Suspend Racing at Saratoga After 11 Deaths, PETA Says

For Immediate Release:
August 17, 2023

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding the death yesterday of 3-year-old Thoroughbred Wisecraken, the 11^th horse to die at Saratoga Race Course since the spring:

Eleven horses have died at Saratoga Race Course since late May, and the bloodbath must be stopped now. PETA is calling on the New York State Gaming Commission and the New York Racing Association to suspend all racing at the track pending a thorough investigation into every death and the implementation of stronger safety protocols. We also urge the Horseracing Integrity and Racing Authority to step in and press for closure. Churchill Downs shut down after multiple deaths, and Saratoga is obligated to do the same.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.