17 racehorses were killed in a barn fire at Saratoga Harness early Tuesday morning – a horror that is almost too great to contemplate. But while the industry and its apologists are falling all over themselves sending “prayers and condolences” to the affected exploiters – with, of course, the now-standard GoFundMe page – this must be said:
Horseracing, the industry, is absolutely and unequivocally responsible for these deaths. If not for Racing, those poor horses would not have been in that place, at that time. If not for Racing, those poor horses would not have been locked up with, unlike their wild brethren faced with a prairie fire, zero chance for escape. They were trapped – figuratively and literally – inside a system, inside a stall, wholly dependent on human beings for everything, including their lives. Imagine the scene inside that barn – the utter helplessness, the sheer terror, the unspeakable suffering. And now remember who and what made it all possible: Horseracing. Horseracing.
I had a shedrow conversation at Woodbine in the 70s and the topic came up that the graduates of the Humber Equine program were not living up to expectations. At this point in the conversation people who were life-long trainers were putting their comments into the conversations so I innocently inquired: “Does anyone know if they are training grooms on how to rescue horses from a burning barn.?” And, one trainer who was pitifully deficient in heart and brain power trainer opined: “They don’t need any training on getting horses out of fires because they don’t happen that often.”
Well, fires do happen and when they do nobody who witnesses a track fire ever forgets the tragedy. So I piped up, “They should know how to get horses out of barn in the event of a fire or any other emergency.” “It should be mandatory in the curriculum.” Nobody paid any attention to what I said. I wonder if those horsemen thought of that conversation when years later an inferno caused some thoroughbreds to die, and one rescuer would have perished as he was passed out from smoke inhalation in the shedrow. God smiled on him and he was saved because another racetracker tripped over him as he was running to get horses out of the barn. My money says Humber College still doesn’t have any protocols in the classroom concerning what to do for horses that need rescue in a blazing inferno. That conversation was to me a revelation that not all people at racetracks love horses.
An authentic racetracker puts their own life on the line to save horses, in these times where felonious abuse of horses is ignored by state legislators and general society. Is it asking too much that some compassion be given by those who profit from the miseries of helpless animals? A few years back it was abominable that no one called for an investigation as to why a groom stood and watched a horse burn to death than casually walked away to feed his horses. Same scenario with the horses that were victims of a van fire in Kentucky, but at least there were attempts to rescue some of the victims.
My point is that equine safety is not an issue within the industry and it certainly is not a priority with overpaid and incompetent politicians. Fire Extinguishers and Defibrillators should be mandated by federal and state law to protect horses and their grooms while in transit. No excuse for not having these protections available…these are not expensive items to protect and preserve human and equine lives. However, in these years of greed and profit what can anyone expect from any province, state or nation except massive indifference from hearts bankrupt of any feeling and minds corrupted and corroded in apathy.
Anyone who says they love horses are lying because they have not corrected the vice and the violence done to horses nor have they provided safety measures that are easily obtained and secured and which are not expensive to purchase and install.
I am incensed that the tracks are not held to yearly fire drills and information sessions on what to do in the event of a fire especially since so many migrant workers are employed on the backstretch who lack even rudimentary horse knowledge never mind years of tending horses for a living. The horse racing industry is a disgrace to humanity for all the crimes they commit against horses and all those cities and towns who prosper on the sufferings of race horses are just as guilty as the gangsters who control the industry.
The Standardbred trainer with the largest number of harness horses stabled at the Saratoga harness track is said to be Melissa Beckwith. She is one of the leading trainers there according to general information online. She has been known to have 40 horses to 60 horses stabled locally at Saratoga.
Patrick. It has just been announced Deniz the carriage horse in NYC that collapsed last week necropsy found he ate toxic Japanese yew plant. The plant was along the curb where he walks/parks and died shortly thereafter.
The terror and suffering these poor horses went through is just heartbreaking. If you live in New York State, your tax dollars keep the harness racing industry going. Without the taxpayer subsidies, there would be no harness racing in NY. (The same goes for many other states.) If you would like to do something today, you can take action by calling your state reps (find them here: Find my New York Assembly Member: https://nyassembly.gov/mem/search/
Find my New York Senator: https://www.nysenate.gov/find-my-senator) or call Governor Hochul: Phone: (518) 474-8390 Contact Form: https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form and be their voice. Tell them to stop horseracing subsidies in NY. Each call, each email is a voice for the horses.
This is so sad, and so predictable. Thank you for bearing witness and advocating relentlessly for the horses. Animals are not ours to abuse for profit.
Since horseracing is struggling to stay afloat, I can’t help but think that it’s possible that this was a fire caused by arson. I will assume that it was arson at this time until proven otherwise. But whoever did it, IF it was caused by an arsonist, they would have had to plan it to make it look like it was not arson in order to collect the insurance.
Several years ago in California there was a certain individual who was in the spotlight for being the brilliant genius firefighter who could always detect the cause of each fire in a rash of fires at the time. It turned out that he was the arsonist who started the fire himself. He got away with it for a long time until there was finally enough evidence to prove he was guilty of causing the rash of fires.
Reports are saying at 2:30 am it was discovered. The barn has one trainers horses that they wouldn’t identify yet. These middle of the night tragedies project sordid sordid tales. Sickening and sad beyond anything anyone can imagine.