I'll Have Another wins the Preakness Stakes

[LadyMoondancer]

Wow, what an amazing horse!  He won the Derby, and now the Preakness . . . Just like in the Derby, Bodemeister had the lead and then near the end of the race, WHOOSH, I'll Have Another rocketed forward to challenge him.  Much closer race than the Derby was!

[stopxmotion]

It was definitely more exciting. SO CLOSE.
I'm so happy for I'll Have Another. I love him! Triple Crown now!!

Oh, and I found his twitter - https://twitter.com/#!/Ill_HaveAnother
It's cute 

[Kiwi]

Wow, that is awesome I wonder if he'll manage the Triple Crown.

[Koudoawaia]

Hope he wins the next one too so we finally have another Triple Crown winner. ^^

[kaoskat]

Wow! I wonder if he'll win the Belmont too.

[Rhini]

I shouldn't be allowed to watch horse racing, I get too worked up It was a great race though! I think he has a good shot at triple crown with the way he can just kick it up at the end there.

[mlpfan]

I hope he wins the triple crown!
how long has it been since a horse won all three?

[kaoskat]

Affirmed in 1978

[Eviecorn]

Maybe another Triple Crown on our hands?  Let's hope!

[StarDapple]

I'm definitely tuning in to the Belmont!  I'd love to see a Triple Crown Winner in my lifetime.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Go Canadian horsey GOOOOOOOOOO!    He's owned by a Canadian btw.

[HavACrumpet452]

[Removing post as it is off top and meant to cause strife. ~ pop-girl]

[Roccoriel]

Okay, I was holding back on this.  I don't want to start a debate, but it's very unfair of you to paint everyone involved in horse racing as a horse-slaughtering, abusive monster.

I have exercised/worked with racehorses in training for years.  The ones I ride are well trained, safe, and sane.  They are very well treated.  I have also helped rehab ex-race horses.  I am vehemently against race day drugs, and I am also anti horse-slaughter (not trying to start a debate on slaughter, just mentioning it to show not everyone involved in horse racing is pro-slaughter, in fact many are against).  I am very against abusive training methods, such as rollkur in dressage horses and soring in TWH, and think they should be eliminated.  But I know that not every dressage or TWH trainer is abusive!

Like any other event, you're going to have good and bad trainers, owners, etc.  Like any other event, the bad folks are the ones who get the press.  If you look at the other side- this year alone, banning of race day drugs has been put forward and the Jockey Club has begun working towards a fund for retirement for all ex racehorses.  Banning race day drugs would drastically lower the number of track injuries- in the US, where they are allowed, we have up to four times the "failures" of countries where they are banned.  Additionally, providing funding for ex racers clearly shows that the racing industry does not encourage slaughter (in fact, some tracks will suspend you if you are know to sell your retire-ies to kill buyers).  Winning horses are not slaughtered after "a few breeding years".  Some examples just off the top of my head- Dynaformer passed away within the last few weeks at the age of 27, Seattle Slew was 28, Affirmed was 27.  None of them went to slaughter.  I know they had even retired Dynaformer from breeding at the end and were just keeping him happy and fed and in a big green field.

I want to draw your attention to a news story which happened very recently and near me.  In fact, I know the person involved.  There is a local race horse own who had retired several of his horses and wanted to find them good homes where they would be happy and owned by someone who would enjoy them.  He gave them to a local horse trainer and dealer, along with food for a few months and money.  He PAID her to take care of them while they were retrained and rehomed because he wanted them to have good lives....if he didn't, he could have sold them for slaughter and made some money.  She  ended up selling them for slaughter, and he was absolutely horrified.  In every report I saw, he was beside himself that he thought they were going to good homes.  In this case, it was a random horse trainer who was the "bad person" (she was charged with fraud, by the way), and the race horse person who was doing the right thing.

Do I wish they would wait longer to race them, have a better safety net for ones who are done racing, and stop race day drugs? Absolutely. Do I think the entire system is abusive? Absolutely not.  They are actively working on fixing the problems with the system, including safer track surfaces, ending the use of race day drugs, and funding retirement.

[StarDapple]

Actually retired winning racehorses are treated like kings.  Even the ones who don't breed!  Kelso, the greatest race gelding ever, retired to his owner's farm where lived out his days as a hunter, jumper and trail horse, until he died at the ripe old age of 26.


I do think they are raced too early, however having horses run in a race in and of itself is not abusive.  Many, if not most, of the horses don't go to slaughter, they are sent to sanctuaries or retrained and sold to new owners.  I am not going to say that ALL horses are not slaughtered, but the number that are is much smaller than you are making it out to be.  Trainers/owners who take their horses to slaughter are looked down upon and shunned.

Roccoriel: I think it is really cool that you are able to work with racehorses!  I always wanted to work with them.  What other jobs do you do besides being an exercise rider?

[DemonicSymphony]

Actually HavACrumpet452... The average age of death for a Preakness winner since 1973 is 19.9 years of age.

Of the deceased horses on only one (Elocutionist) is the reason of death not listed that I could find. The rest are of natural causes or humane euthanization (often due to old age)

People make far more money retiring these racehorses to stud and keeping them happy and healthy for years and years at stud than they do sending them to a slaughter house after a 'few years'