We at HW pride ourselves on fighting the fight from coast to coast, from the biggest racing states to the smallest, from the Saratogas and Keenelands to the Rillitos and Parxes. In short, our scope is national, and our work is known throughout the land. This LTE was published Saturday in the Casper Star Tribune. Thank you to the writer…
“There has been a lot of concern in the Cheyenne community regarding the proposal to have horse racing at Frontier Park. There are a lot of questions regarding the impact of crime and the effect on traffic and safety for the neighborhood. In addition to those issues, there is another thing the community should consider: According to the non-profit organization Horseracing Wrongs, 9,924 horses have died on racetracks in this country since the beginning of 2014. Strong, healthy, beautiful animals struck down in the prime of their lives. What a waste. What a shame. And for what? Entertainment? To satisfy gambling addictions? Or, more likely, simple greed. There is enormous money to be made in horse racing.
“Horse racing is cruel. Horse racing is deadly. Horse racing should not be welcome in Cheyenne. I suspect that there are many people here, made aware of the risks to the animals, who will feel that way.” – Pat Gillgannon
I cannot believe how many the owners of these horses treat them. They allow them to be treated cruelly in their participation in horseracing. Then they sell them to slaughterhouses when they deem them no longer useful. This is so sickening and heartless. Responsible owners of horses would love them and treat their horses as members of the family.
I keep thinking about the fact that there are thousands of horses that were bred for racing but weren’t killed on a racetrack or the racetrack grounds if not on the actual racetrack itself, and therefore were not documented by any State Racing Board or Commission.
Some were never raced but still exploited as a commodity by being bred for racing but for whatever reason didn’t come under the jurisdiction of a State Racing Board or Commission.
Some were raced and hauled off the racetrack grounds and exploited in a different way. Many of the horses in this category are presumably dead.
I personally think that at least 10,000 horses per year (that were bred for racing) are shipped to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada and other foreign countries.
Some racehorses are killed by racing at illegal unregulated bush tracks. These horses are not under the jurisdiction of any racing commission or racing board when they are exploited this way and therefore not documented as killed by racing.
The figure of over 9,000 racehorses killed by racing from January 1, 2014 to the present (December 2023) is only a fraction of the true number of horses killed by the horse racing industry. But the fact that there is documentation of the birth and death of these horses proves that horse racing is deadly no matter how much the people in this industry want to deny it.
My estimate for the ten year period is in the range of 110,000 or more race-bred horses killed.
One of the things that’s so sickening about racing is that horses are manhandled and mishandled by racing industry people and forced to suffer in ways that many people have no idea about. Thousands of horses are forced to suffer at the hands of sadistic people. It’s sickening that this brutality is referred to as a sport, but it’s even more sickening that anybody would want to engage in this deadly abuse of horses.
👏👏👏 Great article to the point!
Amen Pat. Perfectly stated and 100% true. Thank you.
Such an excellent letter! Thank you so much, Pat Gillgannon! You inspired me to follow suit locally!
Great letter! We should all be writing them, and often!
Thank you, Pat Gillgannon.