Baffert-Trained Horse Who Died at Pimlico Had a Joint Injection in April

For Immediate Release:
May 22, 2023

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding records showing that the Bob Baffert–trained Thoroughbred Havnameltdown, who sustained a fatal injury at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday, had received medication for soreness in his legs in April:

Bob Baffert should get an Academy Award rather than the Preakness trophy. He acted on Saturday as though he had no idea how Havnameltdown could have shattered a bone at Pimlico. He stated, “We never had an issue with him,” and further suggested that the bump to the horse out of the gate may have contributed to the injury. But California records show that in April, Havnameltdown was administered a powerful corticosteroid injection in his leg joints, an indicator of extreme soreness. The horse is now dead—and Baffert’s career should be, too. The racing industry tolerates him at its own peril.

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.