In the 6th at Charles Town last night, Arya Charming was injured and, says the chartwriter, “eased, unsaddled, and euthanized on the track.” He was three years old; ’twas his 8th time under the whip. Complicit in the kill: breeder/owner Vicki Stehr, trainer Tabitha Wilhelm, jockey Victor Rodriguez, and all those who support the U.S. horseracing industry in any way – betting, attending, watching, working in, etc.
Unsaddled on the clubhouse turn and euthanized on the track, but why? Assuming the horse was injured but there’s not one word that the horse, ARYA CHARMING, was actually injured. Not one word stating what the injury was that would necessitate euthanasia. It gives the impression that they just like to euthanize a horse on the track.
I don’t download the videos. Maybe there is a clue in the video replay…
Said it before: I’ve got a kind of perverse, um…respect(?) for the fine, upstanding racing execs at (Fabulous, Glamorous) Hollywood Casino in Charles Town, West Virginia. They don’t bother with covering up most of their kills and van-offs (do they ever ambulance off any of their broken-down victims? I think they just kill ’em all right where they happen to be). Anyway, There’s definitely something to be said for chartwriter “transparency.” It’s a virtue (ha ha) the ones at Oaklawn, Turfway, and Parx (among others) could stand to learn.
There are other joys one can have with horses. Working with horses for the 1st time can be very rewarding especially if bringing them back from a bad situation. Another equally $$$ earning challenge is learning how to save $1,000 doing 1`s taxes for yourself as I`m doing now with the help of my retiring CPA. There is also no better feeling than after you have taught a brand new young horse to be ridden with mutually gained trust of each other. Try those things handling horses. Once you have realized you can teach horses to be ridden you will be handling them for the rest of your life as I have been for the past almost 50 years.
Amen.
Thank you Joe. It is sad,disgusting,and heartbreaking beyond belief. These majestic creatures deserve our respect.
I access and read the posts on this site everyday, and although I find it sad, depressing, and heartbreaking, it is, to me, a constant and effective reminder that I did the right thing by stepping away from a game and a lifestyle I truly enjoyed – attending and betting on the races.
I always felt that the deaths, the abuse and the horror were all exaggerated by those “crazy animal activists”, but when I read about these facts, well documented by Mr. Battuello, which constantly indicate how young 2 and 3 year old horses are stricken with diseases and infirmities that may not even occur in an OLDER horse who is NOT in training, I had to take a step back. Since Mr. Battuello gets all his information from the racing industry itself, who, if they could, would do everything in their power to HIDE these atrocities from the public at large, they can’t be denied by anyone with a logical mind..
Do I miss it? Of course I do. I have to be honest! Careful handicapping analysis, studying the PPs, watching workouts and warmups and then, after a race has been run, collecting a wad of crisp, new $100 bills because you were RIGHT about who would cross the finish line first, then celebrating with all your friends at your table overlooking the finish line can’t compare with pulling a slot machine lever in a gaudy, brightly lit casino.
But what I know now about what these poor horses go through for some cheap thrills at the track takes all the fun and pleasure out of it for me, and if more people knew about racing’s VERY dark underbelly, the sport would terminate all that much sooner..
As much as I enjoyed it, I will not be sorry to see it go. I always thought racing’s problems could be fixed. I know now that they can’t.
-Joe
I should say Attorneys General.
The daily routine of abusive treatment of horses in racing which leads to crippling, maiming and killing is unacceptable and morally depraved.
There are those people who are physically handling the horses and abusing them, first hand, on a daily routine basis and while they may defend their actions by saying that the horses receive “amazing care” to justify the abuse and deny that they are actually abusing horses, it is still abuse that leads to crippling, maiming and killing of horses.
This daily routine mistreatment of horses being exploited for racing, wagering handle and breeding needs to be recognized by the legislative branch of government as the hideous and unacceptable cruelty that it is. There needs to be more prosecutions of the people who engage in this daily routine abuse, crippling, maiming and killing of horses.
For the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority to report that the fatality rate is lower by xx% and the Jockey Club to report that the fatality rate has increased by xx% and for the Attorney Generals and prosecutors to not take this daily routine abuse, crippling, maiming and killing seriously enough to do something to put a stop to this outrageous abuse and killing of horses is totally unacceptable.
It’s backwards: jockeys, trainers, owners shouldn’t be getting all the acclaim at the end of a race, the celebrating should be showering the horses in love, honoring the horses since they did all the work. And took a beating while doing it. Confining horses for long hours deserves jail time.