Another Brick Falls: Hazel Park Is Shuttered
We activists are often asked, “What do you propose to do with all the horses if you get your wish and Racing ends?” It is, of course, a spurious question, a pathetic and desperate attempt to trip us up –…
The Tracks
Read MoreAnother Brick Falls: Hazel Park Is Shuttered
Progress: Dead Racetracks Since 2000
The following U.S. racetracks have closed since 2000. In this same time span, to my knowledge only two new tracks opened: Mahoning in Ohio (but that could be viewed as an even swap for the deceased Beulah) and Pinnacle in…
Del Mar: Backslapping at “Only” Six Dead
“In many ways, you might call this one of the very best meets we’ve ever had here.” – Del Mar president Joe Harper, from the track’s website As Del Mar is busy congratulating itself on losing “only” six horses in…
Saratoga, 2010-2012: 100 Dead or Missing
Coming on the heels of last month’s admission by an industry-connected vet that 10,000-12,000 American Thoroughbreds are being slaughtered each year, some racing people recently got together in Saratoga Springs for a “symposium” on Thoroughbred “aftercare.” Follows are highlights from…
9-Year-Old Mare Who Hadn’t Been Raced in Over Two Years Killed at Pseudo Florida Track
Even when this industry is running “sham” races, it can’t help but kill. When reviewing the FOIA documents I recently received from Florida, I came upon a death at a track I had never heard of – Oxford Downs. Turns…
Progress: Gillespie Racetrack Closing in Texas
From the good news department: The Daily Racing Form reports that the Gillespie racetrack (along with two greyhound tracks) in Texas will not be renewing its license for live racing/simulcasting effective yesterday, August 31. In other words, it’s closing up…
Travers Day and Dead Horses – Connect the Dots
Today is Travers Day, among a handful of the most celebrated on the U.S. racing calendar. The feature, of course, is the Grade 1 Travers Stakes, at once historic – first run in 1864, it is billed as the oldest…
19 (Dead) Reasons to Boycott Saratoga This Summer
Last summer, 17 racehorses died, or were euthanized due to injuries suffered, while racing or training at Saratoga Race Course: Hadeed Fi Hadeed, May 30, training Squire Creek, July 16, training Stradivari, July 22, training (euthanized December) Zamjara, July 23,…
27 (Dead) Reasons to Boycott Del Mar This Summer
As Del Mar 2017 kicks off, a reminder… Last summer, there were 13 identified kills (racing or training) at Del Mar: Presidential Air, July 15, race 6 Dynamite Charge, July 17, training Pacific Swell, July 21, race 5 Whisky and…
Training Tracks in the U.S.
The following is a list of private U.S. Thoroughbred training-tracks. The horses who die at these locations do so in utter anonymity; we will never know who they are or how many are killed – just the way Racing wants…
Del Mar Death Toll: 11 (at least), and Counting
The latest Del Mar Stewards Minutes have been released: week of 7/18/16-7/24/16, “Deceased: 6” Included in those six, presumably, are Whisky and Wine, Big Book, Dutchessa, and Fasnacloich. Another would be 3-year-old Pacific Swell, reported by the stewards to have…
As Dead Horses Pile Up, It’s Damage Control Time at Del Mar
Last summer – and the summer before that – a spate of deaths had the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club (and California, in general) scrambling. Dead horses are always bad for business, but most especially at such a celebrated, high-profile meet…