Star jockey Ricardo Santana Jr was arrested in Louisville Monday. The charges: first degree strangulation, assault. Yes, strangulation – which he allegedly did to his girlfriend twice that day. Besides the obvious here – someone with this level of rage issues should never be around defenseless horses – there’s this from the Breeders’ Cup (Santana was slated to whip-race three horses Saturday, including one aptly named Foie Gras – an abhorrent factory-farming practice):
“The Breeders’ Cup respects the decision of the Kentucky [Commission] to suspend the license of Ricardo Santana, Jr. pending the disposition of his criminal charges. … The Breeders’ Cup condemns violence in all forms and remains committed to upholding the highest standards of conduct and professionalism throughout our sport….”
Condemns violence in all forms except, that is, the violence perpetrated against the horses – violence like the following Kentucky kills from just the first half of this year:
Stowe, Jan 2: “Multiple open, comminuted fractures; extensive soft tissue damage.”
My Little Love, Jan 3: “Open, comminuted MCIII fracture; marked tearing of the suspensory ligament with multiple embedded fragments of bone.”
Op Overlord, Jan 8: “[Multiple] open, disarticulated fractures; rupture of the medial collateral ligament; rupture of the medial aspect of the palmar annular ligament and the intersesamoidian ligament; tearing of the lateral collateral ligament, the superficial and deep digital flexor tendons, the body of the suspensory ligament, the lateral branch of the suspensory, the lateral aspect of the palmar annular ligament, the oblique, straight, and cruciate distal sesamoidian ligaments.”
Wood You Dare, Jan 13: “Complete, open, comminuted cannon fracture [with] bone embedded in the extensor tendons and the suspensory ligament.”
My Favorite Girl, Jan 21: “Near transection of the cranial cervical spinal cord due to fractures of the first and second cervical vertebrae.”
Fitzpatrick, Feb 7: “[Multiple] fractures; tearing of the flexor retinaculum, the superficial and deep digital flexor tendons, the body of the suspensory ligament and both branches, the lateral aspect of the palmar annular ligament, the straight, oblique, and cruciate sesamoid ligaments; rupture of the medial aspect of the palmar annular ligament and the intersesamoidian ligament.”
yet-to-be-named 2 (or even 1)-year-old, Feb 9: “Complete fracture of the sixth cervical vertebra through the cranial growth plate with dissolution of the intervertebral disc material. Spinal cord compressed.”
Dame Laura, Feb 20: “Markedly comminuted, biarticular fracture of the first phalanx.”
Bruhn, Mar 2: “Complete, displaced pelvic fracture.”
yet-to-be-named 2-year-old, Mar 12: “Complete, displaced fracture of the humerus with marked muscle tearing.”
Last Chance Dance, Mar 25: “Markedly comminuted fracture of the first phalanx, connective tissues extensively torn, large amount of hemorrhage.”
Gold Del Mar, Mar 26: “Pulmonary artery rupture.”
High Go, Apr 8: “Right forelimb: complete, markedly comminuted fracture of the humerus; extensive tearing of surrounding muscles; massive amount of hemorrhage. Left forelimb: complete, markedly comminuted fracture of the scapula; tearing of surrounding muscles; large amount of hemorrhage.”
yet-to-be-named 2-year-old, Apr 11: “LF: multiple open fractures, extensive soft tissue damage. RF: severe laceration with tearing of flexor tendons and annular ligament.”
Autism Honor G, Apr 15: “[Multiple] comminuted fractures, tearing of the intercarpal ligaments, severe crepitus of the carpal bones. [Other front leg]: tearing of the synovium.”
Sing for Mo Money, Apr 16: “[Multiple] fractures; rupture of the intersesamoidian ligament; tearing of the flexor retinaculum, the superficial and deep digital flexor tendons, the suspensory ligament, the medial and lateral branches of the suspensory, the medial and lateral aspects of the palmar annular ligament, the straight, oblique, and cruciate sesamoidian ligaments.”
Speedini, Apr 17: “Multiple [at least four] fetlock fractures, severe soft tissue damage.”
Vino Subito, Apr 28: “[Multiple] slab fractures, [multiple] torn ligaments.”
Santiana, Apr 29: “Severe axonal degeneration in cervical spinal cord.”
yet-to-be-named 2-year-old, May 5: “Open, comminuted fractures – both hind limbs.”
Saravi, May 7: “Complete, markedly comminuted, biarticular fracture of the first phalanx with tearing of the associated distal suspensory ligaments.”
Coco Cool, May 22: “Displaced condylar fracture; displaced, biarticular P1 fractures; [multiple] torn ligaments.”
Dash Of Luck, Jun 2: “[Multiple] comminuted fractures.”
Nash, Jun 17: “Complete, displaced, comminuted fracture of femur with marked tearing of surrounding muscles; complete, displaced, comminuted fracture of the shaft of the ilium.”
Bourbon Town, Jun 19: “[Multiple] open fractures; tearing of the flexor retinaculum, the superficial and deep digital flexor tendons, the medial and lateral aspect of the annular ligament, the medial and lateral branches of the suspensory ligament, and the cruciate, straight, and intersesamoidian ligaments. The suspensory ligament near the insertion is completely torn and the intersesamoidian ligament is ruptured.”
And finally, this one…
Aloha Beach, Jun 25: “Sesamoid fractures [all four limbs], rupture of the annular ligament, tearing of the intersesamoidian ligament.” Broke all four legs – violence defined.
Oh, and of course there’s the everyday violence of whipping…
Thugs like him have no respect for any living thing!
Great point, Wanda, about sweeping it under the rug. Once again, you nailed it
Thsnks for your dedication!!!
This little piece of crap can also be heard on a recording bragging about how he shocked horses with electrical devices for Steve Assmussen. And yet, here he still is, now being an equal opportunity abuser. Apparently he was already drinking at 1130 in the morning, so we can only imagine how he treats the horses, other animals, and people around him by the afternoon.
Since this physical assault happened outside the jurisdiction of a racing commission, it doesn’t fly completely under the radar (thank God) and can and will go through the court system.
If the girlfriend who was assaulted by the jockey didn’t have outside intervention according to the law and it was strictly up to the racing commissioners to do anything about it, they would more than likely sweep the whole ordeal of violence and cruelty to her under the rug as they do the violence and cruelty they inflict on their equine victims.
The fact that anyone would name a horse “foie gras” and the fact that The Jockey Club would allow such a name for a horse tells me the level of moral depravity of this industry as well, even though I was already aware that the moral depravity of the diehard horse abusers and killers in this industry knows no bounds.