The dark side of Bob Baffert’s reign

“No horse loving person like Bob or his entire team accepts the reality of a horse death with anything other than sadness and despair,” the lawyers said in their statement. “In each instance, the death is investigated. Every investigation over the past 20 years has reached the same conclusion: no rules or regulations have been…

1,400 dead horses, a fading sport, and huge subsidies — Pennsylvania horse racing faces a reckoning

Introduction Sam Wood, reporting for the Philadelphia Enquirer, has written a much needed and eye-opening report entitled "1,400 dead horses, a fading sport, and huge subsidies — Pennsylvania horse racing faces a reckoning." We are aware of the carnage on America's racetracks. We are aware also that horse racing is a fading sport and has…

California Horse Racing Board will not suspend Baffert’s license without due process

PAULICK REPORT PRESS RELEASE | 5/24/21 — The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) is aware of the situation surrounding Bob Baffert and the alleged positive relative to the Kentucky Derby. Racetracks in Kentucky and New York have temporarily precluded Mr. Baffert from entering horses and/or using stalls. To date, the regulatory bodies in those two…

Candlelight vigil held for NYC carriage horse Aisha

The New York City Police Department's Animal Abuse Squad is investigating the recent death of a carriage horse in Central Park after a video of the fatal February 29th incident was made public online. Posted by animal rights advocacy group NYCLASS, the video shows the 12-year old carriage horse — named Aisha — repeatedly falling,…

Horse Racing Integrity: The Owners

By VIVIAN GRANT FARRELL I don't think it would be unfair to say that horse racing is in an ever increasing state of crisis. That means the horses are also. Racehorses are bred, used and disposed of at an alarming rate. They are drugged, their bodies manipulated in grotesque ways from the moment they are…

The Chemical Horse, 2nd edition

Jane Allin's groundbreaking report on the doping of racehorses — "The Chemical Horse" — has been revised to update its citations. Allin's update coincides with the US House Subcommittee Hearing of the Horse Racing Integrity Act which would establish an anti-doping agency to oversee all horse racing (for an interim period anyway) to include Quarter…

From backstretch to slaughterhouse, Fair Grounds horse deaths shouldn’t surprise

James Gill, writing for NOLA.com, states: The death of four thoroughbreds in six race days at the Fair Grounds track in New Orleans, a couple of weeks after two quarter horses were put down at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, was not as shocking as it should have been.Horse racing is a dangerous sport anywhere,…

Survey: 62% of Americans think less favorably of racing after 2019

BY HRN (HORSE RACING NEWS) (Dec. 26, 2019) — The Reuters news wire reports, after conducting a survey earlier this month with Ispos, a leading market research firm, that widely publicized racehorse deaths left 62% of respondents with at least a “somewhat less favorable” impression of horse racing in 2019. Reuters/Ispos conducted their online survey on…

California Prosecutor finds no crime in Santa Anita horse racing deaths

The New York Times reported the following story filed by the Associated Press: A California prosecutor found no evidence of animal cruelty or other crimes during an investigation into a spike in horse deaths at Santa Anita Park racetrack over the past year, according to a report issued Thursday. A task force formed by the…

Why we call for an end to U.S. horse racing

We call for an end to U.S. horse racing because it is past reforming. The horse has bolted. Additionally, there appears to be no one in American horse racing genuinely interested in, or knowledgeable and capable of, reforming it. If we are wrong then show us who they are, what they purport to do and…