My mom sent this to me and I thought I’d post…see if any new details were available. Sorry if it was already commented on, I looked and didn’t see it…
I haven’t seen any updates yet and I think Bejarano is off his mounts for tomorrow.
Any back story on why the horse would have a heart-attack?
Dang it! I was really hoping that Rafael would win the title at Santa Anita. Not that I dislike Garrett Gomez, but it just seems like Rafael has always been just a tad under the radar. I ask this on another forum and got NO answers but…I thought that Rafael went to the west coast specifically to ride for Frankel. In the last 3-4 weeks he’s only been on a handful of Frankel horses. Was there a “falling out”?
[QUOTE=Kimberlee;3074363]
Any back story on why the horse would have a heart-attack?[/QUOTE]
Wonder what “drugs” he was on - legal or not!
[QUOTE=Lora;3083434]
Wonder what “drugs” he was on - legal or not![/QUOTE]
Was this really necessary? :no:
How long have you worked in the racing industry Lora? Did you travel with the vet along as he treated horses on race day to see what, if any, drugs were administered to said horses? I didnt think so. Generalizations are not a good thing, they simply demonstrate a limited capacity to understand the complexities involved.
Do you think that the two horses who had heart attacks and died at Red Hill this past weekend did so because of the “drugs” they were on?
Horses are ATHLETES. When ANY athlete in ANY sport is pushed to the extreme sometimes their bodies can’t handle it and we see injuries or deaths. Horses get injured just like any other athlete, horses have heart attacks - not just on the racetrack. I have read about many folks on these forums rehabbing their own horses that were injured while in training for their disciplines - so injuries and accidents happen in real life across the board by discipline - not just in racing- as much as we might not want it to.
Over on the eventing board there is a discussion about how many horses have died in disciplines other than racing, and they include reining, rodeo, eventing and so on.
Lets not bash horse racing because of it’s “DRUGS.” :no:
[QUOTE=Jessi P;3083850]
Was this really necessary? :no:
How long have you worked in the racing industry Lora? Did you travel with the vet along as he treated horses on race day to see what, if any, drugs were administered to said horses? I didnt think so. Generalizations are not a good thing, they simply demonstrate a limited capacity to understand the complexities involved.
Do you think that the two horses who had heart attacks and died at Red Hill this past weekend did so because of the “drugs” they were on?
Horses are ATHLETES. When ANY athlete in ANY sport is pushed to the extreme sometimes their bodies can’t handle it and we see injuries or deaths. Horses get injured just like any other athlete, horses have heart attacks - not just on the racetrack. I have read about many folks on these forums rehabbing their own horses that were injured while in training for their disciplines - so injuries and accidents happen in real life across the board by discipline - not just in racing- as much as we might not want it to.
Over on the eventing board there is a discussion about how many horses have died in disciplines other than racing, and they include reining, rodeo, eventing and so on.
Lets not bash horse racing because of it’s “DRUGS.” :no:[/QUOTE]
Maybe if we don’t talk about them - they will not exist??? Sorry get your head out of the sand.
I do have experience with horses coming off the track - sometimes takes months for all the drugs to wear off.
Just my opinion but drugs do affect these horses - and very well may cause heart attacks.
I agree with Jessi P.
My quarter horse pony had a heart attack due to her being cast under the fence and lying there for hours during the dark of night. After the 7th heart attack in 10 days I had to put her down.
Some horses like people will be predisposed to having heart problems - drugs or not. And then - s**t happens.
Considering Jessi P works at the track, I think she is better informed than you.
I rarely see horses that “drugged” up, RARELY, Very Rarely that it takes months. Most aren’t given near the drugs that people off the track think, you just aren’t legally allowed too.
But since you are so much more informed, please do name the drugs given and what drug you think caused this horse to have a heart attack.
As posted in the Derby thread the afternoon this occured; from the Daily Racing Forum
…Bejarano was thrown hard to the ground when his mount Parisian Art collapsed at the eighth pole and died of an apparent heart attack. Parisian Art was trailing the field and being eased when he went down; Bejarano landed head first. … Bejarano had pain in his neck and shoulders. He did not stand or sit up, and was removed from the track by stretcher.
Parisian Art, a 3-yr old gelding
Lord Carson (Carson City) - Parisian Heart by French Deputy
Trainer: Doug O’Neill / Owner: Brad Gerring
This was his second career start, his maiden start was Feb 9, was leading around the turn when his jockey began easing him out. The race was a 7-furlong $32K maiden claiming on the synthetic at Santa Anita.
If someone wants to suggest that Doug O’Neill is drugging up his horses I think you’d better have something credible to support that backhanded suggestion.
[QUOTE=Lora;3088542]
[/U]
Maybe if we don’t talk about them - they will not exist??? Sorry get your head out of the sand.
I do have experience with horses coming off the track - sometimes takes months for all the drugs to wear off.
Just my opinion but drugs do affect these horses - and very well may cause heart attacks.[/QUOTE]
Lora I train racehorses for a living, and have been on the track for 20 years, in Pa, NJ, MD, Del, Ohio and now W Va. I have been around. I am well more aware than you are of what drugs trainers do and don’t give their horses.
So there are 2 issues here in my mind - the drugs trainers give horses and dealing with the OTTB.
I have found, in my experience, that people who have gotten an OTTB then later claim that the horses were drugged or abused are the people who have unrealistic expectations for their OTTB. They expect them to act like other horses they are familiar with right off the bat - lesson horses, schoolmasters, seasoned show horses, pleasure horses, lawn ornaments. Not one of those horses is as fit as a Tb racehorse is to hand gallop a mile in under 2 minutes. In case you didnt know, that’s pretty darn fast but still not racing speed. The muscle they have been conditioned for and have developed is for pure speed in a flat out frame - they lean on the rider to help them balance because at that speed they have to. These are horses that are used to a strict routine 7 days a week where they get out and exercise first thing every morning (or handwalk depending on schedule), get their legs done up, and then get breakfast about 10 am. They are walked by experienced hotwalkers who quietly reprimand but expect good behavior (alternately they go on a walking machine at some tracks). They know what to expect when they go to the track - they will either go the wrong way 'round the track, jogging and “hobby horsing” (easy slow canter) or they will go onto the track, go the wrong way about 3/8 of a mile, turn around and gallop 1 1/2 miles, pull up and jog back to the gap then walk home. The routine is very important to the TB - they want to know what to expect, it makes them comfortable.
When you take a racehorse out of that environment they will search for routine. They have to adjust to a new order of doing things in an environment that moves a whole lot more slowly than at the racetrack. In the morning a racing stable operates at full tilt to get all horses sent to the track before it closes. Its pretty much hell bent for leather til about 10-11 am or so, when it quiets down for the day. So a TB just sent off to the farm to be retrained is expecting to get exercised and cared for first thing in the morning - if they have to wait all day they get antsy and dont know what to do with themselves. Giving an ex racehorse a predictable routine will go a long way towards making them mentally comfortable. Allowing them “let down” and lose some of that fitness will also help relax them - so they aren’t constantly waiting, ready to gallop in the frame and speed they are more accustomed to training in. The level of fitness these horses have in addition to an ex racehorse searching for a routine often leave people with the mistaken belief that they were drugged to the eyeballs or abused.
The 2nd issue here is “drugs” in racehorses. Did you know that every race winner is drug tested Lora? The stewards can also “special” or “spot test” any horse in any race for random drug testing. Currently there about 200 prohibited substances that cannot appear in a horse’s blood and/or urine on race day. They are allowed to have the equivalent of 2 bute pills 12 hours before a race. Some tracks (like Mountaineer) allow an extra medication to help control EIPH on race day as well, in the best interests of the horse. Other meds have certain withdrawl times - meaning they must be discontinued a certain length of time before a race. Prime example here is ventipulmin. Its a medication to open up and clean out the lungs. Racehorses often bleed a little bit in their lungs from the tiny capillaries that transfer oxygen into the blood. That blood just doesnt disappear from the lungs, in fact it is a great medium for bacteria to grow in, and often horses will get a lung infection even after a tiny incident of EIPH. So we give ventipulmin and antibiotics (naxcell, gentocin, etc) to clean their lungs out. They get adequan, vitamins (such as E & Se, which is way more effective in injectable form than top dressed on feed). They get cortico-steroids to help reduce swelling. They get jugs to replace fluids lost in a race. Sure some trainers cheat - but they have to pass the blood and urine test to get the horse’s earnings released. Its far too hard to win a race than take a chance losing it by having a bad test. Some trainers will use anabolic steroids, Equipoise, testosterone, and Winstrol-V to make a horse more aggresive in a race or increase appetite. I have been in some show barns that use Winstrol to pick up a horse’s appetite so it isnt just a racehorse thing. Yes, anabolic steroids can take up to 6 weeks to clear a horse’s system.
Some trainers will get “bad tests.” The most common bad test is for bute. Yes, the evilest drug in horse racing, that they are allowed to have in their systems up to 5.0 mg on race day. Here, a trainer’s first bad bute test (that results in less than 7.5 mg) is a $250 fine, the 2nd (or an overerage of greater than 7.5 mg) is $500, third is $1k and loss of the purse.
Whenever trainers get a bad test it is published in the daily racing form (www.drf.com). It lists the prohibited substance and the resulting penalty to the trainer - fine and “days,” meaning days the trainer is prohibited from entering racetrack property. This means a trainer has to pay someone else to take care of their horses, whether it is an asst trainer (if they have one) or someone they have to hire. If a trainer has grooms it is merely a matter of seeing that the horses get to the track as scheduled and keeping an eye on their legs and monitoring them for anything that might result in a bad test (for example, stall 23 is on ventipulmin but stall 22 is racing in 2 days so it is imperative their feed tubs are not confused).
Yes, some trainers try to use medications to help a horse, but no drug can make a horse run faster than it’s physically capable of going. When they get caught using those drugs they are fined and given days, and their name is printed along with the offending medication in the DRF for everyone to see. Drugs are not used to nearly the extent that many non racing folk believe. And very often OTTBs are mistakenly labeled “abused” or “drugged up” because of unrealistic expectations from the people dealing with them who simply dont know any better. Sorry this has rambled on for way too long, but it’s a pet peeve of mine.
your expertise
Hey Jessi
I think your experience and on-hands knowledge is really helpful. If you haven’t been following other threads (eventing), there were 2 recent fatalities (of horses) at the Red Hills Trials in Florida this past weekend due to pulmonary hemorrhaging on the cross country course.
I am going to pass your information on to others that may be applied to the eventing situation.
May I also ever PM you for futher info? You’ve been very helpful and could answer many questions. Many eventers ride ex-racers.
Thank you.
Wonderful reply Jessi.
I got one of my babies back from the track to be able to breed her this year. I wish that I had been able to read your reply first.
Even though I had walked her at Riverdowns I did not put that routine connection in when I brought her home. She was a handful at first. I knew that it was not from drugs or food but never thought about the routine.
Yes, I am very aware that horses are tested for drugs - but there are so many drugs out there - there has to be a test to detect the individual drug - which this article states. (I know this article gets off topic but I just posted the entire thing) Lasix, bute, steriods are drugs - why does any healthy horse have to be on any of these drugs to race? What causes a young healthy horses to have a heart attack???
Joseph Dirico, the owner of a filly who suffered a heart attack and died mid-race at Pimlico only days after the Preakness, said of her death, “I guess that’s part of the game.”(11) That sentiment was echoed by the general manager of Virginia’s Colonial Downs, where five horses died within eight days.(12) “We’re upset when it happens,” he said, “but it’s just part of the racing game.”(13) At least six horses died at the track the year before.(14)
Drugs and Deception
“Finding an American racehorse trained on the traditional hay, oats, and water probably would be impossible,” commented one reporter.(15) Many racehorses become addicted to drugs when their trainers and even veterinarians give them drugs to keep them on the track when they shouldn’t be racing.
Which drugs are legal varies from state to state, with Kentucky holding the reputation as the most lenient state.(16) The New York Sun explained that because “thoroughbreds are bred for flashy speed and to look good in the sales ring … the animal itself has become more fragile” and that “to keep the horses going,” they’re all given Lasix (which controls bleeding in the lungs), phenylbutazone (an anti-inflammatory), and cortiscosteroids (for pain and inflammation).(17) Those drugs, although legal, can also mask pain or make a horse run faster. Labs cannot detect all the illegal drugs out there, of which there “could be thousands,” says the executive director of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium.(18) Morphine, which can keep a horse from feeling any pain from an injury, was suspected in the case of Be My Royal, who won a race while limping.(19) One trainer was suspended for using an Ecstasy-type drug in five horses, and another has been kicked off racetracks for using clenbuterol and, in one case, for having the leg of a euthanized horse cut off “for research.”(20,21) A New York veterinarian and a trainer faced felony charges when the body of a missing racehorse turned up at a farm and authorities determined that her death had been caused by the injection of a “performance-enhancing drug.”(22)
“There are trainers pumping horses full of illegal drugs every day,” says a former Churchill Downs public relations director. (23) “With so much money on the line, people will do anything to make their horses run faster.”
Even the ‘Winners’ Lose
Few racehorses are retired to pastures for pampering and visits from caring individuals.
An insurance scandal cost the life of Alydar, who came in second in all three races of the 1978 Triple Crown and fathered many fast horses. After being retired from racing in order to serve as a stud at a Kentucky farm, Alydar was originally believed to have shattered his leg by kicking a stall door and was euthanized when he wasn’t able to maintain a splint.(24) Ten years later, an FBI investigation revealed that his leg was deliberately broken when it was tied by a rope to a pickup truck.(25)
Ferdinand, a Derby winner and Horse of the Year in 1987, was retired to Claiborne Farms and then changed hands at least twice before being “disposed of” in Japan; a reporter covering the story concluded, “No one can say for sure when and where Ferdinand met his end, but it would seem clear he met it in a slaughterhouse.”(26) Exceller, a million-dollar racehorse who was inducted into the National Racing Museum’s Hall of Fame, was killed at a Swedish slaughterhouse.(27)
Although there are currently no equine slaughterhouses in the U.S., there is still a multimillion-dollar horsemeat export industry that sends tens of thousands of horses every year to Canada, Mexico, and Japan for slaughter.(28,29) One Colorado State University study found that of 1,348 horses sent to slaughter, 58 were known to be former racehorses.(30)
Most horses who are sent to those facilities are forced to endure days of transport in cramped trailers.(31) Usually, there is no access to water or food, and injuries are common: A University of California, Davis, study of 306 horses destined for slaughter found that 60 of them sustained injuries during transport.(32) While veterinarians recommend that horses be offloaded for food and water every four hours while traveling, the U.S. Department of Agriculture allows horses to be shipped for 28 hours without a break.(33) Horses are subject to the same method of slaughter as cows, but since horses are generally not accustomed to being herded, they tend to thrash about in order to avoid the pneumatic gun that is supposed to render them unconscious before their throats are cut.(34)
What You Can Do
In a commentary on the racing industry, a reporter for the Philadelphia Daily News remarked, “It is not something they talk about much in their advertising, but horses die in this sport all the time—every day, every single day.”(35) Help phase out this exploitative “sport”: Refuse to patronize existing tracks, work to ensure that racing regulations are reformed and enforced, lobby against the construction of new tracks, and educate your friends and family members about the tragic lives that racehorses lead.
References
- Ted Miller, “Six Recent Horse Deaths at Emerald Downs Spark Concern,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer 8 May 2001.
- Bill Finley, “Sadly, No Way to Stop Deaths,” New York Daily News 10 Jun. 1993.
- Sherry Ross, “Fans Are Buying In,” Daily News 1 Jun. 2003.
- “The Odds Are You’ll Lose: Owning a Racehorse,” Financial Times 1 Feb. 2003.
- Glenn Robertson Smith, “Why Racehorses Are Cracking Up,” The Age (Australia) 15 Nov. 2002.
- Miller.
- Tim Reynolds, “Technology Can’t Prevent Horse Injuries,” The Lexington Herald-Leader 30 Aug. 2001.
- Andrew Beyer, “A Beyer’s Guide for Racehorses,” The Washington Post 3 Jun. 2003.
- William C. Rhoden, “An Unknown Filly Dies, and the Crowd Just Shrugs,” The New York Times 25 May 2006.
- Rhoden.
- Reynolds.
- John Packett, “Track Trauma: Sesamoid Bone Injuries Are Common and a Leading Cause of Death at Colonial Downs,” Richmond Times-Dispatch 19 Jul. 2007.
- John Packett, “Four Horses Die in Five Days at Downs,” Richmond Times-Dispatch 8 Jul. 2007.
- Packett, “Four Horses Die in Five Days at Downs.”
- John Scheinman, “Horses, Drugs Are Racing’s Daily Double; No Uniform Policy in Industry,” The Washington Post 27 Apr. 2003.
- Janet Patton, “HBPA Proposes Uniform Policy on Drugs in Racing; Horsemen’s Group Targets Maze of State Rules,” The Lexington Herald-Leader 17 Oct. 2001.
- Max Watman, “So Far, So Good for Barbaro,” The New York Sun 21 May 2006.
- Scheinman.
- Peat Bee, “Cut the Poppycock and Treat Drugs With Horse Sense,” The Guardian 13 Jan. 2003.
- Alex Straus, “Dark Horses,” Maxim May 2002.
- Tom Keyser, “Gill Is Still Permitted to Stable, Race Horses at Pimlico, Laurel,” The Baltimore Sun 6 Apr. 2003.
- “Trainer, Vet Charged in Trotter’s Death,” Associated Press, 22 Apr. 2001.
- Straus.
- Skip Hollandsworth, “The Killing of Alydar,” Texas Monthly Jun. 2001.
- Straus.
- Barbara Bayer, “1986 Kentucky Derby Winner Ferdinand Believed to Have Been Slaughtered in Japan,” The Blood-Horse Magazine 26 Jul. 2003.
- Allen G. Breed, “And What of the Spent Racehorse?” Associated Press, 25 Nov. 1999.
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “Horsemeat Slaughtered/Prod Animals (Head),” 2006.
- Gerard Shields, “Landrieu Bill Backs Horses. Senate Bill Would Ban Consumption Slaughter,” The Advocate 9 Jul. 2007.
- K. McGee et al., “Characterizations of Horses at Auctions and in Slaughter Plants,” Colorado State University Department of Animal Sciences, 2001.
- Todd J. Gillman, “Judge Won’t Stop Slaughterhouses; Appeal Weighed,” The Dallas Morning News 14 Mar. 2006.
- C.L. Stull, “Responses of Horses to Trailer Design, Duration, and Floor Area During Commercial Transportation to Slaughter,” Journal of Animal Science 77 (1999): 2925-33.
- Josh Harkinson, “Horse Flesh: Texas Struggles With What to Do with Its Overabundance of Equus caballus While Europeans Wait With Open Mouths,” Houston Press 13 Apr. 2006.
- Kris Axtman, “Horse-Meat Sales Stir Texas Controversy,” Christian Science Monitor 28 Apr. 2003.
- Rich Hofmann, “Racing Brings Up the Rear in Safety,” Philadelphia Daily News 23 May 2006.
Lora,
I find your comments completely off-base and also laughable. You clearly know absolutely nothing about racing. I am an assistant trainer for a top-level stable, and my boss is also a vet and I will have you know that many trainers like my boss are turning to alternative medicine and methods to keep these highly tuned athletes in tip-top shape.
As far as your comment about why healthy horses even need these drugs-- I often offer this as a comparison-- go out and run as hard as you can for a mile, and then tell me afterward if you don’t feel like an aspirin might make you feel better, or a muscle relaxer might help alleviate your aches and pains. Maybe you wish you had gotten more fluids into your system beforehand, then you wouldn’t feel so drained.
These young horses run on guts, determination, and heart. A lot of them run far harder than their abilities allow, resulting in aches and pains. A sore horse quickly becomes a sour horse. If those aches and pains are removed prior to becoming a problem through the use of bute or other such medications then more severe problems will not develop, ie: not wanting to load in the starting gate, thereby possibly flipping over behind the gate, becoming bad to handle in the paddock, washing out, and just in general becoming a sour difficult racehorse.
I for one, as a person in the racing industry greatly resent your ridiculous claims that race horses are all “drugged up”, perhaps you just have no business trying to handle one!!:no::no::mad:
Uh, why cite an article (not sure from where or written by whom) which in large part [see from the part of “Even the ‘Winners’ Lose” section downards] has ZERO to do with the supposed issue of drugged horses?
The plight of horses post-racing with slaughter and transport has no bearing whatsoever. You could just as easily cite the monks in Tibet being treated poorly by China. That too has zero relevance to the topic of drugs and race horses.
Only a fool would say drugs don’t exist in racing of horses. No sport whatsoever is pure as the driven snow be it horses, humans, dogs, et al and without some medication and abuses there of. Plenty of examples over the years of folks caught red handed with illicit techniques ranging from milkshakes, cobra venom, to cocaine exist. Although they are extreme examples.
Illicit drug use is no more common then chips in bell-boots for grand prix jumpers or sponging competitors race horses.
Let’s look at the specific case.
Santa Anita is not some bush-league circuit. The track has worked very hard to improve conditions of horses and riders. Some of it mandated by the regulating body (like the synthetic track) and others from the feedback of trainers, jocks, and owners. I’m quite certain after the breakdown the horse was examined and on-track authorities investigated the circumstances of the injury to the rider and the death of the horse. Santa Anita is not above legitimate inquiry with any type of breakdown but they’ve demonstrated a solid record of pursuing those who flaunt the rules.
Lora, that article you cited was clearly written by someone who knows nothing about horses and even less about horse racing. If sources like that one are where you’re getting your information and opinions from, you might want to seek out alternative methods of educating yourself about our sport.
Lora that article is completely irrelevant to the discussion at hand. You are citing newspaper reporters offering their opinions as fact. The whole article sounds like something PETA would publish, with no creditable sources whatsoever. Not even tangentially applicable.
I occasionally offer working student programs, perhaps that would be an avenue for you to learn more about the Racing Industry.
Anyone in the general area who would like to stop by Mountaineer always has a standing invitation - I just ask for a phone call or email to let us know when to expect company. 
I am always happy to introduce folks to the race horses and try to explain “our world” from the inside.
