May10
Horseracing Body Begins to Come Around
Posted at 09:19 AM | Permalink
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Comments (17)
Following the dust stirred up by PETA and the national outrage about the very public death of Eight Belles from two snapped ankle bones, our appeals to the horseracing industry to make far-reaching changes in its practices have begun to have a noticeable effect. An article in The Wall Street Journal today quoted Alex Waldrop, the president of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) as saying, "It is clear that the status quo is not an option. We have to stop identifying problems and start implementing solutions."
Which, well, Amen to that. Some changes have already begun to be implemented, including a prominent horse auction company which has “instructed agents and breeders to discourage jockeys from whipping horses during a coming sales show,” citing the negative press generated by animal rights organizations as its reason for implementing the policy. What goes on behind the scenes, from whipping to doping, is another matter. Time will tell if major changes are adopted by the NTRA, and how effective and far-reaching they are, but the grave concerns about the long list of cruel and shady practices of this dirty industry—which PETA has been raising for decades—are finally beginning to be addressed.
It’s certainly too bad that it took another death of a popular horse during a televised racing event to scare the industry into recognizing that people are leaving the track in droves, but we’ll call this “better late than never” and keep our eyes firmly on the industry to ensure that these promises are more than just talk.
TAGGED:
horse kentucky derby eight belles ntra racing
Comments
There is so much greed in horse racing that they don't care about the horses. People need to let the owners know how they feel and ban going to the track and watching it on TV
Posted by: pattypat | May 10, 2008 11:04 AM
The suffering of these horses is a relatively unimportant problem.
Every year, over nine billion (with a B) equally sentient animals spend their entire lives in unbearable misery, which every concerned person should have courage to inform themselves of at PETA's other website, Meat.org.
The level of public concern for these horses is a truly wonderful sign, and I sincerely hope that it can increasingly be extended to all the rest.
Meat.org
Posted by: Mark Devries | May 10, 2008 12:14 PM
Well, as long as you dont ban horse racing I am fine with taht.
Posted by: Why should I tell YOU???? ***Derby supporter that is very angry**** | May 10, 2008 01:40 PM
They need to stop the overbreeding, and the huge surplus of horses that get sent to slaughter or tossed around like trash.
Posted by: kelly | May 10, 2008 02:27 PM
The one good thing I can think of that can come from these horse racing accidents is, we don't have to wait for the animals to die for us to have more glue to make sparkly pictures out of glue and glitter. I'm going to make one of a pony to honor these fine, sticky animals.
Posted by: Grobb Johnson | May 11, 2008 12:31 AM
Please do NOT let up - the NTRA the JC and the rest of the industry is notorious for doing nothing but window-dressing..Welfare and Safety Summit I & II after BArbaro's death for example.. Lots of meetings and so-called studies and NOTHING happened..
Now is the time to escalate the pressure on the industry - if there is any let up, it will be back to business as usual.. I hope PETA has a visible prescence at both the Preakness and the Belmont (that is where the real action will be) and continues to call for Congressional inquiry into this cruel mess that parades as a "sport"..
KEEP IT ON THE FRONT PAGE!!
Posted by: nh | May 11, 2008 08:34 AM
I have been following racing for about 30 years and i never seen so many injuries to horses in the last couple of years.It,s all about speed and money for these owners.The racetrack surfaces have been slicked down so much this is only going to get worse.Since eight belles went down i saw 2 horses break down .Onewas at belmont where horses break down every other day and the other was at hollywood park.This was just this week.You have to stay on these people because they have short memories and nothing will change when the spotlight goes away.And by the way the winning horse,s trainer in the derby has been suspened many many times for illegal drugging horses.Maybe somebody should check big brown for drugs before he breaks down Thank You
Posted by: anthony natriano | May 11, 2008 01:19 PM
It's not surprising that major auction houses are downplaying what goes on in public venues; this is only a stopgap measure to try to appease groups like PETA. As someone involved with the rescue of horses from the Canadian harness racing industry, I can attest that what goes on behind the scenes will continue, regardless of what charades are paraded in public. The battery, abuse, and genetic engineering of thoroughbreds and standardbreds--in fact any horse that produces lucre--will only be ended when PETA organizes its usual excellent undercover work and exposes these excesses to the public.
Posted by: Cynthia D'Errico | May 11, 2008 02:23 PM
I know this is off-topic, but you HAVE TO check out this blog and photos (totally up-to-date) from a noble and extremely brave seal defender:
http://herbie.rediffiland.com/blogs/2008/05/11/Meat-we-eat.html
Posted by: Mike Quinoa | May 12, 2008 10:19 AM
I worry that any measures taken by the industry will be just another trend. It's too bad we can't legislate this stuff into the humane treatment standards!
Posted by: Maya, CVT | May 12, 2008 11:00 AM
The sad thing about this "industry" is that most of those regular gamblers on horses are doing it due to addictive reasons. THIS has to be addressed along with the other issues. We are living in such a "dark age" STILL when it comes to the average person's animal ignorance that we will only make progress when we add the human cost to animal exploitation. I saw this first-hand in my brother. He watched the horses above on the screen at teletrack with a look of total concern as if he was curing all the major diseases of the world! It meant totally nothing to him when he knew that I protested a track about 30 minutes away along with several of my editorial letters on different animal topics, which he would joke about when his employer saw his brother's name in the paper again. We activists are up against a HUGE mountain that needs a multi-faceted approach. As fantastic as PETA is, I can cite NUMEROUS examples where they refuse to team-up with local activists when they embark across the country on various campaigns, I find it very depressing that PETA still behaves this way.
Posted by: Gerry Ardigliano | May 12, 2008 12:31 PM
Let's get real! This industry has NO intentions of making change. It's been around for 134 years. They're putting on a show to shut us up.
Posted by: Janelle from Texas | May 12, 2008 01:44 PM
Hi Janelle,
You are abolutely right. It's like they are throwing a bone to us, to keep us pacified.
Don't fall for this, their kind of greed can be deadly.
History tells us so. They have no plans of changing their wicked ways. Too much money involved. Greed is driving this bus.
Peace for all animals!
Posted by: Judith, Freedom Fighter for Animals | May 12, 2008 03:18 PM
before you make uninformed comments, you should realize that jockies are usually "showing" the whip not whipping them. Look at the tape again, you will see. exploiting any creatures death for gain is apalling.
Posted by: jockeeboy | May 12, 2008 10:54 PM
HBO's real sports with Bryant Gumbel aired a stark, hard to watch piece called "Hidden Horses" tonight on the horror of how thoroughbreds are sold off to be slaughtered. I had to look away much of the time but did listen. Hopefully it will wake some people up. I was disappointed that they were not clear on the The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, introduced in the US Congress as H.R. 503 and S. 311 that would prohibit the domestic slaughter of horses for human consumption abroad, as well as their export for the same purpose.
They fumbled at the end with a sort of, "well, there's a bill somewhere".. but kudos for doing an investigative report.
Posted by: Lin | May 12, 2008 11:18 PM
While I agree that changes need to be made in the thoroughbred industry, I feel that PETA went about this entire business the wrong way. By saying that the jockey over-whipped the filly and trying to get him suspended and trying to get criminal charges brought against the connections of Eight Belles, you only succeeded in making yourselves look bad.
Also, Eight Belles was not a popular filly. Before the Kentucky Derby, most people had never heard of her.
Another thing I wonder ... why did PETA not get involved as much after Pine Island broke down at the 2006 Breeders Cup or George Washington broke down at the 2007 Breeders Cup? Is it because they weren't as young? They were both euthanized on the track, the same as Eight Belles.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 13, 2008 07:44 AM
What a shame that only bad press will move the horseracing industry to show some decency to the horses.
It's like Nl premier Danny Williams and Nunavut premier Paul Okalik in Canada who want to pass a bill to ban the hakapik. You can bet it's because of the images animal activists have made public and not out of concern for the seals who are brutally bludgeoned to death.
Keep up the pressure, Peta!
Judith,FFA, I loved your comment, "Greed is driving this bus"
Posted by: lynda downie | May 14, 2008 01:15 AM