FYI

ANIMAL RACING INDUSTRY NEWS
From www.dailynewstribune.com Daily News Tribune - Waltham,MA,USA
Flynn lobbies for dog-track simulcast rights
By Susan Parkou Weinstein
GateHouse News Service
Posted Jul 15, 2008 @ 12:37 PM
Raynham -
A legislative friend of the dog tracks is trying to fast track a bill that would give unlimited simulcasting rights to Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park and Wonderland Park in Revere.
State Rep. David Flynn, D-Bridgewater, said the ability to air and take bets on horse and dog races from anywhere and at any time is critical to the survival of the businesses, especially if voters approve a ballot to end greyhound racing in November.
"This is step number one to keeping them alive," Flynn said. "The dog tracks can't exist without almost complete simulcasting because people bet more on horses."
Flynn, the House dean, wants lawmakers to act on his proposal by the end of the current legislative session on July 31 and renew the simulcasting agreement for two years.
It may be an unhill battle.
Flynn must first convince House Speaker Salvatore DiMiasi to support his bill.
DiMasi has opposed expanded gaming in the past and did not endorse Flynn's most recent bill to license 2,000 slot machines at Raynham-Taunton, Wonderland, Suffolk Downs in Boston and Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville.
"I expect the speaker to be behind me in this. I'd be very disappointed if he wasn't," he said.
He also acknowldges the difficulty in getting the track owners together as they compete for limited but lucrative simulcasting dollars.
Suffolk makes more money from simulasting that live race wagering and would just as soon see nearby Wonderland go out of business, he said.
If the dog racing ban passes, the state racing commission would also have to amend its requirements to hold 100 days of live racing a year in order to simulcast.
The push for increased off-track betting comes after Secretary of State William Galvin certified enough of the 45,000 signatures collected to qualify the Greyhound Protection Act for the ballot.
If successful, the referendum would phase out greyhound racing by Jan. 1, 2010.
Raynham track owner George Carney has challenged the ballot on constitutional grounds saying a ballot cannot close down a licensed business.
A decision from the Supreme Judicial Court is expected by July 16.
Wonderland owner Charles Sarkis has no plans to contest the ban.
Flynn saysCarney will not spend millions of dollars this year to fight the ban if he loses the suit.
Meanwhile, the ballot's sponsor, the Committee to Protect Dogs, is committed to its cause even as it expects a fight from Carney.
"Any time you have a grassroots movement fighting a monied interest, you're the underdog," Carey Theil, executive director of Grey2KUSA, said.
The question will appear third in the ballot line up after a question to repeal the state's income tax and a question to decriminalize the possession of small quantities of marijuana.
The ballot is ranked in "perceived relative importance," Galvin's office said.
Theil disagrees.
"We got more signatures than the two other questions combined," Theil said. "There truly is a tidal wave of grassroots support."
Raynham Call reporter Susan Parkou Weinstein can be reached at sweinste@cnc.com.
From www.boston.com Boston Globe - United States
Dog racing opponents win high court legal battle
July 15, 2008 11:55 AM
By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff
Opponents of dog racing in Massachusetts are hailing a decision by the state's highest court today that clears the way for a dog racing ban proposal to appear on the November ballot.
George Carney, who has owned the Raynham-Taunton dog track for the past 40 years, sued in March, challenging Attorney General Martha Coakley's certification of the ballot question proposed by the Committee to Protect Dogs.
Carney argued, among other things, that the law would amount to an uncompensated "taking" of his property.
But the Supreme Judicial Court today rejected that argument, noting that gambling on dog races is a heavily regulated industry that only exists because the Legislature has carved out narrow exceptions in the law.
The court, citing an earlier decision, also said that racing "can be abolished at any time that the Legislature may deem proper for the safeguarding and protection of the public welfare."
Christine Dorchak, co-chairwoman of the Committee to Protect Dogs, said, "I couldn't be happier."
"We're pleased that the greyhounds will appear before voters in November. Once Massachusetts citizens learn about the suffering and cruelty that these greyhounds are enduring, they will support the greyhound protection act. They will vote yes on (Question) 3," said Dorchak.
Lee H. Kozol, who represented Carney, said he was disappointed by the ruling but felt the case had gotten a fair hearing. "It certainly appears that this will be on the ballot," he said.
http://sports.yahoo.com/rah/news;_ylt=AoSehiBbOKIkaP8eOZfdTiR__rkF?slug=ap-jockey-rosesuspended&prov=ap&type=lgns
June 25, 2008
Jockey Jeremy Rose suspended for 6 months
STANTON, Del. (AP)—Jockey Jeremy Rose apologized Wednesday for striking his mount in the head with a whip, a day after he was given a six-month suspension at Delaware Park.
Rose, who won the 2005 Preakness and Belmont Stakes aboard Afleet Alex, was suspended for striking Appeal to the City during Monday’s third race. He struck the mare on the side of her head and the horse had some hemorrhaging around one eye. She was sent to the New Bolton Center, which treated Barbaro, for an examination and was set to return Wednesday to trainer Howard Wolfendale’s barn.
“I want everyone to know that this was an accident and not an intentional act on my part,” Rose said in a statement. “I did not mean to hit her in the face. As a jockey, I have the responsibility to give my best effort and use my skills to allow the horse I am riding to perform at his/her best. I also have the responsibility to protect the health and welfare of my horse.”
Wolfendale said the horse’s vision was not seriously impaired and he believed this was an accident.
Rose said he intended to hit Appeal to the City on the shoulder and accidentally struck her in the face. Rose said once he crossed the finish line, he immediately told Wolfendale’s wife about the incident and apologized, and called the stewards.
Rose will not ride until an appeal on the Delaware Park stewards’ decision is heard July 22.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080625/ap_on_sp_ot/rac_dutrow_suspension
Trainer Dutrow faces ban for horse's positive test
By WILL GRAVES, AP Sports Writer
Wed Jun 25, 5:18 PM ET
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Rick Dutrow is in trouble again. The outspoken trainer of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown is facing a 15-day suspension by Kentucky racing officials after another horse he trains exceeded the allowable limit for a drug that enables horses to breathe easier while exercising.
Two separate drug tests on 8-year-old gelding Salute the Count revealed the horse had twice the allowable limit of Clenbuterol in his system after finishing second in the Aegon Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs on May 2, said John Veitch, chief state steward of the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority.
Clenbuterol, considered a Class B drug by the KHRA, is often used by humans who suffer from asthma. The drug, which Veitch said contains some steroidal properties but is not considered a steroid, is sometimes used by trainers because of it's ability to increase a horse's lung capacity.
"It's a respiratory enhancer," Veitch said. "It's become quite popular in racing medication because it's used to train on."
The drug is not permitted in racing, but is regulated by the states through the use of a threshold concentration said Scot Waterman, executive director of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium. Trainers are recommended to avoid giving a dosage to a horse 72-96 hours before heading to the starting gate, though the threshold level varies from state to state.
Dutrow waived his right to a hearing but plans to file a written appeal, which he must do within the next 10 days. There is no timetable on when Dutrow could meet with KHRA executive director Lisa Underwood, Veitch said.
"He will get a stay on his suspension until the appeal is heard," Veitch said.
Dutrow said he sometimes uses the drug in other horses and was previously reprimanded by the New York State Racing and Wagering Board for a similar infraction several years ago.
"I really haven't had any problems with it," Dutrow said in a phone interview.
The first positive test was conducted by a lab at Iowa State University. Dutrow requested a second test, which was conducted by a lab at Louisiana State University. That test also came back positive.
Dutrow raced four horses during Churchill Downs' spring meet, the last on May 17. He does not currently have any horses at the track.
As part of the penalty, Salute the Count owners Michael Dubb and Robert Joscelyn must return $24,521 in purse money. On June 15, the horse finished second to First Defence in the Jaipur Stakes at Belmont Park. Drug test results from that race are not yet available said Dan Toomey with the New York State Racing & Wagering Board.
The penalty is the first for Dutrow in Kentucky, though hardly the first time he's run into trouble. He spoke openly about his checkered past during Big Brown's run at the Triple Crown. He's been cited dozens of times over the years for everything from repeated medication violations to his own drug use.
The news of the possible suspension comes just days after IEAH Stables, co-owners of Big Brown, stepped forward and said it would take all of its horses off steroids entirely and shy away from trainers who continue to use the drugs to maintain their horses.
"If they don't want to play by the rules, then they don't get to train with us," Michael Iavarone, co-president of IEAH, told The Associated Press in an interview Monday.
Iavarone did not return a phone call or an e-mail on Wednesday seeking comment.
IEAH's decision is part of a groundswell of support to rid the sport of steroids. The New York State Legislature passed a measure Tuesday that will give the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association an additional 1 percent of purse money next year. The NYTHA plans to use a portion of the money to purchase state of the art drug testing equipment.
Dutrow is currently competing at Aqueduct while keeping an eye on Big Brown, who has been resting since a shocking last-place finish in the Belmont Stakes on June 7.
Several pictures have surfaced in recent days indicating Big Brown ran almost the entire 1 1/2-mile race with the shoe on his right rear foot dislodged after he collided with Guadacanal shortly after leaving the starting gate.
Iavarone said he believes the shoe problem may have contributed to Big Brown's poor showing in the Belmont, though Dutrow isn't so sure. Big Brown also ran with an acrylic patch on his left front hoof to protect a quarter crack, an injury that kept him off the track for several days leading up to the race.
"I don't know, it's kind of a puzzle to me," Dutrow said. "I just don't get the whole thing. It looks like when you look at the pictures, it could have bothered him, but I should have seen it and the rider (Kent Desormeaux) didn't feel it."
Desormeaux managed to put Big Brown in perfect stalking position on the backstretch, only to ease him as they made the turn because the jockey felt the big bay colt wasn't right. An extensive post-race examination turned up nothing out of the ordinary.
"The pictures don't lie, but neither does the horse," he said.
Big Brown's next scheduled race is the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on Aug. 3
http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/440604.html
Posted on Sun, Jun. 22, 2008
Racing must have national regulation
Federal or private, organization needed to keep industry clean
The big business of sports is an incubator for corruption.
You don't need to do a Google search to know that players have taken drugs and thrown games or fights, that schools have committed recruiting and academic violations and that illegal gambling on sports is rampant.
The list goes on and on, across time and continents.
When horses -- athletes that have no say in their fate -- are thrown into the dreadful alchemy between sport and money, the ethical stakes rise.
That's why the drumbeat for effective regulation of Thoroughbred racing won't end. Thursday's congressional hearing finally and permanently destroyed arguments that state regulation, incremental change and voluntary cooperation can fix what ails racing.
The only question now is whether the federal government or a private organization will do the regulating.
If the industry wants to avoid federal regulation, it must move at warp speed to create a national organization with real power to set standards and enforce them.
Anyone familiar with the industry's fractious history knows that's a daunting task. As breeder Arthur Hancock told the committee, "We are a rudderless ship."
An aimless craft doesn't seem like much of a match for "chemical warfare." That's the term Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg used to describe the escalating use of drugs to make horses run faster.
Certainly the committee members weren't convinced that racing could pull itself together to stop medication abuse and other problems. This was painfully apparent in an exchange between Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Hopkinsville, and Jockey Club president Alan Marzelli.
Whitfield asked if the organization had the power to implement safety rules it had proposed earlier in the week.
"We have the power of persuasion and consensus-building," Marzelli said.
"The record would show you do not even have that power," Whitfield replied.
Congressional hearings are shows, and this one was clearly stacked with witnesses chosen to make a point.
Hancock and Curlin owner Jess Jackson have long been outspoken critics of racing's status quo.
But this hearing hit such a national public nerve that it was covered not only by industry media and papers, like this one, with strong ties to the industry but also by The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.
Alex Waldrop, CEO of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, tried to argue that racing is finally getting its act together. "Recently this industry has made great strides toward uniformity at the national level," he testified.
"The last thing this industry needs is another layer of bureaucracy," he told the committee.
Not quite.
The last thing this stubborn, change-resistant, fractured industry needs is to face the public after the next horse-racing tragedy with no one finally responsible for protecting equine athletes and punishing those who abuse them.
From www.9news.com 9NEWS.com - Denver,CO,USA
Greyhound racing season on last leg
written by: Kyle Clark
COMMERCE CITY - Colorado's last dog track will end live greyhound racing for the season at the end of June, a move expected to leave several hundred dogs in need of new homes.
Mile High Racing and Entertainment, located in Commerce City, will cease its live greyhound racing on June 28. Discussions between the track and the Colorado Greyhound Kennel Association, which represents dog owners, did not lead to an agreement to extend the racing season through the summer.
Bruce Seymore, Mile High's director of racing operations, said the track would work with the Colorado State Racing Commission, dog owners and greyhound groups to find homes for approximately 200 dogs.
The state is conducting a study to see how many dogs kenneled at Mile High will leave to race elsewhere or return to their owners and how many will need to be adopted.
Kennel owners have expressed concern that they may not be able to stay in business without more opportunities for racing in Colorado.
"We need year-round racing to remain viable," said Gary Bryan, president of the Greyhound Operators Association.
Mile High said it plans to resume live greyhound racing in April 2009.
When asked by a reporter if greyhound kennel operators would bring their dogs back to Mile High next year for a partial season, Bruce Fraser, executive vice president for the track's parent company, reacted angrily.
"I guess you don't understand the racing business," Fraser said.
Last year, Mile High extended its racing season through the winter when Cloverleaf Kennel Club in Loveland ceased all operations.
Seymore said the track sees a financially-viable future for greyhound racing in Colorado.
"It's going to be seasonal," said. "Then we can make it."
The track will continue to simulcast horse racing.
From www.rockymountainnews.com Rocky Mountain News - Denver,CO,USA
End of season appears near at Mile High Greyhound Park
By Aaron J. Lopez, Rocky Mountain News
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
An extended racing season has become a long shot at Mile High Greyhound Park.
Negotiations between Colorado kennel operators and track officials broke down Wednesday, and the final day of 2008 live racing could come as soon as June 28.
"I think we're at a pretty serious impasse," said Eric Morgan, who represents the Colorado Greyhound Kennel Association. "Unless something changes dramatically, the question is just a matter of when the last day of racing in 2008 is going to be."
Mile High's agreement with the kennel operators runs through June 28, but there is a request before the Colorado Racing Commission to race until Sept. 1.
"There's nothing that we would like to see more than the kennels that have supported the industry in Colorado continue," said Bruce Fraser, executive vice president for BLB Investors, which owns and operates the dog track in Commerce City. 'We're just exercising our privilege as a licensee to run these dates (eight months out of the year). That's what's most cost effective for us."
When the Cloverleaf Kennel Club in Loveland canceled its 2007 live schedule, Mile High picked up the dates and ran through the winter. State law requires the track be heated for winter racing, an expense that can range between $25,000 to $40,000 a month.
"In 2006, we were profitable. In 2007, we lost $700,000," Mile High general manager Bruce Seymore said. "That's pretty much it in a nutshell."
During negotiations, Mile High proposed extending the live racing season through October, but that does not appear likely.
"It's a possibility, but I don't think our group is going to be real favorable to doing that," Morgan said.
If live racing ends June 28, many Colorado kennel operators might go out of business, Morgan said.
"Our whole objective was to keep live racing going so they could feed their dogs and feed their families," he said.
Fraser suggested dog owners fill the void by competing in Arizona or other warm-weather states during the winter. The track plans to resume live racing at Mile High next spring.
"(People) may hear a story that Mile High has decided to close," Fraser said. "Our intention is to race. We will be putting in for our appropriate dates for 2009 at the Colorado Racing Commission meeting in July."
From www.wickedlocal.com Watertown TAB & Press - Needham,MA,USA
Watertown greyhound owner pleads guilty to neglect
By Jillian Fennimore, staff writer
Wed May 28, 2008, 04:18 PM EDT
WATERTOWN - On May 19, Watertown resident Kevin Schneider pleaded guilty in Rhode Island to charges of animal neglect and abandonment. He faces similar charges in Massachusetts.
According to greyhound advocate Joslin Murphy, who attended the court proceedings, the judge sentenced Schneider to six months at the Adult Correctional Institute in Rhode Island. That sentence was suspended for 11 months. Conditions of probation are: full restitution to the veterinary clinic that cared for his former greyhound, Sari, until her death; and no ownership of companion animals, she said in an e-mail.
Watertown Police confirmed that Schneider had pleaded guilty.
Schneider's attorney, John Ruby, had no comment to the TAB & Press on Wednesday.
Schneider is slated to face a jury trial on Aug. 21 for allegedly abusing his former greyhounds. He was first arrested by Watertown Police last November.
In Massachusetts, Schneider has been charged with two counts of animal cruelty after allegedly abandoning his two adopted racing greyhounds. According to reports, Schneider pushed one dog named Talca from a moving SUV in Connecticut, and left the other dog, Sari, under a bush near a Rhode Island hospital.
Earlier this year, Schneider pleaded not guilty to the Bay State charges. In Massachusetts, a charge of cruelty to animals carries a maximum sentence of five years.
After an investigation by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a warrant was obtained for Schneider. Watertown Police first arrested him inside his Spruce Street home on Nov. 17.
A pretrial conference in Connecticut has also been scheduled for Schneider in June, Murphy said.
According to a past statement from Michael McCann, another greyhound advocate, on the night of Oct. 27, a man from Killingly, Conn., allegedly saw Schneider open the passenger door of his SUV while it was rolling and push one of the greyhounds out.
The same SUV was allegedly seen one hour later at the parking lot of Miriam Hospital in Providence, R.I., dropping something off under a bush nearby and speeding away. A nurse reportedly discovered another white-and-black greyhound "so weak, she couldn't move."
Sari died from severe malnourishment days later. Talca is recovering and has been re-adopted.
From www.tucsoncitizen.com Tucson Citizen - Tucson,AZ,USA
Group after better care of dogs in S. Tucson
RYN GARGULINSKI
Tucson Citizen
A grass-roots group is pushing for better care for South Tucson dogs, especially those at Tucson Greyhound Park.
The park's CEO, Tom Taylor ,said the measure would instead hurt the greyhounds and is aimed at pushing the dog track out of business.
The measure, called the Tucson Dog Protection Act, is the brainchild of Tucson Dog Protection, a group spearheaded by retired Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Via.
The act, which needs 70 signatures to be placed on the ballot, would amend the existing animal cruelty chapter in the South Tucson City Code. It contains three provisions that address steroids, confinement and raw meat.
The act would:
. Forbid feeding dogs raw meat from diseased, dying, disabled animals or animals that arrive dead at the slaughterhouse.
. Prohibit giving dogs anabolic steroids to enhance their performance and to prevent dogs from going into heat.
. Ban keeping dogs in a crate for more than 18 hours each day unless deemed necessary by a veterinarian.
Tucson Greyhound Park, at 2601 S. Third Ave., would be affected enough by the measure that it could eventually be pushed out of business, Taylor said.
"It'll be too harmful to the dogs to follow these measures," he said.
"These people don't know the breed."
He said dogs would be unable to race if females did not receive shots to keep them out of heat, and that the dogs enjoy being "couch potatoes" and don't like to spend much time away from their cages.
He said the track will fight the measure on behalf of kennel owners. Local supporters of the act include state Rep. Nancy Young Wright and several area veterinarians.
Via did not return calls Friday for comment.
http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=8350613&nav=menu86_2
Possible South Tucson Initiative Could Mean Trouble for Tucson Greyhound Park
By J.D. Wallace, KOLD News 13 Reporter
May 20, 2008
Many greyhounds are raised to run.
"Love for the dogs," kennel owner Paul Custead explained why he continues to do it after so many years.
But their care is being questioned.
"Our focus is on the welfare of the dogs," said Tucson Dog Protection chair Susan Via.
Tucson Dog Protection wants South Tucson voters to approve a ban on feeding dogs raw meat from animals that are already dead on arrival at the slaughterhouse, prohibit using anabolic steroids to keep females out of heat, and restrict dogs from spending more than 18 hours a day in a crate.
"The same way you would do if you had a pet," Via said.
"It could close the track," said Tucson Greyhound Park CEO Tom Taylor.
Kennel owners at Tucson Greyhound Park expect they would have to spend more time letting the dogs out more often, not run females when they are in heat, separate them from the males, and spend more for cooked or higher grade meat.
"It'll triple our costs on the meat," Custead said.
"The kennel operators are going to find this so frustrating for the dogs, the dogs they love, they'll just stop doing this business," Taylor said.
"If you cannot afford to treat dogs humanely, then perhaps the track should close," Via said. Changes aimed to treat dogs similarly to the early days of racing could be a shock to some current day participants.
"You don't make that kind of money, but you do it because you love the dogs," Custead said.
Tucson Dog Protection said that it has enough signatures to put this initiative on the November 4th South Tucson ballot. We'll let you know when it becomes official.
http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080514/NEWS01/805140310
Animal cruelty law sputters
It would spotlight race dogs and horses
By SARAH LIEBOWITZ
Concord Monitor
May 14, 2008
A bill that would change the state's animal cruelty law seems to have stalled in the Senate, after passing the House earlier this year.
At issue is whether the state's animal cruelty law excludes racing animals, and thus exempts individuals who mistreat those animals from criminal charges. The bill's backers argue that race dogs and horses aren't included in the law, giving track operators a legal pass. "This is just a special loophole that gives them immunity, and that's indefensible," said Paul LaFlamme, a former state representative from Nashua who is a member of the board of directors of GREY2K USA, an organization devoted to ending dog racing and passing greyhound-protection laws.
The bill would make the law - which prohibits depriving animals of food or shelter, overworking animals, cruelly whipping or mistreating them, among other behaviors - apply to racing animals. In March, it passed the House on a voice vote. But opponents say that the measure is unnecessary, and that the campaign to change the state's law amounts to a backdoor move to harm the racing industry.
Currently, allegations of animal abuse at any of the state's three dog racetracks or one horse racetrack go to the Pari-Mutuel Commission, which oversees the race tracks and has rules on the treatment of race animals. That system, the bill's opponents say, works just fine, as commission employees can visit the tracks at any time to check on animals. In addition, some opponents argue that racing animals are not actually exempt from the animal cruelty law.
"I think it's obvious that they're a group of people who want to shut down the dog racing; I think if they want to do it they should do it on a frontal attack," said Senate Republican Leader Ted Gatsas of Manchester, a member of the Senate committee that studied the bill. "The Pari-Mutuel Commission right now does a great job of overseeing them."
Although the bill's supporters had hoped to mount a last-ditch effort in the Senate - where the bill is currently tabled - it now seems as though senators won't pass the proposal, LaFlamme said.
"It's just really, really disappointing, and I just have a huge sense of injustice," he said. "To not even have a debate on it is an outrage."
The members of the Senate Wildlife, Fish and Game, and Agriculture Committee last month voted unanimously against the bill. When the bill came to the full Senate for a vote, senators decided to table the proposal. Behind the scenes, the bill's supporters tried to muster enough Senate support for the bill to pass. Although several senators said they were still considering the issue, there seemed to be little momentum for the bill's passage.
"I am not aware of someone taking it off the table, but that does not preclude the possibility," Senate President Sylvia Larsen, a Concord Democrat, said last week.
"I'm waiting for more clarity over the question of whether . . . this gives track operators somehow an out," said Sen. Harold Janeway, a Webster Democrat who sits on the Wildlife, Fish and Game and Agriculture Committee. "Once we get clarity, then I assume we'll bring the bill back."
Although the bill generated far less attention than an unsuccessful effort last year to ban greyhound racing, it has prompted considerable debate.
"My interpretation - and the common interpretation among the animal welfare community - is that the law exempts these industries from criminal prosecution . . . in favor of the Pari-Mutuel Commission's regulations," said Stephanie Frommer, director of field services at the Monadnock Humane Society. The bill, she said, would make cruelty at racetracks subject to criminal prosecution.
But Dan Callaghan, who represents Rockingham Park in Salem and Yankee Greyhound Racing in Seabrook, deemed the bill unnecessary. "The commission may be on the tracks at any time with or without probable cause," Callaghan said. In that sense, he said, race animals are actually better protected than other animals.
When it comes to race horses, Rep. Roger Wells described most of the animals as "well cared for." A Hampstead Republican, Wells served as a veterinarian at thoroughbred racetracks from 1969 to last year. He wasn't familiar with the bill but said that "a race horse is a money earner. . . . An owner's not going to let him be at the hands of a trainer that doesn't treat him right."
LaFlamme acknowledged that if the bill were to pass, "the real-life logistics at the tracks probably won't change a whole lot." But, he said, "it just doesn't seem right to me that they have this special exemption.
"The Pari-Mutuel Commission rules are not laws," LaFlamme added. "The question is whether all horses and dogs should be treated equally under the law."
More concern for the animals needed in racing
Editorial
May 8, 2008
The unexpected death this past weekend of a prominent thoroughbred race horse once again has focused the nation’s attention on the need for humane treatment of race horses. But another worthy animal rights cause labors in the shadow of the renewed horse-racing stigma. It is dog racing and the treatment of greyhounds.
In the thoroughbred industry, for the second time in three years, a world-class racehorse fell to a fatal injury in a major race. The death Saturday of the filly Eight Belles, just after she finished a strong second in the Kentucky Derby, recalled the heart-rending saga and death of Barbaro after he broke a rear lower leg in the Preakness two years ago.
Eight Belles’ injury — she broke both front ankles — also revived some long-standing questions about thoroughbred racing. Do fatal injuries result from over-breeding? Are tracks safe enough? Are 3-year-old horses old enough for the physical stress of racing? And so on.
It is a given that racing inherently is dangerous for horses and jockeys. Even so, Barbaro’s death alone ensured greater public awareness that disaster is but a misstep away every time horses enter the gate. Conditions in general are much better at the nation’s largest race tracks where the top horses and largest purses are offered. But, in the many small tracks and on the fair circuits, conditions, especially for the lowest-priced horses, can be tough if not brutal.
The industry, and its government regulators, must do everything possible to ensure that horses are treated humanely while being trained to race, and that track conditions are as safe as humanly possible for horses and riders.
The same concerns are relevant to the legal dog-racing industry, as well.
As the Humane Society of the United States says, it is an industry that exists solely for the entertainment of humans—at the cost of animal lives. “Greyhound racing is cruel and inhumane and should be outlawed nationwide,” says Carey Theil, president of GREY2K USA, a national anti-greyhound-racing group based in Massachusetts that has partnered with The HSUS and the ASPCA to form the National Greyhound Legislative Coalition.
Because greyhound racing has little to do with dogs and everything to do with money, scant regard is given to the humane treatment of the greyhounds, the society’s Web site states. “This is an industry that places profits above the health and welfare of greyhounds,” says Theil. How else would you explain the culling of unwanted dogs, a general disregard toward animal injury, and the inhumane living conditions that the dogs endure?
PETA wants Eight Belles jockey suspended
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is seeking the suspension of Eight Belles' jockey after the filly had to be euthanized following her second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday.
Gabriel Saez was riding Eight Belles when she broke both front ankles while galloping out a quarter of a mile past the wire. She was euthanized on the track.
PETA faxed a letter Sunday to Kentucky's racing authority claiming the filly was "doubtlessly injured before the finish" and asked that Saez be suspended while Eight Belles' death is investigated.
"What we really want to know, did he feel anything along the way?" PETA spokeswoman Kathy Guillermo said. "If he didn't then we can probably blame the fact that they're allowed to whip the horses mercilessly."
Eight Belles trainer Larry Jones said the filly was clearly happy when she crossed the finish line.
"I don't know how in the heck they can even come close to saying that," Jones told The Associated Press on Sunday. "She has her ears up, clearly galloping out."
Guillermo said if Saez is found at fault, the group wants the second-place prize of $400,000 won by Eight Belles to be revoked.
Saez, a 20-year-old Panama native, was riding in his first Kentucky Derby. He frequently rides for Jones.
A call to the jockeys' room at Delaware Park, where Saez raced on Sunday, went unanswered.
Eight Belles, the first filly since 1999 to run in the Derby, appeared fine until collapsing while galloping out after the finish.
The letter to the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority also sought a ban on whipping, limits on races and the age of racehorses, and a move to softer, artificial surfaces for all courses.
The Associated Press
COMMENTARY
Guillermo: Recognize horse racing for the cruelty it is
Kathy Guillermo, PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
For years, I've written polite opinion pieces urging the thoroughbred racing industry to take steps to make the sport more humane. As someone who used to show horses, play polo, hang out at race tracks in Missouri, Ohio and California and who was at Churchill Downs when another filly, Winning Colors, raced to victory at the 1988 Kentucky Derby, I felt certain that eventually improvements would come: Synthetic tracks would replace hard dirt tracks, whipping would be banned and thoroughbred owners could be persuaded to take responsibility for their spent horses.
But after seeing Eight Belles lying in the dirt at Churchill Downs, something inside me snapped — just as surely as that beautiful filly's ankles. When a sport becomes as deadly for horses as dogfighting is for pit bulls, it's time to close it down.
Eight Belles is just the latest in a line of thoroughbreds whose famous lineage and expensive training couldn't prevent a painful and premature end. The Triple Crown and other big races have become the graveyards of too many horses who were called champions: Go For Wand, who went down in the 1990 Breeders' Cup Distaff — and then stumbled up and tried to keep running, her broken leg dangling. Union City, who fractured a leg in the 1993 Preakness and was destroyed. Prairie Bayou, who that same year suffered a compound fracture in the Belmont Stakes and was destroyed. George Washington, who was euthanized after breaking his leg while running the Preakness last year.
And, of course, Barbaro, the poster horse of the racing industry's failures and excesses, who, despite heroic efforts, could not be saved from the injuries he sustained during the 2006 Preakness.
The injuries are just as sickening when the horses aren't famous, when they race at older, smaller tracks or at county fairs. You just don't hear about them. A cheap claiming horse who is run too hard is doomed to break down sooner or later. It may be on the track, when a tendon blows or a bone snaps, or it may be after too many years of too many races. At some point, worn-out horses stop winning.
These horses face a different kind of death. Most of them wind up as the main course on a European dinner table. The years of running are rewarded with a captive bolt to the brain.
What is the difference between this and dogfighting? Perhaps the race itself isn't as overtly violent as what happens when two dogs are set upon each other. Perhaps the trainers of horses and the "trainers" of dogs run in different social circles. But both of these "sports" are about exploiting animals until they're no longer profitable or useful. Both usually result in an early and sometimes horrendous death.
Take the veneer off thoroughbred racing and the reality beneath is as grotesque as anything Michael Vick was castigated for. Racing horses are routinely drugged, whipped, pushed to the literal breaking point and then cast off to be killed, butchered and sold off by the piece. Even Excellor and Ferdinand, champions who were cheered by thousands, were led up the slaughterhouse ramp when they were no longer useful.
The mint juleps, the fancy hats and the stirring rendition of "My Old Kentucky Home" are a silly bit of play-acting that serves as a front for a lot of pain and ugly death. We need to stop pretending that there's anything majestic about the "sport of kings" and recognize it as the cruelty that it is.
Guillermo is director of the Laboratory Investigations Department at PETA.

updated 07/16/2008