Today, I offer a new Shedrow Secrets contribution from a former racehorse trainer, Susan Bump. Susan, originally from upstate New York, has always had a passion for horses. At 22, she says, she “stumbled into the racing industry” in California.…
As many of you I’m sure know, with the (finally) permanent closing of Suffolk Downs at the end of June, the Suffolk people are trying mightily to pick up at the currently-dormant Great Barrington Fairgrounds next year. And the fight…
The following essay was submitted by a longtime industry exercise-rider. For various reasons, this person has asked to remain anonymous. Please allow me to start off by saying that I am not any level of bleeding heart activist. I enjoy…
(The following is one of my early posts.) Up until very recently, knowledge and appreciation of the equine mind has been noticeably lacking. Sure, we’ve learned rudimentary things about horses through the years, but only enough to breed and maintain…
In a Los Angeles Times article from April 4, David Wharton writes: “[The Jockey Club’s] statistics equate to 6,134 deaths in the last 10 years.” While Wharton does note that that figure is only for “participating” tracks (not all submit…
Follows is my state-by-state FOIA recap for 2018. Arizona: request filled Colorado: request partially filled – training deaths not included Delaware: request filled Florida: request filled (part 1, part 2) Idaho: request filled Illinois: request filled Indiana: request filled –…
“Death is delivered pink.” And so begins an ESPN The Magazine article (5/4/09) on the track veterinarian’s unenviable role as killer of the broken. Racing calls it euthanasia, of course, but that’s simply self-absolution. In any event, this is no…
Follows is my state-by-state FOIA recap for 2017. Nevada: request filled Colorado: request filled Montana: request filled Wyoming: request filled Iowa: request partially filled – training deaths not included Minnesota: request filled – but with names redacted Michigan: request partially…
Horseracing-as-sport is an obscenity of the highest order. There are, of course, many reasons why, but perhaps the three most obvious are these: First, the athletes in question are utterly unaware of their status as such – worse, they are…
No words necessary… Epsom Downs (England), 1966 Prescott Downs (Arizona), 2000 Pimlico (Barbaro’s eventually-fatal injury), 2006 Churchill Downs (Eight Belles snaps both front ankles), 2008 Aqueduct, 2009 (Private Details killed) Arlington, 2009 (Born to Be killed) Japan, 2010 Galway (Ireland),…
How is it that the state of California can publish this list of horses who died in the San Luis fire but ever refuses my annual FOIA request for the names of their track kills? 2016: “The CHRB has not…
Various direct quotes from those within the racing industry… “It’s hard to justify how many horses we go through. In humans you never see someone snap their leg off running in the Olympics. But you see it in horse racing.”…
