Yesterday, The New York Times ran a guest essay by renowned journalist Noah Shachtman. The title: “Dead Athletes. Empty Stands. Why Are We Paying Billions to Keep This Sport Alive?” I couldn’t have come up with a better one myself.…
The betting numbers are in for 2024 and, progress. Total handle (wagering from all sources) for U.S. horse races was down 3.35% from 2023. What’s more, this is the third consecutive annual decline. What’s more, the last year-over-year increase came…
In advance of next Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, which this year is being held at Saratoga, we purchased a three-page ad for today’s edition of the Times Union, upstate NY’s largest newspaper. As you can see below, it lists the 1,097…
HW has now documented – with names, dates, locations, and details – 10,448 kills at U.S. tracks since Jan 1, 2014. Again, that’s 10,448 dead horses – for $2 bets. Recently, our team created this video listing, by state, all…
A reminder, on Preakness Day: Some of the horses killed on (racing or training) Maryland tracks last year. Goldbar“The horse collapsed but was able to stand again. The horse collapsed a second time [and had a] seizure. Membranes then turned…
Despite all the hype surrounding Churchill’s supposed success Saturday, Equibase reports that in the first four months of 2024, total wagering on U.S. races fell 6.1% compared to the same period last year. April alone was down over 11% from…
On the Keeneland website, there is a page entitled, “Our Commitment to Safety.” It opens with this quote from Dr. Stuart Brown, VP of Equine Safety: “Doing what’s best for the horse is at the core of everything we do…
In an LTE published in BloodHorse Friday, prominent breeder Roderick Wachman makes his appeal for industry unity, calling for the “agenda-driven squabbling to stop and for everyone to put their shoulders to the wheel and try to take control of…
The betting numbers for 2023 are in from Equibase and the news is positive (for us). The total amount wagered on Thoroughbred racing in America fell by almost a half-billion dollars – a 3.7% decline from 2022. Excluding 2020 –…
Back in 2017, former HW board member Joy Aten contributed a post about a 12-year-old Standardbred landing in a kill pen after enduring 258 – yes, 258 – races. The horse: Killean Cut Kid. As Joy detailed – please take…
An “In Memoriam” video put together by one of our great volunteers, Linda Rydant:
Here is how BloodHorse opened its article on the death of Tom’s Ready: “Tom’s Ready, a 10-year-old multiple graded-stakes winner and millionaire, was euthanized Oct. 30 at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington due to complications following colic surgery,…
