Through a FOIA request to the Arizona Dept. of Gaming, I have confirmed the following kills at Turf Paradise thus far this year. (Turf is the only currently running track in Arizona. Because of the amount of detail, I am posting in installments.)
Broadway Kitten, Jan 20, Turf T (euth Feb 14)
“Pulled up sore left front: fracture of third metacarpal. Recheck Feb 14 revealed fracture displaced. Euthanized.” Necropsy: “Fracture comminuted [with] four larger fragments and hundreds of fragments of particulate bone dust embedded within surrounding periosteum and connective tissue.” Also: “chronic osteoarthritis, right shoulder.” Now get this: Broadway would not have turned two till Apr 8. Yes, she was one year old.
Rr One Famous Reason (almost certainly a misspell), Jan 28, Turf T
“This unraced horse was training when it reared and dumped its rider. It ran loose and collided with another horse. It was recumbent and non-responsive and was euthanized.” The destruction: “complete, displaced fractures ribs 9-18; extensive laceration of the aorta; tearing of the spinal cord; laceration of the right lung; severe muscle maceration and hemorrhage.” Translation: This poor girl, just two, died an absolutely horrific death.
Too Good, Feb 5, Turf R
“After about 200 yards, horse stumbled: severe, comminuted scapula fracture with associated muscular hemorrhage.” Then this: “The [ulcerative] gastritis is consistent with equine gastric ulcer syndrome, which is common in racehorses.” Also: “18-cm [intestinal] roundworm.” Too Good had just turned three, and this was his very first race.
Yo Dawg, Feb 12, Turf R
“Horse finished poorly, 33 lengths back. When it returned to barn it seemed lethargic and depressed. The horse received about two liters of lactated ringers when it collapsed and became agonal. It was then euthanized.” Final diagnosis: “acute 270-degree large colon volvulus.” There was also “bilateral epistaxis and hemorrhagic discharge from both eyes.” Also noted: “Received intraarticular injections of polyglycan and triamcinolone in both stifles Jan 21.” The “it” in question was six.
The necropsy reports describe injuries comparable to those seen after severe blunt-force trauma, high-speed collisions, or battlefield injuries. It’s difficult to read them without recognizing the extraordinary violence these horses experienced in their final moments. The force required to shatter bones into hundreds of fragments is the kind of destruction we associate with a train wreck. The bones were shattered like an explosion from within. These are not the kinds of injuries anyone associates with sport. They are the kinds of injuries that emergency physicians, trauma surgeons, and forensic pathologists encounter after catastrophic violence. The descriptions are haunting: bones pulverized into fragments, lungs torn, spines damaged, bodies pushed beyond what they could endure. It reads like a battlefield report written about animals who gave everything and received nothing in return. They were babies, one, two, three years old. Their final moments read like scenes from a disaster zone. These horses deserved safety, care, and the chance to live not to become casualties of a system that treats suffering as a spectacle.
Race cars! Not horses or dogs. So sad to see these young horses suffer this way.
IT???? IT??? This just shows one how classy and compassionate the horror of the injuries IT endured being reported. This piece of property should have been developed into something worthwhile long ago. How so heartbreaking for a living creature to have been subjected to a hell of their short life.
Doing this barbaric mistreatment of horses of any age is bad enough but to do this barbaric mistreatment of a young, underdeveloped colt or filly that has not even turned 24 BIOLOGICAL MONTHS OF AGE is even more barbaric! These horse-abusing horse killers belong locked up in prison for a very long time!
I know these depraved people call themselves “horsemen” but they don’t care about what it means to practice horsemanship. They inflict pain on horses on purpose and say it doesn’t hurt the horse. These assholes have no remorse and they can’t be rehabilitated so they need to be locked up in jail cells. Do not pass go! Do not collect any money!