This week marks the opening of another season of thoroughbred racing at Del Mar. It's one of America's favorite tracks, due to the party like atmosphere and the beach scene nearby. Go on opening day and you'll see gorgeous women dressed to the nines, and some pretty good looking men. These people are here for the "scene" rather than for the horses. I've been coming to Del Mar for years, and as a horse lover and former owner of thoroughbreds, opening day was always my least favorite day. I preferred the quiet days when you could concentrate on the real stars of Del Mar, the horses.
All horses are not winners, in fact very few horses pay their way. The cost to keep a horse in training is a minimum of $100 per day, if he doesn't get sick or injured. That means a horse has to win more than $4000 a month just to break even. ( you have to pay jockey fees everytime a horse runs, and pay a percentage of your winnings to the jockey too). Horses can only run every 4-6 weeks, at most. So what happens to all the horses that either don't make it as race horses because of lack of ability or injury? You may have heard in years gone by of the thousands of thoroughbreds that were slaughtered each year. Laws have been passed and many sanctuaries for retired thoroughbreds exist throughout the world, but the slaughterhouses still exist. A horse that can't pay his bills is often "gotten rid of." What does this mean? In most cases today it means finding a suitable home for the horse. We gave many horses away to young girls that would retrain them as hunter/jumpers. We gave many to UC Davis where they would rehabilitate them and then sell them. We also gave many back to the breeders who had raised them. One special horse, Peach Flat, who won many races for us, was sent to his breeder in Northern California, to live out his life. But to some less humanitarian owners "get rid of" could mean a slaughterhouse in Mexico or Japan. Here's a quick story about the fate of two very famous American race horses.
Exceller was one of the most famous race horses in the l970's. He was orginally owned by Nelson Bunker Hunt. He is most famous for beating Seattle Slew in 1974. He won hundreds of thousands of dollars, which was a lot of money at that time. His stud record was unremarkable, and was sold to a man in Sweeden who was trying to get into the thoroughbred industry.People lost track of Exceller, until The Daily Racing Form decided to do a "whatever happened to" story on Exceller. The reporter was three months to late. The Swedish owner had financial reversals, and owning Exceller became a liability, so he sent him to the slaughterhouse. I remember when this happened. The racing world was outraged, and I assume people with no interest in racing were shocked too. There were some laws that were passed to prohibit this type of thing from happening, but it didn't stop the practice.
In the 1980's, Fernindand won the Kentucky Derby. He was, like Exceller, one of the most famous horses of his decade, but did not do well in the breeding shed. He earned millions of dollars, but the big bucks are in breeding. When he didn't do well breeding, he was sold and shipped to Japan. He too, was sent to a slaughterhouse.
I love horseracing, but there is a very ugly side to it that has not been erased. Yes, slaughterhouses in America have been significantly reduced, but they still exist. These horses give their owners and trainers their all, and when they can no longer race, should be retired or retrained with respect. Many farms and many people are rescuing retired horses from a horrible fate, and I applaud them for their hard work. CERF, California Equine Retirement Foundation, is just one of the many groups working to give retired thoroughbreds the life they deserve. These are magnificant animals that deserved to retire, not be slaughtered.
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