Horse Racing and the aristocratic hypocrasy

[Excaliber]

Well certainly qualified on an emotional level.

When I was a young man I spent a summer working with racing Greyhound dogs. The 'ranch', for lack of a better word, had about 150 of them. Now only a handful are money makers, and the rest eat a lot of food. Simple math, you get rid of the nonperformers. Multiply that racing dog operation by many many more around the country. Of course these days were more 'enlightened' and try to find good homes for the unwanted dogs. Yeah, that would be about 1 in 10, the rest, well, I could tell you some real horror stories. That summer scard me for life. We also raised rabbits, to train the dogs with, gruesome work that. Greyhounds love rabbits, trained that way from when their puppies.

Now I would imagine the numbers are lower in the horse race business, but the end result has got to be much the same. If it's a non producer, what to do with an animal that eats a lot and takes up your time? Oh, find him a nice home. Yeah, good luck with the other 9 out of 10.

[1ntCobra]

Originally Posted by Excaliber

Well certainly qualified on an emotional level.

When I was a young man I spent a summer working with racing Greyhound dogs. The 'ranch', for lack of a better word, had about 150 of them. Now only a handful are money makers, and the rest eat a lot of food. Simple math, you get rid of the nonperformers. Multiply that racing dog operation by many many more around the country. Of course these days were more 'enlightened' and try to find good homes for the unwanted dogs. Yeah, that would be about 1 in 10, the rest, well, I could tell you some real horror stories. That summer scard me for life. We also raised rabbits, to train the dogs with, gruesome work that. Greyhounds love rabbits, trained that way from when their puppies.

Now I would imagine the numbers are lower in the horse race business, but the end result has got to be much the same. If it's a non producer, what to do with an animal that eats a lot and takes up your time? Oh, find him a nice home. Yeah, good luck with the other 9 out of 10.

I have a retired racing greyhound. The current situation is not as bad as you think. From what I read, a decade or more ago, 60,000 greyhounds were bred in the US every year and almost all of them were destroyed. However, now it is more like 22,000 are bred each year with 18,000 retired racers adopted each year.

[392cobra]

Originally Posted by 1ntCobra

I have a retired racing greyhound. The current situation is not as bad as you think. From what I read, a decade or more ago, 60,000 greyhounds were bred in the US every year and almost all of them were destroyed. However, now it is more like 22,000 are bred each year with 18,000 retired racers adopted each year.

That does sound a lot better !

They are really sweet dogs.

My ex adopted one before we met.We adopted another after we married.She adopted two more are we split.