Maryland Horse Racing Deaths: Here’s the Track That Will Save Lives

For Immediate Release:
April 25, 2023

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding recent horse deaths at Laurel Park racetrack and the Maryland Racing Commission meeting this morning to discuss an assessment of the safety of the track:

The horsemen and state officials clamoring for an independent review of the dirt track at Laurel Park are pretending that they don’t know which surface is the safest, but everyone in racing knows: It’s not dirt—it’s synthetic. Statistics consistently show, year after year, that the death rate on synthetic tracks is significantly lower than on any other surface. Every track in the U.S., including Laurel, should convert to synthetic immediately. If they don’t, they’re willfully allowing horses to die, and die badly.

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.