I'm on the fence about the humanity of horse racing, but I don't care what PETA has to say about it.

It's times like these that it's best to keep your trap shut and PETA(People Eating Tasty Animals) doesn't understand common sense and accountability. If a dog runs out in front of a car and the driver doesn't have enough reaction time to stop and the canine passes away, should the driver have their liscense revoked because of the accident? Hell no!

Some scientists somewhere shouldclone some Kodiak bears and sick em on PETA. There, I said it!

It's like saying "well, Hitler had a valid point on one point about one thing, so let's bring the Nazi's in as an authority every time there is a social discussion." PETA uses very dangerous and evil tactics including violence, indoctrination and brainwashing of children, and are not about the "ethical treatment" of animals, unless it is AS DEFINED BY PETA. And in PETA's terms, "ethical" means no use of animals, ever, for ANYTHING. There is no gray area, no middle ground.

So, unless you believe in that viewpoint, you can't really defer to PETA for any advice on ethical treatment, because they don't define it like you do. Horse Racing can do NOTHING to please PETA other than disband. It's not like if they were to change this or that, PETA would say "well, horse racing is great now." PETA doesn't work that way, so why should Horse Racing even listen to them? They wouldn't, except for some members of the press have decided to MAKE them respond.

Why not contact the Humane Society? ASPCA? Various Animal Welfare agencies around the country? Well, because they aren't going to make these claims, because they already monitor horse racing and horse farms and keep them "humane." So the press, or certain people in the AP, want the agenda of PETA to be both heard and legitimized, so they speak to them as if they have authority. By doing so, they get in return people like you making the claim that "Peta is in the forefront on the ethical treatment of animals" when in fact, they are at the EXTREME of this topic.

Well Said.

As a Beef Producer I deal with these loonies all the time.  'Bout time someone else sees them for who they are.

Gary Stevens mentioned that in his experience, the vast majority of the time that an incident like that happened to him, it was because the horse had suffered a ruptured aneurysm.  Has this been ruled out?  The broken ankles could easily be a result of the injury and not the cause of it.

Either way, I don't know enough about being a jockey to know whether if he had pulled up would it have made a difference, or even if there was any way for him to know that something was wrong.  I think the autopsy will prove to be revealing and until then we should reserve judgment.  And as for PETA, it is an organization, of which each member has their own thoughts and beliefs.  To say that they're all terrorists or that they all want everyone to be vegan is quite ignorant.  It's like saying all republicans are redneck hicks or all democrats want to raise taxes.  For instance, one of my friends is a vegan and belongs to PETA, but she'll still make her boyfriend a burger (I don't mean for that to sound sexist, the guy just has caused one kitchen fire too many).  As for the official party line from PETA, yeah it is news, just as it is news that the trainer feels the jockey did nothing wrong.  Whether it is important or relevant to you is a different story.  If you have your mind made up already on a subject, there's no reason to read the article.

PETA is the same organization that wanted the Packers to rename themselves to the Green Bay "Six Packers" or the Green Bay "Pickers".

They are mad that The Packers are named for the Meat Packing Industry.   Never mind that the football team was established in the 1921 when the primary industry of the town was meat packing.  I don't think GB's has any stake in that industry any more.

Simply put.  Extreemism is bad in any situation.  It is unfortunate that this happend to the horse.  The owners didn't purposfully injur the horse.  They are as attached to them as we are to our household pets.  The derby horses have a better life than I do!

PETA needs to manufacture protests to keep themsleves in the public eye.  It's quite pathetic.

Are you kidding me?  There isn't a remote comparison to Horse Racing and Dog Fighting.  The horses aren't chained and starved.  They don't put two horses in a ring and see which one can kick the other to death.  Oh yeah...  And it isnt "ILLEGAL".   

It is an absurd comparison and should be treated as such.   

Top 5 Media slu*s

5) PETA

4)NAACP

3)that Hills Chick

2) Al Sharpton

1) Mario Lopez

PUTIO

While I think PETA is off-base in regard to this situation, to compare them to Hitler and terrorists is ridiculous/absurd/inssane. Get a grip please.   Whether you agree or not they are perfectly within their rights to bring up these questions.   Anyway, as one of the prior posters stated, I don't think the jockey/trainer are looking to abuse a multi-million dollar horse. 

Maybe PETA should focus more energy on the slaughter of thousands of horses for meat consumption-- an issue that seems to get no print at all.