Answer: Money

Question: What do racehorse owners love more than their horses?

Many readers know that I was lucky enough to score a Photographer’s All Access Pass to the horse races of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club back in August. As I said in an earlier post (I scored!):

I’m not a fan of horse racing because I believe that animals of that size and age should not be forced to run around a track with an extra hundred pounds on its back. That belief is proven each year when hundreds of horses are killed (commonly called euthanized) because of a broken leg or other traumatic injury. Just at the Del Mar Races, which last about three weeks, dozens of horses are killed each year because they “break down.”

I have the finals on what happened at the Del Mar Races this year: Eleven horses were killed in 37 days of racing. That’s one horse every 3.3636 days!

Del Mar is a city of the 1%. Rich Republicans. The 2010 Census shows 4,161 people in 2,064 households calling Del Mar home. The racial makeup was 3,912 (94.0%) White, 10 (0.2%) African American, 8 (0.2%) Native American, 118 (2.8%) Asian, 3 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 25 (0.6%) from other races, and 85 (2.0%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 175 persons (4.2%).

The horses racing at Del Mar are age two to six.

Imagine the uproar if eleven children age two to six died in 37 days in a city of 4,161. Or any city really!

When I went to the races with the Pacific Photography Society, one of our members asked the Del Mar representative about the horse deaths. He said (loosely quoted because I didn’t record it, and it’s now two months later):

“It’s unfortunate, but horses are athletes, and athletes sometimes get hurt.“

I’ll give him the part about athletes sometimes getting hurt. Sometimes athletes even die of their injuries. Not a single one, however, was euthanized (the nice word for killed or murdered). Another difference is that horses are not athletes! They don’t have a choice as to whether or not they are going to race. Their choice is made for them, supposedly by good veterinarians. Nonetheless, the horses don’t get to make their own decision. Horse racing is nothing but cruelty to animals.

Here is the toll for horse deaths at Del Mar over the years:

• 2012 – 11
• 2011 – 12
• 2010 – 5
• 2009 – 9
• 2008 – 14
• 2007 – 12
• 2006 – 13
• 2005 – 23
• 2004 – 26
• 2003 – 17
• 2002 – 22
• 2001 – 13

Statewide in California, 200-300 race horses are killed each year due to racing injuries. Nationally, over 1,000! Remember Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby in 2008? Broke two ankles on live television and had to be killed. I don’t watch horse races but the darn news played the tape so many times it was hard to miss it.

Horse racing is nothing but cruelty to animals.

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