurt doing one of those jobs and has to be put down? Will horse racing wrongs shift to horses in the workplace wrongs?

    • Except that your “simple educational fact” is NOT actual fact, kellycrimmins, but just another inaccuracy claimed in defense of an industry that cripples and kills animals. DAILY.

      Having been a “horse mom” for nearly 35 years – my horses on my own property, caring for them every single day and night – AND having rescued TB racehorses right from the track, fostering and rehabbing so many I lost count – I can say that laminitis without a doubt can and does result from the daily existence of racehorses and all they endure.

      We saw many cases of SLL. MANY. Some had suffered with it to the point their coffin bone had penetrated the sole. Injuries are routine to the horses used by racing. Everyone knows it, including you. And anyone who is knowledgeable about horses also knows there is always the risk of SLL when a horse suffers a limb injury.

      That’s what racing does – it INCREASES the risks of injury and death…it sets horses up for bad endings.

      • So all the veterinarians and researchers trying to find a cure are wrong as well? Why would they lie about Laminitis commonly resulting from endocrine diseases such as equine metabolic syndrome (EMS), pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID), or excessive sugar intake from grain or lush pasture? What would be the reason for them spreading falsehoods, especially those that are not members of the racing community? Why do cattle and goats become inflicted? Why do non-racing breeds and wild mustangs suffer this condition if it is exclusive to the track?

        • Take a breath and READ. Firstly, where did I say the veterinary community “lied”? – of course equines contract and succumb to laminitis AND for a number of etiologies.

          The point to be made here, in this particular case of Lord Brownie, his laminitis was identified as SLL. You clearly would like to quickly skip over that fact.

          Racing/training causes limb injuries. Fact – acknowledged by industry members themselves – evidenced by racehorses not racing into what is considered an equine’s prime age (my horses aren’t “retired” from the activity THEY choose at ANY age, are yours?).

          Limb injuries set horses up for SLL. Fact. Horses bred for and used by racing are at an increased risk of injury (and death). Fact. Laminitis risk-factors are increased for racehorses simply because of their “occupation”. Fact.

        • And since you’ve mentioned it twice now, I’m really curious about the “wild mustangs” with laminitis…I fostered two ungentled, starved BLM SA mustangs several years ago and became even more committed to helping bring an end to what our government subjects these magnificent creatures to – in all I’ve researched AND been told by the experts, I’ve not come across any “wild mustangs” (who were VOID of any human interference) contracting laminitis – can you provide that information?

    • You seem to be so very confident in your lack of logic to defend racing. A predisposition is not the same as causation. Heart disease has a strong genetic component, some people are more susceptible than others. That doesn’t mean you can’t take steps to prevent it or do things that increase your risk. Yes, some horses are predisposed to laminitis. That doesn’t mean that predisposition causes laminitis. Give me two horses with the same predisposition and I’m sure I could cause laminitis in one and prevent it in the other. You ignored the fact that the incidence of laminitis in racing thoroughbreds is about three times that in non-racing. It’s the same as colic or stomach ulcers or even fractures. Yes, it can happen to any horse but it occurs way more frequently in horses which are locked in a stall, fed a high grain diet, injected with NSAIDs and who knows what else, and pounded on a racetrack before they’re mature. I think you like to sound smart when you’re really rather clueless. The alternative is you do know what’s going on and you’re just obfuscating.

  2. It also says “support limb”. Guessing this was related to an injury on one leg and the laminitis developed in the non-injured leg.

  3. Pretty heated discussion here, so once again I’ll have to throw in my two cents.

    For what it’s worth.

    Kelly Crimmins is not wrong when she states that “any ungulates (hooved animal) can suffer this naturally occurring condition”. [laminitis]

    Nor is she wrong when she states that “Symptomatology can appear suddenly and present in less than a day up to 72 hours and is quickly debilitating.”

    All true.

    But she’s not addressing the ‘elephant in the room’, and that is, that racehorses are constantly being drugged to mask the pain for both chronic and sudden symptomatic conditions, and in all probability, this is leading to the increase of fatal injuries and death at the racetrack.

    Trainers seem to feel the need to ‘keep the horses running’ no matter what their condition, because they “just don’t make no money unless they’re runnin!”

    Horse that are unsound and need rest and recuperation are often sent out to the starting gate regardless, and, because of the drugs, they may feel no pain, even though they may be infirm – so, as a result they’ll run at full tilt, which inevitably leads to these breakdowns.

    Unnecessary breakdowns, I might add.

    Neither Kelly Crimmins nor Honest Truth may know it, so I’ll tell you both now. I am NOT an animal activist, AND I was a regular visitor and handicapper at the races. I used to handicap horses quite thoroughly using many tools of the trade, including the ‘Ragozin’ Sheets, Thorougraph, the DRF, and, I might add, I would win quite often because I was able to determine which horses were competitive and which were not, based on their past performances. Also, I’ve been to and handicapped all the major U.S. racetracks and knew many owners and trainers as well. Unfortunately, I started losing badly at just about the same time when it appeared that the influx of illegal and untraceable drugs were being administered to the racehorses on a more frequent basis.

    I also won’t deny that I miss the daily ‘action’ at the races, but I can no longer participate in the ‘sport’ knowing what I know now, and seeing these animals break down on a daily basis.
    It’s no coincidence that I can no longer win money wagering on horse racing because my handicapping skills have been compromised, since the PPs are no longer valid; the unreported and excessive illegal drug use has seen to that.

    There is a lot of money at stake here, and, yes, track vets can be complicit, as well as the trainers. I often bring up trainer Bob Baffert, whose Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit was taken down after the fact because of illegal drug use. It’s also worth repeating that if a world class trainer like Baffert, probably the best in the business, can’t win without the use of illegal drugs, doesn’t it stand to reason that rampant, illegal drug use is the norm in this industry, not the exception?

    Both Kelly Crimmins and Honest Truth fail to address this issue in their posts, and I respectfully request to both of them that they look a little further into what’s really going on behind the scenes at the races. They might be very (un)pleasantly surprised.

    Respectfully,
    -Joe

    • Don’t worry Joe, Crummi Kelly, will have to defend a 2 yr old DYING today. For her lazy ass, who won’t go get a REAL job. Defend this 2 yr old dying just now Miss Crummi.

      • Actually my “lazy ass” works 50-60 hours per week at a “real job” as well as working as a photographer on the side too. It helps pay to care for horses I have adopted out of a kill pen and retired OTTB’s.

        • How do you justify a 2 yr old colt dying today during his only SECOND race ever? Face it you’re supporting state sanctioned ANIMAL ABUSE.

            • Would it matter what my response was? You and I both know it would not. Someone validated an earlier point and you still insulted him. I validated any earlier point and I don’t see that comment posted. I stated my perspective and you used juvenile name calling to deflect.

              • If anyone truly cares about their horses, they wait until the colts and fillies are in the correct stage of development to be able to mentally and physically handle the level of training. If anyone truly put Animal Welfare over the money, this industry would cease and desist the daily routine cruelty to the horses. There would be no need for this group to exist if people would stop being callously indifferent to the basic needs of the horses. As it is, the racing industry breeds horses for the sole purpose of exploiting them like a commodity. Live animals are not machines but there are so many people in the horseracing industry that treat the horses like slaves. It’s mind-boggling at how much abuse, pain and suffering that horses can tolerate so that clueless people remain clueless.

    • Joe, I know there’s scumbags in the game. I hope they all get caught and thrown out of the sport. There’s a guy at Parx that I am confident will be taken out in handcuffs in the coming months. Just hope that bombshell doesn’t cripple the sport in Pa. as the current governor is the man responsible for getting the pedophile priests.
      But you’re nuts if you trust the other pro sports. The majority of the action they offer are sucker bets and I’m sure you know that but there’s not much of an edge in the good bets anymore as the books have gotten much much better. Plus you want to trust 20 something kids who need rest days and put out half assed efforts?

      • Honest Truth, I don’t know where you ever got the idea, but I DO NOT bet on pro sports; I’ve never bet on them, and I never will, for all the reasons you mentioned..

        I’ve always felt my solid handicapping and mathematical approach to horse racing’s past performances and timed workouts gave me an edge when looking for competitive and well-meant entries that the public might overlook on race day – often at generous odds.

        But the over-use of drugs, which I firmly believe is contributing greatly to the increasing number of breakdowns, has also crippled my own handicapping prowess. What good are bullet workouts, three or more wins in a row, PPs that indicate a fast, competitive pace, when on race day the horse is drugged up and/or unsound? I was not a $2 bettor. Too many of these big losses threw me off the game forever.

        I’m not naïve, either; I know that illegal drug use has been a part of horse racing for a long time. But it has gotten to the point now where it is now SO rampant, it finally affected my own handicapping abilities. That’s when it was time to go.

        I’ve found that the influx of these illegal and untraceable drugs has rendered the PPs virtually useless. I used to cash many W2G forms- [you may know this, but some of those on this site may not: A W2G form is a required IRS form to fill out because you just won $600 on a $1 bet] Sometimes I had over 20 or 30 every year to submit to my accountant, and slowly, but ever so slowly it finally dwindled down to zero.

        I was a regular patron of Saratoga every summer, often betting the whole meet, every race day. I never witnessed nor heard about the appalling number of breakdowns that are being documented, with facts, on this site. We’d see one or two throughout the whole summer, and I too, thought it was just an anomaly. Sadly, this site proves otherwise.

        As an aside: on one of those fine afternoons I brought with me a lovely lady that I was desperately trying to impress; I’d secured a highly desirable table in the Turf Terrace restaurant right on the finish line, along with a private betting window nearby for Turf Club members [of which I was one] only. She’d never been to the races, Well, all was going swimmingly until a horse broke down right near the finish line, and that’s when my lovely date got up, horrified and angry, left, and told me “I never want to see that – or you – again!”

        I should have known right then and there, that this was not a venture that was very good-
        for dating, or otherwise! But it took me the further loss of a lot of money to finally see the light. If you investigate further, you might not like what you see, either.

        It’s worth repeating: I’m not stupid. I left.
        -Joe

  4. All true, Joe. The other factor is – TBs are usually fed a high sugar, high fat diet, and LOTS of it. Another factor that often causes laminitis. Plus, since they can injure themselves at a higher rate than my kids in the backyard- they are more often on stall rest, or hand walking a few laps around the barn. Both together is a recipe for higher risk of laminitis.

    • Actually pasture grasses are high in water-soluble carbohydrates which are responsible for a form of insulin-induced laminitis. Lush grass and it’s extra starches fermented in the horses gastrointestinal tract. Especially in spring.

      • Yes, but the majority of horse owners are knowledgeable of that and slowly build up the amount their horses are grazing in the spring and fall. The other factor I forgot to mention is “concussion”. The excessive pounding that horses undergo on the track are another reason they are prone to laminitis.
        The tracks I was at also involved walking on concrete frequently.

      • If you want to discuss the differences between grass founder and being foundered because of Support Limb Laminitis (SLL), that would be something worthy of an intelligent discussion. However, to deny that horses suffer because of racing is the big problem with you, kellycrimmins. DENY and DEFLECT tactics get real old, real quick.

  5. She’s a Black Belt…I found the video of this racehorse bobbling as the leg broke on the track. What a gorgeous horse she “was”.

    • Poor horse was in the hands of that POS Rodriguez too. I just have to wonder why the racing folks are OK with the same guys killing horses in large numbers, especially when they keep saying they aren’t OK with horses dying, or wish it was less, like good ol truth up there? Why is it OK to have guys with higher kill rates out there?? And they just keep doing their business with NO ONE questioning it!

      • Marie, I saw owner and trainer the same. Another victim and they stay in business. HOW???

  6. And, by the way, Joe ..BEING an animal activist is a good thing. Unlike being a track fly.

    • Joe is AGAINST RACING sore and INJURED horses that are doped to the hilt just to keep them running (and bringing in some purse money for the owners, trainers, jockeys and grooms). That’s a good thing.

      • If these trainers and owners ran an honest game, I’d probably still be in it; but their very own actions [i.e. the incessant drugging of their charges] is getting harder and harder to hide and the fatal breakdowns are becoming much more frequent.

        Die-hard racing fans and bettors HATE to see horses breaking down, particularly if they’ve got money riding on them. Too many breakdowns will eventually lead to a total disintegration of the sport. Attendance that is down -what is now, 87%? – speaks volumes for the future of horse racing. When that happens, the insiders will have only themselves to blame. Too many reasons for me to leave, and none to stay.
        I’m not stupid. I left.
        -Joe

        • The SMIRK EXPRESS hit a speed bump; all horses running in races on the road to the Kentucky Derby cannot earn points if they are “trained” by Bob Baffert. The owners must transfer any horses to a different approved trainer, if they want to earn points to qualify to be entered in the Derby. It is not enough, but it’s something better than nothing.

    • I am not an animal activist; nor am I a doctor, a paratrooper, firefighter or an EMT.
      I would not deny that these are all good things. I’m just not one.
      Also, I’m not sure if this post was meant as an insult to me by using the term “track fly.”
      But I will take the high road here and assume it was not.

      -Joe

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