VIDEO and PETA Statement re Breeders’ Cup Death

For Immediate Release:
November 3, 2019

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Please see this video footage and the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding the breakdown of Mongolian Groom during the Breeders’ Cup Classic race at Santa Anita Park last night:

Mongolian Groom’s life ended with a beating and a broken leg. Today, PETA is releasing exclusive, extensive video footage of the horse’s breakdown and making these demands: Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey must conduct an independent criminal investigation into the circumstances leading to the death of Mongolian Groom, and she must release her findings on the deaths of the other horses. Her foot-dragging is costing horses’ lives. Veterinarian Larry Bramlage, who makes his living in the industry, must stand down. He is the “green screen” to racing’s abusive practices.

Mongolian Groom was whipped as he came around the final turn—so even if he was in pain and wanted to slow down, he could not have done so. Striking horses during racing must be banned now. We can’t wait for the rule-making process when horses are dying.

If the racing industry and state officials truly want to save horses’ lives, they will suspend trainers and veterinarians of horses who die pending full investigations, install safer synthetic surfaces and CT scan equipment at all tracks, and ban all drugs in the two weeks before a race, including Lasix and phenylbutazone. All racing nationwide must be suspended until these measures are put in place. Any reluctance to do so will lead to more deaths and the self-destruction of horse racing.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist view of the world. For more information, please visit PETA.org.