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California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) Has 'No Solutions' to Its 'Creeping Death Rate'

FROM HorseracingWrongs.org
April 2024

'No solutions' is the spot-on response from people who don't care about the Horses. Solution? 'End horseracing!'

Horseracing Wrongs

Last week at the CHRB’s monthly meeting, after Equine Medical Director Jeff Blea gave his death report, this exchange between Blea and Chairman Greg Ferraro took place:

Ferraro: “Our injury rate, death rate, is creeping up. Do you have any solutions, reasons, comments about that?”

Blea: “Solutions, no. Reasons, each one is unique.”

First, on that “creeping death rate”: In 2022, the Cal racing people were busy backslapping one another in celebration of a death toll of 64. Never mind that 64 beautiful, intelligent animals were sacrificed for gambling. The number was down, things were good. But, last year, 86 horses were felled – a staggering 34% increase. And, 26 horses have died thus far in 2024, putting the state on track to equal or even surpass ’23. “Creeping,” Dr. Ferraro?

As for Blea’s response, perfect, huh? “No solutions” is spot-on, and “each one is unique” is the same drivel we heard after the results of “investigations” into the Churchill and Saratoga killing seasons were released. (It’s the same, of course, every time a track or state comes under scrutiny.) Bottom line: A certain level of killing is built into the system. I know it, and more to the point, they know it.

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