Unless otherwise noted, the following horses were “vanned off” American tracks this week. Monday: 6-year-old Vamoose, Albuquerque, race 8 3-year-old Drama Magnet, Indiana Downs, race 1 3-year-old Crown Her First, Mountaineer, race 7 Tuesday: 3-year-old Ramrod Key, Parx, race 2…
Recently, Europeans have grown increasingly concerned about the safety of American-sourced horsemeat being shipped to their continent from Canada. Here are the relevant facts: …Tens of thousands of American racehorses are sent to Canadian slaughterhouses each year for the express…
In 2006, William Rhoden of The New York Times wrote an article (5/25/06) contrasting two breakdowns in May of that year. The first, Barbaro, received international attention upon shattering his leg in the Preakness Stakes. Four days later, a nondescript…
The NYS Gaming Commission has just announced the death of three-year-old King Wando from an injury sustained while galloping at Belmont Park. With just five career starts and less than $16,000 earnings, the gelding’s passing is of little import to…
Oscar Pistorius, the “Blade Runner” sprinter who became a media darling at the London Olympics for competing without legs, ran a race last December against an Arabian horse in Qatar, ostensibly to raise disabilities awareness. A sorry spectacle, sure, but…
The following is a sequence of jump-racing pictures from Ireland. Although the Daily Mail reports both jockey and horse as doing fine, I can think of no more damning visual of the steeplechase than this… Zane Grey falls
The equine ambulances had another busy day Sunday: Silent No More, four, Belmont, race 2 Let’s Rocket, six, Lethbridge (Canada), race 3 Shock Me, five, Mountaineer, race 5 Outright Secret, five, Portland Meadows, race 4 A Spanish Madam (after winning),…
Three horses broke down Saturday at Penn National: five-year-old Lov Tov in the 2nd race three-year-old Round of Applause in the 3rd race five-year-old Call Me Sweetheart in the 6th race In addition, three-year-old Youngwildandfree failed to finish the 4th…
Shedrow Secrets, Installment 6 Lou’s Expectation By Joy Aten and Jo Anne Normile (author of “Saving Baby”) The look of eagles. If you’ve been blessed to have seen it, it will never leave you. John Taintor Foote best describes this…
Thursday, during Santa Anita’s 3rd race, Facoltoso “was pulled up into the second turn and vanned off.” Later in the day, Betcee Cash, running in a $5,000 maiden claiming race at Lone Star, “went wrong [and was] vanned off.” The…
Over a two-day span (Oct 8th, 9th), NY lost three more racehorses. Aqueduct, which doesn’t begin its winter campaign until November 1st, reports that four-year-old Unbroken Dream “unseated exercise rider – ran loose in barn area hitting stationary object –…
Illinois horseracing has been in a precipitous decline (hanging by a thread, really) since the first riverboat casinos were christened in 1991. But the horsemen refuse to quietly fade away. Invoking their supposedly rich tradition and incessantly warning of economic…
