Through a FOIA request to the California Horse Racing Board, I have obtained the following details on some of that state’s kills last year (previous installments here).
Kiss Then Talk, Oct 12, Los Alamitos R
“[Multiple] complete, displaced, comminuted fractures; severe, regionally-extensive hemorrhage.” Kiss Then Talk was but two years old.
Goldcoin, Nov 9, Pleasanton T
“Catastrophic humeral fracture – complete, displaced, comminuted. Several muscles torn; severe, regionally-extensive hemorrhage.” Also: “chronic stomach ulcers.” Goldcoin was three years old and being prepped for his first race.
Table for Ten, Nov 29, Pleasanton R
“[Multiple: I counted three] complete, displaced, comminuted, open [through the skin] fractures; tearing of tendon and ligament; regionally-extensive hemorrhage.” Also: “osteochondral disease [both front legs], severe in right.” Table for Ten was eight years old, and this was his 43rd time under the whip.
Fred and Joan, IF, in the Nineteen-Sixties & Nineteen-Seventies, you had had the access to the body of knowledge that exists in the equine industry, especially fatal injuries to horses exploited for racing in the various states of the United States and countries around the world, through the technology we have today, the Twenty-Twenties, I don’t think you would have made some of the same choices that you made back then. The saying, “If I had known then what I know now” certainly does apply here.
But, now that we do have access to more knowledge of this inherently cruel industry through not only life experience but also through the information technology and this website — Horseracing Wrongs — the excuses that some people make to be involved in horse racing today are no longer worthy of the benefit of a doubt.
There are too many people who are in it for the long haul no matter what happens to any of the horses. But, some people seem to make an unwise choice to ignore the reality of the cruelty of horse racing and make the choice to think as a delusional person would think and deny the reality. As long as this particular group of people are not truly mentally unhealthy, there could be some light at the end of the tunnel meaning some of these people will stop allowing themselves to be deceived and have the courage to stand up for the horses instead of being a part of the cruelty.
Wanda, some of us are admitting to be slow to catch on as we were. It took several very good horses for us to realize what a Crooked, Crummy, Gamboling Game we had unwittingly had become participants in! So sad for all the horses whose trust we gained & then had betrayed by others in this horrible industry. No young or old horse should have the kinds of injuries listed above. We have been to large breeders here in the NW who have had large trucks & trailers loaded with their old stock & later found out they all went up north! We even had 1 breeder admit that they`re old horses went for food to large carnivores. Sometimes you just have to wait until an older generation passes on.
These three horses — KISS THEN TALK, GOLDCOIN, & TABLE FOR TEN — might be the last three race horses killed in 2024 that the California Horse Racing Board is willing to disclose, but I would not trust in the illusion that no other doomed Thoroughbred or Quarter Horse from Northern California escaped from the death trap of this inherently cruel industry.
I would believe that many of the horses from Golden Gate and Pleasanton as well as the “breeding farms” were shipped to a different racetrack to be injured and eventually killed.
Since there is no legal obligation for these people to disclose the horses they sent to “retirement” (which is a slaughterhouse in a foreign country for many horses), we can never know the exact number of horses that were exploited to death in California.
Los Alamitos racecourse is a meat grinder track that could have crippled and subsequently euthanized multiple horses that were not reported within the 72-Hour Time Frame that this dishonest industry gave themselves to let themselves off the hook from disclosing to the public all horses killed by racing.
But, always remember the words of Jeff Blea, the disgraced CHRB veterinarian, “One horse killed is one horse too many.”
Always remember that Jeff Blea “prescribed medications” to multiple racehorses at a time without actually doing a physical examination of each individual horse as required by law for doctors of veterinary medicine. Always remember that you are going to be taken for a sucker sooner or later if you actually believe the lies generated by this cruel industry.
RIP