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Yesterday was a big day for Horseracing Wrongs and the horses we are so diligently working to liberate. We sponsored protests at Laurel Park in Maryland, Gulfstream Park in Florida, and held a march/vigil for the fallen in California. Thank you to all who came out, especially to the lead organizers: Brando Lee and Jennifer Sully at Laurel, Holly Wilson at Gulfstream, and Heather Wilson and Amanda Lundberg in Pasadena.










The Baltimore Sun (Maryland)
New Times (Florida)
Getty Images (California)

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An email attached to a recent donation:

“Thank you for your incredible work. I used to bet on horses (haven’t in 30 years) but I do feel a need to make my amends to these wonderful animals. I bet on a horse named Tarport Hap and Tarport had a heart attack and died on the first turn. All I cared about was the money I lost. No conscience, no pity for him. I am grateful to people like you who allow me to give back. I love horses and all animals. I am telling guys in my Gamblers Anonymous room about your organization. Thank you!”

Mike Kramer
New York

Thank you, Mike. Stories like yours help us to press on.

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On his HorseRaceInsider site, John Pricci recently shared an email he received from a racing-related friend in Saratoga Springs, home, of course, to Saratoga Race Course:

“Horses are dying. We all should be uncomfortable about that. Thoroughbred racing is worth saving and the game that you and I grew up loving was noble. But if we don’t face this thing down… So far, those I have talked to seem not to be willing to face this.

“This past Derby Day, approximately 50 protestors [that was Horseracing Wrongs, by the way] were on hand at the Oklahoma Training Track, just down from the East Avenue entrance. They later moved to the front of the National Museum of Racing. The number of protesters at the gate, and at the Museum, grows annually.

“I have been struck in recent months about when I am stopped by someone when it comes to racing and this issue. It is in church, the supermarket check-out line, or the deli newsroom where I get my papers each morning. My spouse is president of a charity at a Roman Catholic Church and is the youngest member of this organization of caring older people. After two recent monthly meetings the question asked of me was ‘what about those horse deaths at Saratoga [this year]?’ These people barely know where Saratoga Race Course is located. Okay? But they are getting the message and forming an opinion.

“This game has got to step back and take a deep breath and make some truly hard decisions about where it wants to go. Because if government makes that decision as a result of popular pressure [animal abuse is an automatic vote-getter], it is not going to be pretty.

“Hallowed Saratoga is NOT immune to this and most of our civic leaders don’t get that. For a far less harmful situation than horse deaths — opposition to gambling — New York outlawed thoroughbred racing in 1911 and 1912.

“I truly love [the game] and have first-hand knowledge of what it can be. I honestly think we are in crisis and are unwilling to confront that. I hope I am wrong.”

Pricci concludes: “Can stakeholders doubt there’s a crisis when residents of the town that is home to one of ‘America’s Top 10 Sporting Venues – where horse racing has been part of the fabric for over a century and a half – begins to question why so many horses are dying?”

Running scared – even in sacred Saratoga. Which brings to mind one of my favorite historical lines. It comes from an ever-so-brief note from President Lincoln to General Grant in the waning days of the Civil War: “General Sheridan says ‘If the thing is pressed I think that Lee will surrender.’ Let the thing be pressed.”

Indeed, activists and all caring people nationwide, let the thing be pressed.

Santa Anita Petition
New York Petition
California Petition
Contact Your Elected Officials
Get Involved – Protests and Events

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As I recently wrote, there is no better catalyst for moral progress than protest. And while we are understandably proud of the big numbers we’ve been able to mobilize at Santa Anita, Saratoga, and Belmont, make no mistake even a handful of people standing strong and resolute for the horses is a powerful statement – and makes a difference. Today, I’d like to express my deep gratitude to Animal Rights Rochester for carrying our banner at Finger Lakes Racetrack in western NY, and for letting that track and the surrounding community know that animal abuse/killing for lousy $2 bets will no longer be abided in 21st Century America. Thank you.