Chart notes from U.S. Thoroughbred and Quarterhorse races last week.
Steinbeck “vanned home” at Horseshoe
Cause I Said “pulled up lame, vanned off” at Parx
Chargina “suffered catastrophic injury, fell, was euthanized” at Thistledown
Strong Tide “vanned home” at Horseshoe
Graeme’s Deal “transported [off] in ambulance” at Louisiana
So Steady “vanned off” at Parx
On the Hill “bled” at Saratoga
Pacific Highway “bled” at Saratoga
Brownie “suffered catastrophic injury, fell, was euthanized” at Thistledown
Crossed Up “fell over fallen rival [above], DNF” at Thistledown
Wants N Needs “was pulled up with fatal injury” at Charles Town
Jc Howthewest Waswon “fell, vanned off” at Elko
Ray of the Sea “crashed through the inside rail, DNF” at Ferndale
Arctic Fire “transported off track in ambulance” at Ferndale
Leaner and Meaner “bled” at Saratoga
Image of Quality “transported off track by ambulance” at Saratoga
Bull’s Legacy “flipped in the gate, scratched” at Charles Town
Big Brass Bed “vanned off” at Colonial
Authentic Spirit “bled, transported off track via ambulance” at Del Mar
Make It Snow “transported off track via ambulance” at Del Mar
No More Mask “vanned off” at Delaware
Jd Zoom Zoom Zoom “pulled up injured” at Gillespie
Causes Trouble “suffered injury, vanned off” at Parx
Banishing “transported off track via ambulance” at Saratoga
Discotheque “transported off course via ambulance” at Saratoga
Fine Fine Borrachita “transported off track via ambulance” at Albuquerque
The Werks “bled, transported off track via ambulance” at Albuquerque
Maui Sunrise “transported off track via ambulance” at Albuquerque
Central to Success “transported off course via ambulance” at Saratoga
Dolomite “bled” at Saratoga
“Vanned Off/Ambulance”: While not all these horses end up dead, most do, as borne out by our subsequent reporting. “Bled”: pulmonary hemorrhage.
Right, Marie. It’s a total miscarriage of justice that not only are people allowed to kill horses for racing and wagering, they’re also allowed to withhold full disclosure of all the horses they kill whether the horses have names or not.
This junk of attempting to make the carnage appear less rampant than it actually is by coming up with distractions like “per 1000 starts” and “after 72 hours and transported to an off-track location” to allegedly do “surgery” and most likely euthanize seriously injured horses as an excuse to say that the horse was not a racing casualty or not a casualty of horse racing is classic professional criminal mentality in this cruel and depraved industry.
Whoa. You mean Parx suddenly started admitting their van-offs? In the charts? What’s the occasion for this transparency? A moral epiphany? Just kidding, of course. Those Parx officials usually concede nothing, ever, in terms of all their horse mangling and killing…
(*Outside their daily gate carnage, that is, which they love to mention in the Equibase charts, for some reason.)
And these are just the ones we know about. So many others are injured, sold off, and/or made to disappear because they can no longer earn their keep.
Thirty horses were injured by racing in one week. Some of them were known fatalities.
It’s both sickening and shocking that people aren’t severely punished for being so cruel to their horses; that they are “licensed” to continue the same abusive treatment of the horses day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, and some of those people have been doing this for decades.
The time to recognize this horrendous cruelty and killing of horses as the crime that it is is long overdue. A slap on the wrist is not a deterrent.