NYT Series: "Mangled Horses, Maimed Jockeys"

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/us...acetracks.html

Breakdown | Death and disarray at America's racetracks
Mangled Horses, Maimed Jockeys
The new economics of horse racing are making an always-dangerous game even more so, as lax oversight puts animal and rider at risk.


[video]

[b]By WALT BOGDANICH, JOE DRAPE, DARA L. MILES and GRIFFIN PALMER

RUIDOSO, N.M. — At 2:11 p.m., as two ambulances waited with motors running, 10 horses burst from the starting gate at Ruidoso Downs Race Track 6,900 feet up in New Mexico’s Sacramento Mountains.

Nineteen seconds later, under a brilliant blue sky, a national champion jockey named Jacky Martin lay sprawled in the furrowed dirt just past the finish line, paralyzed, his neck broken in three places. On the ground next to him, his frightened horse, leg broken and chest heaving, was minutes away from being euthanized on the track.

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I am sure the print version of this article will be in the Sunday NYT (which I get).

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[Riot]

Steve was right ... just a matter of time until Joe Drape got on his ridiculous bandwagon again.

[Kasept]

As discussed and speculated upon on ATR this week and 'Loose on the Lead' this morning, plenty of recrimination in the initial installment. We'll see where the subsequent pieces in this series go, but for starters, lumping Quarter Horse racing in with Thoroughbred racing muddles any coherent conversation. There are contradictions within some of the claims and the cherry picking of certain vet quotes is obvious for effect.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Kasept

As discussed and speculated upon on ATR this week and 'Loose on the Lead' this morning, plenty of recrimination in the initial installment. We'll see where the subsequent pieces in this series go, but for starters, lumping Quarter Horse racing in with Thoroughbred racing muddles any coherent conversation. There are contradictions within some of the claims and the cherry picking of certain vet quotes is obvious for effect.

Just the initial sub headings are a joke. "Some say a culture of drugs and lax regulation are behind the nations high horse fatility rate"? Yeah some say bullshit too. And the "high horse fatility rate" as compared to what?

Horse racing deserves **** like this for all the morons within the industry who provide fodder for these types of attacks. Keep giving hacks like Joe Drape awards for the rubbish he writes. Keep making public breakdown rates like the public (or most anyone really including myself) will have any idea how to process the information and almost assuredly will misinterpret it. Keep calling into question the integrity of vets and trainers to try to make your point about subjects that are far from black and white while failing to understand that in doing so you are helping form public opinion against the entire industry which is a course not easily changed. Keep using raw data to prove points because it fits your opinion regardless that those same stats will be misused against us by enemies of the game.

Are there issues? Absolutely. Are answers going to be found by backtracking and appeasing the groups who wish harm on the industry (including some hypocrites from within)? Only ones which will further serve to ruin the sport beyond the shell of itself that it has become. There are those who will celebrate the tarnishing of the sport just as there are those that defend trainers who win 47%, because in their minds this will help "clean up the sport" yet none will offer any real solutions. Of course there is no solution to greed, there is no solution to heartlessness and there is no solution to stubborn ignorance. But the continued attacks on the sport will eventually wear down even the hardy souls that inhabit it.

[GPK]

“It’s hard to justify how many horses we go through,” said Dr. Rick Arthur, the equine medical director for the California Racing Board. “In humans you never see someone snap their leg off running in the Olympics. But you see it in horse racing.”

Mind boggling that someone with Dr. in front of their name could make such an asinine and poorly thought out statement.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by GPK

“It’s hard to justify how many horses we go through,” said Dr. Rick Arthur, the equine medical director for the California Racing Board. “In humans you never see someone snap their leg off running in the Olympics. But you see it in horse racing.”

Mind boggling that someone with Dr. in front of their name could make such an asinine and poorly thought out statement.

Dead Olympians apparently don't cross his mind.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by GPK

“It’s hard to justify how many horses we go through,” said Dr. Rick Arthur, the equine medical director for the California Racing Board. “In humans you never see someone snap their leg off running in the Olympics. But you see it in horse racing.”

Mind boggling that someone with Dr. in front of their name could make such an asinine and poorly thought out statement.

I'm hardly a fan of Dr Arthur who is a self serving blowhard for the most part but there is a pretty big chance that this was taken out of context. This is a 3 part propaganda piece, no more or less. Anything that can be used to further the agenda of those people IN RACING that are behind this will be used regardless of the accuracy of the information given.

Let me predict now that part 1 is the shock value set up, part 2 will offer a whole bunch of the same old crap focusing more on thoroughbreds and part 3 will be the "sponsors" of this propoganda threatening more unless "something is done to cure the drug culture". The 3 writers are simply pawns being used by the elitest crowd to do their bidding. All this to get rid of the smaller tracks and lasix.

[Cannon Shell]

From the facebook page of the Bagdad Bob of the elitist horse racing set, Ray Paulick

Ray Paulick NY Times article very thorough, well done. Hope it is not too late for our industry to make needed change. Feds?


It would be laughable if it werent so sad that the intentions of these people werent so obvious for those who choose to look.

[paisjpq]

Originally Posted by GPK

“It’s hard to justify how many horses we go through,” said Dr. Rick Arthur, the equine medical director for the California Racing Board. “In humans you never see someone snap their leg off running in the Olympics. But you see it in horse racing.”

Mind boggling that someone with Dr. in front of their name could make such an asinine and poorly thought out statement.

i remember seeing that gymnast snap hers vaulting in the olympics...so there joe drape!

[Merlinsky]

Roger Ebert posted a link to the article on Facebook with this remark:

My friend Bill Nack was the first to put the numbers together and write about this, in Sports Illustrated. His article made him persona non grata for two years in the sport. He writes about it in his fine book, "My Turf."

Uh, forgive me but can someone give the cliff notes version of what he's talking about? Loved the accusations of how abusive we are as a sport in the comments below his link. I'd lambast them, but I'm a little too p'od. I'd probably say something I'd regret, and on top of that you basically have signed your name to it. If anybody else wants to have a go, check out his FB page.

Anybody trying to go off about our barbarism in using animals for entertainment, well they probably never thought about stopping all those kids competing in things like gymnastics or figure skating in the Olympics where injuries can be pretty extreme. That Chinese gymnast got paralyzed right before the Olympics about 12 years ago. She got to meet Leonardo DiCaprio though, so I guess we ignore that. I saw one girl get her head nailed on the balance beam, a skater got her head sliced open on the ice during a spin with her partner and nearly bled out on the ice. In 1997, Kerri Strug landed a one legged vault. Fortunately for her, we can handle injuries like that for human beings, but it's not like anything beyond glory for her country was on the line. It's for our entertainment isn't it? That's just on the world stage. Injuries to children happen all the time in a variety of sports. Oh the humanity. Oh wait, I forgot, they don't care.

[my miss storm cat]

I wouldn't worry about anything it says.

I think most people (who don't know a thing about racing) will take one one look at the picture and that will be that, their minds will have been made up.

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by Cardus

Will you be disappointed if this series of feature pieces comes and goes without mentioning your "Angels" threads?

I'm almost in tears laughing from some comments you've made...

I am sorry for everything. Turly.

If I'm anywhere near as annoying to you as ummm... some others are? I don't blame you one bit.

You've very funny.

If anyone thinks I'm being sarcastic I'm not.

Carry on.

Originally Posted by Merlinsky

Anybody trying to go off about our barbarism in using animals for entertainment, well they probably never thought about stopping all those kids competing in things like gymnastics or figure skating in the Olympics where injuries can be pretty extreme. That Chinese gymnast got paralyzed right before the Olympics about 12 years ago. She got to meet Leonardo DiCaprio though, so I guess we ignore that. I saw one girl get her head nailed on the balance beam, a skater got her head sliced open on the ice during a spin with her partner and nearly bled out on the ice. In 1997, Kerri Strug landed a one legged vault. Fortunately for her, we can handle injuries like that for human beings, but it's not like anything beyond glory for her country was on the line. It's for our entertainment isn't it? That's just on the world stage. Injuries to children happen all the time in a variety of sports. Oh the humanity. Oh wait, I forgot, they don't care.

You left out the famous incident where Tonya Harding paid some guy off to club Nancy Kerrigan in the knee to put her out of commission for the 1994 Winter Olympics. Maybe in a future instalment of this NYT "expose," we'll learn that Rachel Alexandra's connections contracted with a groom to throw a feed bucket at Zenyatta in her stall. Second the ludicrousness of the remarks made by that vet trying to compare the injuries suffered by a 1,200 lb. horse running 40 mph on spindly legs to those of 180 lb. men running maybe half as fast on legs like tree trunks. How did this guy get through vet school?


Ocala Mike

[Indian Charlie]

Originally Posted by GPK

“It’s hard to justify how many horses we go through,” said Dr. Rick Arthur, the equine medical director for the California Racing Board. “In humans you never see someone snap their leg off running in the Olympics. But you see it in horse racing.”

Mind boggling that someone with Dr. in front of their name could make such an asinine and poorly thought out statement.

Really?

I expect nothing less than total asininity from Doctors.

[GPK]

Originally Posted by Indian Charlie

Really?

I expect nothing less than total asininity from Doctors.

Touche'

[Kasept]

Bill Shanklin takes a shot at the Times. Interesting responses in the comment section..
http://www.horseracingbusiness.com/a...xpose-8311.htm

Originally Posted by Kasept

Bill Shanklin takes a shot at the Times. Interesting responses in the comment section..
http://www.horseracingbusiness.com/a...xpose-8311.htm

I stopped after 6. Good grief.