In the 7th at Charles Town Friday night, two horses – Count the Flowers and Naturally Divine – went down. Here is how that “spill” looked. (While the chart says both “got up and walked off,” we’ll see.)
Also, as previously reported, Big Bad Bud “collapsed and died” on the Finger Lakes track Oct 1 (collapsed and died, that is, after finishing 84 lengths back). An eyewitness that day sent me the following photo, with this note: “Big Bad Bud was still alive in this photo taken from the parking lot. You could see his tail move, front legs a little too. Then the vet arrived and the screen went up.” How profoundly sad.
We did have a spill there… involving the 7 and the 3, says the track announcer.
This industry is despicably cruel. I believe the chances of most of the horses running here are lame in some way but drugged up to run anyway. Filling the race card is a higher priority for the track management than “horse welfare” any day of the week.