Chart notes from U.S. Thoroughbred and Quarterhorse races last week.
The Catillac Kid “in distress, [euthanized on track]” at Finger Lakes
Seahawk Mary “vanned off” at Zia
Superb Surprise “fell in stretch, DNF” at Finger Lakes
Lone Leader “took a bad step, euthanized on track” at Mountaineer
Tankinator “vanned off” at Parx
Fire Tres “fell, DNF” at Will Rogers
Hoya Paranoya “vanned off” at Zia
Rail Runner “fell, DNF” at Evangeline
English Treasure “fell, vanned off” at Churchill
Dimelo Papi “pulled up lame and was consequently euthanized” at Charles Town
Charlie Tough “vanned off” at Aqueduct
Precious Avary “bled, vanned off” at Aqueduct
Destiny Star “bled” at Churchill
Atomic Blonde “bled, vanned off” at Aqueduct
Foreign Influence “fell heavily, euthanized on track” at Aqueduct
Mama’s Dream “bled, vanned off” at Aqueduct
“Vanned Off”: Horse required equine ambulance to get off the track; while not all end up dead, most do, as borne out by our subsequent reporting. “Bled”: pulmonary hemorrhage.
I don’t believe there’s a chance in Horse Racing Hell that poor Tankinator is still among the living. I say this because I forced myself to watch the replay of this race, run at the four-letter obscenity known as Parx. And he checks (checked?) all the boxes:
– Heavily-raced, heavily-traded, heavily kicked-around 5-yo Gelding.
– Most recent “trainer”? Bonnie Lucas(!), who’s had more than one starring role in these pages.
– Chartwriter actually admits he was “Injured, pulled up, vanned off,” which is some serious transparency, at least for this dude.
– Finally, it just LOOKS every bit as fatal as every other fatal breakdown I’ve ever seen in which the victim stays upright. Poor Tankinator appears very untank-like as he hobbles horrifically on at least one severely-shortened limb.
Guess Parx officials decided to keep this faraway, long-shot video up and accessible to try to pretend they didn’t kill him. But I’ll bet they did.