Remember when Governor Newsom was all for closing down Santa Anita? Newsom has backtracked quite a bit, but nothing like he is doing now. Let us not trick ourselves into believing it’s all about racetrack personnel. Where was his concern then?
In an article dated March 20, 2020, entitled “Governor’s office says Santa Anita can continue racing during coronavirus pandemic,” Art Wilson, reporting for The San Gabriel Tribune writes:
Santa Anita was able to carry on with the winter portion of its winter/spring meet Friday after receiving the OK to race from Gov. Newsom’s office.
Newsom issued a stay at home order to Californians on Thursday “until further notice.” Residents are not allowed to leave home except for essential purposes like groceries, prescriptions and health care as well as commuting to jobs deemed essential.
Late Thursday, Santa Anita officials said in a press release they were in touch with Newsom’s office for clarity and expected to hear back Friday morning.
“Having consulted with our governmental and industry partners, horses at Santa Anita and Golden Gate are continuing to exercise and race,” Santa Anita said in a statement issued early Friday afternoon. “Racehorses are living, breathing animals that require constant supervision and care – from feeding to exercise, to veterinary care.”
Yes, racehorses “require constant supervision and care — from feeding to exercise, to veterinary care” but they do not need to race. What a farce. It is all about money, especially gambling revenues. Who are they trying to kid? This kind of deceitful posturing is why millions no longer trust horse racing and are walking away from it in droves. It is not doing the Governor Newsom’s reputation any good either.
FEATURED IMAGE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tuesday's Horse 
Thank you to everyone for supporting banhorseracing.com and @banhorseracingCA ! Santa Anita just announced today AFTER an advisory notice that Santa Anita will CEASE all HORSE RACING amid CV19 until further notice! We appreciate your calls, emails, petition signatures and letters to the Governor and CHRB. Founder, http://www.banhorseracing.com
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Thank you. Well done. 👌
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The jockey Mark Zahra (a Victorian jockey) has tested negative. Therefore racing here continues – how utterly disgraceful. MZ is popular with numerous trainers and owners in Sydney and especially travels up for the big prize money meetings. Apparently he’s popular for his style of riding i.e. vigorous whip use for which he’s been penalised on numerous occasions.
Also, he has quite a history with careless riding incidents. I recall some years ago when he was riding in a race in Victoria when another jockey was so seriously injured that he became a quadraplegic. It was a terrible incident.
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Apologies, I should’ve placed the above comment as an update below.
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Let’s be clear here.
The horse racing business and its cohorts are all about money not the health and welfare of the racehorses.
However, they clearly use that line to get what they want and this is no exception.
They know damn well that they can put these racehorses in a grassy paddock where they belong.
They don’t need to race.
They can be taken care of on a farm much better than on a track.
However, and here’s the real reason, it would cost them MONEY to properly care for horses out on a farm.
Moreover, there’s no possibility of that a racehorse can flip a buck for them, churn wagering profits if they are turned out in a paddock and that’s why they want them on the track.
These parasites only “love” them when they can exploit them, but when they actually have to take care of them their “love” quickly wanes.
That’s precisely why hundreds of racehorses are found standing at kill auction, neglected, ready to board the slaughterhouse truck because their lame and broken limbs (caused by this industry) can’t flip a buck for them any longer so they become the unwanted racehorse mess that everybody else is supposed to clean up.
They just keep on making this mess, have for years, continue to do so and don’t care.
That’s why racehorses are continuing to be trained and raced at Santa Anita and it’s totally unacceptable because this is NOT an essential business.
It’s anything but.
It’s an antiquated, unnecessary gambling venue that has no place under normal circumstances, but certainly should be shut down now because they are probably spreading the virus.
When hundreds of other business entities in California are doing their part horse racing is part of the problem.
They always have been, but Gov. Newsom has lost all credibility with me.
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STILL racing in Australia.
No spectators allowed.
Our state governments derive revenue from the gambling dollar.
With the strict measures now in place here, you cannot tell me that the stablehands, strappers, trainers trackwork riders, jockeys, et al cannot keep a distance of 2 metres apart from one another when dealing with the horses. It’s 1 square metre space around each individual person here under the rules.
It won’t be long (if not already) that one of the above contracts the Coronavirus and it spreads.
To date, there has been no disclosure that one of the above has come down with the virus.
In the meantime, the show must go on.
However, to my knowledge, the UK, Ireland, France, Germany and i think South Africa have shut down racing.
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Just came over the news that racing in my state of NSW and Victoria has been suspended for the time being. A jockey was in contact with a person who has been diagnosed with Covid-19. I understand that this occurred on a flight between these two states. Racing is waiting for the result of the jockey’s test – if negative, racing will resume. If positive, then racing will have to make the decision to shut down racing as many other jurisdictions have done much earlier.
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Thank you for this update. We pray the jockey is well. They should shut it down regardless.
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Profit before common sense and horses’ well-being.
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