No Day Off

[Guest guest]

Long and VERY disturbing.No Day OffBehind the Scenes of the HBO Real Sports Documentary:"Running For Their Lives"by: Anne RussekThe following is my account of the behind the scene events thatcontributed to the HBO documentary" Hidden Horses." The followingindividuals will be mentioned in this story as they played vitalroles in the production as it pertained to the racehorses. GailVacca, Becky Care, and Diana McClure are members of the racingindustry, without whose help the Sugarcreek segment would nothave been possible. I am sure that there are no words I can writethat will adequately convey to the rest of you how supportive andinvolved these three women were. Hopefully, by the end of thestory, you will see them for the unique and caring individualsthat they are. I am blessed to have them as my friends.I had previously written about events that occurred at theSugarcreek Auction in Ohio on April 11 of this year. At thattime, because of a scheduling conflict with HBO, sixthoroughbreds and one pony were rescued from the auction. ( Thatstory is on many horse sites referred to as "'How Luck and aVillage Saved the Sugarcreek Six").After that rescue, an assistant producer from HBO, Ryan Goldberg,contacted me to ask if I would be interested in assisting in anundercover documentary depicting the chain of events that allowsfor Thoroughbreds to go from the racetrack to the auctions thatthen ship to slaughter. I was more than willing to assist in thisproduction.I have been involved in racing for over thirty years. I lovehorses, and I love racing. Five years ago I became aware of theAmerican Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. It was at that time Ifirst became aware of how many thousands of Thoroughbreds go toslaughter every year. This was absolutely unacceptable to me, andI committed myself to helping to end horse slaughter in thiscountry.Since this practice of disposing of racehorses happens at everytrack across the country, we first needed to decide which trackto video. I told Ryan that for several years, a young girl namedBecky Care, who worked as a groom at Mountaineer Racetrack, hadbeen reporting to me about the terrible conditions there.Mountaineer is located within an hours drive of the SugarcreekAuction. This allows for owners and trainers to convenientlydispose of racehorses on a weekly basis. On several occasions, Ihad helped Becky rescue some of these horses, but it truly was adrop in the bucket. The last horse we rescued, Almighty Above,was such an upsetting experience for Becky that she quit her jobas a groom and took a job in one of the restaurants at theMountaineer Casino.I called Becky and asked her if it was still" business as usual"at the track. Becky assured me that things had only gottenworse. The track has a policy that any horse who does not finishfirst through fourth in their last five races, must be removedfrom the stable area within five days of that last race. Sincemost of the trainers at Mountaineer do not have farms and do notmake money from their training endeavors, sending horses toSugarcreek is an acceptable option for disposal. There areactually designated pick up days, Mondays and Thursdays, at whichtime either Dick Rudibaugh or Wilson Langley will bring theirtrailers into the stable area to get the horses. For years, DickRudibaugh was the main "meat man", but after suffering a heartattack, Rudibaugh has slowed down a little and word on thebackside is that Langley would like to take over.HBO explained to me that it was imperative we could chroniclespecific Thoroughbreds being loaded at Mountaineer Park,transported to Sugarcreek, run through the auction, purchased byknown kill buyers, and then being loaded onto the trailers boundfor either Canada or Mexico. The only way to identify that theThoroughbreds were the same ones from the track to the auctionwas through their tattoo numbers.Ryan explained to me that I would have to track the horses oncethey arrived at the auction. I assured him I could do this, but Iwould need Becky to help me. I called Becky and asked her if shewas interested in the project. I told her I understood that therecould be ramifications for her if she chose to participatebecause , unlike me, she lived there. Becky never hesitated for amoment. Although Becky acknowledged that if Mountaineer found outshe had helped, she would likely lose her job, she understoodthat this was a chance to show the entire country the abuse andhorror these horses endure. Becky was totally on board.When I called Ryan back to tell him we were set to go, he droppedthe bombshell. I was told that the legal department of HBO hadindicated that there could not be any rescue of any of the horsesfilmed. It was explained to me that a rescue could be perceivedas a staged event, and that those people who profited from horseslaughter, would only dismiss the documentary as such. I wasdevastated and emotionally distraught. How could I possiblyparticipate in a documentary knowing that the horses I helpedidentify would go to slaughter?I appealed to the HBO producers to rewrite their story." Wouldn'tit be so much better for people to know the horses were saved?"I asked. "Once we showed that the horses had been purchased by akill buyer, wouldn't that prove our point?". I presented my caseover and over, using every angle I could think of to change theproducers mind, but the HBO legal counsel would not/could notbudge. Since the documentary was undercover, I was not at libertyto call my friends and ask their advice. I realized for the firsttime in my life that I was not special. I was not strong enoughor smart enough to figure out a way to get my way. I was going tohave to compromise my integrity to prove a point. For years Ihave been telling anyone who would listen that there is nothinglegal I won't do to help stop horse slaughter. I never could haveimagined that I would have to facilitate slaughter to help endit. I wear my shame every day.It was decided that we would meet at Mountaineer Racetrack onThursday, April 17. I left my home in Virginia at 2 AM Wednesdaymorning. I was better prepared for the auction having been therethe week before. This time I brought my own halter and a taperecorder in case we couldn't write down the tattoo numbers. Ialso brought a thermometer because I wanted to take thetemperature of any horses that looked sick. At the time, Iactually thought if I could show that certain horses were toosick to travel, they would not be sent to slaughter. Driving forhours in the early morning darkness, I was alone with mythoughts. I was aware that this was no dress rehearsal.Everything depended on all the players maintaining their usualroutine. What if Rudibaugh was sick? What if HBO wasn't discreet?What if I could not get to see the sign out sheet for the horsesas I had the week before? My mind was overwhelmed with details.As the morning sun began to appear, I determined to remainoptimistic.I arrived at Mountaineer Park around 8:30 A.M. I pulled into anemployee parking lot that sits between the stable area and theracetrack. Dick Rudibaugh´s truck and stock trailer wereparked alongside the fence, where he always parks before goinginto the backside to pick up horses. At least I knew I was ontime. I called Ryan on my cell phone and he told me where to meethim. Ryan and the camera person, Sarah, were by the trackwatching horses gallop. Since I knew the pick up procedure fromthe week before, Sarah decided she would wait by the stable gateand follow Rudibaugh as he drove through the stable area, andRyan and I would wander the barn area following Rudibaugh from adifferent direction. The stable area at Mountaineer has very poorvisual access from barn to barn. The barns are very long and aresituated parallel to each other alongside a slight hill. You canonly see down alleyways between each barn, we had to keep trackof each other via our phones.Sarah called to tell us that Rudibaugh had pulled into thestable area and was heading towards his first barn. Sarah wasable to film two men ,and Rudibaugh ,attempting to load a bayfilly onto the trailer. The filly was absolutely refusing to geton the metal stock-trailer. They had put a lip chain on her andwere very aggressive, shanking her repeatedly.Sarah heard the men tell Rudibaugh he needed to move the trailerto another spot so that the step up was more level. Rudibaughsaid he knew a spot closer to the stable gate and they shouldmeet him there. Sarah and I followed Rudibaugh and once he hadparked the trailer, the two men walked the filly to the newloading spot. Once again, the filly would not load. Sarah wasstanding almost next to the one man, Nino Pizzuro. He started totell Sarah that the filly did not want to race, and that she wasgoing to a farm or a sale. Nino even told Sarah the mares name,NO DAY OFF.Nino and his friend spent quite awhile trying to force the fillyonto the trailer, continuing to shank her mercilessly for herrefusal. I had to keep walking away to keep myself frominterfering. It was impossible not to keep thinking that somehowshe knew getting on that trailer was the wrong thing to do.Finally, they backed the filly onto the trailer. Rudibaugh gotback in his truck, drove to the stable gate, signed the horse out,and left. Sarah walked over to where I was sitting and sat downbeside me. I asked her if she had gotten everything and she saidyes. I told her that was one of the most unprofessional andabusive examples of loading a horse I had ever witnessed. Icouldn't keep from quietly crying, I told Sarah I felt veryguilty, she agreed it was a very hard situation.Sarah went to her car to check out the footage and Ryan calledGail to tell her the name of the horse so that Gail couldidentify her tattoo number. I went to see a trainer I knew whowas stabled there. I was carrying my digital camera that I hadbrought along for no particular reason. As I walked past thetrack security office, a guard came out the door and hollered atme ,"hey, no cameras allowed back here". I told him I only had itto take some pictures of my friends horses. The guard told me Imust take it to my car immediately or I would be asked to leavethe stable area. I asked him what the problem was, and saidsurely owners come to the track to take pictures of their horses.He told me that Rosemary Williams, the Mountaineer generalmanager, had prohibited cameras on the backside and I needed toget permission from her. I have been on the racetrack over thirtyyears and I have never heard of such a stupid rule. Anothertrainer who was passing by and overheard the guard, made thesarcastic comment that the reason Williams didn't want peopletaking pictures was because she was afraid that someone wouldsteal the architectural designs for the barns. Considering thatMountaineer Park is one of the most debilitated barn areas I haveever seen, his remark was quite funny.Gail called back with No Day Off's tattoo number, H19563, andtold us that the filly had just raced the previous Saturday andhad been pulled up during the race. She was owned and trained byRicardo Hernandez. We did not know at that time that Nino was notRicardo.Ryan had to drive Sarah to the airport as she was returning toNew York and so I told Ryan I would meet him early the nextmorning at Sugarcreek. I had the rest of the day to drive to Ohioto my motel and so I decided to drive by Rudibaugh´s farmto see if I could find No Day Off. About that time I met up withBecky who told me she had trouble getting off from work and didnot think she could get to Sugarcreek before 2 P.M. the next day.I knew that would be a big problem, you definitely need twopeople to identify the horses. One person to hold the horseshead, and the other to read the tattoo. I called Gail and toldher the problem. Gail was worried also and said she would call afew people she knew who had rescued horses from Sugarcreek to seeif they could meet me on Friday to help. I told Becky not toworry, something would work out, although at the time I wasn'tsure what.I did drive past Rudibaugh´s house but there were nohorses in sight. By the time I got there, he had already unhookedhis trailer but I could only see his truck from the road. I wasquite certain that No Day Off was not there. I actually had aknot in my stomach because I was worried that Rudibaugh was goingto leave her on the stock trailer all night because she had beenso difficult to load.I then drove to Leroy Bakers farm because it is on the way toSugarcreek. In fact, Bakers farm is about thirteen miles fromRudibaugh´s. There were several houses on either side ofthe road that must have been relatives of Bakers because eachdriveway had either a truck or a semi in it with the SugarcreekAuction logo on the side. There was a barn, but it was too faroff the road for me to see into, but I suspected that No Day Offand other horses could be in there. I couldn't shake the feelingthat if she was in that barn, she was without hay or water. I wasstarting to realize that from the time she had left Mountaineerthat morning, her journey to slaughter would be a constantdownward spiral. Everything happening to her now would be totallyforeign to her, her entire routine was disrupted, there would beno kindness, only varying degrees of brutality. My own thoughtswere turning into despair.I was almost to Sugarcreek when Gail called. She told me that mygood friend, Diana McClure was going to fly into Akron fromVirginia to help me on Friday. I expressed concern that Diana wasleaving her training farm operation at the drop of a hat to comebe with me. Gail said there was no way they were going to let medo this alone. I cannot begin to convey the wave of relief thatovercame me. I did not want to endure this experience by myself,I was so very thankful that these two friends had sensed myvulnerability. I picked Diana up late Thursday night and wechecked into a hotel and made our plans for the next morning.We arrived at the auction around 9 AM Friday morning. Besides theAmish employees, we were one of the first ones there. I showedDiana how to navigate the auction and the pen areas, and she wasquick to notice the very thin and sick horses that were alreadythere.We found a pen of horses that we knew were Standardbreds and wedecided to record their tattoo numbers. Diana was quick to catchon that the horses are in constant motion to protect themselvesfrom getting kicked. During the day, as the pens fill up, thehorses push and bump each other to find safety. Diana commentedthat she did not understand why there were so many horses invery good shape at the auction. It made no sense why people wouldthink this auction would be a good venue to re market theirhorses.As we walked down an aisleway, I noticed a large bottle ofBanamine (painkiller) sitting on a ledge behind a post. There wasa syringe stuck into the top of the bottle. Anyone could haveused this medication for any purpose. We went to the unloadingarea and watched the horses coming in. Trailer after trailerpulled up. The usual kill dealers were there, Ramey, (KY) Bauer,(OH) & Fisher(PA).The same veterinarian from the previous week, Melissa Reddick,was drawing blood for coggins testing. As usual, horses withhalters were held for this procedure. Horses without halters wererun down chutes, individually singled out by being beaten withsticks, pinned between a wooden gate and the wall, slapped andkicked if they moved a muscle, while Reddick climbed up the sideof the gate and reached over to stick the needle into the veinand draw blood. This method is repeated over and over throughoutthe day. There is never any attempt by Dr. Reddick to recordtattoo numbers, even on those horses that come directly from theracetracks.Diana and I became very busy trying to follow the groups ofhorses as they were herded into different pens. The larger penswere filling up very quickly and in one such pen Diana spotted aseverely injured horse that looked like a thoroughbred. Weclimbed into the pen and it was apparent that the horse had abroken hock. He was unable to bear any weight on the leg, andDiana attempted to move him to a corner of the pen where he wouldbe less likely to be kicked by others, but he was unable to movebecause the horses were packed so tightly together.We pulled his tattoo number, he was a Standardbred, R9428. I toldDiana to go tell Dr. Reddick that the horse was in trouble. Itold Diana to be sure and tell Reddick that she (Diana) is aThoroughbred trainer who can identify a horse with a broken legwhen she sees one. Diana went to Reddick who was back at theunloading area and reported the horse. Dr. Reddick told Diana itwas not her (Reddick´s) problem. She told Diana that sincethe horse was still owned privately, only the owner of the horsecould authorize her to treat the horse. Since the horse was in apen with horses that had been dropped off, it was highly unlikelythe owner was presently at the auction. Diana went to the officewith the horses hip number#81, and asked them to tell her thename of the owner. The lady in the office said she was too busyand would look later if she had time.Diana returned to Dr. Reddick and again implored her to pleasecome look at the horse. Dr. Reddick said if Diana was thatconcerned, she should ask one of the Amish to move the horse to aprivate pen. Diana approached not one, but several of the Amishto ask them to help her. Aside from looking at her as if she hadthree heads, they did nothing. Diana was starting to realize thehell hole she was in.Diana came back to me and we discussed our limited options. Theinjured horse was at the back of the crowded pen, farthest fromthe gate. He could not walk, so Diana climbed back into the penand herded the more aggressive horses away from him. For a fewminutes I was horrified that Diana was going to get kicked.Horses were pushing and shoving, biting each other, kicking,squealing, all in an attempt to get away from the aggressivehorses. I grabbed Diana by her shirt collar and helped pull herback up out of the pen.About this time Ryan called us on his cell and told us a trailerwith Thoroughbreds had just pulled in. We watched as they wererun off the trailer with sticks and into an alleyway with gatesat each end. Diana and I sprang into action to get tattoos.Using the halter I had brought with me we developed a systemwhereby I would hold the horses and hold back their lips, Dianawould read the number, then she would hold the horse while Iwrote down the number, and then she would reread the number backto me for clarification. The difficulty lie in the fact thatthere was so much commotion all around us. Not to mention, theAmish knew we were up to something, so they continued to keep thehorses moving from one end of the aisleway to the other.Most of these horses, under ordinary circumstances, would standvery quietly while we handled them. The problem is that from thetime the Thoroughbreds leave the track, everyone who handles themuses such abusive force during the auction process, theyinstinctively revert to their flight instincts. This can be saidfor any horse at this auction. In a very short time, people havebecome predators to these horses. The constant yelling, hittingand kicking these horses endure makes it very difficult foranyone to handle them once they are at Sugarcreek.We began to notice that all the Thoroughbreds were kept in pensclosest to the auction ring. This should have made things easierexcept that the Amish kept moving them from pen to pen. At onepoint, five or six thoroughbreds came running at us, slipping andsliding on the concrete floor, with their halters on. The haltersactually had the horses names on them, Point of Attack andTimbers Prospect. How in the world does a trainer take the timeto have a horses name embroidered on a halter, only to send thathorse to slaughter?Diana and I frantically tried to quiet them down and read theirtattoos. As I would hold one of them, the Amish would try andtake the halter off before we could read the tattoo. I would askthem to wait, but they acted as if they couldn't hear me. Wecontinued to record tattoos in spite of the Amish. I wasconstantly asking God to help us, especially with the horses thatwere reluctant to let us hold their heads and flip their lips.Sometimes Diana could not make out a letter or a number, and wewould have to try again and again. One horse in particular, hadan unreadable tattoo. Every time we had a chance, we kept goingback to that horse to try again. We never did get it right, hewas our only failure.Around noon, five thoroughbreds were trailered in with JimSnodgrass from Thistledown Racetrack. He actually told uspersonal traits about some of the horses, and indicated he hopedwe would purchase them privately. At first we thought Snodgrassmight have an ounce of redeemable character, but when heproceeded to pull the halters off the horses, while we weretrying to get their tattoos, we realized he was as bad as a killbuyer, because he acknowledged how awful this place was and stillcontinued to bring horses here week after week.Just before the start of the horse sale at 1 PM, we still had notfound No Day Off. I was having an anxiety attack from hell. Ikept thinking that somehow Baker had found out about us being atthe racetrack the day before, and had called his son and told himnot to bring any horses from Mountaineer Park to the auction.Diana and I had recorded the tattoos of over 34 Thoroughbreds andStandardbreds.I called Gail and told her my fear. Gail suggested that we musthave missed her, or that Bakers son was running late. All I knewwas that the clock was ticking and without No Day Off, therewould be no HBO documentary.Diana told me that she was going to go into the auction andrecord the sale prices on the hip numbers we had tattoos on. Itold her to go ahead, I was going to sit at the unloading areaand wait for No Day Off. I was at my wits end, where the hell wasshe? I begged God to help me. I started to leaf through the listof tattoo numbers we had gotten, page after page. I kept staringat the number Gail had given us for No Day Off, H19563 . Iflipped a page and saw the number M19563. "Wait a minute" Ithought to myself," what are the chances that two thoroughbredswould have the same numbers with a different letter?" I thenrealized that No Day Off was already at Sugarcreek and we knewher hip number, 481!I leapt to my feet and raced to the pens. I called Diana on mycell and told her that No Day Off was hip #481 and we had to findher. Diana answered me back that she had just watched #481 gothrough the ring and sell to kill buyer, Fred Bauer. I calledRyan and told him we knew that No Day Off was here. Diana met meand we asked an employee where the Bauer pen was. We went to apen with about twenty horses in it. Most of them wereThoroughbreds we had already identified, and then we saw her,#481.We walked in and quietly walked up to her. I held out a handfulof hay and she walked over. Diana slipped the grooming halterover her head and we read her tattoo. H19563. Diana immediatelysaid she remembered reading this tattoo earlier because thefilly's gums were cut from the lip chain the day before. That waswhy Diana had first read the H as a M. I told Diana to look at itagain, and then we led her over to the camerawoman so that shecould video the tattoo. We had our documentary.And then , in an instant, reality sunk in. No Day Off was juststanding there. Diana and I were petting her and crying our eyesout. We could not save her. She stood there waiting for us totake her out of that horrible place, and the best we could do wasto lead her over to the hay manger so that she could eat haybefore she was loaded up for the trip to the slaughterhouse inCanada.Diana and I went back up on the catwalk and watched the saleshorses being run into the different kill buyer pens. It was atthis time Diana noticed Hip #81, the horse with the broken hock,standing in a pen of horses that Baker had bought. Dianacouldn't believe they had run the horse through the auction inthat condition. Diana saw Dr. Reddick standing on the catwalk.She went over to Reddick and asked her to please come look at#81. Dr. Reddick tried to ignore Diana but Diana insisted thatReddick come look at the horse.From a distance of over twenty feet, Dr. Reddick told Diana thatas far as she was concerned, the horse was weight-bearing andtherefore, Reddick saw no reason the horse could not betransported. Diana told Dr. Reddick that she was absolutelywrong, and that the horse was non weight-bearing. Dr. Reddickended the conversation by telling Diana that Diana was entitledto her opinion.About this time Becky arrived and I told her what had beenhappening. Becky told me she was going to try and buy one of theponies or horses that was in such poor shape they would neversurvive the trip to slaughter. We walked to the back pen wherethe worst horses were kept and we saw a chestnut mare lying onthe ground. We went into the pen and we saw that she was dying.Her head was resting on the bottom rung of the gate, and her legswere stretched out in front of her. She was barely breathing. Shewas lying on a manure covered floor, surrounded by horsesdestined for slaughter.Once again we approached Dr. Reddick and asked her to intervene.Once again she advised us it was not her job.I went back to the pen where No Day Off was. Diana and I watchedas each horse was let out of the pen and briefly haltered while afarrier removed the shoes from the Thoroughbreds. This is afederal regulation requirement for all horses being transportedto slaughter. It is difficult to explain how distressing this isto watch.At this point I had to leave the auction. Diana had far morecourage than me. She stayed with the camera crew to video thehorses being loaded onto the trailers. Diana watched as No DayOff slipped and crashed to the ground before being loaded onto atrailer bound for the Canadian slaughterhouse. The camerascontinued rolling as the trailers pulled out of the Sugarcreekparking lot.Later, I ventured back into the auction to find out if Becky hadpurchased any horses. I found her in a state of completedistress. While waiting for Leroy Baker to give her a price onone of the debilitated horses, she had witnessed him attemptingto lift the dying chestnut horse with a front end loader. Thehorse was unable to stand, and Baker finally gave up.Unfortunately, this despicable atrocity is not on video.Five years ago I read the story of how a Kentucky Derby winner,Ferdinand, was slaughtered for human consumption. No Day Off wasnot a Derby winner. No Day Off was one of the thousands ofracehorses that nobody ever remembers.I will remember No Day Off forever. I see her face every day. Isee her eyes every day looking deep into my soul asking me totake her home. I wake up every day remembering the sacrifice shemade for all Thoroughbreds and horses so that Americans wouldunite together and force our legislators to get off theirprocrastinating soap boxes and pass the American Horse SlaughterPrevention Act.Many of you may despise me for not rescuing No Day Off. But ifyou do not contact your Congressmen and Senators on her behalf,you share in my complicity. No Day Off was sacrificed in anattempt to show Americans that every aspect of the horseslaughter industry is cruel, abusive, and minimal regulations arenot enforced.The incomprehensible slaughter of Thoroughbred champion,Ferdinand, sparked the effort to ban horse slaughter in theUnited States. I pray that the equally incomprehensible andunnecessary slaughter of No Day Off, will be the catalyst tofinally end the unconscionable slaughter of American horses.Postscript: Remembering Those We Lostby: Gail VaccaI'm sure that I can safely speak for all of us who love horsesand who want to see an end to the atrocity that is horseslaughter, in offering our profound gratitude to HBO for draggingAmerica's dirty little secret out from behind the dark shadowsand exposing the underbelly of the horse industry and its heinousalliance with those who profit in the trade of horses for theirflesh.I hope and pray that everyone who sees this documentary will joinforces and take action by demanding that Congress immediatelyenact the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R.503 andS.311).I hope and pray that everyone who sees this documentary willcontact their local racetracks and the "powers that be" withinthe Thoroughbred racing industry, and demand that every NorthAmerican racetrack immediately put into place a program toprotect injured and retiring racehorses from ending up at low-endauctions and being exported to slaughter. The racing industry canand must do better by its horses. The suffering and slaughter ofthese incredible equine athletes must end at once.I hope and pray that everyone who sees this documentary willremember that each and every week while passage of the AHSPA isdelayed, thousands of U.S. horses will continue to be auctionedoff by the "pound" and will continue to be cruelly transported toslaughter in Canada and Mexico. Time is of the essence. Let's endthis horrendous cruelty, once and for all.The horses who were lost on April 18, 2008 in order that truth ofthis hideous cruelty could be brought to light.No Day Off: 2004 Dark bay or brown filly. Tattoo # H19563. 10starts 0-0-3. Earned $3,993.00. Last raced, 4-12-08 atMountaineer Park for owner/trainer Ricardo Hernandez. No Day Offwas sent to slaughter via the Sugarcreek Auction on 4-18-08, only6 days after having not been able to finish in her last race. Thecomment on her race record reads "gave way, eased upper stretch."No Day Off's only crime was that she was too injured to racecompetitively. No day off was bred by Jerome C. Burdick and wasfoaled in Pennsylvania. No Day Off was slaughtered in a Canadianhorse slaughter plant in April of 2008 at only 4 years of age.Balachour Prince: 2001 Bay gelding. Tattoo # E14092. 26 starts,3-7-3. Earned $43,485.00. Last raced 4-12-08 at Mountaineer Parkfor trainer, Bart Baird and owner, The Estate of Dale Baird.Balachour Prince was sent to slaughter via the Sugarcreek Auctionon 4-18-08, only 6 days after his last race in which he finished10th, beaten 151/2 lengths. The comment on his race record reads"lost ground, tired."Balachour Prince was bred by G.J. Collins Bloodstock and HollyCollins and was foaled in Ontario, Canada. Balachour Prince wasslaughtered in April of 2008 at 7 years of age.Crow Autumn: 2002 Dark bay or brown mare. Tattoo #F20759. 37starts, 0-2-4. Earned $26,370.00. Last raced 4-12-08 atMountaineer Park for trainer Bart Baird and owner, The Estate ofDale Baird. Crow Autumn was sent to slaughter via the SugarcreekAuction only 6 days after her last race in which she finished 7thbeaten 171/2 lengths. The comment on her chart reads, "in tightstart, tired." Crow Autumn was bred by JB Enterprises Inc., andwas foaled in California. Crow Autumn was slaughtered in April of2008 at 6 years of age.Arranged Marriage: 2004 bay filly. Tattoo # H27783. 6 starts,0-1-2. Earned $18,897.00. Last raced4-7-08 at Mountaineer Park for trainer Bart Baird, owner TheEstate of Dale Baird. Arranged Marriage was sent to slaughter viathe Sugarcreek Auction on 4-18-08, only 11 days after her lastrace which she did not finish. The comment on her chart reads"bad step, vanned-off." Arranged Marriage was bred byBass/Seeligson Partnership and was foaled in California. ArrangedMarriage sold for $10,500 at the Barrett's Equine Limited 2007Fall Mixed Sale. Arranged Marriage, clearly suffering from theinjuries sustained in her last race, was slaughtered in April of2008, at merely 4 years of age.Point of Attack: 2004 Dark bay or brown filly. Tattoo # H05614.22 starts, 2-1-5. Earned $25,654.00. Last raced on 3-25-08 atMountaineer Park for trainer Penny L. Mathias, and owner, TheEstate of Dale Baird. Point of Attack was sold for slaughter viathe Sugarcreek Auction on 4-18-08, only 25 days after her lastrace in which she finished 6th beaten 11- 1/2 lengths. Thecomment on her chart reads, " Rated pace, wore down.". Point ofAttack was bred by Point Break Partners and was foaled inCalifornia. This daughter of Bertrando sold for $32,000 at theBarrett's Equine Limited 2006 Mixed Sale. Point of Attack wasslaughtered in April of 2008 at only 4 years of age.Explosive Light: 1991 Bay gelding. Tattoo # U00446. 16 starts1-1-0. Earned $9,375.00. Explosive Light was a steeplechaser wholast raced in 1997. At the time he was last raced, he was trainedby F. B. Miller and owned by John H. Peace. Explosive Light wasbred by Fares Farm and was foaled in Kentucky. The well bred sonof Majestic Light (73) -- Explosive Tobin (86), by Explodent (69)sold at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in 1992 for$220,000. Explosive Light was sold to slaughter via theSugarcreek Auction on 4-18-08 and was later that monthslaughtered at 17 years of age, following many years of serviceto his human connections.Emerald Crossing: 2002 Bay mare. Tattoo # F24713. 7 starts,0-2-0. Earned $3,339.00. Emerald Crossing last raced on 3-8-06 atPenn National where she finished 2nd, beaten only 1-3/4 lengths.The comment on her chart reads, "3-wide, evenly stretch." At thetime of her last race, Emerald Crossing was trained by George R.Albright and owned by Landslide Farm. Emerald Crossing was soldto slaughter via the Sugarcreek Auction on 4-18-08. EmeraldCrossing was bred by Redmond C. S. Finney and was foaled inMaryland. Emerald Crossing was slaughtered in April of 2008, at 6years of age.Bohica: 2002 Bay mare. Tattoo # F34049. 34 starts, 3-7-3. Earned$33,290.00. Bohica last raced 7-9-07 at Mountaineer Park forowner/trainer Ashley J. Lewis, where she finished 9th, beaten32-1/2 lengths. Bohica was sold to slaughter via the SugarcreekAuction on 4-18-08. Bohica was bred by F. W. Allen and was foaledin Florida. Bohica was slaughtered in April of 2008, at 6 yearsof age.Another Passion: 2004 Bay filly. Tattoo #H14386. Starts 2, 1-0-0.Earned $6,925.00. Another passion last raced on 6-17-06 fortrainer Art Sherman and owner Frederick J. Liebau, Sr. AnotherPassion won her last race by 3 lengths. Another Passion was soldto slaughter via the Sugarcreek Auction on 4-18-08. Anotherpassion was bred by Janet Sexton and was foaled in California. InJanuary of 2008 Another Passion sold for $900.00 at the Barrett'sEquine Limited January 2008 Mixed Sale. Another Passion wasslaughtered in April of 2008 at only 4 years of age.November News: 2003 Dark bay or brown gelding. Tattoo # G28014.November News never raced. He was bred by Kathryn C. Schultz andwas foaled in Florida. November News was sold to slaughter viathe Sugarcreek Auction on 4-18-08. November News sold for $3,000at the Ocala Breeder's Sales Company 2004 Winter Mixed Sale.November News was slaughtered in April of 2008 at only 5 years ofage.***Please note that Balachour Prince, Crow Autumn, ArrangedMarriage, and Point of Attack were all owned by the Estate ofDale Baird. All but, Point of Attack (who was trained by PennyMathias) were trained by the late Dale Baird's son, Bart Baird.Dale Baird has been heralded as the most winning trainer in UShistory, winning over 9,000 races before his death in 2007. Bairdhas been twice nominated for consideration by Racing's Hall ofFame. Thankfully, he was denied entry both times. What a lot ofpeople didn´t know about Dale Baird was that while he wasno doubt America's winning-most trainer, he was also a man whothought nothing of sending hundreds if not thousands of horses toslaughter, once they were no longer of any use to him. He mayvery well have been the trainer who in his lifetime sent morehorses to slaughter than any of his counterparts.The sale of Balachour Prince, Crow Autumn, Arranged Marriage, andPoint of Attack to slaughter on April 18, 2008 proves thatdespite Dale Baird's death, his legacy of cruelty and totaldisregard for the welfare of horses, continues on with his son,Bart Baird. The Baird family reign of equine cruelty must end.Dale Baird must never again be considered for entry into racing'sHall of Fame. To do so would be an insult to all true horsemen."Trainers" such as Dale and Bart Baird have no place among themany fine horsemen within the racing industry, and they alongwith others like them, should be banned from racing. ***In memory of all the horses who have suffered the inhumanity ofman, and in honor of all who fight so hard to protect them, Ioffer you this poem written by Lucille Matte and offered with ourheartfelt gratitude to all of you, who fight so hard to protecthorses.A Letter from God about No Day OffI want you all to know, I saw them hit her too.I was standing right there by her, with every one of you.Believe me when I tell you, it broke my heart in two andIt was then that I knew, exactly what to do.That´s why I´m writing this letter, to try andcomfort you.To let everyone know her treatment was not what I would choose.I stood there next to her, as she tried to run away.I told her that I loved her and she was coming with me that day.So long before the sun went down, I took No Day Off home.She is here with me in heaven and has miles of fields to roam.Like all the other horses, that are here in heaven with me,No Day Off is in paradise, she´s young and wild and free.I want you all to know, I see you all each day.I cry with you in anger and my heart breaks in the same way.I love you all for trying, to save them one and all.I want you to know I am here, to catch you if you fall.I want you each to give to me, all the pain that this has caused,And trust me when I tell you, I will save them all withoutpause.I need you all to hold, your head up high and strong, and protectthose who need us, till you are all safe with me at home.I love you!GodLucille MatteApril 25, 2008---