What laws are in place to protect horses from insurance policy abuse?

[ZippyChippy423]

Was watching a past episode of the Sopranos earlier with the “ Pie o My” horse in it. The horse was intentionally killed to collect an insurance policy. I know I know it was a television show but things have gone on like this in the past in real life. What things are in place to prevent this type of insurance abuse ? Are owners allowed to buy any amount of insurance on a horse?

[Ocala Mike]

All insurance companies have Loss Control Specialists/Investigators on the job. They work hand in hand with law enforcement when indicated or necessary. Anything suspicious should be picked up unless they're not doing their job or complicit.

[HalvOnHorseracing]

Was watching a past episode of the Sopranos earlier with the “ Pie o My” horse in it. The horse was intentionally killed to collect an insurance policy. I know I know it was a television show but things have gone on like this in the past in real life. What things are in place to prevent this type of insurance abuse ? Are owners allowed to buy any amount of insurance on a horse?

Did you notice they were racing at Aqueduct and not Monmouth? You could see the inner dirt.

As part of an insurance scam, there was a rash of show-jumper electrocutions in the late 70's with somewhere between 50 and 100 horses killed. As far as I know, stable security is all people rely on most of the time.

Clearly insurance companies would only insure highly prized horses. With thoroughbreds, given the millions in stud fees that the top stallions generate, there isn't much of an incentive to kill them. I can only imagine the millions of dollars horses like Giant's Causeway made after their racing careers were over. Insurance companies are also careful about which horses they'll cover.

It happens. Just don't hear much about it.

[Hambletonian]

There was that widely publicized string of horse killing for profit back in the day, seems the insurance companies were not paying close enough attention to the value of the horses. So a mobster, with a giant pile of human excrement posing as a trainer as an accomplice, would buy a horse for x, insure it for way more than x, then kill it. They actually used cheap horses...i guess they felt they could fly under the radar.

I will never understand why the giant pile of crap was allowed back into the game, i don't give a rats butt what he pled to, everyone knows what he did. I guess once a gyp track always a gyp track, even after slots and inflated purses.

[Rutgers]

The same laws that prevent all forms of insurance frauds.

Just as there are many breeds and uses of horses, there are many different types of equine insurance, but for the most part for racehorse mortality insurance the company and the insured owner agree on a insured value.

If a horse was acquired through a public auction, this is usually relatively easy as the sale price usually determines the insured value. If a horse is acquired through a private sale, typically a 3rd party evaluation of the horse’s value/health is used to determine the insured value, and not the sale price. (so you can’t partner with someone to sell you a cheap horse for an inflated amount with the purpose of collecting an inflated value in the event of a loss.)

In addition, most policies are written to adjust the insured value based on the most recent value. An example would be if a horse was insured for $25,000 and ran in a $10K claiming race and died a week later, the company would pay $10,000. Based on the notion that $10K horses run in $10K Claiming races. However, the insured would never collect more that the stated insured value. So if a horse insured for $25,000 won a $50K claiming race and then died, the policy would only pay $25,000. (and keep in mind, I’m speaking in generalities, some carriers may offer some insureds set agreed value policies and/or more custom terms)

In addition, in order to collect on a racehorse mortality policy, an autopsy must be completed. Also a decision to put the horse down needs to be made by a vet, not the insured owner. In addition, the injury needs to be life threatening and a reasonable effort needed to be made to save the horse. So you can’t put a horse down for a soft tissue injury that my end the horse’s racing career but not threaten his life.

And just like everything else that is insured, horses (and the people associated with them) go thru an underwriting process.

Morality insurance for stallions and broodmares also require the insurer and insured owner to agree to a value and have, for the most part, have the same claim requirements.

So the short answer is no, horses are not insured for whatever amount the owner wants, and while fraud can still happen, for the most part the terms of the policy and underwriting/claim processes limit it. (Just as they do in other types of insurance)

[ultracapper]

Barbaro will always be the conspirators poster boy.

[Someday Silent]

Looking up Calumet Farm, J.T. Lundy, and Alydar will take you down a fun rabbit hole of insurance fraud and horse killing.

[bobphilo]

Looking up Calumet Farm, J.T. Lundy, and Alydar will take you down a fun rabbit hole of insurance fraud and horse killing.

The Alaydar case is one of the darkest episodes in racing history. Sleazeball Lundy got the naive heiress to the great Calumet Farm to marry him and ran it to the ground with his lavish spending on things like private planes. His spending caught up with him and he needed some quick cash. Alydar was his biggest asset so he insured him heavily and hired a "horse killer" to break his leg so he had to be euthanized. He claimed he broke his leg by kicking his stall but a shrewd insurance investigator and local detective smelled a rat and stayed on the case, eventually bringing it to court for fraud. Unfortunately there was not enough evidence to convict but the judge himself thought that Lundy was probably guilty but just did not have enough evidence. A sad story.

Here's an article on the story:

https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-killing-of-alydar/

[Someday Silent]

The Alaydar case is one of the darkest episodes in racing history. Sleazeball Lundy got the naive heiress to the great Calumet Farm to marry him and ran it to the ground with his lavish spending on things like private planes. His spending caught up with him and he needed some quick cash. Alydar was his biggest asset so he insured him heavily and hired a "horse killer" to break his leg so he had to be euthanized. He claimed he broke his leg by kicking his stall but a shrewd insurance investigator and local detective smelled a rat and stayed on the case, eventually bringing it to court for fraud. Unfortunately there was not enough evidence to convict but the judge himself thought that Lundy was probably guilty but just did not have enough evidence. A sad story.

Here's an article on the story:

https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-killing-of-alydar/

Oh yes, I read that article a few years back, along with the book titled "Wild Ride". Lundy was just a terrible human being all around.

[ultracapper]

I knew nothing of this. Sleazy.