I am just now learning more about the abuses that occur in the horse racing industry. Patrick Battuello, and many others have made it their mission to shut down the industry, and to redirect people to other forms of gambling that do not harm animals. The information below was pulled from his excellent site, “HorseRacingWrongs.org”, which stands against all forms of animal exploitation. Click here for a link to Horse Racing Wrongs, to learn more about his organization’s important work.
Here is an excerpt from Patrick’s site:
The Big Lie
If horseracing is a sport, then that word must be redefined, for the competitive racing of horses resembles no other accepted sport on the planet:
In what other sport are…
The bodies of adolescent athletes pounded into the ground without remorse?
The athletes kept in intensive, solitary confinement for over 23 hours a day?
The athletes condemned to a life as (literal) chattel?
The athletes drugged and doped without consent?
The athletes whipped – beaten – for motivation?
The athletes routinely dying on the playing field?
The athletes brutally and violently slaughtered upon retirement?
Horseracing a sport? If not for the gravity involved, it would be absurd. No, horseracing is but exploitation of a weaker species for among the most shameful of reasons – $2 bets. To those who sustain this sordid business, we say: Slake those gambling urges with decidedly inanimate slots and scratch-offs; leave the horses out of it. To those who trade in equines in the pursuit of cash and fleeting glory, we say: Find a commodity that doesn’t bleed; take up a hobby that can’t cry out in pain.
Enough.
The horse racing industry claims to love their horses like their own children, but animal rights advocates say that children aren’t put down as soon as they break a leg.
There is some good news however, as 38 race tracks have been closed since 2000, and attendance has dropped by 50% over the last 3 decades. On the other hand, horse racing abolitionists are still fighting an uphill battle. As per Patrick Battuello, “The fact is, horseracing is failing, and has been for some time. Just since 2000, U.S. Racing has suffered a net loss of 38 tracks; all other metrics – racedays, races, field sizes, “foal crops,” and, yes, attendance and handle – are also down, some 50% of what they were just 30 years ago. But even more telling is this: The bulk of the industry is being heavily subsidized, with many tracks wholly propped up by slots and other gaming revenue. In New York, this corporate welfare amounts to some $230 million annually – almost $3 billion since it began in 2004…Clearly, casinos, the lottery, and all-sports betting are winning the market, but legislators, swayed by industry talk of job loss (note: their numbers are wildly inflated), keep sending lifeboats. This has produced a triple wrong: One, it’s an affront to our free-market principles. The overwhelming majority of NY businesses are expected to subsist on the relative merits of their goods and services alone. (Ask any of them how many jobs they could create with $230 million in state largess each year.) Two, it cheats schoolchildren out of desperately-needed education dollars. (Again, how many inner-city teachers could be hired with $230 million?) And three, it allows for the continued abuse and killing of beautiful, intelligent, and sensitive animals.”
We are once again in the middle of another nauseating triple crown horse racing season, and a famous horse “trainer” named Bob Baffert has made the news for jacking his horses up on steroids (his 5th violation in the last two years). Horse racing is not a sport, and I can only think of one word for the athletes, celebrities, and dolts who attend these annual turd-fests in their wide brimmed hats and over the top fashion ensembles. Sad. The pushback from the establishment is that the unique attire is fun for the attendees, and is supposed to bear luck. Really? Fun and Luck for who? It doesn’t matter how anyone dresses it up and pretends otherwise, animal exploitation sucks, and horse racing is horse killing.
Until next time…
References:
Click here to learn more about the horrors of horse racing.
Click here for the Catskill Animal Sanctuary website.
Click here to learn more on why horse racing must end with Patrick Battuello, Nicole Arciello, and Kathy Stevens (Herd Around The Barn podcast).
Click here to learn more about the Kentucky Demolition Derby from PETA.
Click here to learn more from a former exercise trainer in the horse racing industry.
