PETA Wants Him Banned!...?

NORFOLK, Va. (AP)—People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is seeking the suspension of Eight Belles’ jockey after the filly had to be euthanized following her second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday.

Gabriel Saez was riding Eight Belles when she broke both front ankles while galloping out a quarter of a mile past the wire. She was euthanized on the track.

PETA faxed a letter Sunday to Kentucky’s racing authority claiming the filly was “doubtlessly injured before the finish” and asked that Saez be suspended while Eight Belles’ death is investigated.

“What we really want to know, did he feel anything along the way?” PETA spokeswoman Kathy Guillermo said. “If he didn’t then we can probably blame the fact that they’re allowed to whip the horses mercilessly.”

Eight Belles trainer Larry Jones said the filly was clearly happy when she crossed the finish line.

“I don’t know how in the heck they can even come close to saying that,” Jones told The Associated Press on Sunday. “She has her ears up, clearly galloping out.”

Guillermo said if Saez is found at fault, the group wants the second-place prize of $400,000 won by Eight Belles to be revoked.

Saez, a 20-year-old Panama native, was riding in his first Kentucky Derby. He frequently rides for Jones.

A call to the jockeys’ room at Delaware Park, where Saez raced on Sunday, went unanswered.

Eight Belles, the first filly since 1999 to run in the Derby, appeared fine until collapsing while galloping out after the finish.

The letter to the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority also sought a ban on whipping, limits on races and the age of racehorses, and a move to softer, artificial surfaces for all courses.

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Now after reading this article it go’s to show me that once again people are idiots. Especially the last line or so when they say that they want the horses to be ran on softer surfaces. I mean have you guys ever been down on a track before? the damn dirt goes all the way up past your ankles, geeze how much softer do you want it to be!!! What do you guys think?

Peta should have him banned if he had something to do with the injury of the horse.

Rupert
CharlieFrancis.com

You guys thinks that harsh. Guess what happens to greyhounds that can’t run fast. They end up on the menu in China.

I say ignorance is bliss! Or is it ?

Sharma - did you know, that greyhounds are trained to be blood thirsty killers?

Basically, you teach the dog to be a blood thirsty killer - if its too docile and cant be trained that way, it does not become a race dog -
once the dog is a killer, there is no way of turning them back to a docile Pet, they stay a killing machine (for a dog). Hence, once a dog is no longer able to race - they put them down.

its how they get them to Chase that rabbit.

The dogs are bread just as a race dog - (in the racing industry)

just like chickens are breed for eggs n meat, and other animals.

There are numerous programs that have been introduced by the greyhound racing industry to give dogs are better life after racing. The adopt a greyhound program has had some success. Bloody thirsty killers may be a thing of the past. Greyhounds are rather docile.

I have a few friends who own some of the best dogs in Australia. I usually ask them what do with the ones that can’t run? Get ride of them! If they end up on Chinese dinner table they don’t care.

Greyhounds are breed for racing, however it’s barbaric and brutal to threat animals like this. Guess what happens to race horses that can’t run fast?

They end up going to the slaughter horse and end up being dog food.

Animal groups fight for tighter regulations in the industry, however they lack any real penetration. The government is in love with racing industry, they tax 18% from betting turnover. Fifty million is bet on the Melbourne Cup alone, that’s 9 million straight to government budget. You can only image the millions of dollars they gov’t make from the racing industry annually.

You see the government doesn’t care if greyhound’s end up on Chinese menus and racehorses become dog food. If the public were made aware of the truth behind the racing industry than pressure would build to enforce change.

Deleted post. Too graphic

I get attacked by blood thirsty greyhounds every year:rolleyes: at the Greyhound invitational where the sometimes bring the dogs for adopting.

Sharmer, is this necessary? shit…

I honestly don’t see what the big deal is. Greyhounds and race horses are born and bred to race. When they can’t run fast, they’ve outlived their usefulness.

Now, I think torturing an animal is wrong, but killing it once it no longer has a purpose isn’t nearly as bad in my mind. If they’re killed painlessly, I see nothing wrong with it.

And honestly, what’s with all the gory pictures? I know you’re trying to raise sympathy for the dogs, but the state they’re in in those pictures in no way tells whether or not their lives were ended humanely. Personally, I look at those pictures and am slightly conflicted. On one hand I see a potentially good pet cut down with plenty of life left, and on the other, I see a potentially tasty dinner. Really, either option is fine in my book.

Now, I think torturing an animal is wrong, but killing it once it no longer has a purpose isn’t nearly as bad in my mind. If they’re killed painlessly, I see nothing wrong with it.

Greyhounds that end up Asia are not killed painlessly.

well - dogs eat meat - they got to get it from someplace.
Have you ever seen a vego dog - now thats inhumane.

At least the horse or whatever is turned into something of use - not just dumped and rotted away.

The good ones, such as Seabiscuit in America and Phar Lap have movies made about them and end up in racing museums. Most of slow ones end up in a can.

Vego dog? Need to look that one up.

horse tastes good

never tried greyhound dog meat before.

Raw horse is a delicacy in - Japan, Russia, Belgium and France. Can’t see myself acquiring a taste for it.

Didnt Bo Derek join a campaign to stop horses from being slaughtered for meat in Canada?

Recent changes to the 2006 Agriculture Appropriations bill has made horse slaughter banned in many US states.

I hear that mo greene tasted delicious… :stuck_out_tongue:

The 1986 Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand met his end in Japanese slaughterhouse because failure at stud.

Well, to get back to the original point that PETA attempted to make-----
Is the use of a whip during a race cruel?

In the case of Eight Belles, the jock said he only used the whip on the left side because of the horse’s tendency to bear into the rail. Frankly, I have observed verbal abuse by coaches directed at humans that I would consider far crueler than the use of the whip in horse racing.

It’s not a question of using the whip alone. The issue is that jockey would have felt changes in the horse gait yet continued to whip the horse to the finish line. When a horse suffers serious injuries during the race jockeys know, in these scenarios the priority is to pull the horse up to prevent further injury.

I don’t believe this jockey should receive any form of punishment he would be just be scapegoat.