PETA Statement re Suspension of Trainer Steve Asmussen

For Immediate Release:
January 23, 2023

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s decision to uphold the 30-day suspension of Thoroughbred horse trainer Steve Asmussen following two drug violations in 2018:

Kudos to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission for letting stand trainer Steve Asmussen’s suspension for drug positives, but now it needs to ban him from racing, as he has racked up dozens of drug violations—and the slap on the wrist he gets each time is a betrayal of the horses. PETA’s 2013 undercover investigation into Asmussen’s barn revealed the daily use of medications like hormones, sedatives, and painkillers—and the dire consequences for the horses. The racing industry must stop honoring its worst players and do right by the animals it uses.

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.