Every time horses are forced to race, whether at Churchill Downs or the smallest regional racetrack, they risk their lives in an industry plagued by deception and the rampant use of performance-enhancing drugs. As a result, hundreds of horses will die tragically on tracks in the U.S. and Canada this year.
We're doing all that we can to stop their suffering—whether it's at the hands of trainers and owners or in the slaughterhouses where many are sent after they're "retired"—and today, we need your help.
While coverage of today’s pandemic-delayed Kentucky Derby may focus on the storied history of the race, most won't hear a peep about the horses pushed to their breaking point by a racing industry dominated by drugs, deception, and death. They won't be told about the trainers who rely on performance-enhancing drugs to mask horses' pain or see the injuries that will put some at risk of having a fatal breakdown.
No horse should die on any track for someone's idea of entertainment.
Horses are smart, fascinating animals, gentle giants who feel joy, pain, fear, and all the other emotions that we do and can use symbols to communicate their desires.
But despite their size, they can be hurt very easily in the racing industry, which masks undisclosed injuries and health conditions with medications to keep lame and unfit horses competing. Illegal doping and the use of medication like Lasix—a diuretic that's routinely administered to horses to make them lighter and faster by dehydrating them and that also masks other drugs—is rampant throughout much of racing in the U.S. and Canada, leading to injuries, broken bones, and an often gruesome death.
Horse racing's dependence on drugs and dishonesty is so widespread that the trainer of last year's disqualified Kentucky Derby winner, Maximum Security, was recently indicted along with 26 others for drugging horses. And just last week, the California Horse Racing Board announced that it would pursue the disqualification of Justify, a horse who tested positive for a banned substance in a 2018 qualifying race for the Kentucky Derby before his subsequent Triple Crown win. If officials had disclosed the failed drug test, Justify could not have raced in the Derby.
After dozens of horses died at California's Santa Anita Park, we worked with track owners and state officials to make historic changes to regulations, banning some of the worst forms of abuse in racing. We've now pushed a coalition of major U.S. racetracks—including Churchill Downs—to phase out the use of Lasix. We've also played a major role in California's crackdown on medication overuse and in increasing donations from bettors to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, a racing industry–supported organization—formed after pressure from PETA—that helps keep horses "retired" from racing from being sent to slaughterhouses in Canada, Mexico, South Korea, and other countries.
And just a few weeks ago, a first-of-its-kind, PETA-supported racketeering and fraud lawsuit led to a substantial settlement for a bettor cheated out of his winnings by a trainer and owner whose long-shot winner of a New Jersey harness race tested positive for a banned substance. Now, we're making sure that bettors on tomorrow's race remember this precedent-setting suit's results if there are failed drug tests. Because the horse was the ultimate victim, the bettor donated a portion of the settlement to a race horse rescue group at our request.
It's taken years of intense campaigning by PETA to achieve this progress and more, but until no horse is raced to their breaking point at the Kentucky Derby—or anywhere else—we MUST do more.
Kind Regards,
Kathy Guillermo
Senior Vice President
PETA
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