Monzante: G1 racehorse, winner of >$500k, dies for $4k

[Artemis]

Monzante, winner of >$500k, was dropped by his owners and award-winning trainer once his talent tapered off in 2010. Fast forward to yesterday, he dies on the racetrack in a $4000 race – not a nice end – on the anniversary of one of his biggest wins.

Racing media isn’t covering it. Racing professionals say this is how the biz works, so too bad. Fans put this together today to force the industry to respond. It worked in 2002 when a Kentucky Derby winner ended up in a slaughterhouse. Racing won’t change until we force it to.

Sign the Petition

http://www.paulickreport.com/news/ray-s-paddock/monzante-former-eddie-read-winner-breaks-down-in-claiming-race/

[kcmel]

Just saw this on facebook. So sad.

[Angelico]

Very sad.

However look at this from the standpoint of someone that does this for a living: horse is amazing, wins big races for you. Horse grows older, yet still wants to compete, do you continue to let him race at the top and be defeated or drop him down to a level where he can be competitive? I doubt his connections “dropped” him, more like they lost him. Don’t assume that they didn’t bother to get him back, but would you give a horse that had won graded stakes races back after you’d just claimed him? After that there isn’t much his connections could do.

It is still saddening to see any horse, especially one like this, go down for sport.

[Angelico]

Very sad.

However look at this from the standpoint of someone that does this for a living: horse is amazing, wins big races for you. Horse grows older, yet still wants to compete, do you continue to let him race at the top and be defeated or drop him down to a level where he can be competitive? I doubt his connections “dropped” him, more like they lost him. Don’t assume that they didn’t bother to get him back, but would you give a horse that had won graded stakes races back after you’d just claimed him? After that there isn’t much his connections could do.

It is still saddening to see any horse, especially one like this, go down for sport.

[Artemis]

I agree with you completely, but his race previous to this one, he finished last. And his last place was over a year ago. Obviously, the horse was saying he was done.

[Angelico]

[QUOTE=ericalynn89;7088702]
I agree with you completely, but his race previous to this one, he finished last. And his last place was over a year ago. Obviously, the horse was saying he was done.[/QUOTE]

Maybe, maybe not. I have a ten year old gelding in the barn right now that ran dead last in his last two races.

I knew him when he was younger, he won quite a few mid-level races, then he was sent to a hot shot trainer, trainer didn’t know the horse, ran him in conditions that didn’t suit him (this is a short race, turf loving horse, he ran him long on the dirt) and the owner gave up on him and gave him back to us. This horse is 100% sound and pulls like a freight train in the mornings, and sits in his stall and pouts when he doesn’t get to train. He’ll be racing again, and at a low level, yes. If he was to get claimed I’d make sure the new connections realize he has a forever home when they are done with him, I really like this horse.

Things aren’t always what they seem, especially in this nutty game. Then again, never hurts to be suspicious.

[PeteyPie]

I imagine that if the former owners have followed him and offered to buy him from his last owners, we will be hearing about it soon.

[PeteyPie]

For a $4,000 claiming race, the Value of race was $10,692. That ratio seems really high to me. The purse pays through 5th place.

[saratoga]

[QUOTE=Angelico;7088728]
This horse is 100% sound and pulls like a freight train in the mornings, and sits in his stall and pouts when he doesn’t get to train. He’ll be racing again, and at a low level, yes. .[/QUOTE]

Oh fer heaven’s sake, its your horse, by all means you have the right to race him and if he is sound, there shouldn’t be any additional risk other than the inherent risk of racing, but don’t pretend that you are doing it for his own sake and that he “pouts” without racing. Sorry, but this is is a pet peeve of mine!

[Angelico]

[QUOTE=saratoga;7088777]
Oh fer heaven’s sake, its your horse, by all means you have the right to race him and if he is sound, there shouldn’t be any additional risk other than the inherent risk of racing, but don’t pretend that you are doing it for his own sake and that he “pouts” without racing. Sorry, but this is is a pet peeve of mine![/QUOTE]

He pouts when not training. If he enjoys race training we assume he enjoys racing. The old horse raises hell on the days he doesn’t track, draw your own conclusions. He likes his job, so as long as he looks forward to training, has the want-to and ability in his races, and stays sound he will do it. After that he’ll probably become a pony. We can argue this point all day long, but most of us here can tell when a horse is happy and when they are done.

[saratoga]

if he is “raising hell”, its probably because he is standing in a stall almost 24/7 and would like to move! Its not that he is dreaming of training or racing and feels sad that he can’t, LOL
That being said, I think as riders and horse owners, we can all tell when a horse willingly does something for us vs. when they are soured/in pain/sore/just don’t want to play anymore. But its ALWAYS the humans choice and desire to race or jump or whatever, certainly not the horses. I love participating in horse sports, but my horse’s welfare is always my responsibility and I wont ever say that I participated in any kind of competition or riding activity for the purpose of making my horse happy.

[CrowneDragon]

The plight of the hard running gelding Run them til the wheels fall off cause there ain’t nothing else to use them for.
He’s not the first and he won’t be the last.

[Artemis]

Which is why this needs to change. Regardless of this being about the industry or the individual people, it needs to be heard. This happens too often, and many people are involved. Paulick’s article specifically states many trainers’ & owners’ names, and doesn’t just blame the whole industry. Just trying to make this industry better. One step at a time.

[BansheeBreeze]

Yeah, I’m sure he ran this horse because he wanted to make the horse happy. http://articles.latimes.com/1990-03-27/sports/sp-244_1_state-racing-commission

Another tragic by product of the racino business. I’d rather see reaching cease to exist than have those death tracks around.

[Slewdledo]

We’ve got one of his contemporaries (they photo-finished each other, can’t remember who won.) Our boy also wound up at the bottom and we got him afterward. Ours also ran longer than he should have on the legs and ankles that he had. He just ended up with owners who knew when to quit.

[Angelico]

[QUOTE=saratoga;7088805]
if he is “raising hell”, its probably because he is standing in a stall almost 24/7 and would like to move! Its not that he is dreaming of training or racing and feels sad that he can’t, LOL
That being said, I think as riders and horse owners, we can all tell when a horse willingly does something for us vs. when they are soured/in pain/sore/just don’t want to play anymore. But its ALWAYS the humans choice and desire to race or jump or whatever, certainly not the horses. I love participating in horse sports, but my horse’s welfare is always my responsibility and I wont ever say that I participated in any kind of competition or riding activity for the purpose of making my horse happy.[/QUOTE]

Do not make assumptions about what goes on in my barn. This horse gets turnout. Daily, unless they are entered, they all go out until it gets too hot and for a hand walk every evening, weather permitting. The smarter ones get trail ridden as well. In short, they are more pets than racehorses.

But wait, that doesn’t fit your “you are involved with racing, I must be better than you” mentality. sigh.

I do actually attempt to make a living at this, one more horse that actually tries is an asset, every horse in the barn is supposed to be a potential check. Us cruel, terrible, heartless bastards do still have to pay the feed man, you know. The second this horse backs off in training, or mellows out, or start showing any wear and tear, he is done. I have a large and grassy pasture and some trails to explore waiting for him, sorry if you were expecting a more gruesome end.

This is what I do, and I can’t do it with horses that don’t like what they do. Some love it, some hate it, some physically can’t, some do for a while and taper off. Put down your racing program and go out to the farm or over to the backside and get the full story before you assume things based on previous form.

[poniesinthenight]

Angelico and many, many more trainers/owners have a heart, it’s the one’s that have to squeeze the last drop out of an animal that need going after. Be careful what you wish for, racing is here to stay, weeding out the scum of racing is where the action needs to be directed.

[Jeito]

Tragic :sadsmile: I am sure Angelico has a heart, but why is he/she immediately on the defensive about THIS case? I’m sorry, but if you can’t acknowledge the ugly, how the heck is the scum going to be weeded out ? Prior to Angelico’s first post, no one suggested all racing was bad.

[Angelico]

[QUOTE=Discobold;7088904]
Tragic :sadsmile: I am sure Angelico has a heart, but why is he/she immediately on the defensive about THIS case? I’m sorry, but if you can’t acknowledge the ugly, how the heck is the scum going to be weeded out ? Prior to Angelico’s first post, no one suggested all racing was bad.[/QUOTE]

I’m just saying: don’t paint everyone with the same brush. Things aren’t always what they seem.

Not saying this horse’s death wasn’t most likely preventable.

[Pronzini]

I agree that it is tragic and doesn’t reflect well on some of the connections (although Paulick-predictably-way overstated his case when he implied that all of the owners and trainers made money on him and by extension are responsible). But we still live in the real world where horses are owned and controlled by others. If people behind keyboards can determine that a racehorse needs to be retired, can I have the same power of veto over your event horse, your hunter jumper, your schoolmaster who is showing 5 levels with you under what he used to show or your endurance horse?

There’s no doubt about it-some people in racing don’t have an internal moral compass. There are supposed to be policies in place to keep those folks in check like the prerace vet inspection and post race testing but of course those aren’t infallible. But as a horse person, I wouldn’t encourage complete strangers having a say over what I do with my horse just because of sad events like this. Not to mention the fact that every time someone sells a horse – any horse–they run the risk that someone else downstream, doesn’t do right by them. Monzante’s fall was pretty gradual by racehorse standards and I’m sure none of people at the front end of this career could have necessarily predicted this would happen at the back end of his career.