Horse deaths at Pimlico raise questions about danger of racing
Is it a good idea to use horses for American sport?
Click here for reuse options!Before Exaggerator won the Preakness and foiled Nyquist’s bid for horse racing’s second consecutive Triple Crown, there were 12 other horse races at Pimlico on Saturday.
Homeboykris, a nine-year-old gelding who has won 14 races in 63 career starts, won the first of those races. But after he posed for pictures in the winner’s circle, he walked about 100 yards, collapsed, and died, likely due to cardiovascular collapse.
Three races later, Pramedya, a 4-year-old filly, fell to the ground on the final turn of the race. Her front left leg was fractured, and she was euthanized right there on the track. Her jockey, Daniel Centeno, also fractured his right clavicle in the fall and was taken to the hospital.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the two horses’ deaths on Saturday was how seamlessly the activities at Pimlico moved on, and for good reason: It is not uncommon for horses to die on race days…
According to the Equine Injury Database, 31 horses have died of injuries at Pimlico alone between 2009 and 2015. The Jockey Club reports that the overall fatality rate of thoroughbred race horses fell 14 percent between 2014 and 2015. But, of course, that statistic doesn’t help Pamedya or Homeboykris, Barbaro or Eight Belles, or the thousands of other horses who have died on the race track in the last decade.
As Kavitha A. Davidson wrote for Bloomberg View, horse racing is essentially “institutionalized animal abuse.”
In 2012, the New York Times investigated how the new economics of racing was making the sport more risky for horses. The reporting focused on the amount of pain injections and drugs that many horses were administered in order to help them get ready for race day, many of which push them far beyond their natural limits and mask other health problems that should be treated.
Copyright 2016 Liberaland
6 responses to Horse deaths at Pimlico raise questions about danger of racing
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anothertoothpick May 23rd, 2016 at 14:05
A ton and a half of beautifull horse racing at full speed on legs as big as TOOTHPICKS.
What could possible go wrong?
halfwayin May 23rd, 2016 at 14:12
I had $100 on Exaggerator
Horse Win Place Show
Exaggerator $7.20 $3.20 $2.40
Cherry Wine $9.80 $4.20
Nyquist $2.20
So I say nothing could “possibly go wrong”
Buford2k11 May 23rd, 2016 at 15:07
ummm….this is not news…this has been known since mankind started riding and racing horses….but, in today’s modern sport of horse racing, it is still known that horses die, jockeys die, and MONEY is made…Mint Julep anyone?
StoneyCurtisll May 23rd, 2016 at 15:49
Pramedya, a 4-year-old filly, fell to the ground on the final turn of
the race. Her front left leg was fractured, and she was euthanized right
there on the track. Her jockey, Daniel Centeno, also fractured his
right clavicle in the fall and was taken to the hospital…
Perhaps if the jockey’s were also euthanized on the spot, this torture of animals would stop.
Nicole Arciello May 23rd, 2016 at 19:47
Please read horseracingwrongs (dot) com to learn more about the cruelty and death that is horseracing. Horseracing Wrongs estimates that 2,000 racehorses die each year on American Tracks. This number does not include the thousands that are shipped to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. Their finish-line– dinner plate in Europe. Please read and share: https://horseracingwrongs.com/the-inevitability-of-dead…/
eyelashviper May 24th, 2016 at 17:13
The Thoroughbred Racing Industry is interested money, and it is a multi billion dollar industry that often has little regard for the health and well being or the horses involved.
TB horses mature at about age 6, so racing them at two and three years of age puts them at risk for fractured bones, damaged tendons and joints, and irreparable damage and death. Drugs are administered to mask the pain, and horses are raced when they should be given rest.
In addition, the training for racing emphasizes fast starts and take offs, with insufficient work at the walk, trot, and canter, and movement that is counter to the direction of the race track, so they do not develop soundly and in balance.
Most other kinds of sport horses do not even begin to be ridden until they are two or three, and then spend considerable time being exercised in all gaits, to develop strong bones and muscle tone.
Every year, during the Triple Crown, attention is given to the terrible deaths and injuries, but the rest of the year, the irresponsible practices continue.
There are generally 600 or so deaths on the track every year, and countless numbers of horses who are ;permanently injured and often end up in terrible circumstances. Approximately 10,000 horses are sold at auction and end up in slaughter houses in Mexico and Canada.
I have two off track horses, both big and beautiful and intelligent, and one was badly injured during training and has recurring lameness and pain, so has to be treated gently. The other has been retrained, and is a happy guy who has competed in horse shows, and spends much of his time munching in the pasture with the other guy.