PETA Statement re Death of Horse at Santa Anita Today

For Immediate Release:
May 20, 2019

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Please see this statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo on the death (announced today) of Spectacular Music, the 25^th, horse to die at the Santa Anita racetrack since December:

Santa Anita’s new rules have slowed the bloodbath, and now the track is banning trainers whose actions lead to horses’ deaths—including the trainer for Commander Coil, who died on Friday. But two dead horses in three days proves that more must be done to end the training and veterinary practices that lead to broken bones. PETA and Social Compassion in Legislation are currently looking at legislative and other options to stop all horses’ deaths, and we urge the district attorney’s office to enlarge its investigation to include the trainers, owners, veterinarian, and jockeys of Commander Coil and Spectacular Music. Santa Anita should suspend racing until stronger measures are enacted.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist view of the world.