Letter To The Editor: A Different Perspective, Raoul Temam

I am a bloodstock agent and, at times, a horse owner based in California.

I have been reading, with great interest, the various comments and opinions regarding how best to resolve the ongoing and serious issue with the spate of deaths of our precious and amazing Thoroughbreds.

While I am not as well known (and as articulate) as most of the professionals who have commented on this topic in TDN, I feel that I might be able to bring a different perspective.

My family has owned both flat and steeplechase horses in France for over 45 years. This has included horses of all levels, from handicap to stakes, including a champion steeplechaser. During all these years, we have never had a horse die on the racetrack or in training, and we have enjoyed some memorable and wonderful moments. This is not luck. It's normal and the way it should be in the U.S. too. (When I tell my French relatives and friends what is going on here, they are shocked).

However, my experience as an owner in the U.S. has been quite the opposite. My first horse (purchased after she broke her maiden) had a career-ending injury in training a week after I bought her. Another horse I owned (brought over from France) ended up with a bowed tendon. And, most recently, I had brought a stakes filly from France to race in California. She was at Santa Anita, but in 2019, with all the awful deaths there, I moved her to Golden Gate (I live in San Francisco). I was very attached to her and went to see her regularly, always with treats. Sadly, in early 2020, I received a call from the trainer who told me she had just died in a freak accident in the barn area. I was in shock and felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I was in tears for two days, and to this day, I still think about her fondly. I currently own a yearling in Kentucky and I already worry about his future, unless the tracks make some drastic and necessary changes.

The reason I mention these anecdotes is to point out that, while horses dying during races are, obviously, the most visible and horrifying aspect of this sad issue, we should not forget that most horses will experience a variety of injuries during their racing careers under the current racing and training conditions.

Maybe those who state that we should continue racing on dirt surfaces have never owned horses or experienced the horrible feeling of losing one of these beautiful and noble animals.

–Raoul Temam