We can’t close the books on NY’s racing carnage for 2021 just yet. Belatedly (I’ll say), the NYS Gaming Commission has confirmed the death of Rosey’s Peach at Aqueduct December 6: “sustained injury to LH leg while in stall, found in distress during afternoon feeding – subsequently euthanized due to poor prognosis.” The 3-year-old Rosey’s makes it 106 victims in the Empire State last year.

I have confirmed that Big Fabuloso, a “lost action, pulled up, vanned off” in the 6th at Los Alamitos Saturday, has been euthanized. He was three years old.

4-year-old Obsessed “suffered an injury” in the 5th at Aqueduct yesterday and has been euthanized. His is the third death at a NYRA track on the young year – this, after 75 kills last year. Reform is a ruse, safe racing a lie; horseracing is inherently deadly.

In the 1st at Aqueduct December 30, Big Little Risk, said the chartwriter, “took a bad step, was eased under restraint,” and was eventually “vanned off.” With that kind of a writeup, I was surprised when his name didn’t surface on the Gaming Commission’s database. Well, it finally has – over a week after the fact. Big Little was three years old; ’twas his ninth time under the whip. The complicit: owner Guyana Rocky LLC, trainer Michael Simmonds. As a postscript, this is likely the final kill on the NY Racing year – the final, that is, of 105. That’s 105 dead horses for $2 bets and by an industry that is mostly being propped up by corporate welfare.