Through a FOIA request to the Kentucky Racing Commission, I have confirmed the following kills at that state’s tracks last year (this is part 3; part 1 here; part 2 here).
open fracture: bone broke through the skin
comminuted fracture: bone shattered into multiple pieces
displaced fracture: bone snapped out of place
Happy New Year, Jul 19, Keeneland T
“Pulled up severely lame, became severely painful on manipulation of limb – complete, comminuted humerus fracture, multiple fragments with some depressed into the marrow cavity; extensive tearing of surrounding muscles.” Also: “grade 1 ulcer disease.” Happy was two years old and being prepped for his first race.
Ova Charged, Aug 3, Ellis R
“Horse fell on the course with [multiple] open, disarticulated, comminuted fractures of right forelimb and rupture of suspensory ligament. Left forelimb: full-thickness wound, connective tissues expanded by a large amount of hemorrhage, fetlock joint contains bloody fluid with small spicules of bone.” Ova Charged was six years old.
Catskills, Aug 3, Keeneland T (euth Aug 5)
“Horse was training when he became abruptly lame – complete pelvic fracture, tearing of surrounding muscles.” Also: “grade 2 ulcer disease.” Catskills was three years old.
Honest Delight, Aug 8, Keeneland T (euth Aug 9)
“Horse found down in stall after presenting with non-weight-bearing lameness earlier. LH: comminuted tibia fracture, large amount of hemorrhage. LF: chronic abaxial fracture of the sesamoid.” Also: “moderate to large numbers of tapeworms occupy the lumen of the cecum; stomach ulcer.” Honest was two years old and being prepped for his first race.
Timetoplaythegame, Aug 13, Red Mile R
“Driver felt horse take a bad step – [multiple] fractures, large amount of hemorrhage.” And: “stomach ulceration; lung plaques.” And: “severity score” of fetlock joints, 10/12. Timetoplaythegame was 11 years old. Quite a life, huh?
Fast Strike, Aug 15, Ellis T
“Open cannon fracture – large portion of the dorsal cortex missing; suspensory ligament extensively torn with attachments remaining to two large fragments of the palmar cortical bone.” Also: “extensive ulceration of the stomach.” Fast Strike was four years old.
Shuffle Dance, Aug 17, Churchill T
“Multiple open fractures, including a condylar fracture, biaxial sesamoid fractures, and a fracture of the first phalanx; severe soft tissue damage, with tearing of the medial digital vein, tearing of the flexor retinaculum, the superficial and deep digital flexor tendons, the suspensory ligament and both branches, the medial collateral ligament of the fetlock, and the straight and oblique sesamoidian ligaments.” As if not enough: “The intersesamoidian ligament is ruptured.” In short, his leg was destroyed. Shuffle was four years old.
Tapitoro, Aug 18, Ellis R
“Horse pulled up with catastrophic injury: [multiple] comminuted fractures.” And: “Soft tissue damage is marked with tearing of the flexor retinaculum, the superficial and deep digital flexor tendons, the medial and lateral annular ligaments of the fetlock, the medial and lateral branches of the suspensory, and the straight and oblique sesamoidian ligaments.” And: “The intersesamoidian ligament is ruptured.” Also: “extensive ulceration – grade 4 – of the stomach.” Tapitoro was three years old.
Lilms Constitution, Aug 23, Ellis T
“Horse fell, hit its head, and died: cranial trauma.” Also: “grade 3 ulcers.” Lilms was three years old.
Maxwell, Sep 2, Churchill T (euth Oct 6)
“Colt fell and was injured Sep 2. On Oct 4, diagnosis of chronic femoral fractures [with] poor prognosis for recovery. On Oct 6, down in stall, unable to rise, euthanized.” Maxwell was three years old. Oh how this poor boy suffered.
Manolo Creed, Sep 2, Keeneland S
“Colt went down and died.” Also: “focally severe gastric ulceration.” Manolo was two years old and being prepped for his first race.
Devilish, Sep 3, Keeneland T
“This horse shattered her pastern into multiple fragments [with] distal limb completely unstable below the fetlock.” Also: “grade 2 squamous ulcers.” Devilish was two years old and being prepped for her first race.
Marqueta, Sep 6, Churchill T (euth Sep 7)
“[Multiple] complete, displaced pelvic fractures; large amount of hemorrhage.” Then this: “The presence of a preexisting periosteal callus…in this case is consistent with a repetitive stress injury leading to a catastrophic musculoskeletal failure. Additionally, preexisting lesions are often bilateral, as in this case.” Marqueta was two years old and being prepped for her first race.
End State, Sep 14, Churchill T
“Horse pulled up 5/5 lame: biarticular fracture of the [RH] first phalanx with marked comminution; tearing of underlying [LF] connective tissues.” Also: “stomach ulcers.” End State was three years old and being prepped for her first race.
Wicked Las, Sep 14, Churchill T
“Went down at finish: complete, comminuted humerus fracture; tearing of muscles; large amount of hemorrhage.” And: “dozens of coalescing, bleeding stomach ulcers.” Wicked was two years old and being prepped for her first race.
Framework, Sep 24, Churchill T
“Spiral fracture.” Framework was two years old and being prepped for his first race.
Spruzzo, Oct 1, Keeneland T
“Colt broke down on track: [multiple] comminuted fractures, extensive soft tissue damage, large amount of hemorrhage.” And this: “Frequent ulceration – grade 4 disease – of the squamous mucosa of the stomach with a large ulcer that measures 10cmx4cmx.5cm.” Spruzzo was two years old and being prepped for his first race.
Rejoinder, Oct 3, Keeneland T
“Pulled up with 5/5 lameness: [multiple] comminuted fractures, large amount of hemorrhage, severe tearing of connective tissues.” Rejoinder was three years old.
Lancaster Imp, Oct 4, Keeneland T
“Sound heard by rider and others: complete, comminuted humerus fracture with associated tearing of muscles.” And: “grade 3 ulcer disease.” Lancaster was four years old and being prepped for his first race.
Steel Charger, Oct 4, Keeneland T
“Humerus fracture galloping out.” And: “The presence of a preexisting periosteal callus…in this case is consistent with a repetitive stress injury leading to a catastrophic musculoskeletal failure.” Steel was two years old and being prepped for his first race.
West Beach, Oct 4, Keeneland R
“Horse was lame while jogging off after race – [multiple] fractures.” Also: “grade 2 ulcer disease.” West Beach was two years old.
Constituent, Oct 25, Keeneland R
“Pulled up with catastrophic injury: complete, displaced, comminuted, open fracture of the humerus; tearing of surrounding muscles; connective tissues of the shoulder expanded by massive amount of hemorrhage and edema.” Also: “approximately one dozen ulcers and erosions located in the stomach.” Constituent was three years old.
King Kumbalay, Oct 26, Keeneland T
“Horse pulled up lame: biaxial sesamoid fractures; extensive soft tissue damage, including tearing of the flexor retinaculum, the superficial and deep digital flexor tendons, the lateral annular ligament of the fetlock, the suspensory ligament, and the lateral and medial branches of the suspensory; rupture of medial annular ligament and intersesamoidian ligament.” That’s a lot of destruction. King was six years old.
La Bukana, Oct 31, Churchill R
“Horse pulled up at finish with catastrophic injury: biaxial comminuted fractures with severe soft tissue disruption.” La Bukana was two years old.
Williston Way, Nov 2, Triple Diamonds T
“[Multiple] fractures just after wire.” And: “Soft tissue damage includes tearing of the medial digital vein, rupture of the intersesamoidian and medial annular ligaments of the fetlock, and tearing of the flexor retinaculum, the superficial and deep digital flexor tendons, the suspensory ligament, the lateral and medial branches of the suspensory ligament, and the straight and oblique sesamoidian ligaments.” Also: “stomach ulceration.” Williston was seven years old and had already been raced 45 times.
yet-to-be-named 2-year-old filly, Nov 5, Churchill T
“Complete, comminuted fracture of the humerus; connective tissues of the shoulder expanded by massive amount of hemorrhage and edema, with tearing of the surrounding muscles.” Also: “A small number of [botfly] larvae are adhered to the gastric mucosa. The small intestine contains rare ascarid nematodes. The cecum contains several tapeworms.” Also: “The presence of a preexisting periosteal callus…in this case is consistent with a repetitive stress injury leading to a catastrophic musculoskeletal failure.” It bears repeating: this poor girl was just two years old.
Splattered, Nov 6, Churchill R
“Horse pulled up with catastrophic injury: slab fractures of the second, third, and fourth carpal bones; comminuted fractures of the radial, intermediate, and ulnar carpal bones; tearing of multiple ligaments.” Elsewhere on the report, the injury was described as a “crushing of the carpal bones.” Splattered was three years old and this was her first race.
Eighty West, Nov 7, Churchill R
“Horse pulled up with catastrophic injury to fetlock: multiple fractures within the joint, including severely comminuted P1 fracture.” Also: “severe ulceration of the squamous mucosa.” Eighty West was two years old.
Mischievous Time, Nov 7, Churchill R (euth Nov 8)
“Complete, displaced fracture.” Then this: “Palmar osteochondral disease has been recognized as a predisposing factor to condylar fractures when the lesion occurs within the fracture line, as in this case.” Osteochondral disease – Mischievous was two years old.
Itch’s Promise, Nov 13, Triple Diamonds T
“Complete, comminuted humerus fracture with tearing of surrounding musculature.” And: “history of neck injury as a yearling.” And: “The presence of a preexisting periosteal callus…in this case is consistent with a repetitive stress injury leading to a catastrophic musculoskeletal failure.” Itch’s was three years old and being prepped for his first race.
Poppy’s Joy, Nov 16, Turfway T
“Horse was breezing and collapsed, [then] hit rail – deceased when attending vet arrived. Exercise-associated sudden death.” Also: “gastric ulcers.” Poppy’s was three years old.
Outofnothingatall, Nov 20, Churchill T
“Horse pulled up with [multiple] comminuted fractures, luxation of fetlock, and marked ligamentous damage.” Also: “grade 3 ulcers.” Outofnothingatall was four years old.
Song of Dreams, Nov 24, Churchill T
“Markedly comminuted phalanx fracture.” Also: “stomach ulceration.” Song of Dreams was two years old and being prepped for her first race.
Levanter, Nov 26, Keeneland S
“Horse became acutely weak, fell, and died immediately – cause of death could not be determined.” Levanter was five years old.
Rodeo Zone, Dec 7, Turfway R
“Traumatic musculoskeletal injury: complete slab fractures with associated subcutaneous hemorrhage and edema.” Then this: “Gastric ulcerations are an incidental finding of little clinical significance.” Rodeo Zone was three years old.
O’Donnelly, Dec 11, Turfway R
“Horse fell at 3/16 pole with a catastrophic injury to left forelimb: open, highly comminuted fracture with many missing fragments; extensor tendons multifocally torn; suspensory ligament torn with embedded fragments of bone.” Also: “grade 3 squamous ulcers.” O’Donnelly was three years old.
Auspiciousness, Dec 21, Turfway T
“Complete, displaced, comminuted humerus fracture with muscle tearing and large amount of hemorrhage.” Also: “grade 1 ulcer disease.” Auspiciousness was two years old.
Basilio, Dec 24, Turfway T
“Complete, comminuted, open fracture of the cannon; extensive tearing of suspensory ligament and extensor tendons.” Also: “There is a healed condylar fracture with a single lag screw and a healed fracture of the medial sesamoid.” Also: “grade 3 ulceration of the stomach.” Basilio was four years old.
Kid Marvelous, Dec 27, Turfway T
“Sudden death.” Kid Marvelous was five years old.
Kentucky horse killers know that repetitive stress leads to horrific injuries to the horses but they don’t stop the everyday routine cruelty and the sadistic routine torture.
Another day, another bunch of horses to cause harm and death to and call it “sport” and a paycheck for some.
It’s morally depraved to routinely cause horses to suffer agonizingly painful injuries. Horse racing is absolute cruelty to horses! This moral depravity should not go unpunished.
R.I.P.