In a Fox Salt Lake City article yesterday, first-time track-goer Marina Kay described her experience at Wyoming Downs Saturday:
“The second race, the first horse went down and he actually broke his leg. And then the next race, the second horse went down [and] did not get back up….” As she readied to leave (it had become “too tragic to watch”), this: “Just as I look up, the third horse in a row goes down and also doesn’t get back up. This was not just an accident where three horses collided. These were three separate incidents.”
Three separate incidents – one, two, three kills.
Ms. Kay: “What happened Saturday was incredibly disturbing to watch, and the fact that they just cleaned up the bodies and carnage after each death without the broadcasters or anyone from track management even acknowledging the tragedies happening or stopping the races after the THIRD accident is so inhumane and evil.”
Welcome to our world.
The deaths came to light during a Wyoming Commission meeting yesterday, with the executive director saying he was “driven to tears” when he was initially informed. A Cowboy State Daily article said this on track owner Eric Nelson’s decision to continue racing: “The nature of the injuries, that the three accidents happened in different spots and the fact that the jockeys felt comfortable to continue racing, led Nelson to continue holding running races after the third horse was injured.” Nelson summed things up thus: “It’s just a dangerous sport, there’s no question about it.”
Yup, “just a dangerous sport.” Disgusting.
While the names weren’t released, we can safely surmise (from the charts) that 2-year-old Pappies Sue was victim #1 (2nd race); 2-year-old Die Antwoord was victim #2 (4th race); and 2-year-old Rip Stone was victim #3 (5th race). (I will of course confirm.)
Hopefully she spreads the word to many of her friends and family of the horrific sights she saw and turns even more people against this.
Reportedly, an estimated 2,000 horses die on American racetracks every year. When not racing or training, these highly-social animals are kept in cramped stalls, separated from others. This “Sport of Kings” should be outlawed. Rodeo, too.
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Eric Mills, coordinator
ACTION FOR ANIMALS
Oakland
So the “executive director” of the Wyoming Gaming Commission says he was “driven to tears” upon first hearing about the three horses killed, or was it the fact that a reporter from a media outlet outside of the racing industry was in attendance and saw the fatally injured horses first-hand that allegedly drove him to tears? I would think he might have been crying about the drop in attendance and wagering handle more than anything, except that I don’t really believe that he actually cried real tears.
Where was this executive director of the Wyoming Gaming Commission when these horrific breakdowns occurred?
I find it very difficult to believe that he actually cried and if he did, I don’t think he was very concerned about the three horses being injured fatally during three different races.
I think it is very pretentious for anyone so hardened to the daily routine abuse and brutality to racehorses and the fact that the abuse and killing of horses is so widely accepted in horseracing to even remotely suggest that they have any feelings of sadness when horses go down on the racetrack due to any type of catastrophic breakdown. If I were going to bet on anything, I would bet whoever this executive director is has seen more horses killed by racing, rodeo and slaughter than the average person.