Lil Kell, just two, was killed prior to a race at the Illinois State Fair Wednesday. Here is what The State Journal-Register learned from a witness:
“[After losing her driver] the horse jumped the inside rail into the infield with the sulky, or cart, still attached, ran along the edge of the track on the infield, got to the north end of the track, tried jumping back on to the track and then fell into the concrete tunnel.” The witness: “You just heard the whole crowd gasp at that point when we saw (her) go over. It was like slow motion. It was like, ‘Holy shit.'”
Owner/trainer Dennis Gardner said Lil, who was “purchased as a yearling last fall,” died “pretty well instantaneously.” He then added, “I appreciate everybody that helped out…. In a deal like this, you’re not prepared. (These horses are) like our kids.”
Yup, just like your kids, Mr. Gardner. And yet somehow, you, the other “horsemen,” fair organizers, and the patrons themselves managed to carry on: “The full slate of harness racing went off Wednesday after about a 40-minute delay.” Vile.
RIP. Lil Kell!
Saying these horses are like our children or like our kids doesn’t help at all. Making this statement is manipulative and does not change the fact that these people willfully and knowingly put the horses at extreme risk of crippling injuries and often fatal injuries.
If pushing your children off of a cliff was a sport, would these depraved people actively engage in such abhorrently immoral and egregiously depraved and criminal activity?