Laughing Moon may have lost his life, but his death won't be in vain.
On Saturday night, January 23rd, the hard-trying eight-year-old thoroughbred gelding, who'd amassed more than $180,000 in earnings, catastrophically injured a suspensory ligament and broke down shortly after finishing third in the fifth race, an allowance contest, at Penn National.. Sadly, Laughing Moon was euthanized immediately after the race.
When Laughing Moon fell, he caused another horse to tumble, too, and that, apparently, was the last straw for the jockeys whose lives, and livelihoods, depend on the soundness of their mounts. It was the fact that Laughing Moon was owned by Michael Gill that got the attention of the riders at the Grantville, PA track. As reported by Ray Paulick in The Paulick Report, Laughing Moon was the second horse owned by the controversial owner to have broken down at Penn National with a 72-hour period. Paulick's investigation further revealed that "in just over three months, 14 other horses owned by Gill have either broken down, were pulled up, returned lame, or eased at Penn National."
Within minutes after Laughing Moon fell and died on the track, the jockeys huddled together and did something extraordinary. They told Penn National's management that they wouldn't ride in any race in which a Michael Gill-owned horse was entered. In doing so, they may have preserved the lives not only of Michael Gill's horses, but of their endangered competitors, as well.
The jockeys' bold stand can't help Laughing Moon, but it may yet save the stablemates he left behind.
Comments