Word from Dubai is that US-based Catnip was killed in a race there yesterday. Apparently, the 4-year-old fell near the finish and was subsequently euthanized. On the shameful HorseRacingNation site, a commenter, responding to another who had proclaimed his/her love for Catnip, wrote, “This one is tough to process.” Yes, this one, not the 2,000 others dying every year in America, not the 10,000+ documented on this website. Vile.
Catnip did fall but after he had suffered an injury – he was injured while “[battling for the lead in the stretch]” then fell, it was reported.
“Battling”? It was near the end of the race. Muscular fatigue had set in. How well can supporting structures (ligaments, tendons) in the horse’s limbs stabilize and protect bones/joints at that point AND while in an asymmetrical gait? – AND as speed is being DEMANDED of him? Horses protect themselves when tiring and/or hurting – but not a horse with a jockey on his back. There was BIG MONEY to be had, after all.
SHAME ON THEM ALL.
After Catnip started falling behind, jockey quickly let go of trying to win on him. He didn’t whip him at least 10-20 meters before Catnip fell. It’s suspected there was a hole in the turf track in that spot, causing a fatality. If it was the horse tiring out or already being hurt, he would’ve showed signs before “breaking down”, for example tripping and giving bad unbalanced strides. Catnip fell in one stride, being completely fine just a few strides before. No tripping, no signs, sound gallop.. Not overwork, just bad track management. Especially for such big races.
He did show signs, as you even said, “he was falling behind”. That’s what horses do to start to protect themselves. He knew something was wrong.
Jiko K., you’re not the first person to blame this heartless exploitation of horses on the track surface.
He had to have been whipped to death at the end or whatever it is that makes the horse speed up. If one had bet on him to win, the odds were 100 to 1. He was a beautiful horse. There was a picture of him with a saddle hanging off. It’s not clear whether that was taken yesterday after the fall. Sad sad sad. Gee folks hope the connections enjoying their holiday today.
The post should have read : “From a monetary standpoint, this one is hard to process” – that’s all this horse was to his “loving” connections, a paycheck.
Yes, a paycheck but also the thrills that the morally depraved and bloodthirsty horse killers get when forcing and whipping a tired horse to run and run faster than any horse would attempt to run under normal conditions.
Horse racing is not normal for the horses.
Also, horses would normally run maybe a quarter of a mile roughly before saying or thinking that’s enough and take time to assess the situation. In horse racing, the horses are forced to not only run faster and faster but also much farther and farther than their normal capacity to run.
Horse racing is a dirty business.