PETA Thanks Bondi, Noem for Idaho Racing Bust; Utah, Illinois Bush Track Races Nixed After Feds’ Raid

For Immediate Release:
October 24, 2025

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Three years after PETA blew the lid off the seedy, crime-ridden underworld of unsanctioned or “bush track” Quarter Horse racing, federal agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Homeland Security raided a track in Wilder, Idaho, on October 19, making arrests for illegal gambling. PETA has sent letters to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem praising them for ordering the action. PETA has shown that many horses on these “bush tracks” are injected with methamphetamines and cocaine to whip them into a frenzy, and many die from shattered bones or heart attacks.

Idaho Governor Brad Little cited cruelty to horses among other illegalities in his statement: “Illegal gambling operations involving animals often accompany drug trafficking, animal abuse, illegal weapons trafficking, and large sums of money that end up in the hands of cartel bosses.”

Following the raid, races scheduled for November 2 at an Ogden, Utah, bush track have been hastily canceled, as have races in Pecatonica, Illinois.

“This is a disgusting business in which horses are shot up with illegal drugs at black market tracks where gambling laws are openly flouted,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “We’re grateful to federal officials for cracking down—and we hope they continue until every bush track is closed.”

PETA’s investigators collected dozens of discarded syringes and/or needles used to inject horses shortly before races at Rancho El Centenario, a bush track in Georgia, and testing revealed that the syringes contained cocaine, methamphetamine, methylphenidate (Ritalin), and caffeine. Jockeys whipped horses relentlessly—often 20 times in a row—and used electric shock devices that would result in multiyear suspensions on regulated racetracks.

PETA’s video investigations have also exposed fatal horse breakdowns, jockey injuries and death, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal gambling.

PETA filed complaints with federal and Georgia state officials in 2022, but officials failed to act.

The Idaho action follows the September 2024 raid of a bush track in Levelland, Texas, by the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Racing Commission. Fourteen people were arrested there, and officers confiscated cocaine, large amounts of currency, electroshock devices, and gambling devices.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.