Another American racetrack has closed its doors for good. Gulfstream Park West, formerly known as Calder Race Course, ran its final race Saturday. How we got here is, regarding the industry at large, quite instructive. Calder opened on May 6,…
When its current meet ends on November 28, Scarborough Downs, a harness track in Maine, will be closing – for good. This will leave one active racetrack in Maine (Bangor Raceway) and but two in the whole of New England…
“Then it happened suddenly. Cabezudo heard an explosive crack, he would later testify, like that of a tree branch snapping, then Rivera scream. He continued looking straight ahead, but the sound was gut-wrenching. He knew what it meant. “White arrived…
Last year, California enacted a law that gives the California Horse Racing Board the authority to “at any time, immediately suspend a license to conduct a racing meeting when necessary to protect the health and safety of the horses…. The…
Wednesday, I reported on the 18 kills sent to me by the Arkansas Racing Commission for the recent Oaklawn meet. The Commission, however, also sent along this proviso: “The ARC Vet, who is present on the track each race day,…
Yesterday, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) released a statement regarding a resumption of racing at Belmont Park. Besides the blatant kissing up to an unimpressed Governor Cuomo, the theme was safety: “NYRA joins the entire racing community in applauding…
To paraphrase an old legal adage, if you have the facts on your side, pound the facts; if you have the truth on your side, pound the truth; if you have neither, pound the table and yell like hell. We…
I compiled this list for a fellow activist in Maryland. It speaks for itself. Horses killed on (racing or training) the Laurel Park racetrack since 2014: 2014 Trick the Queen, January 18, racing Love Is Enough, January 31, training Victory…
4-year-old Rhode Island’s run in the 5th at Belmont Saturday, according to the Gaming Commission: “was placed in a protective hold at 1/2 mile…pulled up near the 7/16 pole; was vanned off in the best interest of the horse [so…
While NYRA and Saratoga Race Course are busy celebrating “another successful season,” here was the cost of that success, courtesy of our own Linda Rydant. (The Borough Boy replay – 1:45 mark – alone should be enough for all Americans…
Forced (by the media – thank you) to answer for the nine dead horses so far at Saratoga – on pace to easily outstrip its historical average of 14 per summer – NYRA propaganda czar Patrick McKenna, according to the…
Perhaps the most common counter to our abolitionist position is the economic argument: If horseracing were to disappear so, too, would many jobs (never mind that most are low-wage); ancillary industries – feed suppliers, vets, farriers, breeders, of course –…
