Chart notes from U.S. Thoroughbred and Quarterhorse races last week.
Duneen Bay “taken home on ambulance” at Horseshoe
Nightlinger “given ride off track in ambulance” at Will Rogers
Kahala “equine ambulance” at Aqueduct
Indy Lake “returned home in ambulance” at Horseshoe
A P Ruly “left track via ambulance” at Oaklawn
Colosi “in apparent distress, left track via ambulance” at Oaklawn
One Bodacious Force “transported off via ambulance” at Sunray
Equate “fell, DNF” at Foxfield
Mr. Fine Threads “fell, DNF” at Glyndon
Great Road “fell, DNF” at Glyndon
Amazing Success “went wrong, left track via ambulance” at Oaklawn
Lady Commander “left track via ambulance” at Oaklawn
Bellamys Roan “went wrong, left track via ambulance” at Oaklawn
This Is Gloria “equine ambulance” at Sam Houston
Aidens Favorite “equine ambulance” at Sam Houston
“Vanned Off,” “Equine Ambulance”: While fates remain unknown at this time, we will eventually get death confirmations on many, if not most, through our FOIA reporting. “Bled,” “Returned Bleeding From Nostrils”: pulmonary hemorrhage. “DNF”: did not finish.
Jdoe, just exactly what is it that you are concerned about?
There are already hundreds if not thousands of horses trafficked around the world in every country that has horseracing. Many foreign-bred horses are trafficked to the United States and many horses bred in the United States are trafficked to foreign countries. This has been going on for probably centuries, not just decades. What’s new about that? There’s nothing new about that.
Horseracing is being openly frowned upon by many people in Europe and Australia. The carnage in these countries is being documented by activist groups as Horseracing Wrongs has been documenting the carnage of racehorses in the United States. In case you hadn’t noticed, there are breeders of Thoroughbreds who are citizens of the United States and taking their breeding and racing activities to Europe. The celebrity chef, Bobby Flay, is one of those people.
Again, taking the inherent cruelty out of horseracing is not possible anywhere in the world. It’s like trying to take the dairy product out of butter made from cow’s milk.
I’m sorry if your intelligence quotient hit a brick wall and therefore you can’t comprehend what I am saying to you. I understand what you are saying. What you, Jdoe, are saying to the people committed to ending horseracing is: to just give up everything they stand for and roll over and die. You don’t want to think about horseracing not being an option for you and your cohorts.
jdoe, the way you speak sounds very familiar to me ….like the type who never wants this killing to stop. You are either shallow degenerate gambler…or a person who is in this evil industry as your so called means of “employment”? Which is it?
My concern is that all this is doing is relocating our business out of the country to even worse situations. This is not a win for horses.
It may be better to think outside of the box and come up with a solution in partnership with our industry that will truly improve conditions.
The economics of operating tracks will eliminate racing Joe especially if all subsidies are eliminated. Just look at N. Cal. & Oregon. 1/4 racing is already conducted underground during the dry season here in my state of Oregon. The Oregon legislature has already proposed huge cuts.
Jdoe:
It’s ironic that for racing to be 1) banned or 2) reformed in such a way as you have described is that there has to be bills written and legislation passed.
The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act was passed, as you may know, which lead to the formation of a group called the HORSERACING INTEGRITY AND SAFETY AUTHORITY, which started out with a mysterious group calling themselves “the blue ribbon nominating committee” that didn’t disclose the names of the people who belonged to this goofily named group. This is supposed to be a professional group of people, not a bunch of narcissistic thugs putting themselves on a pedestal at the county fair or whatever.
As each day goes by, horses are still being mistreated brutally by their “loving” owners and other connections causing the death of racehorses. There is a serious lack of transparency in horseracing even with, or should I say especially with, this group, HISA, taking over the alleged transparency of horse racing.
You can’t have a derby without 3-year-olds that are seasoned racehorses. In racing, it’s standard procedure to start colts, gelded or not, and filles out under saddle at 18 months of age. The hard galloping starts at way too young of an age for horses. This is a fundamental wrong that is abuse, not horsemanship. It is inherently cruel to horses to start them under saddle and commence galloping at 18 to 20 months of age. This is a major trademark and tradition of the racing industry. The fact that there is still a Kentucky Derby for 3-year-olds that
requires young and underdeveloped Thoroughbreds to be started under saddle at 18 months or so and forced to gallop and race during their 2 year old year is not going to be done away with by “reforms” in my opinion and I think many people would agree.
As you may know, many of the young horses that were labeled as “Derby hopefuls” have dropped out along the way “on the road to the Kentucky Derby” as they call it.
This industry can only be as good as the people in it and the people in it are in it for the money and because they don’t have to get arrested for assaulting horses. They get away with Animal Cruelty every day. Forcing a young and underdeveloped horse to gallop every day causes degenerative joint disease and ulcers. This is not to mention confining the horses for 23 hours a day in 12 ft. x 12 ft. stalls or in some cases the stalls are 10 ft. x 10 ft. This is completely unnatural and unhealthy for horses. The list of cruelties goes on and on.
I think the goal of eliminating horse racing is unrealistic.
Even if somehow it was banned in the U.S, that is only a small percentage of tracks worldwide. A horse doesn’t know if it’s racing in the states or somewhere else so the situation would just be moved out of sight out of mind.(ie moving our slaughterhouses to Mexico).
It may be better to accept that it can’t be stopped and help redefine it as as a less inhumane process and set the standards.
With a few changes, on track breakdowns could be just a small fraction of what they are today.
– Only race or workout on well maintained turf.
– A horses legs and feet must be cold as part of the pre race vet check. Any areas of heat identified must be flagged and monitored.
– If a horse lugs in/out they are most likely communicating that their legs are sore, this must be flagged and monitored.
– If a horse is showing signs of hesitation at the gate or on the track, they are most likely communicating that there is a problem, this must be flagged and monitored.
– If a horse is given medication of any kind, no racing for a minimum of 10 days.
– Use biometrics to monitor their stress level at the barn.
– There needs to be full transparency as to the location history of every horse bred with the intention to race. No more shipping a majority of them to foreign slaughterhouses.
– Unless there is a way to avoid slaughterhouses, then they must be domestic and monitored.
To continue in the U.S. horse racing must be redefined as optional entertainment, with transparency, and standards such as the ones described above.
If any foreign track wants to participate in our online betting, then they must adhere to the standards that we have defined.
RIP
NOTHING is improving….nothing ever will. These people are murderers plain and simple. They need to go get a REAL job🤬…and quit killing innocent horses.