VIDEO: Gruesome Horse Fatality at Auction, PETA Demands End to Timed Sprints

For Immediate Release:
May 29, 2025

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Armed with graphic footage of a young horse’s catastrophic injury during a speed trial at a Fasig-Tipton auction on May 15 in Timonium, Maryland, PETA today sent a letter to Fasig-Tipton President and CEO Boyd Browning, Jr., urging him to permanently end timed sprints at under-tack shows, where young, inexperienced Thoroughbreds are forced to run at breakneck speeds to pump up auction prices.

The disturbing footage—captured by PETA as it streamed online—shows the 24-month-old filly crashing to the racetrack, somersaulting onto her back, revealing multiple severely broken ankles. After the Thoroughbred’s death, Fasig-Tipton switched to a “gallop-only” format on the final day, as an emergency measure—one that PETA has recommended for years. PETA is now calling for the gallop-only policy to be made permanent.

At the auctions, buyers in the horse racing industry purchase the two-year-old immature horses hoping they will develop into winning Thoroughbreds. Just a year after these juveniles are sold at auction, they are eligible to compete for a spot in the Kentucky Derby and other Triple Crown races. As PETA has repeatedly exposed, many of the colts and fillies are forced to run an eighth or a quarter of a mile as fast as possible at speeds they’ll never again reach in their racing careers.

“PETA’s message is clear: Stop forcing physically immature horses to run past their literal breaking points in shameful displays to drive up sales,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “PETA urges Fasig-Tipton to lead the way, end these deadly timed sprints, and spare young horses’ lives.”

The filly’s death, on the day after her second birthday, is the latest in a long line of juvenile horse fatalities and has since ignited an industry-wide debate on whether to switch to a “gallop-only” format at all under-tack shows. In 2024, a PETA undercover investigator captured video of a fatality during a sprint at an auction by another company, the Florida-based Ocala Breeders’ Sales. The sprints or timed breezes, in addition to damaging the animals’ developing bodies and risking fatal injuries, are a poor metric for judging their abilities since they don’t resemble timed workouts that horses regularly run in training for real races.

The buyers at Fasig-Tipton’s auction did not appear to be affected by the elimination of the timed breezes. Of the horses who sold for $200,000 or above, more had galloped than had been subjected to the sprints.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—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.