In the 8th at Del Mar yesterday, says the chartwriter, “Valentina Jan sustained an injury past the half-mile pole…and was transported off the track via equine ambulance.” In the vast majority of cases, that combination – “injured/ambulance” – in the notes translates to fatal, and indeed this was. Valentina was three, and this was her second time under the whip. The responsible: breeder Robert Soules Harmon, owners Steven Zolotas and Sabina Romo-Zolotas, trainer Steve Knapp, jockey Armando Aguilar, and all who support this vile industry in any way (betting, attending, watching, working in).
I can’t help but wonder how many veterinarians working in the racing industry are still “flying under the radar” (so to speak) of doing ILLEGAL doping on injured horses to get them to race anyway?!
That would include the track veterinarians who get paid to pass horses to race even though they are clearly unfit, as in MICRO-FRACTURES that are hidden until the horse is forced to gallop out of the starting gates.
Such a fine, upstanding, squeaky clean industry horseracing is, sarcastically speaking of course.
Does the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority catch them all? I doubt it!
Replay..horse #12 poor start out of the gate. Low and behold disappears from the video. The only way you would realize an issue is the outrider starts galloping back from his station and the # 12 drops from the order horses are running. Another innocent victim from this less than honest industry. Sad