PETA Says Ban Race Horse Trainer After Pitchfork Rage Attack

For Immediate Release:
August 31, 2021

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Through a records request to the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission, PETA has obtained graphic video of race horse trainer Amber Cobb screaming at, cursing at, and beating a terrified, tied-up young filly with a plastic pitchfork—and the group is demanding that all U.S. and Canadian racing jurisdictions ban her.

Records reveal that the beating took place earlier this year in New Jersey. The video shows that the filly was so terrified that she flipped over and fell hard on the floor as she tried desperately to escape the blows. Cobb left her upside down and tied to the wall, unable to get up. Finally, a jockey entered the stall and untied her. Cobb’s racing license was suspended for just two months in Delaware and Pennsylvania, and she was ordered to attend anger management classes—a “punishment” hardly commensurate with the abuse nor a sufficient deterrent to protect other horses from Cobb.

“Amber Cobb should never be allowed near a horse again,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “There must be zero tolerance for assault, especially on a totally vulnerable individual, and PETA is asking all racing jurisdictions to show that they get that by banning Cobb from all tracks.”

Cobb has a history of racing violations, including for illegal possession of filled syringes and having an “altercation” in a public area at a track in New York. A former employee alleged that Cobb punished a horse by withholding food from the animal for four days. She has raced in Delaware, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

A detailed description of the incident was also published in the Paulick Report.

PETA opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.