3-year-old Soldier Inthe Rain is dead after breaking down in morning practice at Belmont yesterday. He is the 126th racehorse to die at a NYS track in 2014; for trainer Bruce Brown, this makes nine NY dead in five years.
Beau American is (was?) a 6-year-old racehorse. He has been put to the whip 50 times in the past four years, and, as claiming chattel, was “for sale” prior to each and every one of those races. The most recent…
It is well-established veterinary fact that horses are not fully mature till around six. Racing, because it would be economically prohibitive to wait (so it’s not going to change), typically begins pounding equine bodies at two – or the rough…
Last week’s U.S. horseracing casualties. Reported as Dead or “Broke Down” (racing-speak for dead): Celebrate We Will, Dec 26, Aqueduct 1 Mo Bagels, Dec 26, Laurel 8 Wicked Irish, Dec 27, Aqueduct 2 Spooky Lady, Dec 27, Parx 8 Grandslamthankumam,…
There was a short pause between victims 11 and 12 at Aqueduct’s Winter Meet: A day after Celebrate We Will, the “reluctant to load” Wicked Irish, too, broke down (2nd race) and was euthanized. Although the 5-year-old had been raced…
4-year-old Celebrate We Will is dead after breaking down in the 1st yesterday at Aqueduct. Replay here (Race Replays, Friday, race 1). The Bruce Levine-trained horse was being raced for the third time; in his first race back in September,…
The following racehorses have perished – either by breakdown-euthanasia or sudden death – on American tracks this year. While reading, however, be mindful of this: One, because Racing does all it can to hide its dead, this list is incomplete.…
It is an unequivocally ominous sign when a horse cannot leave the track under his own power – is “vanned off.” Taken a step further, this space holds that (easily) more than half of those carted away end up euthanized…
The equine ambulance was busy yesterday at Delta Downs, with three racehorses unable to walk off the track under their own power: Karl Broberg-trained My Debit Card in the 2nd, Don Stemmans-trained This Way Jane in the 9th, and Jarvis…
Last week’s U.S. horseracing casualties. Reported as Dead or “Broke Down” (racing-speak for dead): Play Maker, Dec 20, Los Alamitos (T) 9 Oh Juliet, Dec 21, Fair Grounds 5 “Vanned Off” – horses who required an ambulance (in crudest sense…
Hugger of Trees, a 4-year-old filly trained and owned by Robert Gamber, crumpled and was vanned off after winning (thanks to some “rousing”) the 2nd yesterday at Laurel. No further details provided. The replay sans celebratory poses (2:00 mark):
Reported merely as “pulled up lame, vanned off” at Charles Town Wednesday (race 4), 4-year-old Bunuska is in fact dead, euthanized, I have confirmed, at the track. Her trainer was Jeff Runco, her owner, Rockingham Ranch.
