According to the chart, Empressum took a “bad step leaving [the gate]” at Los Alamitos Saturday – a “bad step” that left him dead. This one was covered in the ethically-bankrupt racing press only because this was a “stakes” race, and Empressum was a “star,” with “career earnings” of over $2.7 million. In its coverage, the DRF said the race was “marred by a fatal injury sustained by the former champion Empressum”; they went on to quote CHRB EMD Jeff Blea as saying the 8-year-old “collapsed and died” on the track.
$2.7M, over six hard years on tracks from Oklahoma to New Mexico, Texas to California, and yet his exploiters – breeders/owners Jeff Jones and Steve Holt – couldn’t find it in their hearts to retire him to a wide-open, peaceful pasture. They just had to squeeze every last dime out of his beaten-down body. Horrible people.
If this clip doesn’t break your heart…
No hypocrite here, Frank. This is my site and I’ve been an ethical vegan going on 25 years. And while you desperately try to justify one kill, how about the other 13,000 we’ve documented here. Sad, small, and callous – par for the course for horseracing apologists.
Discusting comments on here from people who know nothing about horse racing. Empressum was coming off a stakes win and 2 fast workouts, which means nobody was squeezing anything out of him, he was still in top form. For all you idiots complaining about being cruel to horses, let me know when you stop eating any type of animals. Discusting hypocrites.
They might have retired him from racing and sold his sperm instead if he had been an intact male. Since he was a gelding, he was doomed. That’s how these depraved people operate. Supposedly, the owner is going to have his remains cremated and buried on his ranch. Supposedly, he is going to “talk” to him everyday. Evidently this depraved owner prefers talking to the remains of a dead horse rather than a living horse retired from racing and allowed to graze on pasture.
The statement in the DRF that the race was marred by this horse’s death is so shocking. I am sick to my stomach.
I normally don’t say this but the “injury” hit the PR Report for Empressum. The video shows outrider following closely behind knowing there’s an issue. Bastards..
Moral depravity is what this EVIL industry is about. Sick,Sick,Sick.
The true finish line for most race horses is the grave. They are literally run into the ground.
Greed greed greed. If only I could have the owners run around the track until they fell…
This story of a racehorse epitomizes the moral depravity of the whole industry of exploiting horses for not only racing but also gambling. It is sickening that people have mistreated horses, do still mistreat horses, and would continue to mistreat horses for illegal gambling as well as the legalized gambling. It is sickening that this industry of exploiting horses for gambling has been given the free pass to “govern and/or police” themselves and get tax write-offs, tax breaks from the Internal Revenue Service, and be held UNACCOUNTABLE for their egregious cruelty to the horses.
It’s so hideously wrong and morally depraved what is allowed to happen and that money-grubbing animal abusers are rewarded for their heartless cruelty to horses.
By continuing to turn their backs on this tragic and systemic cruelty, the government leaders in California have lost their social license to operate.
Racetracks: where the beauty of the horse meets the cruelty of the finish line. Racetracks: where horses go to die.