Kadens Courage in the 1st race at Parx today, as told by the chartwriter: “clipped heels and fell at the top of the stretch causing a catastrophic injury, was subsequently euthanized.” Kadens was 7 years old, and this was his 64th – 64th – time under the whip. He was also “For Sale” ( for a mere $5,000) right before he was killed.
Three races later, this happened:
“MAXIM MOMENT fell over a fallen rival… BUCKS ARE MOVING fell over a fallen rival… POLAR WIND collided with a fallen rival and fell… DIXIE’S TWO STENTS fell over a fallen rival… MIDLANER stumbled badly and fell causing a chain reaction…”
That’s five downed horses. Early word is that all survived, but we’ll see…
Colliding with and falling over another horse while running at full speed has to do intense damage to the horse’s body, not to mention the mental trauma of the accident – I wonder how many of these horses will get a REAL vet check before being sent out again.
What timing for these atrocities to happen during the week leading up to the Kentucky Derby. The chartwriter(s) will have a bit of a challenge to pass this off as “nothing to get shook up about” even though the most die-hard horse-killers will probably laugh about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if some horrible low-life thinks it’s funny. I wonder if there was a veterinarian passing Performance Enhancing Drugs off and this was part of the consequences of illegal doping. These unacceptable INJURIES to racehorses are definitely a consequence of racing.
Well, it would be a public relations nightmare for any REAL sport. But since this is thoroughbred racing — and all the fine, upstanding racing creeps at Parx are fiercely protected by the super-journalists of the national racing press — today is just another day for them.
Of course, the “regulators” at HISA (the obscenely-named Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority) might have to do some extra dancing around all these kills…
But they’ll manage just fine; Corporate Damage Control is their specialty.
(Hooray for you, HISA! Now carry on with your Inaugural Derby Death Week.)
Parx Should Be The Next Racetrack To Close 2023!