According to the chart for the 7th at Churchill yesterday, Lost in Limbo “dropped his rider pre-race and ran loose, was gathered [and] remounted…took minor contact from rivals on both sides at the start…weakened in upper stretch, but fell inside the final sixteenth and was vanned off.” In fact, he is dead.
“dropped rider, ran loose,” “gathered, remounted,” “took contact both sides,” “fell”
Imagine that poor boy’s fear, then terror. And all, for lousy $2 bets.
This makes 11 dead “athletes” at one of America’s most prestigious tracks in just 30 days. They can’t stop the killing because the killing is built in to the system.
It’s obvious that the vile people in this vile industry don’t care about the horses. They only care about the money. If they cared about the horses, they would stop using and abusing horses to literal death for whatever sick, perverted thrills they get out of this constant torture of horses.
This whole vile industry needs to be exposed to the world for what it really is and that means exposing the vile people who make this vile horse-killing industry the morally depraved trainwreck of horse abuse and corruption that it is.
Replay…he was getting the daylights beaten out of him at the end there before he gave out. Replay just shows him slowing down before whatever incident occurred. The state of Kentucky should rever the horse rather than gathering lousy statistics in this hell for beautiful creatures.
He was “getting the daylights beaten out of him” because he had a shattered shoulder, it just gave way.
The industry is not vile but with jerks like Bob Baffert caring more about themselves than his profession and some trainers and vets always looking for an edge, the horses may be abused. HISA is the best effort to rid the sport of many of these abuses. I suggest accept the sport and demand its regulation. Demand HISA and question those that don’t! That is the way
You are sadly misguided. Bob Baffert is an easy scapegoat. Horseracing is inherently cruel and inevitably deadly.
Accept the “sport”, Richard? Accept horses confined for 23 hours a day without social interaction, accept young horses the human equivalent of toddlers forced into grueling training and developing debilitating and often destructive joint issues before adolescence? Accept the bits, the whips, the tongue ties, and the drugs? Accept the catastrophic injuries – broken spines and shoulders, severed spines, splintered legs, and pulmonary hemorrhaging? Accept the fact that these “athletes” are traded away multiple times during their “careers” and finally discarded when they can no longer line the pockets of their so-called “loving family”? Accept the dingy trailers packed with bodies on the way to racing’s ultimate retirement: the slaughterhouse, with some of these horses sent there as mere two year olds for the sole reason that they simply weren’t fast enough to warrant a life at the track? Accept the bloody alley ways, the vicious knife jabs to the back of the neck, the hanging up and bleeding out of these horses, often while still alive? Accept that this plays out day after day, year after year, and it is not only accepted but DEFENDED?
No, Richard, YOU accept it if your conscience lets you. There is no reform in this industry, there is no way to keep both it and the horses forced into it alive. It’s time for this archaic horror show to do the dying.
This poor horse sprawled in the dirt was one of the main headlines on my work computer today. It is going mainstream, quickly. So far there are 37 comments to it, all but 3 are anti racing, and the other 3 are basically antiPETA. Horse racing is going down at a rapid pace, and people that didn’t even know there was such a thing as racing are quickly waking up to the death and destruction racing causes. HISA is not going to save this, thank goodness. The general public is not even “accepting the sport” anymore, and those of us that lived it first hand and are here now are really not accepting it anymore.
There is no way this gambling business can be anything but what it is, a deadly game of Russian roulette where any horse at any moment can be mortally wounded.
And that is bad enough without how these sentient beings are forced to endure a way of life totally contrary to normal.
They stand in tiny stalls 23 hrs. a day, many bobbing weaving and cribbing .
Plus. they will always be pushed to race with vulnerable, underdeveloped bodies.
They will be shunted from barn to barn in the deadly downward spiral of the claiming game. They will continue to be to be raced too often, whipped too much as their tired sore bodies are pushed unmercifully while gambling addicts clutch their 2 dollar bets and yell.
And “retirement” for most will continue to be a terrifying trip to the slaughterhouses of Canada and Mexico.
There will never be enough homes for the number of horses in need. Their lives are finished at 6 yrs. old, on average, because racing is finished with them while the new supply is never ending.
None of this will ever change because racing can’t survive without treating the horse as a disposable commodity.
As for the Bafferts of this game, they are every where and many are even worse. We rarely hear about them because they are not “famous”!
The people involved have a gambling mentality. Their focus is money and winning. The horse is just the means to that end and that will never change.
Bull pucky. There is no solution other than ending horse racing.
Ending horse racing is far from a “solution” if you are trying to save horses. Ask carriage horses how their lives were after they lost their jobs. Oh, you can’t, because most ended up being slaughtered. You see, before you end racing, you must end breeding and ban horse slaughter. Breeders are ultimately the cause of thoroughbreds breaking down and even if racing ended today top tier horses would still be bred and sold off to foreign interests where they would be abused on the track and ultimately slaughtered for their meat when they were no longer lucrative. They would be sold to countries like China and Korea where animal rights are nonexistent. True horse lovers don’t have tunnel vision on the issue of racing.
Richard Greenberg, you’re sadly mistaken about this vile horse-killing industry. The daily routine built-in abuse of horses is UNACCEPTABLE!
Anyone who has a sense of right and wrong and knows the difference and listens to their conscience will not be duped by the constant lies oozing out of the mouths of the people in this vile industry of killing horses. You’re obviously not a true horseman, because anybody that believes in practicing true horsemanship is, and would be, completely repulsed by the killing of horses in this vile gambling racket. It is preventable by shutting down this vile gambling racket made up of horse-abusing, horse-doping and horse-killing thugs.
It isn’t just the vile Bob Baffert and his vile connections who support him in this vile exploitation of young and underdeveloped colts and fillies. It is the whole racing industry that is vile. The people in this abusive, barbaric and cruel industry of exploiting horses as gambling chips are vile pseudo-horsemen who have been given a pass to violate the Animal Welfare Codes as written. This vile industry and the morally depraved people in it ARE the equivalent of the foxes guarding the chickens.
HISA is not going to be successful in changing the basic structure of this vile horse-killing industry that kills horses daily. Changing the structure of inherently treating UNDERDEVELOPED baby horses as gambling objects is not the mission of HISA.
The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority is a body of individuals from inside of the racing industry — industry insiders — and some outsiders grouped together. Some of the people in this group called the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority are basically some of the most vile industry insiders of this whole vile horse-killing industry. They are so vile that the so-called “blue ribbon nominating committee” (as they call themselves) of HISA has conveniently refused to disclose their own names. What does it take for you to be able to connect the dots???
I was there when it happened. It was awful and heartbreaking. My heart is so heavy for the horse and the jockey. My daughter came up from Knoxville and I can say it will probably be the last race I watch.
I sincerely hope it is, Rebecca.
This is so sad…a disgrace actually. The poor horse trying to tell them he didn’t want to do it in the first place. It gets to the point where ..sorry I can’t say it.
What the f*ck is wrong with this picture. Do these idiots not realize how incredibly stressed out this poor horse was pre-race – well I guess I can answer my own question – of course they were the difference is they just don’t give a shit – another day – another kill for their lousy $2.00 bet. Don’t ever use the word “prestigious” track – that is a god damn insult to these poor horses. All of these tracks are nothing but kill zones. OMG I just can’t believe that everyday more losses of these gorgeous horses and the bullshit just keeps right on going. These people involved are all heartless animal abusers – no other way to describe these horrible acts inflicted upon the horses.
Perfectly said Cathy. And we are supposed to be one of the “good” countries? I think NOT. Lazy motherf****r’s
How gut wrenching to watch. You can see the terror in his eyes when he tries to get up and can’t. I can’t believe people actually take their children to the races. I wouldn’t. Who wants to explain why the pretty horsie can’t get up?
Pure Evil scumbags who can’t WORK a real job. How could you even watch something that HORRIFIC? I can’t watch.