Correction 1.25 pm: 7 deaths not 17. Hope this error does not turn out to some sort of dark omen.
Saratoga Bugler (Skip Dickstein/Times Union).
SARATOGA, New York — Patrick Battuello of Horseracingwrongs.com reports:
In the final race of the afternoon yesterday at Saratoga, this for 4-year-old Brooklyn Major (Equibase):
“BROOKLYN MAJOR three wide at the half mile pole, was through after the half, then fatally collapsed after crossing the finish line.” Yes, another “fatal collapse” after the wire. But all is not lost: For finishing the race, Brooklyn’s connections took home $84.
To date, seven horses have died at Saratoga ’17, four in the last four days:
Lakalas, May 28, “collapsed and died after breezing”
Queen B, July 6, “fractured leg while breezing…ambulanced to clinic – euthanized”
Wanztbwicked, July 22, “suffered an injury while breezing – euthanized on the track”
Angels Seven, July 28, “pulled up, injury to LF leg – euthanized on the track”
Howard Beach, July 29, “suffered a fracture to RF leg breezing and was euthanized”
Positive Waves, July 29, “suffered a fracture to his RF leg breezing – euthanized”
Brooklyn Major, July 31, “collapsed and died after the finish of the race”
It makes you wonder how horseracing can brag that its casualties are down and they are doing better. Doing better than what? At what? All we can see them excelling at is abusing and killing horses. They are are marvelous at that. Many of their horses die at the track while training. These sad victims haven’t even made it into a race yet.
I suppose with (1) the threat of the return of horse slaughter to U.S. soil (horse racing will love that —murder and mayhem being a day-to-day part of this disgustingly cruel “sport” so called), and (2) the hotly lobbied for killing of 90,000+ American Mustangs needlessly robbed of their homes and freedom and placed into U.S. confinement camps to eke out the rest of their now tragic lives — who cares about a few dead racehorses, right?
Well we do. We care about all of them. What can we do? Protest.
The people at horseracingwrongs.com have been and continue to do so. More on that coming soon.
Protest on Twitter. Tweet reports like this one, but most importantly Patrick’s reports at @ABRLive. That America’s Best Racing’s handle that tweets endless drivel about this “great sport”. Let’s shake their audience up.
And to the gamblers who support suffering and death with their $2 bets, can’t you find something else to bet on? There are a myriad of sports played out across the world you can bet on with human athletes who choose it as a career and voluntarily take the risks associated with it.
Tweet reports like this one, especially Patrick’s to @lasvegasbetting and @vegasSB1 (for strictly sports betting). Use the phrase You Bet. They Die.
These are just a couple of ideas. Help these horses with your ideas. Email us or post them here in comments.
With U.S. horse racing we must put their feet to the fire and keep it there. No one else is going to do it. We have to, in memory of all the racehorses already maimed and destroyed by this dangerous, drug infested industry and its forthcoming victims.
What trainer was it that said this not so long ago? Can’t find it now, but it went something like this: I don’t care if they get rid of drugs in horse racing. I just hope I’m dead when they do it.
LOUISVILLE, Ky — It’s that time of year when the spotlight falls on horse racing — what little spotlight falls on it these days — and the industry and its hangers on laud the winner of the Kentucky Derby and turn their thoughts to the Triple Crown.
Historically at this time, the powers that be in Thoroughbred horse racing hold meetings and talk about the state of its industry.
This year up pops the subject of aftercare concerning the horses the industry uses until they can no longer use them.
Aftercare funding has become a topic of increasing importance in the racing industry as the sport’s viewpoint on retired racehorses has begun to evolve and mature, in no small measure because of pressure from animal-welfare advocates. The overwhelming consensus in the racing industry is that the sport needs to raise millions more dollars each year to properly address the issue.
Currently, the Thoroughbred industry seeks funding for aftercare organizations in a variety of ways. Some are mandatory, such as contributions from purses earned at tracks that have launched retirement programs and a mandatory surcharge on sales that require buyers and consignors to contribute 0.5 percent of the price of a horse sold at auction. Also, in 2012, The Jockey Club added a $25 surcharge to its foal-registration fee to raise funds for aftercare efforts. Other funding is sought through voluntary donations.
A proposal by former racetrack executive Allen Gutterman to ask racetracks to add a surcharge to their reserved seating tickets on popular race days to raise money for the care of retired racehorses is generating discussion among the racing industry, according to attendees of the Pan American Conference.
Gutterman’s proposal would add a surcharge to reserved seats, with the surcharge clearly advertised as being earmarked for aftercare funding. Gutterman said the industry should ask each North American racetrack to apply the surcharge for a single day of the year, and he estimated that the plan could raise as much as $1 million a year, provided the most high-profile tracks participate on their most popular days.
“If a fan is willing to shell out, say, $2,500 for a prime seat on Millionaires’ Row at beautiful Churchill Downs, would he object to spending an additional $5 for the same seat knowing that the additional $5 is earmarked for aftercare?” Gutterman said. “Honestly, do you think that on these days, fans would object? Especially those paying with corporate credit cards?” (DRF)
I quote Karen Richards from the famous Bette Davis film, All About Eve: “This beats all records for running, standing or jumping gall”. Well just about all.
In essence, the mighty U.S. horse racing industry wants racegoers — albeit perceivably rich racegoers — to help pay for the care of its cast off racehorses. No wonder the idea is being talked about and well received. Anyone other than themselves to pick up the tab.
They brag about the $8.3 million the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance raised which is commendable. However, they have raised that sum since the TAA was founded in 2012. The monies are divided up among 180 accredited facilities.
The industry currently coordinates the majority of its fundraising through an organization founded in 2012, the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, whose members had a major presence at the International Forum on the Aftercare of Racehorses, which was held for the first time this year. The TAA has accredited 180 facilities in the U.S. and has awarded $8.3 million in grants since its founding, the organization says. (DRF)
How is that money raised?
Currently, the Thoroughbred industry seeks funding for aftercare organizations in a variety of ways. Some are mandatory, such as contributions from purses earned at tracks that have launched retirement programs and a mandatory surcharge on sales that require buyers and consignors to contribute 0.5 percent of the price of a horse sold at auction. Also, in 2012, The Jockey Club added a $25 surcharge to its foal-registration fee to raise funds for aftercare efforts. Other funding is sought through voluntary donations. (DRF)
That is a nice beginning but they could do much more and should continue in our opinion to develop ways to raise money from within the industry itself.
Jane Allin
Jane Allin is a highly regarded and widely cited racehorse advocate and watchdog. Allin observes:
Aftercare is a conspicuous symptom of this industry’s morality. The callous treatment of cast-off racehorses is both shameful and abhorrent. A conscious undertaking led by those directly accountable for breeding and purchasing these horses would lend credence to any so-called effort to fund the necessary aftercare programs.
Not at the expense of the fans through increased ticket prices or other means of unloading the associated costs but rather by holding those who bring these horses into the world accountable — for their lives, until the end. Horses are not disposable goods, yet this vile industry does just that.
“We are in a modern era, and a lot of people have a need for immediate gratification,” Gallo said. “A lot of owners (today) aren’t in it for the love of the horse. When I talk (to people interested in partnerships) I tell them, ‘You don’t own a horse until its last race. You own a horse until it is properly placed in an accredited (aftercare program).” (BH, JA)
Viable Option
There is a workable solution that would benefit many.
Every State that races horses can take as little as .5% of its race related gambling profits and provide aftercare for virtually every racehorse that enters the industry there, including racehorses requiring long-term aftercare, plus have monies left over to prepare these racehorses for second careers.
Money spent on racehorse aftercare programs would boost State revenues, create jobs and perhaps begin to rehabilitate horse racing’s sagging reputation. (Private Source)
No one in horse racing’s hierarchy are interested. They are too blinkered by greed and callousness.
Image Source: NJ.com.
Record Betting
According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Churchill Downs reported that wagering from all sources on all the races on Kentucky Derby Day program totaled $209.2 million, a 9 percent increase over the 2016 total of $192.6 million and an increase of 8 percent over the previous record set in 2015 of $194.3 million (LC-J). Imagine what a tiny percentage of Kentucky’s revenues from a handle that size alone could do for Kentucky’s racehorses.
Yet horse racing says it doesn’t have the money to provide aftercare for horses who do not bring sufficient return on investment without help from the public.
Perhaps what halts the horse racing industry from investing in a comprehensive aftercare program is the specter of endless racehorses virtually destroyed within their short careers by the laundry list of debilitating drugs given them turning up on on their doorstep for healing.
Relatively sound racehorses do cross that barrier into rehabilitation and re-training. Tragically, however, the too broken and unvalued racehorses are carried off by the meat man.
Racehorse Owners — Take Action
We certainly do not mean to dishonor those who care and work hard for reform within the horse racing industry, but they must work harder and find a way to be heard.
Lobby your State to be the first to set up an aftercare program described above. Prove it can be done. Become a blueprint for the rest of the horse racing industry to follow.
International Forum on Racehorse Aftercare
Thoroughbred racing held its first international meeting in Washington D.C. May 17-18. Topic: Racehorse Aftercare. We wonder what Di Arbuthnot of Retraining of Racehorses in Britain thought of the American horse racing hooligans she was exposed to there. What an eye opener for her!
Of course this outward appearance of concern for the racehorse when they are done racing is a load of old rubbish especially in the U.S.
The subject of aftercare is only on this cruel and insidious industry’s radar in America because the spotlight is on horse racing due to the Triple Crown races when a large and unassuming audience is watching.
Recommended Topic
Concerning the International Forum itself, why don’t they talk about the one topic that all of horse racing has in common — sending its racehorses to a horrific death by slaughter when they are through with them. We invite this forum to sink its international teeth into that topic.
FEATURED IMAGE Jockey John Velazquez celebrates as he guides #5 Always Dreaming across the finish line in the slop to win the 143rd running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 6, 2017 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Rob Carr / Getty Images)
“KEEP is just another pro-slaughter organization cloaked in the name of care and education by the racing community. Terribly disappointed they don’t value their horses enough to mandate humane euthanasia as an end-of-life protocol. AAEP is shameless. Veterinarians make a fortune off of horses and then instead of treating them to a humane death send them off to a slaughter plant … what cowards. I’d be interested to know if everyone on this thread has sat down and watched how horse is slaughtered… And if so how you could possibly justify it as a humane end-of-life. The livestock designation simply makes it easier to ship to kill and affords no protections whatsoever for domesticated Equine… Which to my knowledge is exactly what racehorses are. If KEEP had any moral compass they’d fight for a companion designation for our horses.” —SusanKayne
“This mean a politician owns A slaughter plant?” —Bob in reply to SusanKayne
“The Senate chose to classify the horses with the word livestock so the people who gave them a lot of money can treat the horses with extreme abuse and extreme cruelty; just like they can get away with doing to the other animals, the cows and the pigs.” —Janine Hernandez
“Racehorses are domesticated. It is ridiculous for them to be classified as livestock and by doing so the racehorse virtually has very little, if any, protection for its welfare.” —Lehane in reply to Janine Hernandez
“What does this mean for horse abuse?” —ziggypop
“It gives the abusers the green light”. —Lehane in reply to ziggypop
Thanks to the tireless efforts of Edgar’s Mission and the folks at Horse Shepherd Rehabilitation Center, an orphaned foal named Custard has been given a second chance to grow up with a loving mother. For those of you who are meeting Custard for the first time, here is a little background about our hero.
Custard’s mother is a thoroughbred mare who was ripped away from her baby and forced to foster another foal. Custard was only two-and-a-half weeks old when this happened. This is common practice in many facets of the husbandry industry and one that leaves many animals without mothers.
Thankfully Edgar’s Mission took charge of Custard and got in touch with the Horse Shepherd Rehabilitation Center. As luck would have it, the rehabilitation center had a mare who had recently lost her own foal to natural causes. When we left Custard, she was on her way to meet Meg in the hopes that she and her foster mother would accept each other.
See alsothis uplifting page on AnimalsAustralia.org which includes Custard’s rescue and six other heartwarming stories. It’s called “Seven Animals Who are Blissful of Anything Outside of Their Happiness Bubble”. Go there now »
Watch the video at One Green Planet to see how Meg and Custard are now fully bonded and as happy as any family can be. Go there now »
Custard and Edgars Mission Director Pam Ahern (pictured at top) stepped in to give Custard the reassurance and love she needed until a long-term home could be found for the foal. Thanks to the loving team at Horse Shepherd Equine Sanctuary, she was able to be bonded with foster mare, Megs, who is now giving her everything she needs to grow into a happy and healthy horse.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of 