Video of Fatal Horse Injury to Circle Churchill Downs, Courtesy of PETA

For Immediate Release:
June 1, 2023

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

In the wake of 12 horses’ deaths over the past month at Churchill Downs, on Thursday PETA’s mobile billboard will traverse the streets outside the track, running exclusive footage of Lost in Limbo’s fatal fall during his May 26 race.

When:    Thursday, June 1, 12 noon–8 p.m.

Where:    Outside Churchill Downs, 700 Central Ave., Louisville

The disturbing video shows the horse crashing face-first into the dirt at full speed, then struggling to right himself. He sustained a catastrophic injury, in which his ankle shattered, that resulted in his euthanasia. The footage ends with PETA’s call for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) to suspend racing and timed workouts at the track while investigations into the string of deaths are underway.

“We are putting a face on these horrible deaths because every one of the 12 horses was an individual,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “PETA urges HISA to put horses’ welfare first by immediately halting racing and timed workouts at Churchill Downs until the cause or causes of these deaths can be determined.”

Lost in Limbo broke away from handlers before the race, threw the jockey, and ran loose nearly the full length of the track’s backstretch before he was captured. PETA believes he should have been scratched at that point and given a thorough veterinary exam, but instead, he was put through the starting gate.

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 about PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.