The CHRB has confirmed that Fire Flight, an “equine ambulanced” at Los Alamitos Sunday, is indeed dead. He had just turned three, and this was his maiden race.
As previously reported, Souper Dormy died at Gulfstream Sunday – after falling, and after being hit by another horse. Here is video of that. While watching, consider this quote from jockey Mario Gutierrez (on X): “Counting my blessings today. Yesterday was rough, but I walked away with no broken bones – just some bruises and a lot of soreness. I can’t thank the Gulfstream Park medical staff enough for their professional and kind help. Thank you for everything you do!” How swell for you, Mr. Gutierrez.
Thank you for sharing the link, Elizabeth. For the “power brokers” and billionaires to categorize Thoroughbred horses as machinery is not new as far as how they treat the horses. Horses have been treated like used cars for a long, long time.
If people really want to be entertained by something being demolished, there are the demolition derbies where actual cars are used instead of living, breathing animals.
If the climate becomes too dry to grow adequate amounts of forage/hay, only very rich people will be able to afford hay for horses. In the current political climate, climate change or global warming is not recognized as something that has been tracked by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric group of educated professionals since 1950. So we all have that trainwreck to “look forward to” as well.
Steve, on May 10th,2004 we found exactly that! No one cared after a very bad experience at the Portland Meadows track we lived through. Only 1 groom & 1 maintaining track crew member helped us & comforted our family as we were in the hospital for the month of May. Sadly, Dave died at the Grant`s Pass track several years ago & as far as we know that hard working groom was never provided a proper memorial service! RIP Dave you were the only 1 besides Elmer who cared for us. Elmer himself after taking us to the hospital QUIT the racing industry & left the state on the stroke of midnight when his contract in maintaining crew at Portland Meadows expired on the last day of June. He was the 1 that told us” This is the devils den of iniquity & you can`t trust anyone.” We left that fall & have never been to a track since.
Thank you so much for providing the NY times link unlocked! Sad to see horses used as just tax deductions. That Grey they show clearly had rough handling! Note the cut on his face & the crummy lip chain use. The terrible use of lip chains & tongue ties are on a long list of reasons we left the racing industry in 2004. Now the industry is going to be held together even more artificially by tax law! How about big tax incentives for rescuing & treating those horses having already raced & suffered in this industry? Thanks again Elizabeth.
All the other jockey$ can $ee the mayhem and don’t mi$$ a beat. Everyone i$ too bu$y trying to get a little bag of money at the fini$h line. Mr. Gutierrez, $ome day you’ll realize that in your “profe$$ion”, no one really care$ about you, and you will be trampled and di$carded like all the hor$es you profe$$ to love.
To Wanda re: your comment “I said forty years because the numbers of new registrations of Thoroughbred foals peaked at over 50,000 in 1986 and have been declining each year since then.” Here’s a link to a gifted article my summary is based upon: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/business/trump-taxes-horse-racing.html?unlocked_article_code=1.MlA.qUo2.gdLg1AHq0mW3&smid=url-share
Summary: A big impetus of the recent cash infusion into horseracing has come from a tax break tucked away in President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which he signed into law last summer. The tax provision is called bonus depreciation that means businesses can immediately deduct the full cost of certain assets like machinery and equipment and enhance their cash flow. It now applies to racehorses, and it is helping turn these horses into a hot investment for wealthy people as if horses are machinery and equipment not to mention entertainment.
“There’s a lot of money in the world,” said Boyd T. Browning Jr., president and chief executive of the thoroughbred sales company Fasig-Tipton. “And that bonus depreciation has made it a lot easier to spend it.” Racehorses were included in the final version of the One Big Beautiful Bill after an 11th-hour lobbying effort by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. The lobbying also was successful in expanding the definition of what could be depreciated. Previously, only a “new” yearling purchased at sale could be depreciated. Under the new tax provision, “new” can include a broodmare or stallion prospect purchased after it had started racing so long as the buyer hadn’t owned that horse before. The tax provision is driving prices up to new heights.
“It’s crazy money at the sales now . . . You see colts that have a chip on their ankle or other vet problems going for $3.5 and $4 million.”
Bill Farish, who runs his family’s Lane’s End Farm in central Kentucky, said the infusion of money into the sport was spreading through the community. His neighbors, he said, recently bought new John Deere tractors and bigger barns.
“I’d love to see the foal crops get bigger, because right now there is a tremendous demand for racehorses,” Mr. Farishsh said. The asset class now includes racehorses. The provision is full expensing via “bonus depreciation” and functions as an accelerated cost recovery mechanism. By allowing 100% first-year depreciation on qualifying assets, it reduces taxable income immediately, improving after-tax cash flow and internal rate of return on capital-intensive purchases. The primary beneficiaries are high-net-worth individuals and entities with substantial taxable income. A $4 million colt expensed in year one can generate a seven-figure tax shield for someone in the top federal bracket. That makes a speculative racehorse purchase materially less risky on an after-tax basis.
Inflated auction prices
encourages overbreeding. Racehorse ownership is overwhelmingly concentrated among affluent households. Thus, while the policy is framed as pro-business, its incidence is skewed upward in the income distribution.
Supporters say the benefits help regional economies e.g., central Kentucky farms purchasing equipment (such as John Deere tractors) and hiring labor. In states like Kentucky, Florida, and New York, the thoroughbred industry has significant multiplier effects.
Will integrity help us select new government leadership that prioritizes a moral track record over charisma or connections?
Is it any wonder that the general public has been losing interest in gambling on horses for the last 40 years? I said forty years because the numbers of new registrations of Thoroughbred foals peaked at over 50,000 in 1986 and have been declining each year since then. Now we are into 2026 and the desire to prop up this heinous cruelty to horses is mostly non-existent as far as the public is concerned.
The California Horse Racing Board has been a corrupt organization for so long that allowing Los Alamitos Racecourse to continue to kill horses is no surprise but they might have slowed down the rate of killing by stopping the Dunn Ranch from their killing spree at Los Alamitos racecourse.