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…
Racetracks: where the beauty of the horse meets the cruelty of the finish line. Racetracks: where horses go to die.