Statement for Press

  • For Immediate Release:

Animal Wellness Action Says Death of Havnameltdown May Have Been Avoided Had National Racing Authority Applied Churchill Down’s Two-Year Suspension of Bob Baffert to All U.S. Tracks

Suspended from Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby, Baffert Being Allowed to Run at Pimlico Highlights Precisely Why HISA Rules Must Be Applied Nationwide.

Washington, D.C. — Animal Wellness Action today expressed sadness and dissatisfaction with the death of Havnameltdown and the injury of jockey Luis Saez at the Chick Lang Stakes at Pimlico on Saturday. The horse was trained by Bob Baffert, whom Churchill Downs had suspended from competition at that Triple Crown venue because of a doping violation in 2021. Medina Spirit crossed the finish line first at the 2021 Derby but the win was later revoked because of a drug violation. Medina Spirit died later that year after a workout at Santa Anita, under Baffert’s watch.

Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action, issued the following statement:

“Bob Baffert being allowed to run at Pimlico this year reminds us again of how the long-standing system of promoting track safety for Thoroughbreds and jockeys is broken. If Baffert was rightly excluded from a Triple Crown venue in 2022 and 2023, then that prohibition should have applied to other race venues during that same time period and especially the Triple Crown tracks. This is precisely why there must be a national authority to set rules to keep horses safe. Suspended trainers should not be allowed to cherry pick their venues if they’ve been judged as incapable of keeping their horses safe.”

Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun

The Horseracing and Integrity Safety Authority, the national enforcement organization created by Congress under the terms of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, is charged with developing consistent national rules to safeguard horses. Disciplinary actions against trainers by individual tracks and state racing commissions should be applied nationally.

Pacelle added, “It is unfortunate that the Authority’s work has been delayed and that dangerous trainers have been allowed to keep running horses and put them at risk on American racetracks. Perhaps Havnameltdown would be alive today if national rules to protect horse safety had been in place.

Animal Wellness Action is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(4) whose mission is to help animals by promoting laws and regulations at federal, state and local levels that forbid cruelty to all animals. The group also works to enforce existing anti-cruelty and wildlife protection laws. Animal Wellness Action believes helping animals helps us all. Twitter: @AWAction_News

Center for a Humane Economy is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) whose mission is to help animals by helping forge a more humane economic order. The first organization of its kind in the animal protection movement, the Center encourages businesses to honor their social responsibilities in a culture where consumers, investors, and other key stakeholders abhor cruelty and the degradation of the environment and embrace innovation as a means of eliminating both. The Center believes helping animals helps us all. Twitter: @TheHumaneCenter

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