Yesterday at Belmont, two horses were killed in a collision during morning training. According to a Thoroughbred Daily News article, Silent Scheme “sustained a broken neck and died instantly.” He was two years old. The other victim, More for Sure, suffered “a catastrophic injury to her left shoulder” and was “humanely euthanized.” She was three.
For some insight into how the morally challenged – that would be racing fans – view these types of events, here’s a comment from the TDN article: “Sad but these things happen as horses are unpredictable and hope they can prevent it from happening again.” Yes, these “things” just “happen.” Now, next horse(s) up. Vile.
RIP, Silent Scheme and More for Sure.
At Prescott Downs in Arizona on August 26, 2000, there was a horse named PACIFIC WIND that fell during a race losing the jockey, then did a U-turn on the extremely muddy racetrack and had a head on collision with another horse, LOT O LOVE, ridden by Stacy Burton. I saw this on the television show, “America’s Most Shocking ” awhile back.
Stacy Burton flew up in the air and then went down onto the muddy racetrack. The horses hit each other head on and it looked like both died instantly.
Stacy Burton, the jockey of Lot I Love, was in a coma for something like 23 days. On the show, they said she woke up on the day they were going to pull the plug. On the internet, it says more details about this and about the lawsuit against the stewards, et cetera.
Marie, we have also had a horse run off with us at Portland Meadows & Lone Oak Park in Salem Oregon. The runaway in Salem was so bad as the horse went in the opposite direction of travel! The owner / trainer was school bus driver for Salem public schools! Hers were some of the worst most poorly trained horses to gallop. The Portland Meadows runaway horse was owned by an owners daughter who was a jockey that in reality trained her fathers horse stable of 1/2 dozen. The father was a trainer in name only & his daughter rode all his horses in races & others as well when her fathers were not entered. At the time her father would call in the horses entry after talking to his daughter if she thought their horse had a possibility of winning. We had the morning gallop that day as she was ill & a neighboring old trainer took care of her fathers stable for her.
Well said, Marie.
I read this article- and that blasé comment- yesterday afternoon. I then watched my horses gallop around my pasture. Not once did they get close enough to even bump much less collide. It’s the same thing I think every time I read these kinds of stories.
In the 40+ years I have been around horses in many different types of settings and sports, the ONLY time I saw horses collide was on the track. There but for the grace of God go I- I even had a horse run away with me, in the wrong direction, on the track. Thank god no one was coming the other way. The horse was literally uncontrollable, nothing I was doing would stop him. But, he was unnaturally stuck in a stall AT LEAST 23 hours a day, and the connections were lazy- so more often than not – it was 24 hrs a day with an occasional handwalk. I can’t blame the horse. He was stir-crazy. These poor horses are leading completely unnatural lives, in unnatural settings, with cocktails of unnatural medications, are fearful, often amped up, and here we are, with fatal collisions.
We have had the experience of a horse becoming riderless & loose going the wrong way around the track! Fortunately the mare we were on was responsive & we immediately went with the loose horse in the same direction & avoided a catastrophic accident. The rider that was on the loose horse had been tossed & ended up with a broken ankle. Later he, (the rider), was caught galloping horses in a cast!!! The idiocy of these racing people can`t be underestimated.
Kentucky produces the most Jockey Club registered Thoroughbred foals and New York kills the most horses exploited for racing and gambling.