Two of the horses listed on this weekend’s ambulance report are confirmed dead. Again, thanks to NYS’s unique database, we know that Magestick Tomahawk and Irish Lady, both of whom fell at Finger Lakes (where else?), never made it out…
A 4-year-old Thoroughbred named Points Offthebench broke his right front fetlock Saturday at Santa Anita. He is now dead. This one, however, was not difficult to find, no scouring of the charts required. For you see, Points Offthebench, having won…
The following, unless otherwise noted, were “vanned off” American tracks this weekend. Friday: 6-year-old South West Target, Delta Downs, race 1 3-year-old Business Venture, Golden Gate Fields, race 2 3-year-old Keystone Belle, Mountaineer, race 6 (bled) 4-year-old Despinas Desire, Mountaineer,…
The following perished on Long Island yesterday – Belmont’s 30th, 31st, and 32nd victims of the year: 9-year-old Hewitts, “euthanized after suffering a fracture to his right femur after unseating his exercise rider on the pony track and hitting stationary…
“There is a frog in South America whose venom is a cure For all the suffering that mankind must endure More powerful than morphine and soothing as the rain A frog in South America has the antidote for pain” (Paul…
The following, unless otherwise noted, were “vanned off” American tracks this week. Monday: 4-year-old Alert Warrior, Parx, race 2 (“took several bad steps while in apparent distress…ran loose before being captured and was vanned off”) 4-year-old South Beach Queen, Parx,…
3-year-old Sonic Dancer died yesterday afternoon at Keeneland. In race 6, the colt snapped his right leg and threw jockey Calvin Borel in the process. Because the stricken Borel was in harm’s way, the race was stopped, declared a no-contest.…
As you’ve probably noticed, I am now regularly reporting all Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses vanned off American tracks after actual races (training accidents are closely guarded secrets). One pro-racing reader took umbrage at the implication, arguing that not every horse…
“Death is delivered pink.” And so begins an ESPN The Magazine article (5/4/09) on the track veterinarian’s unenviable role as killer of the broken. Racing calls it euthanasia, of course, but that’s simply self-absolution. In any event, this is no…
Unless otherwise noted, the following horses were “vanned off” American tracks this weekend. Friday: 6-year-old Formulaforsuccess, Belmont, race 3 5-year-old Big Bentley, Calder, race 7 4-year-old Capable Native, Charles Town, race 1 (not vanned off but “bleeding from the nose”)…
Bloodhorse reports (10/17/13) that 6-year-old Take Control was euthanized at Santa Anita after, in the words of trainer Bob Baffert, “he took a bad step” while breezing. With only four career starts (and at least two surgeries), his death, I…
Furosemide, or Lasix, is used, ostensibly, to control pulmonary bleeding in rapidly moving racehorses. But it is also a powerful diuretic that causes the horse to shed water weight (and helps flush the system) prior to the race. To the…
