The Arizona report is yet to come, but I wanted to give what happened to a horse named Public Appearance special attention. According to the Arizona Dept. of Gaming, Public died at Turf last Feb 17: “This horse was euthanized after it collapsed in its stall and couldn’t rise.” But that surely wasn’t all. Here is the backstory, in the words of the Dept.:
“History shows the horse was flagged for lameness during works several times in California from Apr ’23 to Feb ’24. Lameness varied between front and rear limbs. It raced twice at Turf Paradise. On Dec 17, 2024, it finished [last] 52.5 lengths back and appeared to be lame in both hind legs. An intraarticular injection of betamethasone and hyaluronic acid was administered to the left stifle on Dec 19.
“On Jan 22, 2025, it raced again, finishing [last] 40.5 lengths back [‘hopelessly behind,’ said the chart]. On Jan 27, Predef and amikacin were injected into the left hock and stifle. On Feb 5, a course of toltrazuril for possible EPM was begun. No EPM test was performed.”
They concluded with this:
“Aside from degenerative joint disease, which was most pronounced in both stifles and hind fetlock joints, no other significant lesions were identified to explain the reported clinical signs.” In other words, he “collapsed and couldn’t rise” because his beaten, battered legs could no longer support him. Now consider this: Public was not yet four years old. Oh how this poor boy suffered, and oh how I hate the people (primarily, trainer Joe Toye and owner “Rage 2939”) who did this to him – not to mention the so-called regulators who kept looking the other way.
I’ll say this again, these creeps are veterinarians like Josef Mengele was a doctor.
….basically horse racing enables sadists to be sadistic.Polititians enable them.The punters are no different to bullfight onlookers and so on.
All those involved in this industry of cruelty should be made to do other work.
Good vets wouldn’t do it.
Wipe it out.
And reply to this again cuz the same thing happened to me on Hillbizon farm in Lothian Maryland West bayfront road they are members of the Maryland horse breeding association this is exactly what happened to a 2-year-old name connect aMondo after serious injuries on the truck being butchered by being gelded wrong a new nerve to his kidney was clipped he broke his hip on a bad fall. Was brought home with no pain medication left in this position for 3 months to suffer finally went down in his stall at home my son and I tried to help them after being asked but before that it was put out with another stallion and brutalize honey went down in the stall the manager Walter was caught by me beating him to get him up.
Elizabeth, it’s a sick fact of life we cannot trust these sick m’fkr pieces of shit so called veterinarians. May they ROT in ****
I agree with Elizabeth and Teresa that this industry (is never going to get better or less sadistic or less abusive and) should be shut down! But the California Horse Racing Board is catering to the majority of “trainers” in California who were asked about the age limit for maidens. Most of these people, so-called trainers, want to be allowed to race horses that cannot win a race. But who including the veterinarian(s) in horseracing hell cares if SIX-YEAR-OLD MAIDENS, especially CLAIMERS, can actually win???
Dr. Jeff Blea, who broke the laws by “prescribing” drugs to horses that he DID NOT EXAMINE, thinks it is fine to allow 6-year-old maidens to race. No surprise there!
The article states there will be “additional scrutiny” for 6-year-old maidens to enter a race. If anyone believes this so-called “additional scrutiny” will stop horses with DEGENERATIVE JOINT DISEASE at various stages, including ADVANCED STAGES, from being raced by CHRB licensed trainers and the so-called regulatory veterinarians anyway, they would have to have part of their brain missing.
The next thing you know they will be changing the doping rules or something as unscrupulous as possible to make it easier to get away with their depraved mistreatment of horses.
I agree with Elizabeth. There is no possible way to reform or redeem this sadistic sport. It needs only to be shut down completely. Full stop.
Frankly, situations like this why horseracing should be shut down entirely. If the system repeatedly allows horses to suffer for the sake of profit, no regulations or tweaks will ever protect them. The only way to ensure horses aren’t exploited like this is to end the practice altogether.
A healthy horse that runs poorly is usually 5–15 lengths back. A margin exceeding 50 lengths suggests the horse was unable to maintain gait or propulsion. The report that the horse “appeared to be lame in both hind legs” is serious. Typical causes include: proximal suspensory ligament injury, pelvic fracture or sacroiliac damage, bilateral tendon and/or ligament strain, severe tying-up, neurologic impairment affecting hindquarters. Whatever the cause, Public was in extreme pain during propulsion, and his ability to push off with hind limbs was severely compromised. On Jan 22, 2025, the horse raced again, finishing [last] 40.5 lengths back [‘hopelessly behind,’ said the chart]. Repeated last place finishes with very large margins are often interpreted by veterinarians as clinical warning signs that something is physically wrong. No kidding. Wanda’s right. It doesn’t take a vet to confirm that. When the signs of suffering are that obvious, the horse should come first.
The position of “Veterinarian” or “Doctor of Veterinary Medicine” is corrupted by the moral decay of the human beings who are paid to be in this position.
It is not rocket science to observe the way of going of a horse and see whether or not the horse is in pain.
From first-hand experience with ponies and horses and reading books like, for example, a paperback book published by The Western Horseman Magazine, copyright 1960, titled “Horseshoeing and Hoof Care” when I was in elementary school, I believe it doesn’t (DOES NOT) take the number of years that it would take to be a licensed veterinarian in order to be capable of observing lameness or stiffness in a horse although in the early 1960s, I didn’t have the knowledge and experience of what these people who call themselves “horsemen” do to Thoroughbreds to get them to be racehorses.
What motivates an individual to become a veterinarian, especially one who goes into the Thoroughbred racing industry? It sounds like a lot of them just want to be “licensed” to inject drugs into horses to make them more “profitable” and if that doesn’t work, oh, well, there are more horses to be doped and eventually killed/ euthanized.
This is a sickening industry that requires a “licensed” veterinarian to make this daily routine abuse/ mistreatment and euthanizing of horses “legal” in the eyes of certain people.