When is it going to stop?
 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/27/us/sa...ber/index.html

So they banned Jerry Hollendofer because of unsafe practices that result in breakdowns yet they keep happening?

I don't blame people for boycotting horse racing. This is getting to be ridiculous.

The sad part is if I ever went to Santa Anita. I am not placing my bet on who will win but rather who is going to be put down. 2 over the weekend and 36 since December 26, 2018. That is a breakdown every 8.5 days. God help the Stonarch Group, Santa Anita, and the Breeders' Cup if any horse breaks down. If this thread gets locked by the admins I really don't care but I am saying what everyone else is thinking. The truth hurts as much as watching horses breakdown. RANT OVER!

So it's safe to say you're not a RacingFan any longer?

Oh, and by the way, it's NEVER GOING TO STOP.

Horses will always BREAK DOWN in racing. They've ALWAYS broken down in racing. No matter what ANYONE DOES, no matter what MEASURES ARE PUT INTO PLACE, HORSES WILL CONTINUE TO DIE ON THE TRACK, during a race, AND DURING TRAINING HOURS.

It's been that way since the beginning of time, and will continue to be that way until the good Lord stops horses from running altogether, be it on the track, or in the wild.

Correct. It will never stop. Thoroughbred horses have died on the Track since the breed exists. Horses breakdown in the wild. as long as there are horses, horses will be injured and sometimes die.



you minimize the injuries and the deaths but there is no way to prevent every death from occuring.


If you dont like horses getting injured and sometimes dying. than horse racing might not be the sport for you.


try football.


Allan

Not to worry, fans are doing just that. You won’t be so dismissive of people’s rightful concern when there is no racing.

We're not dismissive of concerns.

But we're also realists and not some pie-in-the-sky "everyone lives and nobody ever dies" fantasy fan-boys.

"When is it going to stop?" is, plain and simply, an ignorant, stupid question.

Breakdowns can happen in CLUSTERS for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON AT ALL...simply statistical quirks...you can have 50 breakdowns in one week and the averages will still be the same at the end of the year. That's an extreme and absurd example, but I'm trying to make a point for all the social justice warriors out there who have taken this up as their new cause du jour.

If you want to eliminate breakdowns and deaths in racing, then you'll have to eliminate racing.

What has horse racing done to earn customers trust? That is something I keep thinking about when it comes to this "horse welfare" crisis. These customers are needed to have racing's back and defend the sport when it is under attack.

However, why should they? Exorbitant takeout, races going off at major tracks on top of each other, and post drag are a F U to the customer that tracks seem to have no intent on solving. Read the Xpressbet on-track rewards at Golden gate fields, and you get a $50 voucher for betting $50,000. What an insult.

At some point, racing just isn't worth defending. I love love love watching the horses run and handicapping a race is the greatest puzzle there is, but the actors in this sport have jaded me so much that I tire of defending such incompetence.

I think everybody will rest easier after racing leaves Santa Anita again for a couple months. Hoping for a clean breeder's cup weekend for sure.

That said, I agree as there will always be some catastrophic injuries in racing and as a fan, owner, trainer, employee, or whatever in the industry you can either throw in the towel or stand and fight and try to make the industry better with real reform. The definition of real reform is the issue.

The sport has a cult like following at best and the biggest issue is it may be aging its way out of even that. Sad but true and I hate to see it but sooner or later it will just be too much to overcome if the industry continues to bury its head in the sand without a clear path to reform and real leadership on how to defend itself other than " I am horseracing"

Unfortunately, too many people will turn a blind eye and too many people with a lot invested in the game still don't make their living off of racing. It's fun and games for many

That deaths will always occur is not an appropriate answer. There has been a spike at all the most high-profile tracks, where one assumes they get the best care. Racing has a serious problem right now and we better have better answers than being dismissive or telling them to find another sport to watch.

The guys in CA are trying to combat this by talking about jobs. Jobs. Really? Think anyone who hates horses dying for this sport gives a damn about the jobs the industry provides? It’s a false argument. Everyone in racing can find another job outside of racing.

It's also not an appropriate answer to say that clusters can happen with no cause. There is always a cause (or causes) even when one does not seem apparent. the humans involved in the sport just need to be more diligent and thorough in the tracking of the breakdowns and filtering and categorizing of the data. There most certainly is useful information present any time a horse breaks down, but with everyone seemingly turning a blind eye it's not being teased out and used to make improvements.

It is a stupid question is not so stupid.It is like saying the shootings in Chicago
are just going to happen no matter what.

Geno

It's more like asking when children will stop dying in auto accidents.

I live near the track, and I can tell you most of the general public knows nothing about horses. They think you can fix a broken bone by putting a cast on a horse. They think that taking care of a horse is like taking care of a dog or cat. The media has been covering every breakdown ever since they came across this story in early spring. I wonder whats in it for them? Are they trying to help a developer to get Santa Anita to close and sell the land for cheap? The reason its so hard to get a handle on the breakdowns is that it isn't one single factor causing it...it isn't the track's fault, which most of the general public who know nothing about horses seems to be directing their ire at. You can limit medication and the horses would still break down because the horses have been bred for speed and their skeletal structure is pretty much at its limit and any bad mis-step can cause it to have a broken leg.

Yes, it is.

A few years ago we weren't even talking about bisphosphonates.

So you are correct, there is plenty of emergent data (i.e. science) and more coming every year about how we might address and try to minimize preventable deaths.

(because nobody is saying there will be zero deaths but many are preventable).

There are people doing the work, not throwing up their hands whining about the media and how everything is impossible.

There's been task forces working on this type of thing for traffic fatalities (vehicular) as well as for pedestrians, cyclists, etc. ..... and we can do similar things for race tracks, etc.

First: You must have a clear goal.
Second: Participants have to be dilligent
Third: Participants have to, in good faith, do the work to achieve the goal.


Show me, right now, for each track and racing commission, a task force, backed by a statute, who have a thoughtful overall strategic plan written out and in place ---- with goals, objectives, interventions, meticulous data collection, and a solid action plan.

(and which would also include sub-chapters about accountability, consequences, punishments, etc. for incompetence and/or non-compliance or ignoring the goals/plan).

I think it's become obvious to many that we can no longer trust the fractured racing commissions or track owners to properly police themselves or properly conduct this sport.