3-year-old Havnameltdown was killed in the just-completed 6th at Pimlico. Yes, Pimlico. On Preakness Day. Havna was trained by Bob Baffert, which is what will dominate the news accounts. But it shouldn’t. This is about the horseracing industry’s utter inability to prevent death. I know it. They know it. It’s high time the rest of the world knows it.
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The horse was euthanized on the track. Saez to a local hospital with pain in legs. Let’s see how they explain this away with the sad sack connections boohooing. Another GORGEOUS horse dead for WHAT?
This tragedy has hit the wave lengths already. Good..get the horror out there to show what a disgusting show of inhumanity this is. And they are mentioning names not just poor horse dead from an accident at the big show in Pimlico
I was told baffert also had one breakdown that morning galloping so sounds like he had 2 on that day .
Bob Baffert should have his name and criminal activities published in the headlines for the abuse and brutality that he inflicts on horses, but ALL of the people who enabled him in the past and continue to enable him in the present and future should have their names in the headlines for their part in the abuse and killing of horses as well. The Stronach Group, including BELINDA STRONACH, should be in the headlines for facilitating the abuse and killing of horses in every state where they own and operate racing and wagering.
It should be publicized which racetracks and gambling businesses that The Stronach Group owns and operates. It should be publicized that The Stronach Group enabled and continues to enable Bob Baffert to abuse, dope and kill Thoroughbreds for big money. It should be publicized that this whole rotten industry is rotten to the core and that anybody who believes otherwise is highly mistaken.
It should be publicized by the national news media that horseracing should be banned completely everywhere.
All human participants in this industry should be punished by law. That should be the headline; “IF (WHEN) Bob Baffert can get away with abusing, doping, maiming and killing horses, in other words, if he can be held above the law just like all the other ANIMAL WELFARE CODE VIOLATORS in this despicable industry, then WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?”
They all should be held accountable to the laws instead of being held above the Animal Welfare laws.
🛑 stop this nonsense! How many more have to die!
It’s not the track. It’s not the trainer. It IS the brutal demands of RACING an animal with flight & herd instincts; the speed, the pounding, the close quarters, the being forced to continue w/ a tiring body. HORSERACING KILLS. Period.
BINGO
It’s the the horses themselves. They are products of decades of breeding only for speed and ignoring everything else. Unsound champions are bred and make more unsound foals. Breeders don’t care if they breakdown at the age of 3 or 4 as long as they can win a few big races beforehand. Horses over a century ago were were resilient and sturdy, they worked, carried men into battle, pulled wagons, and plowed fields. They didn’t fall apart galloping. God never intended horses to be what man has made them due to human greed. Personally, I believe the issues of slaughter and breeding should be addressed with or before abolishing racing because breeding will continue even if horse racing does not. Breeders will simply sell to foreign interests. If racing ended tomorrow, thoroughbreds would be slaughtered by the tens of thousands. What do you think happened to greyhounds and carriage horses when they lost their jobs? A euthanization on the track is merciful compared to a torturous death in a Mexican slaughter house, and that would be the fate of most thoroughbreds if racing is abolished. It’s a double-edged sword. So yes, horse racing is cruel but so is the alternative. The priority should be to end horse slaughter first.
I believe that you are very intelligent. Your comment was not only well thought out but well spoken.
Many of the main news outlets are already on this story, including pictures of the tarp and horse ambulance. God willing, this poor horse has not died in vain and will get the anti horse racing movement going even stronger! One of the articles on yahoo stated it “was a gruesome scene, with the horse trying to run on a dangling leg”, and I hope this caused a lot of those party goers at pimlico to walk out!!
What is it going to take to open peoples eyes in this sport? I worked in horse related sports for a short time and it’s just “a business” to them. It breaks my heart that these beautiful horses are treated like race cars instead of beautiful living creatures. It’s no better than dog racing, dog fighting or cockfighting. I won’t support any animal abuse of any kind.
Havnametdown ran in one of the Saudi races this spring, finished second. He was considered among the best of Bob Baffert’s trainees. I looked into Havnameltdown’s pedigree to see where the inbreeding and weak links were.
He had the Native Dancer line through his sire, Uncaptured. And the Native Dancer line via Raise a Ruckus, whose sire was Raise A Native. Native Dancer is the famous unsound prolific sire who produced so many unsound horses through sire son Raise A Native and his son, Mr. Prospector. Descendants of Native Dancer carry the deadly fetlock weakness. Native Dancer was the most poular sire in the 1960s/70s. He’d won 20 of 21 races. He was patently unsound due to weak fetlocks, a genetic trait he passed down. His owner, Alfred Vanderbilt, bred that unsound horse to anyone as long as they ” bring me the money” [ the stud fee].
The Northen Dancer line – his gransire was Native Dancer – came down through Havnameltdown’s dam, Ashley’s Babe. Northern Dancer was the most desired sire in North America. 2/3 of his offspring were race winners – an unheard of statistic. A genetic study of the 100,000 Tbred worldwide revealed that Northern Dancer is related to 97% of them. His stud fee, at peak, was $500,000. The breeders made fortunes. The bloodlines were made thin, and the unsound fetlock issue was masked with drugs, early retirements and shorter races.
Havnameltdown was very fast, like so many of the Dancer line. He’d run in races of 7 furlongs to a mile. At the Preakness, he hit the starting gate coming out. The injury started there. His left fetlock was destroyed as hecontinued to run on it after injury. Havnameltdown was, as we all know, euthanized on the Pimlico racetrack.
Another who hit the starting gate coming out include the phenom filly Ruffian (1975) who also carried the Native Dancer weak fetlock gene as well as other genetic unsoundness. She was a breakdown ready to happen. She too ran after injury in front of a huge crowd at Belmont Park. Gutwrenchig. After failed surgery, Ruffian was euthanized.
The use of these same stallions over and over again, and the absence of NOT breeding unsound horses with genetic weaknesses such as the tiny frail fetlocks of the Dancer line, have led to these constant breakdowns. Using steroids to mask pain and inflammation has simply allowed unsound horses to train and compete.
Havnameltdown’s breakdown was tragic, horrific. I don’t watch racing anymore, or the video clips of breakdowns. I don’t need to see it. To avoid this breakdown, rewind to 1960/70/80s. Stop the breeders from excessive inbreeding. Don’t breed Raise A Native.
The horse are today running on fetlocks made of fina china, not rugged bone. The race tracks are the killing fields.
Breeders are greedy people. They have become rich or richer.
The business of horse racing had had its day. Close down the killing fields. These horses used to compete in other disciplines.They will not become extinct. They need only to be properly bred in far far smaller, careful quantities. Bred for good bone, genetic soundness, workable disposition, overall strength.
“The Misery: movie asked that lady to break the trainer’s ankles! That would be fair!