Victory! Retired Champion Racehorse Home Safe From Likely Slaughter
Great news! Any Given Saturday, the 19-year-old American stallion who ran in the 2007 Kentucky Derby and won the $1 million Grade 1 Haskell Invitational Stakes, has been safely returned home after eight years in South Korea. He now lives at Old Friends, a Kentucky sanctuary for retired racehorses. We’re overjoyed to see him where he belongs, and we’re grateful to his former owner Bill Casner and Old Friends for facilitating his rescue and return.
PETA conducted an undercover investigation into racehorse slaughter in South Korea, which showed that only 3% of retired racehorses transition to other “careers” after their short racing lives are over. Some mares are turned into breeding machines, but workers kill the vast majority.
Our exposé “K-Cruelty” revealed the horrors retired racehorses are subjected to in South Korea, sparking international outrage. This footage ultimately inspired Any Given Saturday’s safe return home.
South Korea’s horse slaughter industry, encouraged by the Korea Racing Authority (KRA), has claimed the lives of many horses, who all deserved to live out their days in peace. We were shocked and heartbroken to discover that another Kentucky Derby runner, Private Vow, had been slaughtered there, along with a son of Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown.
Our investigation, which also revealed that the meat from slaughtered racehorses contained dangerous drugs, effectively eliminated racehorse meat from being sold for human consumption in South Korea, but our work isn’t over. Their corpses are now processed into items like pet food and beauty products instead. We’re demanding a humane system for racehorse aftercare.
Tell the KRA: No More!
We hope Any Given Saturday’s story will serve as a reminder that all horses deserve to be treated with kindness and respect, both during and after their racing careers.
Please write to the KRA and urge it to stop supporting and promoting horse slaughter. If it commits to developing a comprehensive retirement system modeled on the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance and designates a mandatory 3% of purse money toward retirement, most former racehorses in South Korea will be protected from the worst abuses they face now.
