Another view
Well, at the risk of starting another fire I will have to say that I think stopping the dealers (it is really nice and propagandistic to call them slaughter buyers) was a very ill advised way of “saving” the horses which have no option but to get out of the barns. At many of the tracks there is a mandatory 48 - 72 hour period at which the horses must leave. Many, if not most of the trainers/owners do not have any options for these horses. Where did everyone think they would go once there was no other option for them to be sold? It would be so very nice and a perfect little world if no one needed that extra $200 - $600 that the trainers/owners would get for them, but is is an elitist notion that those who do not have extra money should get out of racing. Does that not exclude alot of really good people, we all get in financial trouble sometimes, even the best of the good people who would never consider sending their horse to an uncertain fate? But, think of this, many of those “slaughter buyers” do find really good homes for the horses, one such on Charles Town’s back side keeps in contact with the bloodstock agent Michael Sleazak to buy good broodmare prospects that the trainers/owners do not know about and also has his own auction every now and again for private buyers to attend. This is part of his business, this networking. So, I am not about to brand a decent man or woman, who may be sending these horses on to possibly a good, decent or better life, and live in the belief that it is all black and white out there.
What would have made more sense was to create a database which is made available to every trainer/owner/groom/hotwalker or anyone who ever works
the backside so that they would have options. That still has not been done, so at Sugar Creek, on June 20th, instead of there being 20 OTTBs there, there were 32. Now, that could have happened because of the overall financial crisis pressures, but I happen to know that there are no dealers now allowed in there, at least certain ones who have been branded (and many rightfully so) as slaughter buyers. It made everyone feel so warm and fuzzy inside that now the horses are safe, but who are we kidding with these stop gap measures. Certainly not me.
We could all probably come up with much better ideas to help the racing industry and the horse industry overall if we would take off the myopic glasses and look at the situation honestly and fairly. As far as the Michael Gill, Scott Lake and the departed Dale Bairds, it was obvious what they and others who claim by the dozens, kill by the handfuls and have little if no interest in doing any different are doing to the racing industry. This can get very emotional as it is so heartbreaking for anyone who sees this first hand, but belittling this, or downplaying will accomplish nothing except more rampant suffering.
