Last December, The New York Times ran an article (12/8/12) on the EU’s growing reluctance to import tainted American-sourced horse meat. One sentence from the piece, though, is extraordinarily misleading: “Despite the fact that racehorses make up only a fraction…
During Keeneland’s 5th race Friday afternoon, three-year-old Order of Magnitude “went wrong nearing the furlong marker, was pulled up and vanned off.” Racehorse Memorial reports that the colt fractured sesamoids and was euthanized. Saturday at Delaware Park, Paskha, a three-year-old…
“This is what they are reduced to. After the glory, fame, adulation, they end up on a windy plain at a knackery waiting for a bullet in the head. They communicate with each other. They suffer, they quiver, they shake,…
Lavalette Gold imploded after crossing the finish line in Thursday’s 4th race at Belmont, and this time the NYRA cameras couldn’t help but capture the ugliness…around the 1:40 mark (Race Replays, Thursday, Race 4). Dead at three. The video, of…
With the deaths of Standardbred Ideal Joe (“possible heart attack” at Vernon Downs) and Thoroughbred Two Comma Guy (while training at Belmont), New York has tallied 85 racehorse deaths through the first 3 quarters of 2013, a statistic not likely…
Equibase reports that four-year-old Kentucky Hannah, running in yesterday’s 6th race at Penn National, “broke down and fell nearing the turn then was humanely euthanized.” (By the way, to imply that somehow credit is due for ending the misery you…
Tradition. Beauty. Elegance. Billing itself “The Sport of Kings,” racing presents its horses, especially the regal Thoroughbreds, as resplendent, pampered athletes proudly displaying their prowess to admiring fans. The horse, they tell us, is born to run, loves to run,…
“It must be accepted that in some sports sometimes lives will be lost.” (New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Inc., The New Zealand Herald, 2012) “A jumps race is a licence for animal cruelty.” (Eliot Pryor, campaign director for SAFE, Voxy, 9/27/13)…
Friday at Aqueduct, eight-year-old Slight Fever “was found dead in his stall after having been treated for colic.” For Joseph DeMola, a graded stakes winning-trainer, this represents no great loss – in four years under DeMola, Slight Fever earned less…
Using USDA FOIA Breed-Specific Data and USDA National Agriculture Statistics, a Wild for Life Foundation study found that on average 19% of horses being sent to slaughter are Thoroughbreds. In the six-year period from 2005-2010, this translates to 23,500 Thoroughbreds…
On Wednesday, Emma’s Secret, a four-year-old filly from Finger Lakes Racetrack, died in what is termed a “non-racing” accident. Apparently, the young horse (roughly the equivalent of a human teenager) “bolted out of [her] stall, out of [the] barn, ran…
On January 27th of this year, Dr. Orlando Paraliticci, a private vet working for trainer Jane Cibelli, was caught injecting a nerve block, called “P Bloc,” into the Cibelli-trained horse Raven Train. Raven Train was scheduled to run that day…
