Echo Cat

Last night we went to Bay Meadows for what may be one of the final Fridays Alive if the racetrack is demolished for future developments.

We enjoyed it, as always, but we decided to leave before the races were finished so we could get back to the city and home by midnight or so.

The last race we watched, I bet on Echo Cat, and was disheartened when the horse didn't even cross the finish line. Then we noticed, however, that she had gone down around the last curve. My heart broke a little because I was afraid she may have broken a leg, but then we tensely joked about her being shot thinking that there's no way it was that serious. We talked about horse euthanasia, and that transitioned into a conversation about Animal Cops, which kept everything light-hearted.

Thinking I wouldn't find anything, I googled Echo Cat today. I'm devastated to report that she was, in fact, euthanized last night. All because she was performing for our pleasure. Poor Echo Cat.

I'm really torn about whether it's okay to watch horse races now. It seems that horses are injured and thus euthanized every race. There are many organizations devoted to documenting the deaths in the UK, but the industry itself seems to hide this information. In the US, the only information I can find is from a blogger devoted to checking up on all the horses that went down on the track. She keeps a historical list at http://scrollsequus.blogspot.com/.

how friggin' depressing.