PETA Statement: Santa Anita Racetrack’s Agreement With the Thoroughbred Owners of California

For Immediate Release:
March 17, 2019

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding the Santa Anita racetrack’s agreement to enact all the new racing rules announced earlier this week, except for the ban on Lasix, which will now be phased out:

California Thoroughbred owners and trainers are like Lasix addicts, but they’re shooting up the horses instead of themselves. No horses outside the U.S. and Canada race with Lasix in their systems, and the owners’ claim that its use must be phased out and not ended outright is transparently bogus. PETA is relieved that Santa Anita has finalized its ban on some of the cruelest racing practices,  including injection of joints with corticosteroids, painful shockwave therapy, and whipping, and has enacted medication rules that will end the use of Phenylbutazone 24 hours before a race and most other drugs in the week before a race, among other changes. PETA will be watching very closely to see that these changes are implemented, and the public will join us in watching what happens to the horses. If one more horse dies, there will be blood on the owners’ hands and hell to pay.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.