Chart notes from U.S. Thoroughbred and Quarterhorse races last week.
Dutchmen Forever “appeared in distress, vanned off” at Finger Lakes
Ruby Layne “returned bleeding from the nostrils” at Belterra
Logans Tee Cos “bled, vanned off” at Delta
I’m a Dreamer Too “vanned off” at Ruidoso
Apollicartel “bled, vanned off” at Ruidoso
Island Beauty “vanned off” at Arapahoe
Bold Voyager “vanned off” at Canterbury
Im a Modest Man “vanned off” at Ellis
Little Puck “vanned off” at Evangeline
Social Appeal “vanned off” at Louisiana
Sundanz “vanned off” at Ruidoso
Flower Power “vanned off” at Ruidoso
Fire Stel “fell, vanned off” at Los Alamitos
While not all the “vanned” end up dead, most do, as borne out by our subsequent reporting. “Bled,” “Returned Bleeding From Nostrils”: pulmonary hemorrhage.
#EndHorseracingNOW
I saw a comment on one of the racing sites to the effect of – shoot, people think Churchill is bad for the breakdowns?? Take a look at Ruidoso!!
Guess they weren’t wrong, looking at this list. That comment was made soon after the KY Derby. It seems like Ruidoso has gotten much worse since then!
Two Phil’s who won the Ohio Derby has an ankle injury requiring surgery. Also, on the last day of the coveted Royal Ascot(next to last race) Canute(USA) broke his hind leg requiring euthanasia. Two more examples of this sport and its lousy outcomes. Pathetic.
Ruidoso Downs hosts the All-American Futurity billed as “the richest Quarter Horse race” but that’s still not as high profile as the Kentucky Derby. If I remember correctly, this most popular of Quarter Horse races was televised on CBS in 1975. I remember the catchy phrase of “BUGS ALIVE in ’75” because BUGS ALIVE won the richest QH race in 1975. I have never been to Ruidoso Downs myself.
Back then, I thought horse racing was cool. I didn’t know how horrible actual organized horseracing could be. I knew that not everything in the world was perfect, obviously, but I didn’t know about the wide-reaching practice of doping horses and other vile practices within this industry that are so common. I had no way of knowing about the multiple numbers of horses being killed by the racing people (every day), but I did know that anybody who had a horse for sale could take their horse(s) to the local livestock auction if they wanted to and could haul them. The order buyers/killbuyers would buy enough horses to fill at least one pen full of horses of various types and classes. The killbuyers are there every sale day. They travel around to several different auctions every week and weekend.
I didn’t know for several years that one of the greatest QH racehorses who was also one of the greatest SIRES of racing Quarter Horses was killed; he was found dead with barbiturates in his throat at the King Ranch in Texas. I was shocked to read that. It’s on the internet; JET DECK.
Correction: JET DECK was found dead (by Dean Schultz) at Warren Ranch near Perry, Oklahoma. It remains an unsolved mystery as to who injected the horse (at the age of 11 years old in 1971) with barbiturates. Boot prints and tire tracks were found but the case was never solved.
Anyone who kills an innocent animal for whatever the sick reason was should pay someday. Wanda, he’s not the only one. Look at Alydar.
The killing of ALYDAR was ghastly inhumane!
ALL tracks are bad and some are worse than others! It seems to me the south west is particularly hard for animals.
I remember the small NM town I lived in where I dreaded morning drives because of so many dead dogs on the roads every day. And then there was the small pathetic Zoo with animals in dreadful conditions…the feedlots and horses in pens in the broiling sun waiting to be shipped to slaughter.