Two Champion Race Horses Euthanized

Two champion race horses died recently. One was Wake At Noon, a 13-year-old thoroughbred, the other was an eight-year-old standardbred called Zooka.

Wake At Noon’s death received the most publicity. The horse, who was Canada’s 2002 winner of the Sovereign Award for Horse of the Year and a winner of more than $1.6 million, was euthanized after suffering an injury at Woodbine Racetrack on June 29. According to The Pilot, the horse was on the track in the early morning when he broke a foreleg and fell. While struggling to stand he broke another leg. He was euthanized on the track. The thing many people are questioning is why the horse was on the track. He had not raced since November 2007, and Woodbine rules state that any horse older than 10 who has not won a race in the last year is not eligible to be given a stall at the track, even for a few hours to do a workout. Jamie Martin, executive vice-president of racing for Woodbine Entertainment, told the Toronto Star that a full investigation was underway to discover how the horse got past security. Wake at Noon’s owner, Bruno Schickedanz, told the newspaper that the horse was not getting any mares in foal this spring so he decided to return him to training. He said the horse was injured when he spooked and took a bad step. According to the United States Trotting Association, the Ontario Racing Commission is investigating the incident, and the Woodbine Entertainment Group has placed an indefinite ban on Schickedanz’s horses from racing at the track. Woodbine has also banned Wake At Noon’s trainer, Tom Marino. Wake at Noon raced 67 times with 21 wins, including 12 stakes victories. Zooka, who set a world record for a five-eighths mile track in 2007, when he paced in 1:49.3, cracked a pastern bone in a front leg during a race at Mohawk, according to The Harness Edge. Ondrej Gois, who was driving the free-legged pacer on July 3, told the Harness Edge that he heard the bone crack and then the horse broke stride. Zooka was taken to a hospital and x-rayed before the decision was made to euthanize him. Zooka raced 159 times, earning more than $1.3 million, and was the first pacer to win in under 1:50 without wearing hopples.