MOUNTAINEER DUMPED HORSE IN LANDFILL

[groupie doll]

Originally Posted by clicknow

Not a whole lot they can say. ooops?

Well, they did release a statement, but it basically says "ooops, we don't know what happened".

[clicknow]

Originally Posted by groupie doll

Well, they did release a statement, but it basically says "ooops, we don't know what happened".

Bridget took a bad step, not a big surprise with an 8 year old mare who is (logically approaching) the latter days of a typical horse's racing career after 73 races in the claiming game.

I have no idea what the requirements of pre-race vet checks or any other regular inspections consist of at Mountaineer.

Looks like this mare was with present owner and trainer since August 2016 and did very well for them:

Ran approx 31 races
Won 9 races
Ran ITM 11 races

Hope they will get to bottom of this and find out why their horse was placed in a landfill. If I were the owner I would be absolutely livid.

[airford1]

Originally Posted by Elkchester Road

If you wager at this shithole...you are part of the problem.

What makes you think it is only happening at this shit hole?

[Robert Fischer]

We all know the highs and lows in Racing...

Nothing lower than the death of a horse.

Horse took a bad step.

Trainer is a class act, who is troubled by the death of a gallant animal, and is trying to find answers.

Sheriff is investigating.



for the rest of us; life goes on

Horse Racing remains in a position, where wise action is needed, to ensure the existence of the sport into the future.

[JustRalph]

Originally Posted by Robert Fischer

We all know the highs and lows in Racing...

Nothing lower than the death of a horse.

Horse took a bad step.

Trainer is a class act, who is troubled by the death of a gallant animal, and is trying to find answers.

Sheriff is investigating.



for the rest of us; life goes on

Horse Racing remains in a position, where wise action is needed, to ensure the existence of the sport into the future.

At some level, yes. But when does it rise above that ?

At what point do you have to look in the mirror and say

"I supported that with a few bucks here and there"

I stopped playing MTR years ago when an ex girlfriend called and asked if I was interested in buying a share of a horse that was running at MTR that night. I asked who the trainer was etc.

It was her husband and she told me "he's the winner tonight, by about 5 lengths if everything goes right. The guys are all set to let him win" He won by 4L if I remember

Two weeks later I got a message about another horse that was going "to win tonight" and sure enough he did.

I sent a message back that I wasn't interested

But at some point you have to decide if you are part of the problem.............don't you?

[clicknow]

Originally Posted by Robert Fischer

Nothing lower than the death of a horse.

Horse took a bad step.

Trainer is a class act, who is troubled by the death of a gallant animal, and is trying to find answers.

The taking a bad step, AFAIK, is not in contention. As I said in earlier post, that isn't highly unusual for an 8 year old mare who has run 73 races in mostly the claiming game. She was humanely euthanized.



The point of the article is that the horse somehow ended up in a public landfill.

Like I said, if I were owner (or trainer), I would be livid.

The parts that leave me wondering:

1) trainer was unaware of Mountaineer's policy / procedures as to what happens to a horse after euthanized. Seems like everyone would know this, or should, unless Mountaineer facility leaves that information "up in the air" so to speak? I do know that if I were an owner of a horse, I would want to know how my horse would be disposed of......because usually a veterinary fee for euthanization also comes with an additional fee for cremation, etc. or something. Disposal fees for any deceased animal is usually sometimes included in the vet bill and sometimes not, if it were the job of the track itself to take care of that part? . I guess I would have to see the vet bill or know what the policy of Mountaineer is......surely there is a contractural agreement somewhere about HOW Mountaineer disposes of deceased race horses?
And why would any trainer not know this anyway? Not casting aspersions on trainer, just wondering how you can be somewhere for years and years and not know this. Maybe the contractural agreement is that Mountaineer takes care of this duty, and everyone just assumes it is done properly.

2) TDN could not locate a working phone number for the owner, who has been the owner of the horse, running at Mountaineer, since August of 2016. I am wondering who TDN asked for this number? Surely Mountaineer would keep updated records and be able to provide media and/or sheriff with a simple working phone number?
I don't get it.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by Elkchester Road

If you wager at this shithole...you are part of the problem.

I have to agree with you.
Mountaineer officials are a disgusting bunch of a holes for their handling of this.

Will never play/watch another race at that dump.

[The_Turf_Monster]

Originally Posted by Robert Fischer

We all know the highs and lows in Racing...

Nothing lower than the death of a horse.

Horse took a bad step.

Trainer is a class act, who is troubled by the death of a gallant animal, and is trying to find answers.

Sheriff is investigating.



for the rest of us; life goes on

Horse Racing remains in a position, where wise action is needed, to ensure the existence of the sport into the future.

Have we heard from the owner? If I own a horse that gets put down it is getting, at minimum, the respect of getting its head and hooves buried as is customary for a horse

[bob60566]

During the 2019 Legislative Session, the West Virginia Racing Commission was successful in getting legislation passed to give it funds to conduct necropsies on horses that die or that are euthanized on our racetracks. Going forward, as we are able to implement a plan to utilize those funds, deceased horses will be transported to qualified necropsy facilities for a necropsy. Thereafter, the facility will be responsible for the humane and respectful disposition of the remains."

[jimmyb]

Not looking good for Mountaineer. Bad situation being made worse by their silence.

[DGroundhog]

Originally Posted by The_Turf_Monster

Have we heard from the owner? If I own a horse that gets put down it is getting, at minimum, the respect of getting its head and hooves buried as is customary for a horse

I hardly think 'Headless, hoofless racehorse found in WV landfill' is a better headline for the industry.

Maybe we should keep that custom on the dl.

[clicknow]

Originally Posted by Robert Fischer

We have to move at least as fast as PETA, et al., and we have to move through a culture and media platform that is also moving.

But of course, staying one step ahead of PETA and public sentiment cannot be the goal.

The goal is to achieve respect for the sport, the horses, the workers, as well as the fans of the sport.

That requires right actions, (wise action as you noted), not concentrating on avoiding negative fallout from wrong actions.

We should be doing things better because, we know that most people who choose careers w/these lovely animals do care and work dilligently to care for them, 24/7. We should be doing things better because the stars of racing should not end up in kill pens a few days after their last race, with racing plates still attached; nor in landfills; nor wandering on the side of the road, etc.


Therefore, behavior and actions which fall outside of generally accepted norms and rules should carry appropriate punishment, which needs to be standardized and administered. For some, that should include banishment from any racetrack anywhere in the U.S.A.......... for life.


Without a centralized body, I don't see that happening.

[HorsemenHeist]

Originally Posted by Elkchester Road

If you wager at this shithole...you are part of the problem.

So it's also horseplayers fault that a horse ended up in a landfill???

[GMB@BP]

If horses do not end up in a landfill, or other similar facility, where do they end up?

[Tom]

FAKE NEWS!
PETA set this whole thing up.
It was a set up for PETA to attack racing.
The bottom feeding scumbags orchestrated the dump.


https://www.drf.com/news/horse-dispo...re-controversy

Thanks to Steve Byk for posting this at his site.
And my apologies to Mountaineer.