A recent ruling (January) posted by the Texas Racing Commission. It fell under the heading, “Inhumane Treatment.”
“On April 3, 2025, Yasmine Medina sent the horse ‘Oppenheimer’ with a groom to Retama Park for an official workout. The horse got loose on the way to the track, unseated his rider, ran into a cement manure bin, ran through two wire fences, ran onto the racetrack without a rider, was caught by the outriders and was returned to his groom with noticeable scratches on the hind legs.
“Nevertheless, the horse was sent to participate in an official workout with a different rider. The horse then collapsed after the workout and was diagnosed with heat exhaustion. After an hour, approximately, the horse was able to walk back to the receiving barn. The horse did not receive further veterinary care after leaving the track while under the care of Ms. Medina. The horse died the next morning, April 4, 2025.”
For this, Medina was given a one-year suspension and $10,000 fine. But, as seems to be the norm in racing world, that suspension was truncated – “probated,” they call it – to six months, so this scumbag will be back in action Oct 1.
Oppenheimer was but a baby, two years old. Physical pain aside, imagine how scared – terrified, really – he was on that fateful day: “got loose on the way to the track”; “ran into a cement manure bin”; “ran through two wire fences”; corralled; forced into a training session where he collapsed at the end; in the dirt for an hour or so; back to his stall, alone; dead the next morning (it’s highly likely he was found dead). That poor, poor boy.
By the way, a case could be made that Medina be brought up on criminal charges under Texas’ “Cruelty to Livestock Animals”: “A person commits an offense if the person intentionally or knowingly fails unreasonably to provide necessary care for a livestock animal in the person’s custody” or “seriously overworks a livestock animal.”
The racing industry has “normalized” the outright abuse and neglect of horses for racing and gambling. Demanding that two-year-old colts and fillies perform as though they were mature (which is 6 years of age), is considered “normal”.
The fact remains that 2-year-olds are not fully capable of performing to the intensity that is demanded from them by the despicable and greedy people of the racing industry. This fundamentally flawed thinking and practice has been “normalized” to the point that these people defend it no matter how stupid they sound.
Many horrific things are done to literally terrorize young horses into submission by abusive people. The morally depraved people of the racing industry routinely exploit young and underdeveloped horses; it is what they do and they consider it “normal”.
Using whips and electric shocking devices on racehorses has been done for so many years that it is considered “normal” even though it is ABUSE!
The “trainer” is definitely responsible for what happened to this young and underdeveloped colt but so are the “officials” at Retama Park. The track officials and the track veterinarian and any other veterinarian connected to this ABUSE & NEGLECT of a young colt should also be held accountable for their part in the ABUSE & NEGLECT; they all failed miserably to provide proper care of the colt. This colt should never have been at the racetrack in the first place, but since he was, they could and should have given him proper care instead of forcing him to work out and then leaving him to die. So many stupid and incompetent things were done here that the whole racetrack staff should be put on notice.
Of course, the livestock people in the great state of Texas are too proud of their ANIMAL CRUELTY and ABUSE & NEGLECT of horses and cattle to shut the racetrack down for killing a horse.
Worshipping the “almighty dollar” motivates them to be morally depraved and use horses in the most inhumane ways.
A two-year-old horse breaks loose. He crashes into a cement manure bin. He tears through wire fencing. He runs riderless onto a racetrack. Any competent horseperson understands that such an event is a red-flag incident demanding immediate veterinary attention. Instead, he was sent out again after visible injury. After extreme exertion. After psychological shock. He was made to perform an “official workout.” He collapsed. He was diagnosed with heat exhaustion which, in young Thoroughbreds under stress, can rapidly progress to systemic failure. He lay there for approximately an hour then walked back. No further veterinary care. Dead by morning. The penalty, a one-year suspension reduced (“probated”) to six months and a $10,000 fine invites is merely deterrence and functions when consequences outweigh incentives. A temporary pause, especially one reduced, does not meaningfully address the tolerance that allows a frightened, injured horse to be pushed through a workout. Collision, entanglement, capture, re-saddling, forced exertion, collapse. Whether prosecutors would interpret this case as meeting mens rea standards (“intentionally or knowingly”) is another matter. When a two-year-old is treated as a disposable asset rather than a developing animal, that is exploitation that disregards the horse’s welfare, autonomy, intrinsic value. Oppenheimer was in acute distress. His fear and injury were treated as inconveniences rather than disqualifying red flags and should have triggered cessation of work and a comprehensive veterinary evaluation. Push to be productive and minimal intervention once compromised is the height of exploitation. Oppenheimer did not choose to train. He did not choose to run through fences. He did not choose to be re-mounted and sent out again. He was compelled to do these things. Exploitation is often sanitized in language like “probated suspension,” “workout,” “heat exhaustion.” But beneath the terminology lies a frightened, injured horse forced back to work and left to die.
When a horse’s terror is ignored, his physical limits overridden, and his collapse treated as an acceptable loss, that is not sport. It is extraction of labor, of value, of life. It is cruelty.