Horse racing

Get CNN on this asap. You people screwed up Sea World, and then dog tracks closed down.
Some horses are better than others. I like traditions and I hope humans don’t kill America too swiftly.

 

I pretty much agree. It’s a big business and those horses are bred specifically for the purpose of racing ….. so folks can wager on the results of those races.

 

A lot of these horses, especially thoroughbreds, are better taken care of than humans. I have a client who races horses and the horses at his farm sleep on cushioned floors and only train on specialized track surfaces to ensure safety as best they can.

 

Slavery in track and field. We are 5 posts in this thread and the next comment will be something exposing the racial makeup of people who watch horse racing I’d wager. Clockwork.

 

Humans are like children. We need to be distracted or we’ll start killing each other.
Seems like it’s already happening.

 

No confusion here. Horses are regal animals and thoroughbreds are bred to run. There are a lot of things in this world to get more upset about than this.

 

“People are saying” it’s the way the’ve been bred. The horses are no longer as they would be in nature, they are GMO’s bred for racing and now they’ve reached a point where that selective breeding for speed is leading to more injuries to the horses. (And any broken leg/ankle injury is almost by default fatal).

I agree if it’s going to keep leading to deaths it may not be sustainable as an enterprise (kind of like greyhound racing collapsed). There’s a lot of $$$ involved though, so the impetus will be to paper that over. What’s also struck me about the sport is basically every “trainer”/owner I’ve seen interviewed seems like a total P.O.S. Which, I guess, shouldn’t be surprising.

 

I watched a bit of the leadup to the Derby and the race itself. Always enjoy it.
But they were talking about the deaths and when they said seven had died there that week, I thought I must have misheard it.

I've only been to one thoroughbred track and, man, as gorgeous as those horses are on TV, they're even more so in person.

I don't have a clue what should be considered acceptable, but seven in a week at one location seems pretty high.

 

We did away with dog racing in Florida for essentially the same issues that plague horse racing

 

I think I have watched my last horse race. The training seems cruel to me. I used to enjoy watching the triple crown races but think it’s cruelty makes it unappealing.

As a side note my grandfather was a butcher. He used to display horse meat in his windows. He did this because the meat would stay pinker and appealing longer. He would cut his meat fresh for his customers. Occasionally, some stranger, not a regular, would demand the meat in the window. He would then sell horse meat at an exorbitant price to a passerby.

 

And the rank and file horses are NOT treated like royalty as suggested above. They are mostly pure disposable commodities, just like the greyhounds.

I went to 16 consecutive Derbies, it was one of my favorite days as a younger person. Eight Belles in 2008 was the beginning of the end for me.

One of the deaths this week was a horse breaking its neck after losing it in the paddock and literally flipping out. Doubtful it was jumping for joy.

 

I am going to chime in here. I married into a 3rd generation horse racing stable owning/training family. They had horses run in all 3 triple crown races through the years, including a 4th place finish in the Kentucky Derby.

I hate horses. I HATE horse racing. No, the average race horse is not "treated like royalty". Nor are they usually neglected or abused. The average stable owner, unfortunately cannot afford to be generous and when a horse is injured, they are euthanized due to finances.

When my father-in-law died two years ago, ownership of the stable fell to my wife and her brother. Her brother then died unexpectedly as well, and we became sole owner of the entire racing stable. We could not hire professionals and sell off the farm near Ocala fast enough and then the stable and operations in S Florida.

I am happy to have that business behind us, and so is my wife.

All that said, most of the average, small time racing stable owners are neither princes nor devils. Horses are generally used until they can no longer compete consistently and then are put out to pasture. Some are even sold off for special purpose use, but most are too high strung to be around people safely. However, they are usually not killed just for being old...that is the part of racing that really gets to be expensive. Sure, some are bred and owners recover some value, but not as much as people would think.

Personally, it would not break my heart in the least if the United States banned horse racing. Casino gambling has been killing it for a long time anyway. It will eventually die out on its own, so no harm in trying to hasten it in my opinion.