Horse Drowned at Northfield Park Racetrack; PETA Demands Action

For Immediate Release:
July 12, 2022

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

After a horse reportedly drowned in the infield pond at MGM Northfield Park on Monday, PETA sent an urgent letter today to Dave Bianconi, the track’s director of racing, calling on him to suspend racing until a fence is built around the infield.

“Northfield Park’s management is incompetent and cruel for letting a horse drown,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “It’s disgraceful that it hasn’t done something as simple as build a fence—which needs to be done right now, today.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to Bianconi follows.

July 12, 2022

Dave Bianconi

Executive Vice President of Racing & Simulcasting

MGM Northfield Park

Dear Mr. Bianconi:

I’m writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals U.S.—PETA entities have more than 9 million members and supporters globally—after the recent drowning of a horse following the second race on July 11 to request that you suspend all racing until a fence is built around the infield at MGM Northfield Park.

It’s disgraceful that you haven’t done something as simple as build a fence around the infield to prevent horses from drowning, especially as a horse, Creatine Star, nearly lost his life there last year. At the time of that incident, you were quoted as saying, “We recently removed the vegetation around the pond and dredged it. This work was in preparation for improvements to the drainage and to make the track safer. When construction is complete, we will have a barrier erected as a deterrent.”

But it appears that a proper barrier was never put in place. Now a horse is dead. We urge you to suspend all racing immediately until you have erected a fence or another type of effective barrier. There can be no excuse for failing to take this simple action.

Please, do the right thing to protect horses.

Sincerely,

Kathy Guillermo

Senior Vice President

Equine Matters Department

cc:       Scott Borgemenke, Chair, Ohio State Racing Commission