The 8th at Mountaineer late last night: “Lone Leader took a bad step past the wire and was euthanized on the track.” The loss for Lone’s exploiters – Charles Brown, Kevin Fletcher, Luis Batista – was not complete, however, for before dying the 3-year-old had finished second, “earning” $1,620 on his way out the door. This, by the way, is the third “bad step” kill at Mountaineer in seven days.
Then there was this note from the stewards at Delaware Park Friday, the second-to-last day of that track’s meet: “The claim for Let’s Be Honest was voided by the vet for bleeding out from the left nostril.” No word on her status, but I can tell you she had been sold for $10K immediately prior to that pulmonary hemorrhage.
This is horseracing.
This really is a disgusting and disturbing display of callous exploitation of horses.
#HorseracingIsAnimalCruelty
#EndHorseracingNOW
This is the time of year that the track at mountaineer gets even worse, with shoddy track maintenance and freeze/thaw cycles.
Mountaineer is well known for being the place sore, crippled horses go to eek the final few bucks out of them before they disappear for good, or breakdown. They are also resisting any positive reforms and are ok with welcoming creeps like Sipp and Juan Pablo Silva.
The racing community is fine with all this, and the racing folks at mountaineer are fine with putting their horses at risk.