Thursday, January 31, 2013

Horses keep dying at Aqueduct


From the Daily News:

A 3-year-old gelding was euthanized at Aqueduct Racetrack Sunday after fracturing its right knee — the eighth horse to die in 27 days of racing at the Queens facility.

Formal Attire was trailing the leader on the rail entering the far turn at Sunday’s second race when the injury occurred. The horse was euthanized a short time later.

The state Racing and Wagering Board has declared five other horses race-day fatalities since Dec. 12. Two additional horses were put down due to infections, but the Racing and Wagering Board said Monday that one of the horse’s — Volition — infections had nothing to do with the injury on the track.

Last year at Aqueduct, 21 horses died in 74 days of racing.

“We continue to be very concerned about the equine fatalities at Aqueduct and are saddened by Formal Attire’s death,” the NYRA said in a statement Sunday night.

The rash of deaths has prompted calls for greater oversight of racing at Aqueduct, but the inner-dirt track has been inspected and declared safe and many jockeys and trainers have recently praised the condition of the winterized track.

A recent report by the Task Force of Racehorse Health and Safety, ordered by Gov. Cuomo, found that 11 of the 21 horses that perished last year could have been saved had they been more closely monitored.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Then move the entire city government there, too!

Anonymous said...

Send our crooked pols to Aqueduct and thin out that dirty herd.

Helen said...

Belmont's a better track, it always has been. The tight confines of a place like Aqueduct's too stressful for the horses.