In the 5th at Belmont yesterday, says the chart, “Seize the City suffered an injury to his left foreleg and was vanned off.” In fact, he is dead – euthanized, I have confirmed, back in the barn. The complicit: owners Gary and Janet Anderson, trainer Michelle Giangiulio.
Here is what I wrote on Belmont/NYRA just four days ago (updated, of course, to reflect this latest kill):
- Seize the City is the 23rd victim at Belmont this year.
- Over the past four full calendar years, 188 horses have perished at Belmont – an average of almost 50 per year.
- Since 2009, the Death Toll at Belmont is a staggering 619. 619.
- And lest we forget, if the planned renovation of Belmont happens, the resultant new track would become the deadliest in America. The lie of NYRA “safety” – again.
23rd Victim…WTF the year is still relatively new!!!!!!!
Racing is not safe anywhere. I am hoping that the individuals who filed a lawsuit to stop the egregious waste of a $455-Million state-backed loan to the New York Racing Association win their lawsuit.
Nasty fall in Race 1 at Woodbine. Both horses are apparently okay, who knows if their actually alive.
Thanks to my mentor’s encouragement (Wanda), I’ve been thinking a lot about horseracing in taxpayer subsidized states. I just don’t understand why taxpayers don’t have a say if their money is being used to promote animal cruelty. Thoughts and suggestions are welcome.
Rick, I don’t think taxpayers are aware of what their money is supporting. I never did. It’s something that needs to be brought to people’s attention, and they need to complain to their representatives. I put messages on my governor’s social media pages all of the time and I email her. I never have had a real response, but I keep posting.
These horses are obviously considered disposable commodities.
If these were Iditarod racing dogs and there were this many dog injuries and deaths, the “sport” would be stopped.
Time to include race horses under the animal protection laws.
What is the disposition of the dead horses? Are they sent to slaughter for the meat market? If they are euthanized, that is adulterated meat.
This madness must end.
No, they are usually dumped at the local landfill. They are not consumable due to all the drugs, plus they may not even be picked up the same day from the track, so their bodies are out in the elements, usually covered haphazardly by a plastic tarp.
Oh, and some states actually do necropsies, so they are sent to a facility to perform those.
Em, killbuyers don’t buy dead horses to fill contracts. Killbuyers only buy live horses to be shipped to slaughterhouses in Mexico and/or Canada.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) doesn’t tag or microchip dead horses. The USDA only tags and microchips live horses as far as horses go.
This whole can of worms called horseracing has a lot of things that are not right, but this idea of killbuyers, the USDA and the meatpackers dealing in euthanized horses is not one of them.
As far as animals intended to be used for their meat, they must be slaughtered in a slaughterhouse, a facility intended for that purpose. Every kill must be a fresh kill and bled out immediately while hanging upside down if intended to be used for their meat.
Any racehorse killed by “humane euthanasia” would begin the decaying process immediately. Gases begin to form and there is also the ever present problem of flies laying their eggs in the carcass during the fly season which is intense in September in the Pacific Northwest and I suppose many other northern states as well. The euthanized horses are either necropsied or dumped in a pit of some kind, or removed by a rendering service.
As far as animals intended to be used for their meat, they are not supposed to be injected with certain drugs. If you have ever read the labels on the veterinary medicines to prevent illnesses and such in animals, you will notice that they say something like “Not intended for use in animals intended for slaughter.” It might also give a time frame of something like within two weeks before slaughter.
I’m not sure how well that whole can of worms is dealt with. For one thing, a lot of people do give shots to their animals themselves instead of paying a veterinarian to do it. So therefore there might not be a document of any shots given. All I can say is that most animals would be fed for a certain period of time after being bought by the killbuyers and before actual shipping to the slaughterhouse. Some killbuyers of horses allegedly do “direct shipping” meaning they buy a truckload of horses and supposedly don’t keep them around but ship them directly to slaughter. For horses, that would be Mexico or Canada, but they are tagged and microchipped by the USDA when they are still alive.