As fully expected – at least by me – 3-year-old Geaux Rocket Ride has been euthanized. The statement from owner Pin Oak Stud:
“It is with very heavy hearts that we report that…Geaux Rocket Ride has finally reached peace. His mind and his spirit never quit, but his body never recovered from surgery. He had a very rare response post-op and he wasn’t able to stand up again. He fought hard and our team of vets tried everything they could. … We will miss you forever, Rocket.”
Disgusting of course, but let’s put this in its proper light. Geaux was a million-dollar horse (in just five races) and fully intact, which means his brokenhearted owners stood to reap bundles on the back end – the breeding shed. That is one of the reasons his what-is-normally-fatal injury (displaced fracture, ligament damage) did not result in immediate euthanasia Saturday, when it occurred. The other? Santa Anita, the Breeders’ Cup, all of U.S. Racing are doing all they can to get their numbers – dead horses – down. And despite the media reporting on this one, Geaux will not show up on the official Cal death stats.
But today all I care about is this poor boy, and his extended suffering at the hands of greedy humans. We are so sorry, Geaux.
THANK YOU, Patrick, for ALL of your reporting on Geaux Rocket Ride but especially for your last paragraph – he’s been on my mind constantly since it was reported he had suffered an OPEN FRACTURE yet was going to be operated on – all I could think of was how he was having his suffering extended. HE was living it, enduring it, and as we’ve now learned, that torture was even more intense than I had imagined.
But of course now, the VERY individuals who DID that to him are claiming “we made sure he knew how loved he was” – oh really? – how’s that? – by giving him carrots (another little tidbit they provided the media with)?
Think about this, as well – it was reported the colt, who “wasn’t able to stand up again”, was MOVED from the facility where he was operated on to another facility – just imagine that with a horse who was unable to stand.
Read carefully, folks, over racing’s reporting on this poor boy – “unable to stand” versus Mandella’s “standing (post-op) for brief periods”. “He was euthanized”, “that’s (the report he’d been euthanized) incorrect, he’s not been euthanized”. The lies are there for all to see in the scrambling all involved have so frantically done to, once again, whitewash the suffering & death of one of their “children”.
Regarding the feeding of carrots to horses, not just racehorses but any horse, I once had a veterinarian show great concern about the feeding of carrots. He was alarmed about feeding more than a certain number of carrots and, to tell you the truth, I am not clear on how many carrots is too many carrots per horse.
Carrots are high in sugar – don’t feed them to a horse that has additional risk factors for developing laminitis. AGAIN and ad nauseam, the ignorance of the (majority of) racing owners just astounds me.
They actually believe and/or just think they can impress the public (of their “love” & concern for their racing slave) when they exclaim that providing a Jolly Ball for and feeding carrots to the horse is so satisfying for him…that he’ll “feel the love” because of those particular things.
They’re so delusional. And/or blatant liars. And just plain stupid. They should be embarrassed. But they’re not. Yet.
Exactly, Joy, as if nothing says “love” more than increasing the risk of the horses getting laminitis and/or colic from being fed too many sweet treats.
Two deaths BEFORE the breeders cup. A few words about thoughts and prayers, sad to lose member of family, etc., etc. But the the games will go on at a venue notorious for killing these beautiful animals as if nothing has happened.
For some reason they’ll never share publicly, it appears the CHRB changed their top-secret dead-horse reporting standards — again.
Seriously. Hell’s frozen over, apparently, because right there on top of their highly-scientific (haha) list of Musculoskeletal Horse Fatalities is poor Geaux Rocket Ride. Did someone finally convince the CHRB how absurd and corrupt they’d appear if they left him off? Seems that way.
Still, this begs the question, “When can we expect all those OTHER California horse fatalities to pop up on your list, esteemed Board members? You know the ones: all those unreported, off-track-property, less-glaringly obvious (lower-level) horse kills? All those whose non-admissions have helped keep your racing so consistently, um, SAFE of late? Yeah, them. You’re gonna list them pretty soon? Thought so.”
Happy Bleeders’ Cup Weekend, CHRB:(
I saw that too, Kelly. Surely, it is the stature of the horse and publicity of his death. Better to break their own “standards” as to what qualifies as reportable than deal with any backlash.
As always Patrick, you nailed it.
Breeders, owners, trainers, riders, you love your horses and you kill your horses.
Say it:
I loved my horse. I killed my horse.
I loved my horse. I killed my horse.
I loved my horse. I killed my horse…
These statements cannot coexist. The cognitive dissonance is too great.
You disgrace yourselves daily and are oblivious. But the truth will find you, as it does all of us. Make friends with it while you can. Then you will have peace, and not the kind you gave Geaux Rocket Ride.