From the good folks at Keeneland: “Following an incident in Race 1 [Saturday] involving Cielo and jockey Flavien Prat, both were promptly attended to on-track by Keeneland’s equine safety and UK HealthCare medical teams. Due to the severity of the injury, humane euthanasia was elected in the best interest of the horse. Our heartfelt condolences go out to Cielo’s connections.”
If this sounds familiar, it should. A version of the same was disseminated Friday in regard to the death of Gotta Lotta Tempo that afternoon. So, this makes “incidents” – that would be dead horses – in consecutive days at one of America’s most-celebrated tracks. And just like the recently-departed Gotta, Cielo was but two years old – an equine baby – and under the whip for the very first time.
While the aforementioned “incidents” were scrubbed from the Keeneland-sanctioned replays, the chart for Cielo’s kill paints quite the picture (all emphases mine):
“Rebel With a Cause…hit a fallen foe entering the lane. Blythes Ferry…trampled a fallen foe entering the lane. Cielo…fell entering the lane.”
Imagine the terror on that track. These are prey/flight animals and, in this case, mere babies at that (all the horses in this race are/were two). First, forced into a large metal contraption, then driven to run in a tightly-compacted artificial herd (12 horses strong), at an unnatural speed, by perched whip-wielding humans, one falls, two others hit (or “trample”) him – with the rest experiencing it all. What they inflict on these poor horses, as a matter of course, is almost too horrible for words.
The only measure that will “prevent this in the future” is to end racing, period!
Velma, that is like asking how do you remove the flavor of lemons from lemonade. Forcing underdeveloped yearlings and two-year-olds to perform at high speeds is stupid and will always lead to premature injuries and death in these underdeveloped colts and fillies.
Keeneland prides itself on the deliberate premeditated cruelty to horses for racing and Pari-mutuel gambling including a few high-dollar sale prices at the Keeneland Breeders’ Sales.
It’s disheartening to see yet another incident at Keeneland. We need to prioritize the safety of both horses and jockeys. What measures are being taken to prevent this in the future?
Am watching Keeneland now. Just hate the use of lip chains, tongue ties on these poor horses! Wonder how many will be injured today? Counted we think > 12 horses scratched from today`s card. The 1st part of the programs start was enlightening! Showed the promoters of Keeneland. We will not utilize any of the supporters! Bank of America along with Coca -Cola are supporters along with many others. Boycott them all!
The keeneland press release is identical to the day before, just different names. It bears witness to the fact that no matter how elite, how “boutique” the track, horse deaths are just a routine and inherent part of horse racing. It also shows how the racing industry just shrugs its shoulders and chalks it up to “it happens”.
The moral depravity never stops.