An Eyewitness Account of Racehorse Heartspoke’s Death
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Horseracing Wrongs
July 2018

I left after that, unable to stomach the idea of placing any more bets – or even staying there another minute. I  don’t think I will be back.

Tony from Albany:

“Earlier today I believe I witnessed a horse die on Saratoga Race Course. I was there, despite having mixed feelings about going, for my company’s annual picnic at the track. I didn’t actually see the horse fall… I was too busy eating, drinking, socializing and hoping for ‘my’ horse to pay out a tiny little profit on my $2 bet.

“Then I heard the crowd gasp and when I looked, I saw the horse lying on the track, not moving a muscle. A flurry of track workers surrounded the horse – but it didn’t look like they were able to revive her, and I’m guessing that wasn’t their intention. A big blue curtain was placed in front of her; someone said ‘I think they’re going to put the horse onto that,’ but I think its actual purpose was to shield us from having to watch a euthanasia procedure. One that probably wasn’t necessary, in any event.

“And apart from the crowd’s brief gasp, it was otherwise business as usual. The announcer kept chattering, the tellers kept taking bets, the next horses kept moving forward to enter the track for the next race. And it didn’t seem to matter that this particular horse had just given all she had left to give in the service of our quaint little blood sport, and now was being unceremoniously loaded into a truck and moved out of the way.

“I left after that, unable to stomach the idea of placing any more bets – or even staying there another minute. I don’t think I will be back.”

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