The deaths of two horses and injuries overshadowed racing at Hollywood Park on Saturday.
In the $100,000 Vernon O. Underwood Stakes won by Pacific Ocean, runner-up Irrefutable collapsed and died just after he was unsaddled. Track officials said the 5-year-old, one of three horses in the race for trainer Bob Baffert, probably had a heart attack.
Earlier, in the fourth race, the 5-year-old favorite, Waltzing With Blue, was euthanized after injuring his left front leg. Jockey Daniel Vergara was thrown to the turf when the horse was injured and was briefly hospitalized.
A horse injury also was involved in the $250,000 Citation Handicap, in which Jeranimo beat War Element by 2 3/4 lengths.
Bob Black Jack, making his second start after a 20-month layoff and running for the first time on turf, weakened in the stretch, did not finish and had to be taken off in a van with a front left leg injury.
Source: The Los Angeles Times via The Associated Press
Tuesday's Horse 
As much as I love to see the beauty, grace and determination of horses racing, the sobering fact is that,depending on the source of information, up to as many as 30,000 (estimated) TBs are shipped to slaughter each year here in NA …………..and then there are the nurse foals :(
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I have the greatest respect and passion for all horses.but dont be so fast to condemn a sport that has been around for a long time and has thrilled so many , and houses thousands of horses, (where would they be?) very few are mistreated, most owners and trainers love and respect their horses and treat them very good, granted their are those who dont deserve to even be with a horse, there are lots of things to revise and change for the better for horses, and racing is recognizing this and are starting to correct all the wrongs…………….. All our efforts now should be into saving from extinction the Wild Mustangs and stopping Slaughter…. If you outlaw horse racing you condemn many horses to slaughter, do not outlaw horse racing be apart of fixing it where it is broken…………………. Horses love to run and they are very competitive ….. I feel strongly about this…………… Do we also want to take this from them????? they are exercised , fed , given vitamins and yes . most all in contact with them LOVE them…………….. And would never hurt them………………………………….I visit the Barns at Thistledown all the time…………………………………..
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These horses are so inbred that none of them should be raced. This is the very same thing that has happened with dog breeders to the point that genetic diseases turn up in most litters. We also don’t know how many foals are destroyed every year because of this. Horse racing needs to be outlawed.
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Breaks my heart, horses racing kills no matter how you look at it. On the track or in the slaughter houses. Praying for the day they are treated like beings in stead of like machines….
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Unfortunately, horses will constantly suffer at the hands of man, because our elected officials do not classify them as having feelings. There will be no regulations on the over-breeding of them, nor the poor quality breeding that happens as well, when conformation is sacrificed for speed in the case of the race horses, be they TB or “Running” QH. or any other breed they may be racing. The facts are out there, money talks and can buy off any judge or elected official…check our government, starting with the BLM, for instance. They are CONTINUING with TOTALLY UNNECESSARY roundups because they plan to ZERO OUT the mustangs,either by complete removal, or by leaving too few for viable breeding purposes, thus ENSURING INBREEDING and lowering the quality, so they can remove those as well, citing the fact of bad breeding as reason for needed removal. Those with money control those in places of power, and until we can swing that fact a different direction, we will constantly have to deal with issues like this and animals will continue to suffer.
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I personally think that horse racing should be abolished, but I worry about what would happen to those horses if it was. My first horse love raced in Kentucky, and was the great great grandson of Secretariat. After he was retired he was put on drugs and treated horribly before I met him. He was a beautiful soul, and I miss him so.
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This is just horrific. They are literally running these beautiful animals to death. Obviously these are not very healthy animals and I believe, as ddo many others more knowledgable than I, that all the overbreeding and selected breeding is one of the major causes. Horse racing should be more regulated and more protections for the horses should be provided from being bred to being raced to being retired to pasture if not elimated all together. We don’t need to exploit these animals for our entertainment. There are too many things out there to entertain us that do not involve killing and maiming animals of any kind.
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Totally agree Elizabeth, there is no need for this abuse of horses. Trouble is not many people know what really happens to these beautiful animals, it is just horrendous and yes I believe they are pushed to over their limit and should be banned.
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