In the 8th at Turfway Jan 25, said the chart, “Five Oh Two broke awkward, bore out badly and pulled up in distress and [was] removed by the equine ambulance.” Turns out that “distress” was distress. From the Kentucky Commission: “When it was determined that the colt had suffered a catastrophic injury to his left hind, he was humanely euthanized.” Five Oh was two years old, and this was his very first time under the whip. The responsible: Klein Racing, Cherie DeVaux, Rafael Hernandez, and all who support – betting, attending, watching, working in – the U.S. horseracing industry.
The very next day at Turfway, the stewards report, Razzle Red was scratched because she was “injured in the paddock,” and Miss Peabody, City Cocktails, and Publius were scratched for being “unsound.”
Fred & Joan, I agree it’s definitely evil to put money over all else. It’s sickening that the American Quarter Horse Association also lets all kinds of abuse happen to Quarter Horses not only for racing but also for arena events. The changing of the breed standard of horses with correct conformation to allow horses with defective conformation to become desirable is abhorrent to me. Some of these horses have hind legs that look like the hind legs of hogs, pigs, swine (whichever name you choose). It’s a defect that is purposely bred for because these dumb people say they want their horses legs up underneath of them. They go to the extremes with it like other people do with other breeds and events. The rolkur in dressage isn’t harmony; it’s abuse. The soring of Tennessee Walking Horses for the Big Lick is outright extreme cruelty as well. There is no horsemanship involved in straight up abuse of horses.
Wanda what`s really demoralizing is to see that $$ grubbing, (in our opinion evil) vet still practicing in the performance horse industry! With the redevelopment of Portland Meadows that vet along with others had to shift to other aspects of equine industry. The best vet there sadly passed from old age & was truly kind to the horses. Many old time horse people said when he passed, racing would pass as well. So far that`s been true slowly but surely. We believe that a higher authority will eventually exact a penalty for the evil that others do.
Fred & Joan, I can imagine that your experience of watching a greedy, money-grubbing racetrack trainer having a greedy, money-grubbing veterinarian inject a substance into the joints of a horse that is unfit to race in order to pass a pre-race “inspection” was a DEMORALIZING experience, to say the least.
Sadly, Wanda my state Oregon`s hub tax encourages breeders to keep having more foals for racing! Each new foal`s breeder is reimbursed $1,500 for each foal registered. Although the foals born in our state of Oregon have dropped tremendously in the last several years, the latest reported # of foals born increased due to this subsidy. Almost double from the year of 2023. All subsidies of any kind need to be eliminated!
Joe, even if you gallop the horses in the am one can`t always tell which horses will be sound & safe to ride in the races! As a groom & rider at times we would see the crummy $$ driven only vets & trainers inject horses within their joints with stuff that would render a horse sound enough to pass the soundness inspection before the race only to breakdown during a race! That`s 1 of many reasons we quit riding 20 years ago. You never knew which horse was going to have a catastrophic breakdown while riding at speed thereby endangering your life as well as your fellow riders! We never wagered on the horses in $$. The wager of ones life was > than any $$ amount 1 could wager. We still kinda miss galloping a horse at speed at times. As older, wiser people we prefer to go for distance & not speed so as to live longer. All these subsidies need to disappear & the 1st through last payments for entries should never been allowed along with casino $$ mandated to allow an obsolete gamboling game to continue. The same goes for Hub taxes levied on ADW`s here in Oregon which though small, sustain the summer 1/2 mile county bull ring tracks here. These 1/2 mile bull ring tracks are from our experience are the worst of the worst!! Glad you inform others of the fallacy of supporting this “Crooked , Crummy, Gamboling , Game”.
Thanks, Joe.
The “new” ploy in North American horseracing to attract more people to gamble on horses is to come up with a rating system similar to what they do in Europe, according to the article in the racing industry publication.
Industry insiders want to come up with a way to have more (MORE!) starts for horses and fewer races that go unfilled. There’s more to the story, of course, but it sounds like a despicably desperate plan to give racing secretaries the tools to write conditions so that they can attract more entrants in each race and have fewer races go unfilled. Supposedly, they will have fewer claiming races.
The actual cruelty of forcing horses to run and be kept prisoners in stalls 23 hours a day, seven days a week for weeks and weeks and months and months, will not stop, but now there is this “new carrot” to dangle in front of the public in the hopes of what? Not going down in flames in the next three years or so because more people might be attracted to this “new” rating system?
People need to know what is behind this move.
The racing industry insiders of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority obviously have not stopped this trainwreck, but they might have “protected” a few Pari-mutuel gamblers from being as cheated as they could have been without the additional oversight on illegal doping of horses.
This industry should go down in flames because they have no intention of actually stopping the abuse to the horses. The Thoroughbred breeders are having more difficulty finding mares for their stallions at stud in 2025 per the racing industry press.
The number of new foals born in any given year takes at least 2 years for the numbers to show up because the breeders have until December 31st of the foal’s two-year-old year to get them registered with The Jockey Club.
I expect the number of foals born and registered with The Jockey Club in 2026 will be much lower than the greedy people in this industry would like. The foal crop numbers for 2026 will be available in something like January of 2029; that’s for the 2025 breeding season.
This industry discards horses as though they are garbage or scrap metal; just to get rid of the liability for a horse that is not an asset to their portfolio or whatever.
Isn’t that enough for anyone with an ounce of empathy for animals to stop supporting this horrific slaughter of horses?
With the advent of the “first-to-last” payouts, more and more sick, lame, unsound and injured horses are being shoved into the starting gate. Among other things, this was one of the reasons I stopped betting on horse races. At it’s BEST, it’s now, more than ever, a game that is rife with cheating and deceit; at its WORST – well, we all know of the horrendous and despicable treatment and deaths of the horses that goes on every single day.
The entry of unsound animals to the day’s races pretty much renders traditional handicapping useless; unless privy to the stable’s inside connections, even a knowledgeable and seasoned handicapper sitting in the crowd armed with only the Racing Form and some Speed Figure sheets can never truly know just which horses are competitive, and which ones are terribly unsound, and most likely to break down on the track.
Yes, race-fixing has always been an issue, but now, it has become impossible to accurately handicap a race accurately and consistently.
Even for just this reason alone, I maintain that an appeal to the bettors and an explanation that the conditions of racing and betting are worse than ever, not only for the horses, but also for THEM – can go a long way to expediting the end of this “sport”. NO amount of government money can support a failing industry if no one shows up to bet.
This, written by Mr. Battuello, “A Plea To Bettors” is more poignant and true than ever:
“To those who wager on horseracing, we implore you to reconsider. And ultimately, you hold all the cards: no more bets, no more races; no more races, no more kills.”
I did. I stopped. And I still speak with many of my former race track cronies and urge them to quit this miserable and failing game.
-Joe