HBO defends racetrack series after 2 horse deaths

Blame Santa Anita not HBO. The track has been like concrete for a couple years now. Jockeys, trainers, and horsemen have complained. Some trainers refuse to run their horses there. Ownership of Santa Anita simply doesn't care enough to fix the problem.

Just another series with washed up movie stars and an attitude by producers that would fit the backside of any dumpy track where "sore" runners take their final - painful - strides until being whipped into a slaughterhouse.

Years ago I watched a race on tv...a beautiful horse broke her front leg and yet went on to win the race on 3 legs...they put flowers around her neck, then a screen around her and killed her...the female jockey was sobbing...I was in shock! I will never look at another race...that horrible incident is burned into my heart...ALL racing is dangerous and cruel.

Secretariat's heart weighed 21 pounds and he could've run full speed all day long, he was a true specimen. They do love to run

The general public has always turned a blind eye to the sacrifices the horse population has made throughout the years. When there is a break-down during the telecast of a race, it is very rare anything is said as to what happened to the horse. While it is a tremendous mental thing to deal with to on lookers (and I was unaware two horses already lost their lives), the public should be made aware these gallant, innocent creatures are more than something to bet on, and they should have a peak of what their sporting entertainment comes with, besides their winning or losing bets at a window.

HBO defends the horeses deaths by saying "we accounted for it in the budget"

never a fan of horse racing, seems like HBO cut corners, no surprise there.

Here's how you stop that "disturbing fatality rate" : Stop racing horses.

Silent fatalities of horse racing are the foals born to the surrogate mothers. Thoroughbred mares are shipped to the stallion's farm to be re-bred shortly after they give birth. The foals they leave behind are set up to be fed by surrogate mare mothers who have recently given birth to their own foals. Those now-orphaned foals are shipped off to be butchered - bottle feeding of those foals usually is a failure and any that are raised are not propery socialized to be trained or adopted.

Oh how ironic for Mr. Hoffman. I understand he has been very critical of the horse-drawn carriages and their owners in NYC for many years. These carriage horses are very well-treated and NEVER forced to run at all. When he showed his disdain for the carriage horse owners, he was a darling of PETA and HSUS. But now these worms have turned. Now, Mr. Hoffman gets to feel their ire. This almost too good to be true and is poetic justice at its best.

PETA didn't care about the four horses who died while shooting Flicka, yet they have a fit about about this? ha.

I find it ironic how HSUS is getting criticized by PETA after they pulled the same stunts as the by funding animal right extremist groups like HFA.

Is there any chance at all these horses just died? Living creatures die all the time it doesn't mean it was from neglect or abuse. But with PETA plucking a single feather from a chicken would be abuse. I love how PETA gets up in arms and we all just laugh since they really don't do much to promote animal well being just make a lot of noise and hire celebrities to pose naked for them. They spend much more time putting out press releases asking cities to change names of neighborhoods because it's the word Tenderloin. As if that would actually make animals lives better somehow. Keep up the good work PETA your donations grow while you IQ's shrink.

Most horse racing in the US is cruel and horrible abuse. The horses are started as babies, racing at a time they are too young to even be ridden much and are having to put extreme stress on bones and joints that are not even near mature. Most of these horses live with leg/foot problems and pain most of their lives, many are destroyed. It is all about money. The owners would have to spend more money to keep the horse until it was an adult to race and they don't want to spend a dime more than they have to on a loser. So they run babies and ship many who are not fast to the killers.

The article says nothing about HOW the animals were injured. Was it human-induced? Negligence? Illness? Horse-on-horse violence? Equipment failure? Weather-related?

I've been involved in one way or another with caring for horses since I was young. There are a LOT of ways for a horse to become injured. Thoroughbreds are notoriously more fragile than other breeds (due to the lack of genetic variation). That said, no animals should be dying in the production of a show. If these had been human lives, production would have been halted, and possibly never resumed. HBO's sad lack of respect for these animals' lives is rather appalling.

funny how all these people have comments about horses and the horse industry and none of them actually have any knowledge about the subject..........

PETA's ultimate goal is to eradicate animal ownership of any kind. They are a radical organization with terrorist ties and their only interest lies in self promotion. Look it up. They actually do nothing to save any animals. They euthanize more than they save. So for them to be commenting on this story is laughable. The same with HSUS. Give to the WWF or ASPCA or your local no kill shelter if you really want to help animals. As far as the show, if HBO has corrected the problems... I don't see the story. Just another money making scheme from PETA to get attention.

When you hear about a show that has any animal deaths in it, you wonder. I hope they are treating their horses well.

Seems odd to care about two horses dying when thousands are slaughtered for animal and human consumption. May be better to focus on that instead.

I'm not ready to jump to the conclusion that HBO is at fault. After all, actors have died on movie sets, and I don't see anyone suggesting that Hollywood should stop making movies. You analyze the problem and take corrective. It would appear that they have done this.