On the Keeneland website, there is a page entitled, “Our Commitment to Safety.” It opens with this quote from Dr. Stuart Brown, VP of Equine Safety: “Doing what’s best for the horse is at the core of everything we do here at Keeneland.” Then comes the various headings and subheadings:
“A Culture of Safety”
“Keeneland’s Equine Safety team takes a holistic view of the condition of each horse by blending hands-on, practical experience with new technology.”
“Evaluation”
“Analysis”
“Diagnostics”
“The Latest Technology”
“Keeneland leverages the best veterinary care in the world while exploring new advancements in technology to keep our equine athletes safe.”
“VetCam”
“Data-Driven Tech Initiatives”
“StrideSAFE Sensors”
“Pet Scans”
“MRIs”
And on and on it goes (it’s a very long page). Reads and sounds quite impressive, right? Indeed it should, for that’s their job, and by their I’m referring to the mini Goebbelses helming the Keeneland marketing department. If this were a court of law, however, I would present the following in rebuttal. These horses were killed at Keeneland’s two tracks (Keeneland proper, and The Thoroughbred Training Center) last year.
Secretly Canadian, Jan 12
“Filly collapsed and expired on track. Exercise-associated sudden death.” Also: “stomach ulceration.”
Ballesteros, Feb 28
“On the gallop out, Ballesteros staggered, collapsed, and expired.”
Su Say Sashie, Feb 28
“Was galloping and became acutely lame: complete fracture of the humerus with tearing of the surrounding muscles.” Also: “stomach ulceration.”
Bourbon Runner, Mar 14
“Treated for colic this morning, unresponsive, owner opted to euthanize.”
Baytown Apollo, Mar 29
“Horse went down abruptly at 3/16 pole, attempted to rise, went under rail: severely comminuted scapula fracture, surrounding muscles torn.”
Cable Channel, Apr 3
“Suddenly became lame in the pull up: multiple fractures, extensive soft tissue damage.”
Fancy Liquor, Apr 7 (euth days later)
“Injured, surgery, euthanized.”
Levity, Apr 8
“Was working in company when pulled up 5/5 lame: comminuted fracture.”
Goin to the Show, Apr 13
“Pulled up with catastrophic injury: [multiple] fractures, severe soft tissue damage.”
Franco’s Team, Apr 17
“Collapsed on the gallop out: exercise-associated sudden death.” Also: “chronic degenerative joint disease [both front fetlocks]; grade-3 stomach ulcers.”
Master of the Ring, Apr 19
“Clipped heels and fell at 3/16 pole: [multiple] comminuted fractures, rupture of several vital soft tissue structures.”
Wolfe County, Apr 26
“Pulled up near 5/8 with catastrophic injury: [multiple] fractures, [multiple] ligaments and tendons ruptured or torn.”
Morethananyone, May 11
“There are biaxial [multiple] comminuted sesamoid fractures with marked soft tissue damage. The superficial and deep digital flexor tendons are torn, the intersesamoidian ligament is ruptured, and there is extensive tearing of the branches of the suspensory, the straight, and the oblique sesamoidian ligaments.” Also: “severe stomach ulceration.”
Avaline, Jun 29 (euth Jul 6)
“Rider noted lameness galloping out Jun 29. Pelvic fracture. Euthanized Jul 6.”
Madaraat, Jul 24
“Displaced condylar fracture; soft-tissue damage is extensive, with rupture of the intersesamoidian ligament and tearing of the straight and oblique sesamoidian ligaments.”
French Cuffs, Jul 27
“Horse broke down while breezing: comminuted fracture, ruptured suspensory, fetlock sinking to the ground.”
Cosmic Order, Sep 16 (euth Sep 18)
“Pelvic injury training. [Two days later] fractured both tibias in stall.”
Fogo Island, Sep 16
“Collapsed on the gallop out: exercise-associated sudden death.” Also: “history of heatstroke racing Jul 15; severe, chronic stomach ulceration.”
Pharaohs Bride, Sep 23
“Was galloping out from a four-furlong work when she collapsed. When the Ambulance Team arrived, the filly had expired. A cause of the acute collapse and death of this filly could not be determined.” Also: “ulceration of the stomach.”
Trick Question, Oct 2
“Ileum fracture.”
Ode, Oct 7 (euth Oct 12)
“Horse presented 4/5 lame during routine gallop Oct 7. Treated with anti-inflammatories. On day four, horse non-weight-bearing. Day five, horse stood up and fractured tibia – complete, comminuted, displaced.” Also: “degenerative joint disease; stomach ulceration.”
Balta, Oct 9
“Horse collapsed while jogging back after a work – vertebra fracture, sudden death.” Necropsy went on to note: “While the fracture was clinically significant, having caused muscle tearing and hemorrhage within the spinal cord, the contribution to the horse’s collapse and death is not clear.”
Off the Clock, Oct 12
“Horse pulled up with catastrophic injury: [multiple] comminuted fractures; severe, extensive tearing of associated tendons and ligaments.”
Nyte Theory, Nov 13
“[Horse] was performing a routine gallop on the synthetic track when she became acutely lame: open, massively comminuted fracture of the first phalanx; extensive tearing of the sesamoidian ligaments. The degree of comminution was so severe as to preclude detailed examination.” Also: “History of previous fracture repair [other front limb] in February.”
Sew Blazin, Nov 16
“Went down approaching the 1/8 pole: complete, comminuted fracture of the humerus; severe muscle tearing; large amount of hemorrhage.” Also: “stomach ulceration.”
Sabre Dance, Dec 22
“Intestinal displacement and peritonitis.”
Eastern Bay, Dec 28
“Femoral fracture.”
Excellent, Elizabeth.
Are all these awesome
Whenever people put too much effort into explaining themselves, as in this very long list of safety measures, it is a red flag. Obviously, they understand the need for some elaborate PR to convince people they are benevolent horse-lovers. Because they’re not. And they know it.
State of the art technology can’t prevent a horse from confinement 23 hours a day and the stress that results. Does a “holistic view” and “doing what’s best for the horse” mean whipping a horse to exertion; drugging a horse so that it cannot feel pain and run beyond what’s possible; breeding conformationally compromised horses for their speed;
shipping slow or injured horses without food or water to Canada or Mexico to be slaughtered in unregulated and inhumane slaughter houses; euthanizing slow horses for an insurance check; racing a horse before its physical maturity? Let’s hear their propagandists answers those questions.
Correction: The New York Times, not The New York Post.
In my mind’s eye, I can see the video of a young Thoroughbred filly in an “under tack show” with a jockey on her back forcing her to run at top speed and then suffering broken front legs with the caption “Doing what is best for the horse is at the core of everything we do here at Keeneland.”
A person would have to be extremely naive to believe their swill. All the talk about keeping horses safe is extremely self-serving. These people are in this industry because they are greedy and it’s all about the money to be gotten by extreme exploitation of horses for racing and wagering.
Joe Drape evidently didn’t read this list (or any weekly list) of dead horses killed by the people in this industry. To read his article in The New York Post is quite disappointing because he makes it sound like horse racing is part of the soul of America and it would be terrible to lose it. He only seems to notice the horses killed in top level races televised on national television.
Last year it was much more obvious that horse racing is deadly to horses but this year not so much to those who don’t do the Freedom Of Information Act requests or follow Horseracing Wrongs.
He didn’t seem to have a problem with the generally accepted and every day abuse of horses which is, in part, starting them out running carrying the weight of a whip-wielding rider at less than one-third of the age of maturity for horses.
He didn’t recognize or acknowledge that horses, being gregarious large animals that need to be free to graze at will for longer than they are confined, should not be confined to box stalls/small spaces for twenty-three hours a day.
He didn’t recognize that horses suffer untold abuse whether they are killed or not.