Posted on 06/04/2023 12:13:15 PM PDT by Drastic
Horse racing at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, is suspended following the death of 12 horses at the track. Spring and summer races will be rescheduled to take place at Ellis Park. However, practice at Churchill Downs is still permitted for now.
A report on Horse Racing Nation stated the following about the tragic situation:
“Even though the investigations and expert reports have indicated no surface issues, in an abundance of caution, and in alignment with a recommendation from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, Churchill Downs Inc. has elected to relocate the meet in order to conduct a top-to-bottom review of all safety and surface protocols and integrity measures in collaboration and consultation with nationwide experts,” the statement said. A Churchill Downs spokesperson told Horse Racing Nation that training will be allowed to continue at the track after racing is suspended."
(Excerpt) Read more at trendingviews.com ...
Barbaro was a very bad injury. They tried valiantly but in the end the laminitis got to him as he spent too much time being propped up and not being a horse. Most would have been put down right away.
you are rambling on about modes of transportation...this is about racing as a sport. Like most people in bubbles, you miss the fact the world wide, racing is more popular than its ever been. Its huge in JAPAN now..and its really big in the Middle East. Blood Stock and Breeding industry are more lucrative than its ever been. Mostly because of legalized casino gambling, the smaller market tracks are no more. In Michigan, at its peak in the 70’s, there were 8 tracks..now there are zero. Yet in States like Arkansas, Louisiana, its absolutely booming. The Ruffian fiasco really hurt the sport in terms of popularity..great turf writers like Bill Nack left the game for years, and only the creation of the Breeders Cup did he return. The free market has settled who survived in the United States..but in Europe and elsewhere, its still an important sport.
Yes, and soccer is the biggest sport in the world.
America itself is different. We don’t act fully like other cultures (and what are the numbers on Japan and ME, not known to be big with an athletics, especially Moslems, who still adore horses). It doesn’t surprise me that Americans have no reason to be in tune with horses,so are not interested.
It’s a theory, but I cannot help noticing the correlation to transport technologies, which includes farming.
You don’t like my theory so you insult. Thanks a lot.
Insurance? very old stray thought for Freepers who might remember... Rielle Hunter whom prez/vp candidate back when knocked up and then “residenced” her in the Governor’s Club golf community in Raleigh, NC until discovered there by the Enquirer).... well Rielle’s father was convicted of killing racehorses for hire by owners who wanted to cash out of losers or just cash out. A disgusting, and true story- FL Freepers might remember from back then that one of the horses he killed in a parking lot of a movie theater in a horse trailer. He used... high voltage electrical probe in the poor beast’s rear and the other contact surface skin nearby— heart attack. Rielle’s issue with her dad was he killed her own favorite quarter horse somewhere in her past. A real nasty dude iirecall correctly.
Sorry- but so many horses in one location- a prestigious and expensive one? This needs full investigation certainly.
Sorry- did not see your post before my comment— scrolled past it. You are correct- the guy was a criminal.
During the period when the 12 horses died, how many cows were consumed in the track’s restaurants?
12 doesn’t seem to be a comparatively significant number.
Sorry left out John Edward’s the baby daddy for Rielle Hunter. Her quarterhorse killed by her dad apparently and many others for the $$$. The theater parking lot was in Gainesville, FL (gators might remember this as just one more weird thing in hippie town).
Here’s the thing. In MD (backed up by a resident MJC track photographer who posted on the same racing board I always did), Republicans pushed the idea of TRACKS themselves having “slots” to compete with PA and DE and WV. But Dems don’t like what repub gov suggested so pilloried him and it the whole time about how terrible gambling is....Fast forward to Dem gov. NOW gambling is great and it should be everywhere! EXCEPT the tracks which can only retain their regular horse wagering. Now we have rotten casinos everywhere except tracks.
So what started as MD tracks wanting some extra gambling action on grounds to bolster their business turned into pure casinos external to tracks and not really sending $ to tracks.
I still say the number one reason people don’t come is they do not identify with horses.
The stands almost completely empty. It’s been this way my whole life and probably only declined since I recall in the ‘80s.
I think tracks should consider themselves a niche market and operate for that. You can be very successful in a niche. But it means trimming down the business.
Were they giving the China Virus vaxxes to horses too?
you just flat out said that the Ruffian post i made was wrong...and rambled on about granpas horse or something. I remember what all went into what happened after the Ruffian tragedy...CBS Sports cancelled the rest of their televised races for that year. Match racing was out right banned in many States. The back lash was real....10 years later, with the creation of the Breeders Cup series, did television come back to racing. Belmont Park recently had to cap attendance at 90,000, the crowds were simply too large for the facility. American Pharoah and Justify, the last 2 Triple Crown winners (who EVRYBODY KNOWS)..are both shipped to Ireland and Austrailia for 4 months at a time, to breed...its worldwide now....
But after watching the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro go down in the following Preakness, that was it, I haven't been able to to watch any horse race after that......
I'm not naive enough to want to see an end to horse racing but Jesus, these recent deaths of thoroughbreds is just heart breaking......
And they're not alive today BECAUSE of racing......
Are you saying you can insult me because you are insulted by this statement?
“Ruffian is not the reason horse-racing declined.“
Sorry, but how did that warrant “drugs” and “weird” and “rambling on”? I did not mean anything derogatory by such a statement, it just is my view.
I was too young but in all my interaction with fans over 2decades of racing fora, no one ever mentioned those interesting bits. I never heard Bill Nack quit. There was a lot of weeping over Ruffian, for sure.
TC crowds do not count. What is every-day attendance outside Saratoga? Maybe Del Mar and Keeneland? Nada. Which sadly I love because except those huge TC or BC days, you can go anywhere you want and see national stars right at track-side. I usd to love the Pimlico Special for that, before the jerks conflated it into Preakness madness weekend. Also the DeFrancis Dash. Great times. Sit anywhere you want or lean on the rail at finish. But that means few attendees.
Agreed, a lot is the PETA mentality, including I think the way “top” horses are barely run. That cannot be good conditioning to just jog and jog then a few spurts of going all out. Claimed still have to race a lot, but top horses barely do.
No harm, no foul. And certainly no offense taken.
He wasn’t the only one. It isn’t (or at least wasn’t) uncommon in expensive horse circles.
What condition did the animals die from? A hoof-related situation?
trust me bro...humans mistreat dogs and cats WAYYYYY worse than race horses are treated. Theres been HUGE changes to the racing industry for the horses safety. Start with the whips or crops...compared to what they were..before, they were over 2 feet long and were basically a weapon...now they are simply made of foam and only make a popping sound..thats it. Horses feel nothing. One track, Monmouth Park, doesnt allow ANY crop use..almost all tracks have a limited strike rule. This years heavy favorite for the KY DERBY, the most influential of all American races, was a forced scratch by the track itself. Again, these animals are not pets..they are bred for one reason only, to do what they love to do..run as fast as they can.
dont look at the outside crowds, pay attention to the HANDLE...the action is all indoors where feeds from tracks all over the country are bet on....
Well, I am quite ignorant about horse training, but I have heard from reading Western fiction written about their use that running this wiling animal will cause it to founder. Apparently they don’t know how to say “No!”. (?)
theres only been 53 posts on this thread, and ive counted 3 that said they stopped watching racing after what happened to BARBARO in the 2006 Preakness Stakes....and what happened to RUFFIAN was much more gruesome an injury...not too mention she was a Champion filly in a stupid “battle of the sexes” match race...
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