| # | Name | Comments |
|---|
| 1 | Patricia Woodbury-Kuvik | It's time for the industry to pull together - and to put the horse first. Without horses, there is no racing. |
| 2 | Letha Simmons | What has happened is sad. Horse racing in and of itself isn't bad; what's it's become today is bad. Hopefully they will start making these changes to bring it back into a sport that is fair to the people and the "horse"! |
| 3 | Jill Stacey | |
| 4 | Marie Scholer | |
| 5 | Anonymous | We must up the safety standards and take preventative care of these beautiful animals. They must qut racing babies whose bones are not developed yet. |
| 6 | Nancy Collins | We strongly urge the racing industry to address the issues in a timely fashion. If stake holders and fans wish to see this sport continue, it's time to do the work needed to keep these horses from being harmed. |
| 7 | Anonymous | Please help the Thoroughbred racing industry make positive changes to improve the health, welfare and longevity of their remarkable horses. |
| 8 | Lorna Cane | |
| 9 | Tish Hiestand | The scrutiny is long overdue |
| 10 | Michelle Crowe | |
| 11 | Carolyn and John Larson | Giving these horses another year or two before racing, and properly strengthening their bone structure would not harm the industry. It would help, and most important, it would save horses like Eight Belles spending the last few minutes of their lives in terrible fear and great agony. The science is there. Use it. |
| 12 | Robert Kingsley | This would be an excellent starting point in improving safety on the track. |
| 13 | Karen L. Keywood | |
| 14 | Cynthia Cunningham | |
| 15 | Mandy Woods | |
| 16 | Mandy Woods | |
| 17 | Valeree Smith | |
| 18 | Valeree Smith | |
| 19 | Erin Walker | Today is the day to start making changes. This should have happened a lot sooner. The Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit convened after Barbaro's tragic accident but to my knowledge, nothing came of it. NO MORE horses should have to die before the racing industry takes these problems seriously. NOW is the time for action. |
| 20 | barbara eaton | |
| 21 | LJ Williams | The racing industry must begin to deal with the issues of the long term health and soundness of its horses. The tragedy of catastrophic breakdowns of still immature horses like Eight Belles is underscored by the largely unremarked deaths of many many others. |
| 22 | Jeff Reisinger | Colts and Fillies' skeletal systems are underdeveloped to withstand these stresses. Children breaking down in Olympic competition would not be tolerated. Why is this? If the horse racing associations do not wake up and address this and other issues, the general population will demand change. Better to be Proactive then Reactive! |
| 23 | Karen Lawver | I have had the pleasure to own two TB mares, who were both from prominent racing blood, my hope is for the TB industry to consider the horse and make it a safer sport with less injuries. I will never forget what happened to Ruffian and the most recent tragedies in the racing industry. |
| 24 | Joni Libert | |
| 25 | Rosemarie Westover | |
| 26 | Shelby Staples | I appreciate this sensible take on the need for more racetrack safety for the horses. The knee-jerk reaction from some organizations and commentors is not helpful in the long run. Hope this effort, like so many with good initial intentions, does not fade away, but that the racing fans/general public can, at some point, be made aware - not just in the trade publications for horse people - but in newspapers and TV - all media - that "these particular steps have absolutely and forever been put in place for the protection of our race horses", whatever they may be. Thanks so much. |
| 27 | Claire C. Cox | The health & safety of these animals must come first.
Proper pre-race testing & screening needs to be evaluated, pre-existing conditions need to be identified. We can't just say "It was a freak accident!" How many freak accidents will occur before we start looking for the real causes of these breakdowns??? |
| 28 | susan newman | thank god this is being addressed - I never lose the sense of awe when I stand near the rail at a local track and watch these animals run their heart out for us??? Such a gift demands a gift of humaness in return. |
| 29 | Anonymous | |
| 30 | Marcia Little | member of Equine Cushings Support Group and horse owner. |
| 31 | Anonymous | we all need to be aware of the ugly side of horse racing and be the voice of the innocent horse. |
| 32 | Cindy L. McGinley | |
| 33 | Dana McQuade | Anything that can be done to stop this type of tragedy from happening again I'm in favor of |
| 34 | Anne Daimler | In my opinion, race horses are among the most abused equines on Earth. Management practices from birth to death are based not on what is good for the horse but rather what is good for the purse and ego of the onwer. They are a managed as a commodity rather than as a living being. The Grayson-Jockey Club recommendations are a starting point that will help curb some of the worst abuses, but the entire industry needs to shift gears and make the horse's welfare the primary focus. |
| 35 | Kathy Baker | I would like to see the starting age increased on horses as well as allowing barefoot horses to race.
Thank you for this petition.
(a proud owner of OTTB destined to the slaughter house) |
| 36 | Anne Kirkwood | I've been a racing fan since I was a child, when I was going to Pimlico with my father and grandfather. Now I'm in my 40's, and still a passionate fan, but the fatal breakdown of Eight Belles following her fantastic effort in the Derby has affected me tremendously. I saw Ruffian breakdown (among others), but this incident (Eight Belles) is particularly disturbing. |
| 37 | Linda Cowles | |
| 38 | Ellen Flatley | I don't agree w/ PETA re calling for the uspension of the jockey~~ but it does go much deeper than that. Racing young horses def causes too much stress on forming bones/joints. |
| 39 | Lynn Haust | I worked on a thoroughbred farm 35 years ago. We talked about this issue then, breeding horses that should not be bred, horses with pencil thin legs, starting horses too young. Gambling and animals do not mix. |
| 40 | Alicia Mosher | |
| 41 | Betty Gaule | |
| 42 | Cheryl Denton | |
| 43 | EJ Perdigao | |
| 44 | Amy T | |
| 45 | Stephanie Fling | |
| 46 | Judith Burd | PLEASE LISTEN>>>> Lives are being lost, good horses living out their lives in pain, or distroyed, all for the sake of GREED, people wanting to win money! And at the cost of inocent animals. This is as bad a Pit Bull fighting. DO LET IT CONTINUE! |
| 47 | Mary Jane McCrory | We who love horses plead to see an end to these preventable and senseless tragic catasrophic breakdowns and deaths among the noble Thoroughbred horse. |
| 48 | Susie Gordon, MD | |
| 49 | Annette L. Gerhardt | I burst into tears at the picture in the paper on Sunday of Eight Belles being held down on the track, after breaking both her front legs. I own horses, and I never ask a horse to carry weight on its back until it is three years old., and then only very lightly the first year under saddle. Racing was started to determine the quality of mature stock for breeding, not to abuse and break immature animals that should not be asked to do the work that is being asked of 2 year old horses. If something is not done within the industry to stop tragedies such as the deaths of Ruffian, Barbaro and Eight Belles, you can count on something being imposed upon the industry by people as digusted and appalled as I am at those deaths and too many others that don't get broadcast on national television and have photos of their dying minutes distributed across the country. As far as I am concerned, the practices of today's racing industry are nothing more than organized cruelty to animals. |
| 50 | Lisa Chambers | Please give these horses a chance, after all, they give so much to us. |