PETA Statement on the Death of G Q Covergirl

For Immediate Release:
October 25, 2019

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Please see this statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding G Q Covergirl, the 35^th horse to die at Santa Anita this year:

If horse racing ever needed a three strikes rule, it’s now. Trainer Phil D’Amato’s training and medication records need to be investigated and released to the public and the horses still in his barn should be thoroughly examined. G Q Covergirl was trained by D’Amato until June, when she was claimed by Doug O’Neill. D’Amato also trained Satchel Paige, who died on October 19, and Formal Dude, who died on June 8—the same day that G Q Covergirl was transferred to O’Neill. O’Neill also has a long record of medication violations and suspensions. When a horse dies, the California Horse Racing Board should suspend the trainer pending a full investigation. It won’t bring back the horse, but it might prevent more deaths.

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 view of the world. For more information, please visit PETA.org.