Thistledown in Ohio temporarily closed last week amid concerns about track safety. The track also fired its newly-hired (this spring) superintendent, who, on his way out the door, said eight horses have been killed there since Apr 21. Yesterday, Thistledown opened back up for business and…a horse was killed in the very first race. According to the chart, 5-year-old Tayyara “suffered a catastrophic injury past the 5/16 pole and was euthanized.” (Another horse, Timely Secret, apparently “bumped into the rival in distress and was pulled up.”) The rest of the day’s racing was then canceled.
A Thistledown jockey agent said this about the death (Thoroughbred Daily News): “With the work they’ve done on it the last few days the track was in great shape. I know that a horse breaking down in the first race is a bad look, but it’s not the track.” And you know what? I agree – it’s not the track. Every time there are a string of deaths at a track – any track – the industry scrambles to find scapegoats. Here, it was the superintendent. And then? Not only does the killing inevitably return, the next cluster rears somewhere else. And this is something I try mightily to get the media to grasp – it’s not about a track. The U.S. horseracing industry is a single entity; these horses are constantly being shuffled around, track to track, state to state. In short, a death at one is a death at all.
Meanwhile, two horses were killed training in NY yesterday:
Saloon Girl, says the Gaming Commission, “received a fracture to the RF limb necessitating euthanasia on the [Finger Lakes] track.” They added: “investigation continues.” Here’s a good place to start: Saloon was nine and had been raced 61 times, yet her final exploiters – Duangkamol Kumpuban and Nirka Huertas – wanted more. Vile.
Then this from trainer Tom Amoss on social media: “It is with deep sadness that our stable confirms that Dazzle d’Oro sustained a catastrophic injury this morning [at Saratoga]…and he was euthanized to prevent further suffering. Everyone in our barn feels a deep loss and our thoughts and prayers are with the owners and all who worked with him.” What a stand-up guy, huh? Vile redux. Dazzle was but two and coming off his debut.
Please stop hurting horses for profit
It does suck when the news outlets glorify horseracing. With all the various so-called horsemen’s groups who make it their job to promote and perpetuate horseracing and Pari-mutuel gambling, their claim is always that horseracing adds so much money to the economy and provides jobs The fact that using horses as gambling chips is fundamentally abusive to horses is overlooked and the die-hard abusers routinely blame the horses for taking “a bad step” or “causing their own problem” or in the current case of JACK Thistledown Racino, they are blaming the track for now.
RIP
Writing of rocks being present on tracks, We have been known to walk around some of the tracks at very early am`s searching for any rocks present on the tracks surface before galloping a horse at work out speed. This we always did especially after a track had added new sand to the tracks or had reworked the base. Portland Meadows always got their new sand from dredging of the Willamette river harbor or shipping channel. Tillamook Downs track was notorious for rocks & very hard surface!! Don Averrill Sr. once told he had broken dozens of parts on his rototiller trying to make Tillamook`s track surface softer for racing. He said he would never use his heavy duty dairy farm equipment on Tillamook track again. The only soft track we had was Lone Oak in Salem. With rains it became noted for being very slippery & slick.
Thistledown has already cancelled racing for today. Good thing. Heat index is supposed to be around 95.
I have sent info to the local news stations to make the public aware of what is going on in their own backyard. I haven’t been acknowledged, and no one has picked up the info to create a story. This is pathetic, considering one of the local channels, channel 8 in Cleveland, has always supported anti- animal abuse and that they are animal lovers, even creating a yearly APL telethon. They also helped push and enhance Goddards law.
However, they are also the ones that recently glorified Thistledown’s 100th birthday, by showing the poor horses being dragged around on a hot walker, and the gross conditions of the barns, as well as some horses exhibiting stereotypies. (Predominantly head-bobbing). Guess they’re selective of which animal abuse to support.
If anyone would like to reach out to them- the email I have is “tips@fox8.com”.
The superintendent, now ex- superintendent, at Thistledown was reported to have been a whistleblower about the condition of the racetrack.
He evidently didn’t kiss the “right” butt of the certain people who decided to fire him. The now ex-superintendent and whistleblower reported to HISA. Wow, shame on him, huh??
The jockeys picked up rocks off the racetrack but then it was reported to be “wavy”. This whole thing is messed up!
This gambling game is messed up from the fundamental wrongs of forcing underdeveloped and immature colts and fillies to gallop under the weight of a rider carrying a whip, and possibly an electric shock device, to being locked up in a stall 23 hours a day, to the doping to mask pain as well as enhance performance, to the prioritizing of filling the race card as a higher priority than keeping horses in a humane way.
I suspect the veterinarians at Thistledown are “yes” men and pass horses to race that are not fit to gallop under the pressure of racing or doing timed work outs.
The breakdowns of Tayyara and Dazzle are not being swept under the rug. Multiple outlets reporting and making it known on the first race a tragedy for the horse at Thistledown. Dazzle was supposed to have been the next major moneymaker on the track for connections and bettors.