More steeplechase madness this past Saturday…
Combined, the Foxfield Spring Races (Virginia) – where “children 12 and under are free of charge”! – and the Maryland Hunt Cup – where you can enjoy “an afternoon of tailgating and picnicking on the hillside that overlooks the racecourse”! – ran seven races. In those seven, no fewer than six horses went down:
Road to Oz “fell at 13th fence”
Withoutmoreado “fell at 6th fence”
Gray’s Fable “fell at final [hurdle]”
Iconic Walk “fell at final [hurdle]”
Risk Taking “fell on final hurdle”
Batman Girac “fell on final hurdle”
Watching horses fall (die?) – good, clean family fun!
Narcissists never admit to wrongdoing. This is true in the horse racing industry. They have no empathy for their victims. They have fragile egos. They deny and deflect to spare their fragile egos.
CHURCHILL DOWNS THE MOST FAMOUS EQUINE EXTERMINATION CAMP IN THE WORLD
In the activity of researching the question how many drugs are used in thoroughbred racing, I discovered that the total is 1,100 various toxic substances! For instances, Lasix was cited in the finding of the Journal of American Veterinary Association caused 62% of horses likely to die within 3 days of racing than horses without the drug. There are thousands of legally marketed drugs so it is a marvel that more horses are not dropping dead due to the chemical engineering used by the demonic stables of the backstretch.
In today’s edition of the Paulick Report, Andy Cohen’s article “Keeping Pace: It’s Always Good During Derby Week,” verbosely references his mother to protect the industry with yesteryear reminiscing to explain the sport and uses uncouth words to enforce his opinions.
Mr. Cohen refuses to accept the reality that horse racing is nothing more than death camps for race horses and standardbreds. He glories in memories of standardbred racing in Ontario.
I remember how one standardbred was treated at Greenwood Raceway. The Toronto Star carried the account of a standardbred being beaten and dragged behind a truck in the parking lot. The brutality was witnessed by someone having breakfast at the Mecca Grill Restaurant. It was reported to the Toronto Humane Society, and incidentally, the milkshaking of racehorses happened in Ontario because this was a popular recipe that originated at the harness tracks and introduced into the thoroughbred tracks by harness horsemen. This was the beginning of the holocaust that is happening every day at race tracks across the globe.
But, I digress, narcotics used on race horses include stimulants, diuretics, masking agents, designer drugs, etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum. The Paulick Report articles will not convince anyone with a compassionate heart to want horse racing to continue in their communities. Truth will ultimately kill the industry – 15,503 drugs legal, illicit or experimental is reason enough to ban horse racing world wide. As for Mr. Cohen, I wonder what Damon Runyon would say about today’s version of horse racing! My bet, Mr. Runyon would box Paulick’s ears for even suggesting that Cohen could write a column with integrity and intelligence. To do horses full admiration requires people with sensitivity and a love for truth and justice.
Sometimes horses do make a choice to refuse a jump because they know they can’t make it over the jump or they are sick and tired of a sadistic jockey constantly whipping them between jumps when the horse is clearly doing his best to do what had been asked of him. I watched a YouTube video of such a horse and when the horse refused to jump, the jockey went flying out of the saddle and over the jump himself and landed on the ground on the other side of the jump while the horse ran to his left and jumped over the inside rail of the course. That horse knew what he was doing. Three cheers for the horse!
I think most of the horses are doing their best to please their handlers but the reality is that the horses are punished for doing their best in so many cases.
Racing is for the greedy people who have no redeeming qualities of empathy or the ability to put one’s self in place of the suffering animal and feel the pain the horse feels.
Horse racing is a so-called sport where people think they can make a bundle of money by gambling on the horses. Injured and dead horses are the consequences. Steeplechase racing is a social gathering and a tradition. How morbid to have a tradition of putting the lives of horses at extreme risk of catastrophic injuries.
In these high-risk events, it is a no-brainer that someone is going to get hurt! It’s also a no-brainer that when the injured ones are horses, the chances of the injuries being fatal are increased significantly.
Why would you put your “children” at a risk of being killed in a known high-risk event unless you were narcissistic, sadistic, sociopathic, psychopathic???
Madness is an apt description of horses being forced over jumps that in a natural environment they would never do. We have always thought jumps races to be extremely hazardous & dangerous for the horses & riders. The horses have no choice in participation. Have the riders jump hurdles instead they can have the choice to do so or not.