Death Toll Mounts at Churchill Downs

For Immediate Release:
May 2, 2023

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding the deaths of two horses, Take Charge Briana and Chasing Artie, at Churchill Downs today:

The biggest horse race of the year is now preceded by a body count. Three deaths at Churchill Downs in the week before the Kentucky Derby means injured, sore, or sick horses are being forced to race. The track should close down immediately to put safety protocols in place, including reviewing all veterinary records and medications, observing workouts, and, as PETA recommended years ago, installing standing CT imaging equipment to detect injuries. Dirt and turf tracks should be replaced with synthetic surfaces, which statistics have long shown to be the safest. Horses should not be dying for human entertainment.

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.