PETA Statement on Kentucky Horse Racing Commission decision

For Immediate Release:
January 15, 2015

From Kathy Guillermo, Senior Vice President, PETA:

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has today distinguished itself for being as uninterested in horse welfare as the Syrian government is in human suffering. If there was nothing wrong in the documentation that PETA found, then something is very wrong with racing in Kentucky. A responsible enforcement agency would have examined the mountains of evidence—including sore horses who were drugged rather than allowed to recover from strained muscles and ligaments and 3-year-old horses who were made sore every day of their lives—and concluded that significant wrongdoing occurred. Perhaps the New York State Gaming Commission, which is still conducting an investigation, will do just that. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, however, saw smoke and concluded that there is not only no fire but also that everything at the track and in Asmussen’s disgraceful barn is just business as usual.