The full chart note for 4-year-old Heavyweight Champs in the 7th at Aqueduct yesterday: “Heavyweight Champs tracked the pace on the outside, was asked in the three path on the turn, sustained a catastrophic injury to his left foreleg outside the 5/16 pole and unseated the rider then was euthanized on the track.”
How telling that they include the stuff in the beginning – “tracked the pace,” “was asked in the three path” – and the “unseating” of the “rider” as if somehow, while relaying a death, that’s relevant information. By the way, in this same race, Tarpaulin “struck the fallen rider” – after, that is, “bumping soundly with foes on both sides at the start” – then fell himself before “being apprehended.” And Funny Uncle “hit fallen foe” and was “eased.”
But this is not the only news coming out of Aqueduct. Thursday, according to the chart, Cara’s Dreamchaser was injured and “vanned off.” Turns out, says the Gaming Commission, the 2-year-old Cara’s sustained an “apparatus failure,” multiple fractures – one open (through the skin) – and was euthanized.
To recap, that’s kills on back-to-back days (and 54 and 55 on the year) for the super-proud-of-our-safety-record New York Racing Association. Oh, and one last thing. Cara’s fatal injury Thursday was edited-out of the replay, and this is the message you receive on the NYRA website when searching yesterday’s horror:
Cowards.
Not surprised they tried to bury the truth!
CARA’S DREAMCHASER, a young and underdeveloped two-year-old filly in Race #5 at Aqueduct on November 13, 2025, was “expertly pulled up” by Kendrick Carmouche. How much “expertise” does it take for a jockey to pull up a young and underdeveloped two-year-old filly that has suffered serious injury/injuries to her left front leg?
If racing is “safe”, how do these jockeys become so “expert” at pulling up injured two-year-olds before it is determined that the injuries to the exploited horses are fatal? Obviously, racing is not safe and the diehard participants who are willing to sacrifice the lives of the horses they own know that racing is not safe!!!!!
There is a sanitized version of the Race #5 video is on the internet. It shows Kendrick Carmouche pulling CARA’S DREAMCHASER towards the outside rail of the turf track while the other ELEVEN exploited two-year-olds keep running forward towards the finish line.
The past week at Aqueduct has been no less than a horror show. This is including the horses listed on the weekly ambulance report. Shameful.
Rudy Rodriguez. AGAIN. The gross part is that the NYRA Day At The Races TV folks just rave about him. How many horses can a trainer kill and it not become a huge red flag?
Noda racing, the trainer of tarpaulin, posted a video of him, and said they will observe him closely, and that he had cuts and scrapes on his front and back legs. How sick is that? Cuts and scrapes received from literally trying to scramble over another horse under him. And again, this horrible display of nastiness only made the news because one of the jockeys got hurt. Not a peep about Cara’s Dreamchaser in the racing news.
Who could ever believe that horseracing is “safe” when so many horses have been killed?