Some noteworthy scratches at Horseshoe in May (there were plenty of others for the usual “injured/unsound/sick”):
Major Express, “down in starting gate”
Twirling Daisy, “kicked in gate, cut self”
Eos Maggie May, “down in starting gate”
Philomina, “down in starting gate”
Barbie Cartels, “flipped in starting gate”
Suze Brown, “fractious, flipped in starting gate”
Then this: In both of his most recent two races – Apr 15, May 30 – 2-year-old Favorite Bandit was “vanned off” the track, the second for bleeding (pulmonary hemorrhage).
And staying in Indiana, some of the scratches at Hoosier:
Cv Lanae Inthewind, “unmanageable”
Quantum, “lame”
M-m’s Tony, “lame”
Im A Real American, “lame”
Big Al Derosa, “lame”
Andoverthewinnings, “lame”
Ponda Lime, “lame”
Help Emily, “lame”
Lady Adeline, “lame”
Ladyofanera, “lame”
Salty Robyn N, “lame”
Bettorseetheshow, “lame”
Beyond Sinful, “lame”
Added to Vet List:
Truffle Dog, “lame”
Trip Hammer, “bled from both nostrils” (did not finish race)
Touch Of Ability, “lame”
Mystic Swan, “lame”
Aunt Fannie, “lame”
Sweet And Savvy, “lame”
Betrothed, “lame”
Dallar Anna, “lame”
Gordon Whitefoot, “lame”
And a few of the scratches at Delaware Park:
Strategist, “injured in the starting gate”
Classic Ballad, “injured in the starting gate”
Ariana Valentina, “flipped in the gate”
Pierce Elevated, “injured in the starting gate”
Fred and Joan, I believe that is the difference between forcing horses and showing respect and kindness.
Unmanageable. That`s how we came to have 1 of our Thoroughbred mares! She was 1 of the best mares we ever had. She lived until 26 in a natural herd environment all the rest of her time when we picked her up in 1999 as barely 3 year old. She was 300# underweight & a very tall 16.1 hands not fully grown. She was the best protector of our farm! She single hoofedly chased out all the coyotes, vagrants & never do well people who tried to stay in our barn or property. We used to ride her as well. When we still galloped horses at our local track the horse people would ask us every morning if we still had her. We would say of course! They would shake their heads & walk away. Later an old horseman told us why. Our mare had 1 only 1 race at a bull ring track here in Oregon. Before doing so she had the saddler & trainer under her hooves & sent both to the hospital seriously injured!! The rider said he would ride her if the saddle could be placed on her & girth tightened! The rodeo crew & starting gate crew accomplished that & so she won the race. It also took both crews to get our mare off of the trainer & saddler so they could be taken to the hospital. She was of Seattle Slew & Northern Dancer linage close up. This all occurred before we acquired her.
Karen B., I think it’s possible that the horse will never race again because of the bleeding from the lungs. I would like to know if he has already been dumped into the slaughter pipeline by his human connections. It depends on the degree of the damage to his lungs as well as other factors. They sound like the kind of people who are not going to put a lot of money into him to get him to pass a veterinarian exam in order to race again.
A long time ago at a famous racetrack for a famous named race, the camera was focused on the loading gate. The horse at post one was not eager to be shoved into the space. The “human” that was in charge of getting things done for their quotation time smashed the horse full force in his face. It was awful. I said if someone did that to my horse, they would regret it. Honestly, I can’t recall whether the human was penalized as the incident was caught on video. Just to be clear, I have never owned a horse and if I did,he or she wouldn’t be racing.
The number for Horseshoe racetrack and casino ( bug surprise), is
877-386-4463
I think we need to call them and TELL them Favorite Bandit is obviously unfit to race. That is, beyond his age.
Starting gates were said to be a great and/or the greatest invention in horseracing. Reading about the horses being down in the gate and otherwise injured in the gate completely contradicts that statement. Starting gates are another thing in horseracing that causes more anxiety and fear in so many horses.
The gate crew, or at least one or two members of the gate crew, could be using very sadistic methods on the horses to make it worse and more painful for the horses. Who knows how many of the jockeys are using the illegal handheld electric shocking devices on the horses at any time during this whole ordeal of being forced to perform as a racehorse???
Horses anticipate things. They remember what kind of experience they had at certain spots and anticipate that what happened in the past will happen again. If a horse was shocked in the starting gate once, the horse will remember that horrendous experience and be even more resistant to loading. It’s fight or flight. Once the horse is trapped in this horribly confining space, the only thing left at that point in time is to fight.
Sadistic people who get off on being cruel and inhumane to the horses will exacerbate the fight instincts as well as the flight instincts. Exploiting horses for racing and gambling is a sadistic activity.
Horseracing is Animal Cruelty.