Uh oh - REAL Sports with Bryant Gumble

[EMWalker]

Well, horse racing - here it comes again. I just watched a REAL Sports With Bryant Gumble on HBO. In the segment, they went to a track in West Virginia and followed as the slow horses got picked up by the “meat man” and then show the horses going to slaughter. It even showed the process of slaughter!

I am a horse person, I understand what goes on and all I can say is that I was horrified! I can’t even imagine what the general public is going to say about this… here comes PETA, again.

And an interesting fact in the end - a specific trainer they showed, has had at lease one horse tested positive for a banned substance every year since 2000. The horse trainer is still training horses. That horse trainer, trains Big Brown…

This will probably start a train wreck, but since it was on TV it was worth mentioning.

[Derid]

ESPN

I didn’t see the Gumball show, but I was watching the Black-eyed Susan this afternoon and they were running a blurb at the bottom of the screen saying that Dutrow admitted to giving all the horses in his barn steroids on the 15th of every month…they also noted it was legal to give the steroid in the states that he runs horses INCLUDING Kentucky, Maryland and New York.

Didn’t make me feel warm or fuzzy, but it didn’t suggest he was doing anything against the law.

Derid

[summerhorse]

Dutrow’s violations are for illegal substances not steroids. Steroids while they SHOULD be illegal are not in most states.

In this case horse racing needs to take the hit and wake up already. Throwing away these horses like garbage is just not acceptable.

[Texarkana]

Re: Rick Dutrow
He’s never really been the warm and fuzzy type. I tend not to get all cuddly about recovered (?) drug addicts who love to circumvent the rules. But… at least he’s always entertaining.

And well, if there are trainers in WV willing to let HBO broadcast them selling their horses to slaughter, that is one instance where I feel PETA should be after them!!! :eek: It’s bad enough that there will always be some jerk trying to make one last dime off the horse (no matter what the discipline). But how unbalanced do you have to be to let HBO film it!?!

[EMWalker]

I agree that Bryant Gumble and his show can be rather obnoxious (I have a professional athlete husband and he can’t stand watching the show) but I was shocked when they showed the stuff they did! I was just like, well, if it wakes up the horse industry then more power to them!

I am currently in Lexington for some spring horse shows and I see all these beautiful babies running in the field and I just want to take them all home.

I hope that this huge mess really helps the horse industry as a whole.

[PauletteKy]

The trainers didn’t know they were being filmed. It was all done undercover. HBO went back to talk to the trainer and he basically said he didn’t want to know where the horses went. Security tried to take the tapes away from the HBO staff, but they gave them a blank tape.

[kellidahorsegirl]

Are there clips of this show (or the whole show) up on the net or anywhere? I don’t get HBO.

[DickHertz]

Where’s County?

[Kenike]

Here you go:

The first part of the show:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=04mvw6tTHrs

The second part of the show:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RSboR03WnjI

And if you check on the Off Course forums, you’ll find the original thread on this. It’s been discussed for a while now.

[simply_kim]

Delighted to see that this was on HBO. Hope lots of otherwise ignorant people got an education.The truth always come out eventually.

[JustJump]

Just watched. Seems like they told the truth. It’s too bad, but not covering it doesn’t seem to me to be any kind of solution. Makes Eight Belles seem kind of lucky, though.

[findeight]

The racing industry…and all of us who use our horses in a sport be it shows or whatever…need to face up to this. Maybe it will take the whack jobs at PETA to convince some they need to change…God knows this stuff is no secret and never has been.

Some old saying about anything only being as good as the worst part of it? Weakest link in the chain? A team being only as good as the weakest member? Well…maybe it is time we admit the weak part and work to change it.

Steroids are now frowned upon or illegal in human athletes due to detrimental effects on the user yet we openly boast of using them in horses (outside of limited, legit uses) because they “are not illegal”. Great. We look real good to outsiders.

You know…one other thing here. Big Brown did not pick his owners and handlers. I don’t like 'em either. That does not diminish the talent of this horse…and comparisons are never valid because any horse only has to beat what he is running against, only has to go fast enough to beat them. Not a page in a record book.

I hope he wins today and again in Belmont. We need it. And maybe it will be good for more then just the wins if racing as a whole finally deals up front with these issues.

[DickHertz]

[QUOTE=simply kim;3218335]
Delighted to see that this was on HBO. Hope lots of otherwise ignorant people got an education.The truth always come out eventually.[/QUOTE]

They did a story about how Sheikh Mohammad uses 12 year old boys to race camels in Dubai about 3 years ago. I emailed Ray Paulick (former editor of the Bloodhorse about it and he said HBO Real Sports wasn’t a reputable news source…

[DickHertz]

[QUOTE=findeight;3218539]

I hope he wins today and again in Belmont. We need it. And maybe it will be good for more then just the wins if racing as a whole finally deals up front with these issues.[/QUOTE]

I hope he remains sound, but runs last in the Preakness and last in the Belmont. Richard Dutrow doesn’t deserve a horse like this.

[ASB_Stars]

I have not looked at the video, but I do know that Christy S. from Another Chance for Horses appears in it. A friend of mine, who was there to meet up with Christy, and pick up a Saddlebred mare, watched it, and, apparently, could identify herself in it- largely because she saw her purse, first. ":lol:

One dealer, whose face was obscured, sold another ASB to AC4H, as well.

I would imagine New Holland’s management is not pleased, either. They have been trying to sanatize their image- and even have one rescue referring to what we have all known as the KILL pen for years- as the “As Is” pen. MUCH more PC, doncha think? :lol:

[Acertainsmile]

Wow Dick, thats not nice.

[DickHertz]

Does anyone know the name of the trainer at Mountaineer who sent the horse away and “didn’t want to know where it was going”.

[farmgirl88]

THANK GOD. I am so happy HBO did this. Everything was so true and to the point and on the spot. Its about time the American public sees what actually goes on.

[DickHertz]

I have a question…

If it’s illegal to transport horses for the purpose of slaughter, why doesn’t the PSP just sit outside of the New Holland grounds and pull people over and ask them for Health Certificates and where they are going, etc?

Maybe I’m misinterpreting the law…

[findeight]

As distateful as this whole subject is, perhaps the PSP has more pressing things on their to do list then stopping livestock haulers who don’t break any traffic laws on a mere suspicion papers may not be in order…and does/do the PSP even have the authority or would that be some kind of agricultural inspection agency’s job? Would they even know what papers were needed or what they were supposed to look like?

I would think parking an officer at the end of the driveway is not good police work in light of what else is going on around them in their jurisdiction.

And, Dick, Big Brown is just a horse. Can’t pick his handlers. If he runs dead last in both as you wish, perhaps he will be more likely to end up like Ferdinand then as a successful stud. Don’t take your distaste for the humans out on the dumb beast doing their bidding.