Swanson Lake Dead at Churchill – 9th Kill There Since April 27

How fitting that on the day of a kill at the second Triple Crown track, yet another at the first. Swanson Lake finished 4th in the 6th race at Churchill Downs today, but was then “vanned off” after being injured in the “gallop out.” She is, I can confirm, dead, at three.

For Churchill, one of U.S. Racing’s crown jewels, this makes nine kills in a little over three weeks. Case closed.

The Churchill 9:
Wild On Ice, Apr 27 – “injured, [euthanized]”
Code of Kings, Apr 29 – “flipped multiple times, broke neck”
Parents Pride, Apr 29 – “collapsed and died”
Take Charge Briana, May 2 – “fell, euthanized”
Chasing Artie, May 2 – “collapsed and died”
Chloe’s Dream, May 6 – “went wrong: fractured knee”
Freezing Point, May 6 – “went wrong: [multiple] fractures”
Rio Moon, May 14 – “catastrophic injury after wire…euthanized”
Swanson Lake, May 20 – “injured, vanned off, euthanized”

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12 Comments

  1. These “accidents” and deaths are not being sweep under the carpet. Multi outlets reporting on these deaths in detail.

    • I, too, have heard much more coverage about the horse deaths on major news outlets. Yesterday, NPR had a story on how many horses are dying on our tracks. ABC, even at the local level, talked about the deaths. It has to be talked about consistently. We need to keep the pressure on.

  2. Now that bob’s horse just won Preakness it’s like Havinameltdown who? Mother F’n shallow lazy sacks of shit.That heartbreak over his other horse ….Havinameltdown who? 😳

    • “That horse”, as he said multiple times in his interview. He couldn’t recall his name, so it was “that horse”.

      • Yep, just a horse. They don’t give a damn about the horses.

        • I agree that they do not care about the poor horses. The horses should be treated as family members. This is the thanks they give to the horses for their loyalty. The owners should be punished for animal cruelty.

      • Sounds about right for the king of drugging and killing, Marie.
        He made it to the top of this nefarious business causing misery, suffering, death and destruction to countless horses.
        Only in this business could such a miserable human get away with what he has done and continues to do.
        And how many more are there in racing doing the same and even worse?!
        Even though Navarro et al were investigated by law enforcement because of all the drug violations across state lines, mislabeling, illegal compounding and more. There were no animal abuse/cruelty investigations involved. If it were not for the drug trafficking it would be business as usual for these people!
        Just shows horses can be abused with impunity.

  3. The words of Bob Baffert sound so staged and pretentious in the BloodHorse article. “And we grieve. We do grieve when these things happen….” He’s “in shock.” Really? Why am I not convinced?! (Maybe the insurance company will pay out on HAVNAMELTDOWN which will certainly be a little something to party on.)
    Actions speak louder than words.
    At least, he isn’t being allowed to kill horses in Kentucky because of the possible Racketeer-Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act lawsuit filed by the gamblers that were cheated on purpose. Kentucky and Churchill Downs Inc. are quite capable of killing horses without having RICO lawsuits on top of that.
    What a vile industry made up of vile people!!!

    • You’re absolutely correct! I think everyone (even the most hard boiled scumbags) can agree…today, was just another shitshow!

  4. Yet another horse trained by Charlie Appleby broke down and died in York in England a few days ago. Ahh yes, as always they’re all broken hearted with the usual crap that ‘the horse’ took them on a wonderful journey…pfft.

    A torturous and cruel journey it most certainly was for this poor horse.

    You have quite a history, Charlie. I’ll never forget the deaths of some of the horses in your care brought to Australia for the Melbourne Cup carnival over a number of years.

    • Carolyn,are you mentioning Creative Force trained by Appleby at York? The barbaric Steeplechase is run everyday. If 10 runners start it is very questionable that 10.make it over the finish. There was a race with Bertie”s Wish and he was probably dead on impact.

      • Yes, Nancy it was Creative Force who broke down during a sprint race.
        There was a grey horse who suffered a fatal injury in a steeplechase. Barbaric indeed.

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