US racetrack Santa Anita - horse deaths

bonny

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 September 2007
Messages
6,487
Visit site
i was under the impression that lots of the american horses are on steroids which explains their big muscles and bodies compared to ours..also americans can use medication so may be masking problems which leads to horses breaking down when pushed hard as they may be having the beginnings of a problem and be lame but not show as they are on pain relief..
I think this is where this thread began !
 

Carrottom

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 February 2018
Messages
1,917
Visit site
I don’t think one horse tells us anything at all and of course American horses can stay, nowadays so many horses travel that the bloodlines are all mixed up, coolmore in particular is interested in the American sires.
Northern dancer (Canadian bred) raced in the US and was at stud in Canada and then US is believed to be in approx 75% of current tb lineage.
 

bonny

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 September 2007
Messages
6,487
Visit site
I was watching the racing today and thinking about the welfare comments on here and this is what I thought was relevant to this thread ! A whole variety of racing today, the first day of the flat from Doncaster, some underwhelming jump racing and then the serious blue bloods racing for millions in Dubai so everything was covered. They had the new rubber hurdles in action, which look very easy to jump and I saw no fallers over them. What was sad was the first 2 year old race of the season, 17 of them of varying degrees of maturity and one who was 2 minths shy of her birthday broke a leg, maybe 2 year olds shouldnt race till later in the year, I thought. Saw the new Japanese superstar mare in action in Dubai who looks huge for a 4 year old, not that I’m suggesting anything by that ! Looking forward to Aintree next week where the real racing will be back !
 
Joined
28 February 2011
Messages
16,451
Visit site
Speed gene from one horse 300 years ago.

Http://www.google.co.uk/url?q=https...fC6QQFggSMAM&usg=AOvVaw1hEfRHVx8E5-M-KM6TF1EL

Virtually entire world TB population descended from 28 ancestors from the 17 and 1800s

http://www.google.co.uk/url?q=https...fC6QQFggdMAc&usg=AOvVaw2s5MqMoQU_UcOM1SpEp0dd


Pft and twaddle! The speed was reintroduced by the shetland pony 😝😂

423592_10150592177859721_1638106467_n.jpg


Acknowledgements 'The Sunday Times' 31-01-2012
All of us who have witnessed the 0-20 mph acceleration of a Shetland pony will happily, and now it's scientifically proven, go along with the following. And no, it's not April 1st!! ~
SHETLAND PONY GAVE HORSES GIFT OF SPEED
(Robin Henry Sunday Times 29th January 2012)
Next time you back a winner at the races, you’ll have a squat Shetland pony that lived in Britain 300 years ago to thank. Scientists believe they have traced the “speed gene” that propels modern racehorses to a single 17th- century mare.
History has long credited Arabian stallions imported from the Middle East in the 1680’s as the predecessors of modern thoroughbreds. However, the genetic predisposition for sprinting in reality came from a Shetland mare chosen for them to mate with, the researchers say.
As with humans, horse sprinters are born with fast-twitch muscle fibres, which are suited to explosive bursts of activity. A team led by Emmeline Hill, an equine geneticist at University College Dublin, identified the speed-gene variant that drives this muscle development.
“We found an unusually high frequency of the C – variant in modern thoroughbreds best suited to sprint racing,” said Hill, whose findings are published in Nature Communications. Her team analysed DNA from 593 modern horses and museum specimens from 12 historically famous stallions.
They discovered that, while the speed gene was prevalent among modern sprinters, it was rare in top racehorses before the 20th century. Before then, long distance stamina had been favoured. The team then looked further back in history. “Thoroughbred stallions were brought over from the Middle East and bred with native British mares and our results suggest there was a single one of these Shetland ponies who passed on the variant we see in modern sprinters,” said Hill.


Which would explain why when you rattle a bucket of food or you try to catch the buggers they are gone in a split second!
 

Clodagh

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 August 2005
Messages
24,952
Location
Devon
Visit site
I was watching the racing today and thinking about the welfare comments on here and this is what I thought was relevant to this thread ! A whole variety of racing today, the first day of the flat from Doncaster, some underwhelming jump racing and then the serious blue bloods racing for millions in Dubai so everything was covered. They had the new rubber hurdles in action, which look very easy to jump and I saw no fallers over them. What was sad was the first 2 year old race of the season, 17 of them of varying degrees of maturity and one who was 2 minths shy of her birthday broke a leg, maybe 2 year olds shouldnt race till later in the year, I thought. Saw the new Japanese superstar mare in action in Dubai who looks huge for a 4 year old, not that I’m suggesting anything by that ! Looking forward to Aintree next week where the real racing will be back !
I didn't know 2 year olds did run this early. That's very sad. I know very little about flat racing.
 
Joined
28 February 2011
Messages
16,451
Visit site
I didn't know 2 year olds did run this early. That's very sad. I know very little about flat racing.

It was the first British 2yo this year yesterday. The first one in Ireland was Thursday or Friday. They can't run on the beach donkey derby tracks as a 2yo until the start of the turf season either.

I personally would rather they couldn't run until July 1st as a 2yo as you are never going to stop it. At least then they would have attained their actual 2nd birthday.
 

tristar

Well-Known Member
Joined
23 August 2010
Messages
6,586
Visit site
nasrullah and nijinsky were special horses, not easy, i have a horse with both these bloodlines and is ``special`` too, so much like those stallions it gives me goose bumps, nij`s strength and willfulness and nas`s independent ways, not easy


so interesting to see the potency of the best and most influential stallions and how they live on through so many generations dominating all others.
 

Mule

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 October 2016
Messages
7,655
Visit site
Pft and twaddle! The speed was reintroduced by the shetland pony 😝😂

423592_10150592177859721_1638106467_n.jpg


Acknowledgements 'The Sunday Times' 31-01-2012
All of us who have witnessed the 0-20 mph acceleration of a Shetland pony will happily, and now it's scientifically proven, go along with the following. And no, it's not April 1st!! ~
SHETLAND PONY GAVE HORSES GIFT OF SPEED
(Robin Henry Sunday Times 29th January 2012)
Next time you back a winner at the races, you’ll have a squat Shetland pony that lived in Britain 300 years ago to thank. Scientists believe they have traced the “speed gene” that propels modern racehorses to a single 17th- century mare.
History has long credited Arabian stallions imported from the Middle East in the 1680’s as the predecessors of modern thoroughbreds. However, the genetic predisposition for sprinting in reality came from a Shetland mare chosen for them to mate with, the researchers say.
As with humans, horse sprinters are born with fast-twitch muscle fibres, which are suited to explosive bursts of activity. A team led by Emmeline Hill, an equine geneticist at University College Dublin, identified the speed-gene variant that drives this muscle development.
“We found an unusually high frequency of the C – variant in modern thoroughbreds best suited to sprint racing,” said Hill, whose findings are published in Nature Communications. Her team analysed DNA from 593 modern horses and museum specimens from 12 historically famous stallions.
They discovered that, while the speed gene was prevalent among modern sprinters, it was rare in top racehorses before the 20th century. Before then, long distance stamina had been favoured. The team then looked further back in history. “Thoroughbred stallions were brought over from the Middle East and bred with native British mares and our results suggest there was a single one of these Shetland ponies who passed on the variant we see in modern sprinters,” said Hill.


Which would explain why when you rattle a bucket of food or you try to catch the buggers they are gone in a split second!
I love that 😂
 

molar roller

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 May 2017
Messages
64
Visit site
statistic shows that :

for 1000 races:

santa anita 2009 fatal injury rate :0,59 (polytrack)
santa anita 2016 fatal injury rate :3,13 (dirt)
santa anita 2017 fatal injury rate: 2,38 (dirt)

As you know most American racetrack traditionally has a dirt surface but Santa Anita park switched to ''polytrack'' (a kind of synthetic dirt) surface at 2008 because which is more safely. But at 2008 two european turf horses Raven's PAss and Henrythenavigator leave Curlin behind at Breeders cup Classic. Curlin was a huge favorite.
Also some of horses imported from EU (imported as a foal years ago) have good results when surface turn to polytrack.
That situation was a real disaster, finally race industry people understand that polytrack surface is so close to turf and this is a threat for American breeders, horse owners and trainers because EU based horses can dominate Santa Anita. They press to panic button and turn to dirt again. Actually all of them know that Poly is safer but who cares.

I have spend couple years in North American racetracks, and I'd like to say where money is so important. still lasix is legal in some of US states and Canadian provinces.
Rest of the World, people know just high class American racehorses like Arrogate, A.Pharoah, Justify and has a perception like that ''North American Racing industry is leader in the World, best trainers and the best horses are in North America''
I'd like to say rest of the World just sees the dining table. Kitchen is terrible. I'm not just talking about injections. Training methods, feeding, grooming are terrible in %95 of North American TB industry.
 
Last edited:

molar roller

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 May 2017
Messages
64
Visit site
Literally I say rest of the World. I know a lot of TB people thinking like that, Asians, South Americans... I have no idea about the reason.
 

tristar

Well-Known Member
Joined
23 August 2010
Messages
6,586
Visit site
well i would not chose to use a modern north american stallion, i would use english french and irish only although they it is impossible to escape entirely from the bloodlines, i just feel the breeders here have more skill at producing good sires
 

molar roller

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 May 2017
Messages
64
Visit site
well i would not chose to use a modern north american stallion, i would use english french and irish only although they it is impossible to escape entirely from the bloodlines, i just feel the breeders here have more skill at producing good sires

it depends on the what you have as a broodmare line…doesn't?
if you have a Dynaformer I can say some US sire lines to mate her.you will get better results if she is a good one.
but if you have a Selkirk definitely you may find tons of UK /IRE lines. like pivotal, singspiel or maybe Japanese deep impact/Sunday silence line.

In Usa breeders do not need any skill to produce a sire :) if a horse wins 5 consecutive races between 5 and 7 furlongs who retires and turns to a perfect(!) stallion. Because the owner can advertise as ''undefeated son of PULPIT'' and ask 50K
 

Orangehorse

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 November 2005
Messages
13,204
Visit site
I knew that certain medications are allowed in USA racing, but not so many and not all the time, its shocking. That is very sad for the horses and it does see to make them expendable. Odd that vets are happy to go along with this - but then some go along with Big Lick in Tennasse Walking Horse showing - and that is a whole different story.
 

Mule

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 October 2016
Messages
7,655
Visit site
I read more articles about Tildren and another bisphosphonate that's used. Apparently there could still be problems down the road because it lasts so long in the horse's systems.
The fear is, even if it's banned in very young horses, a generation will be racing who have already had it. So those horse and their jockeys could be in danger whenever they race 😲
 

Mule

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 October 2016
Messages
7,655
Visit site
That's very sad. Sometimes I think the saying that money is the route of all evil is true. I'd add ambition to that.
At any rate, as a species we have done so much damage to animals who have the same right to exist as we do. *mini rant over :(
 

molar roller

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 May 2017
Messages
64
Visit site
yes good news, I hope one day they understand that money is uneatable.
drugs, lasix, dirt tracks or inbreeding, theese are parts of puzzle. Main problem is ignorance and empire of Money.
horses get tranquilizer too on racedays. an this is legal in North America. (acepromazine)
If you visit an US/Canadian racetrack, you can not see any warm-up or cool-down process, a groom saddle up the horse and horse goes to track directly!

- between barn and track distance is nearly 100 yards (it depends on the barn location)
when the horse arrives to track ;

- first one furlongs trot
- 1½ or 2 laps Canter
- coming back to his barn
- groom washes his legs
- then horse goes into the stall !!

yes! he horse still hot, sweaty and has 3 digits heart rate and his groom leaves him to the stall, no one lead this horse to cool-down, no one put him to the hotwalker tools . Americans/canadians just use the hotwalker tools after race or work out (work-out is galopping as American Eng) because an average US racetrack has only 15-20 hotwalker tools and each one for max 4 horses, whereas 1000 horses live in an average racetrack. Even this situation can explain why a lot of horses die.
Trainers want to save Money so one groom cares nearly 6 to 10 horses. You can do this in a breeding farm but if you try this in a racetrack, no time to even mucking out or bandaging properly.
by the way I'm talking about %95 of North American TB industry. no idea about other %5 (Santa Anita, Aquaduct, Saratoga, Keenland,Churchill Downs etc)
 
Top