Over the course of just 13 days at Turfway (Dec 19-Jan 14), 23 horses were scratched by the regulatory vet – i.e., their exploiters had every intention of racing them – for being “injured” or “unsound,” another 45 by private vets for being “injured” or “ill,” and 4 horses who were “claimed” (bought) prior to races were subsequently returned to their sellers because they finished said races physically compromised in one way or another.
In addition, say the stewards:
“Game Day returned lame and required the ambulance.” (The chart said nothing of this.)
“Honey Hauler was injured in the paddock and scratched.”
“Fourfiftyseven was injured in the starting gate and scratched.”
Then this:
“Aleman charged the front door of the starting gate and his head got lodged between the bars. Horse was scratched.”
This, every day, is horseracing.
It is BLATANTLY UNACCEPTABLE that the people who participate in this abuse of horses will, in your face, deny that the abuse is abuse! They will defend the abuse as if it weren’t abuse. They will deflect from their daily routine abuse of horses and attempt to put the responsibility on the person who calls out their abuse.
It is the responsibility of the people involved in this abuse of horses to be honest and forthcoming with repentance. Fat chance that will ever happen for those people who are deeply entrenched in this industry.
It is really messed up that the horse racing industry has been given a free pass, so to speak, to “police” themselves AND, of course, the “horse racing police” are as corrupt as they can be. Maybe not every single person is as corrupt as the next, but they are still involved in this dumpster fire.
Take Mike Repole, for example; he has shown some interest in “reforming” the industry but it is more or less “a good ol’ boy network” and he wants the 2-year-old suicide races to be stopped which the people who put on the Ocala Breeders’ Sales and the Keeneland Breeders’ Sales will most likely reject due in part to the fact that these people are accustomed to young horses breaking down. Fatally injured horses at any age are just so much like roadkill on a freeway to them.
Mike Repole also wants the “good ol’ boys” with the power and the money in this industry to have a plan of action for putting the money into aftercare. All of these things sound good, but the fact remains that the forcing of underdeveloped colts and fillies to race in a succession of races in order to qualify for the Kentucky Derby as 3-year-olds is still inherently inhumane.
(Remember that Mike Repole has Todd Pletcher as his trainer and that Mike Repole had a hissy fit when one of his horses was disqualified from running in the Kentucky Derby due to a stone bruise and a violation of the doping rules.)
Agree 100% Elizabeth with what you wrote. That was our experiences over the 28+ years in this business of gamboling with the lives of the poor horses.
Let’s strip away the euphemisms and the industry’s bloodless vocabulary. “Scratched.” “Returned.” “Unsound.” “Compromised.” These are not unfortunate clerical notes. They are the paper trail of a business that treats living, feeling animals as disposable equipment. In 13 days, at a single track, you don’t get dozens of “injured,” “ill,” or “unsound” horses by accident. You get them because the system is built to grind bodies down until they fail.
“Honey Hauler injured in the paddock.”
“Fourfiftyseven injured in the gate.”
“Aleman jammed his head between the bars.”
Read those again. Slowly. This isn’t sport. This is a slaughterhouse. And the four horses who were claimed and then returned because they were physically compromised? That’s the equivalent of buying a car and discovering the engine explodes as soon as you drive it off the lot except here the “product” are living beings who risked their lives for someone else’s gambling ticket.
“This, every day, is horseracing.” Exactly. And that’s the indictment. They are not isolated incidents. They are daily, normalized outcomes of an industry that profits from breaking bodies and calling it entertainment. And that tells you everything you need to know.
Can`t imagine what that poor horse went through having its head caught in the starting gate bars! That to us shows signs of poor accustoming to the gate or a horse terrified of being there in the 1st place. We have accustomed many young horses to the gates. Never had anything remotely happen like that. Not enough time teaching horses to being ridden or handled is standard operating procedure in this business.