When I wrote about Belmont’s stellar weekend on Monday, the NYS Gaming Commission had yet to register the Saturday death of a four-year-old named Discreet Code. The gelding, whose last finish was at Saratoga, broke his leg during the 4th…
Zilpaterol, marketed as Zilmax, is a feed additive given to close-to-slaughter cattle that according to its maker, Merck, “improves cattle’s natural ability to convert feed into more lean beef.” Pumps them up. In any event, it was never intended for…
Chris Englehart is a famous Thoroughbred trainer. In fact, he’s one of the best in the business, a virtual winning machine: top-10 five years running, over $33 million career earnings. This being horseracing, however, with success, comes baggage: Among his…
Equine advocates often decry the racing of two-year-olds, and for good reason. But what many may not fully understand is that forcing two-year-olds onto the track is only marginally worse, medically speaking, than doing the same to three and four-year-olds,…
On Thursday morning, Belmont Park claimed its first two victims of the Fall Meet. Three-year-old Mentor Cane, who finished 2nd in a Grade 1 at Saratoga last month, “suffered a right-hind lateral condylar fracture and a comminuted right-hind P1 fracture”…
In a recent Irish Independent article (9/8/13), sportswriter John O’Brien takes American racing to task for promulgating the notion that Lasix is a humane application of medicine. He writes: “To any rational mind or to those who love racing, though…
If ever there were a reason for racing patrons to come, the summer-long 150th anniversary celebration of “America’s Oldest Sports Arena” should have been it. But it wasn’t. Not only did attendance decline almost 4% from last year, but the…
“A full gate of nine young, conditioned trotters are lining up….” And so began the track announcer’s call of Saturday’s 1st race at NY’s Tioga Downs. In a couple short minutes, one of those finely-tuned horses would “collapse and die”…
When six-year-old Irish Thoroughbred St Nicholas Abbey, one of the most celebrated racehorses on the planet, broke his pastern while training in July, the prognosis was bleak. But not to fear, if a horse is valuable enough – and with…
This from California’s Del Mar on August 24th: “Shortly after the third race was run the Stewards received notification from Safety Steward Luis Jauregui that when he was pulling up in front of the Receiving Barn he noticed an individual…
With Saratoga 2013 at an end, the summary is (mostly) bad with some good. First, the obvious: Eight beautiful, sentient creatures were sacrificed so that men could gamble and chase pots of gold… 7/18…Black Rhino 8/11…Charmed Hour 8/17…Heading to Toga…
Scott Jagow of the Paulick Report filed this “video postcard from Saratoga”… From racing patrons in the video: “And it’s just something so special, that you can take your kids out in the ‘backyard’ with a cooler and have a…
