Jockey Constantino Roman, say the stewards at Turfway, was fined $500 for “striking his mount with [his] goggles” on Feb 28. The “mount” in question was 3-year-old Girl of My Dreams, and while Roman got hit hard (financially, that is) the goggles shot was certainly worth it for Girl’s other exploiters (River Oak Farm, Anna Meah), for you see, Girl “won” the race and with it, a cool $51K. By the way, with Roman once again aboard, Girl didn’t fare as well in her next race, four days ago: last, 23 lengths back. The moral of the story?
Also at Turfway, over just four racedays (Mar 5-Mar 8), the following horses were scratched by the regulatory vet – meaning their exploiters had every intention of racing them – for the reasons indicated:
Queen of the Dance – “unsound”
Big Hat Willie – “unsound”
Free Passage – “injured in the starting gate”
El Peligro – “unsound”
Night Cry – “injured in the paddock”
Starship Aries – “injured”
Candy Boy – “unsound”
Wauhatchie – “unsound”
And these were scratched by their private vets:
Kohara – “injured”
She’s Arodeoqueen – “injured”
Good Governance – “illness”
Shinigami – “illness”
Gift Certificate – “illness”
Carolina Candy – “illness”
Or Magique – “illness”
Graydaria – “illness”
Mor Success – “injured”
Princess Kalamoh – “illness”
V Mart – “injured”
That’s a lot of injured/sick horses. And again, just four days’ worth. Finally, the stewards report, “Baytown Shinjuku finished last, bled, and required the assistance of the horse ambulance.” This, too, is horseracing.
How much do you want to bet that BAYTOWN SHINJUKU was bleeding before crossing the finish line???
All of the trainers with horses that were scratched because of illness and/or unsoundness would have been given an “F” for flunking if this was a college course. All of them should be stripped of their license and sent to detention for abuse, neglect, and extreme cruelty to their horses.
This “organized” criminal activity of abusing horses needs to lose its Social License to Operate; the sooner, the better!
To all who whine about decoupling, get a real job and stop killing horses.