Thoroughbred Charities of America: Where the Money Goes

Only a portion of TCAs monies go directly to TB rescue and retirement, but here are some rescues who benefited from TCA grants;

Non-Profits Who Have Recieved Grants
$15 Million to Date
by category


Equine Rescue, Retraining, Adoption and Retirement

AAEP Foundation-"Equine Disaster Relief Fund" (KY)
Alaska Equine Rescue (AK)
Amaryllis Farm Equine Rescue (NY)
Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue(PA)
Angel Horse Rescue (OK)
Another Chance 4 Horse (PA)
Appalachian Horse Help & Rescue (PA)
Blue Horse Charities (KY)
Bran Manor Equine Rescue (PA)
Bright Futures Farm Rescue (PA)
CANTER (MI, Mid-Atl, New England, OH)
Carolina Equine Society, Inc (NC)
Castleton Ranch Horse Rescue (CA)
CERF (CA)
Chez Chevaux (WA)
Cobleskill Agricultural & Technical College Foundation (NY)
Days End Farm Horse Rescue, Lisbon (MD)
Diamonds in the Rough (FL)
Double D Equine Rescue & Sanctuary (PA)
Equine Advocates (NY)
Equine Encore Foundation (AZ)
Equine Rescue & Rehabilitation, Parkton (MD)
Equine Rescue (NY)
Equirest, Inc. (OH)
Equus (CA)
Exceller Fund (TX)
Finger Lakes Thoroughbred Adoption Program (NY)
Forever Free Horse Rescue (CA)
Fraternal Order of Firefighters Large Animal Rescue Sem.(KY)
Friends of Ferdinand Indiana, Inc. (IN)
Give Me A Chance Equine Rescue (AR)
GEVA (CA)
Greener Pastures Equine Rescue Foundation, Oklahoma (OK)
Heaven Can Wait (CA)
High Hope Steeplechase Association (KY)
Horse Rescue, Relief & Retirement Fund (GA)
High Hopes, Inc (PA)
Hooved Animal Humane Society (IL)
H.O.R.S.E. of CT (CT)
H.O.R.S.E. Rescue & Sanctuary (NY)
H.O.O.F. (Horse One To One Outreach Foundation) (CA)
Horse Feathers Equine Rescue (OK)
HorseNet, Inc. (MD)
Horses Haven (MI)
Horses in the Hood (CA)
Horses N Heroes of S. Florida (FL)
Horse Rescue, Relief and Retirement Fund (GA)
Humana Reserve/California Equine Council CA)
Jana Domino T'Bred Foundation (NY)
Jolene's Horse Rescue (CA)
Kentucky Equine Humane Center (KY)
Last Chance Corral (OH)
Lexington Humane Society (KY)
Life Horse (MD)
Lonestar Outreach to Place Ex-Racers (TX)
Lone State Equine (TX)
Lost Acres Horse Rescue (FL)
Lost and Found Rescue Foundation(PA)
Louisiana Vet Medical Assoc.-Equine Committee (LA)
Luv Shack Ranch (AZ)
Michigan State University Vet School (MI)
Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue (MD)
Midway College (KY)
Minnesota Hooved Animal Rescue Foundation (MN)
Misfit Acres, Inc (MN)
Mitchel Farm Equine Retirement (CT)
Molasses Reef Farm (WI)
Mylestone Equine Rescue (NJ)
New York Horse Rescue (NY)
New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program (OH)
Ohio State Foundation (OH)
Oklahoma Thoroughbred Retirement Program (OK)
Old Friends (KY)
Orphan Acres (ID)
Our Mims Retirement Haven(KY)
Paws For Life/Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue (MD)
Peaceful Pastures Horse Rescue (OH)
Pegasus (CA)
Performance Equine Rescue Network (CA)
Pets Alive (NY)
Pheasant Hill Equine Foundation (MD)
Pure Thoughts (FL)
Rainhill Equine Facility (KY)
ReRun (KY, MD, NY, NJ)
Roanoke Valley Horse Rescue (VA)
Ryerss Farm For Aged Equine (PA)
Safe Haven Farm (PA)
Second Chance Ranch (WA)
Second Stride (KY)
South Delaware Horse Retirement (DE)
South Florida SPCA (FL)
South Jersey Thoroughbred Rescue (NJ)
S.P.C.A.(MD)
Summerwinds Stable (DE)
Sussex County Animal Assoc (DE)
The Equine Sanctuary of Ojai (CA)
The Horse Rescue of North Scottsdale, Inc. (AZ)
The Horse Shelter (NM)
The Ranger Foundation (MD)
Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (FL, IA, IN, MD, MO, NJ, NY,OK, KY, SC, VA)
Tranquility Farm (Harry Biszantz Memorial Center for TB Retirement) (CA)
Tri-State Equine Adoption (DE)
Turtle Rock Rescue (NH)
United Pegasus Foundation (CA)
United States Equestrian Federation-Emer. Rescue(KY)
United States Equine Rescue League (VA)
Voice For Horses Rescue Network (OH)
Walkin N Circles (NM)
Wind Ridge (PA)
Whidbey Island Equine Rescue (WA)
Whimsical Equine Rescue (DE)
Wild Horse Ranch (AZ)
Willow Pond Farm (CA)
Wind Ridge Farm Equine Sanctuary (PA)
Woodford Humane Society (KY)
Work To Ride (PA)

http://www.thoroughbredcharities.org/groups.html

Kentucky Horse-Racing Commission to Award $18 M in Incentives

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Jamie Eads

Breeder Incentive Fund Distributes Over $18 Million in Awards

Awards breeders who stay in Kentucky

FRANKFORT, KY (March 27, 2009)  The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) announced today that the Kentucky Breeders' Incentive Fund will distribute over $18.7 million in awards for 2008.

The fund, established in 2005, ensures the strength and growth of the horse industry in Kentucky. It is financed through the 6 percent sales tax paid for breeding a stallion to a mare in this state.

The breeder incentive programs continue to be a significant benefit to the industry and we are thrilled for the opportunity to offer over $18 million in financial rewards to those individuals supporting the industry and the economic growth of the horse industry in the commonwealth of Kentucky, said Lisa Underwood, executive director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

Eighty percent of the money collected goes to breeders of thoroughbreds with 13 percent and 7 percent going to the breeders of standardbreds and nonrace breeds, respectively.

The Kentucky Thoroughbred Breeder Incentive Fund (KBIF)

The KBIF received over $15 million to be distributed in awards for the 2008 racing season. The KBIF requires owners to board mares in Kentucky from the time of breeding until the birth of the foal. Incentive payments are based on the foals eventual winnings on the race track. The KBIF awarded 4,119 races in Kentucky, across the U.S. and group one international races in Canada, England, France and Ireland.

The Kentucky Standardbred Development Fund (KSDF)

The KSDF received $2.4 million for the Kentucky Sire Stakes (KYSS) program, which consists of three $25,000 legs and a $300,000 final for two- and three-year-olds. Races will run at The Red Mile in Lexington, Ky., on Aug. 9, 17 and 27 for two-year-olds and Aug. 10, 20 and 30 for three-year-olds. The $300,000 finals will be run on Sept. 6, 2009. The KYSS rich purse payouts have resulted in award winning stallions standing in Kentucky, including Deweycheatemnhowe.

The Kentucky Horse Breeders Incentive Fund (KHBIF)

The KHBIF received $1,315,708, which will be split proportionately among the 11 nonrace breeds. The Kentucky Quarter Horse Association, representing the largest nonrace breed in the state, received $428,927 and the Paso Fino, representing the smallest breed in Kentucky, received $13,579.

For more information on the breeder incentive funds, including 2008 award winners, statistics on the races awarded, KYSS race dates and nomination deadlines, or nonrace allotments to each breed, visit the Web site at www.khrc.ky.gov or contact Jamie Eads by phone at 859-246-2040 or by e-mail to Jamie.Eads@ky.gov.

(No wonder all the breeders (racing and AQHA) are moving to Kentucky. Perhaps this is one reason why Kentucky contributes more than any other state to the nations "unwanted" horse problem.)

Arcangues, BC Classic Winner, Dead

I wonder what they mean by "euthanized?" I hope not like they "euthanized" Ferdinand or Exceller......

by David Schmitz
Updated: Thursday, March 19, 2009 10:54 AM
Posted: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 3:37 PM
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Arcangues, who won the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) at 133-1, has been euthanized in Japan because of complications from founder. He had been sent to Japan from the United States for stallion duty in 1995.

Arcangues not only became the first foreign-based runner to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, but did so at record odds. The French-based horse captured the 1993 running at Santa Anita over subsequent champion older male Bertrando.

Foaled in 1988, Arcangues raced as a homebred for Daniel Wildenstein. Bred by Allez France Stables, he was foaled at Robin Scully’s Clovelly Farms near Lexington.

Although Arcangues’ Classic win proved shocking, it wasn’t as if the son of Sagace lacked credentials. Trained by Andre Fabre, Arcangues had won the Prix d’Ispahan (Fr-I) several months earlier and had been a group winner the two previous years.

On the down side, Arcangues was coming off an undistinguished effort in the Ciga Prix Dollar (Fr-II) five weeks earlier. He would be without the services of regular rider Thierry Jarnet and would be racing on dirt for the first time. In addition, Jerry Bailey, who was hired to ride Arcangues, could not understand the French groom’s instructions going into the Classic.

Bailey spoke for many when he told fellow rider Gary Stevens on the way to the post that “I don’t know a thing about the horse. I don’t have any idea how to pronounce his name.”

Once the gate opened, none of that mattered. Unhurried during the early going, Arcangues took over from frontrunner Bertrando in the final furlong to post a two-length victory. He returned $269.20 to win, $54.40 to place, and $18.20 to show. Bertrando , part of the favored 6-5 choice with Marquetry and Missionary Ridge, finished 13⁄4 lengths in front of Kissin Kris.

Arcangues, whose win payoff remains a record for all Breeders’ Cup races, was France’s high-weighted older miler in 1993 and was top-weighted on two European free handicaps that year. On the Daily Racing Form Free Handicap for older males, Arcangues was weighted at 123 pounds, two pounds below top weight Bertrando and a pound below Best Pal, who had run 10th in the Classic.

Arcangues was scheduled to enter stud in 1994 at Haras du Buff in France, but it was decided to keep him in training. He remained in Southern California and was placed with trainer Richard Mandella.

Arcangues returned to the races in May 1994 and won the John Henry Handicap (gr. IIT) at Hollywood Park. He raced twice more at Hollywood and was retired with six wins from 19 starts and earnings of $1,981,423. Prior to the 1995 breeding season, Japanese horseman Kazuo Nakamura bought Arcangues from a French syndicate for stallion duty in Japan.

As a stallion, Arcangues sired 264 foals, of which 94 have started and 23 have won, including multiple group II winner Ar Alan.



http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/49725/arcangues-bc-classic-winner--dead

Orphaned foals find refuge of their dreams

Rescue is expensive, but Terri Stemper has plenty of love – and friends to help with the feedings.
By Dan Huntley
dhuntley@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Sunday, Mar. 22, 2009
Slideshow


Terri Stemper watches the foals at the Dream Equine Therapy Center, off S.C. 32 near Brattonsville. DIEDRA LAIRD – dlaird@charlotteobserver.com

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Two of the foals soak up the sun. “Some of the neediest horses are these unwanted foals, some as young as a day old,” said Terri Stemper. DIEDRA LAIRD – dlaird@charlotteobserver.com

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Dream Equine Therapy Center director Terri Stemper works with several of her five foals ranging in age from 1-3 weeks. Her boyfriend, Mark Hill, watches two more from the foals' barn in the background. DIEDRA LAIRD – dlaird@charlotteobserver.com

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More Information
Suburban horse country
South Charlotte's suburbs are home to thousands of horse owners, riders, retailers and other equine enthusiasts.

Most horses are located in Union and York counties. But many owners and riders hail from southern Mecklenburg.

Here are some facts about our love of horses:

Union County's horse industry is No. 2 in the state and generates an estimated $18 million annually, according to N.C. agriculture officials and an N.C. Rural Center study.

Union has about 10,000 horses and 120 horse farms of five or more horses, according to a census by Jimmy Jackson, co-owner of High Hope Stables in Union County, a 21-acre farm caring for 17 horses.

York County has an estimated 8,100 horses and 50 farms of five or more horses, according to Carol Deacon, president of the S.C. Horsemen's Council.

Want to know more?

Contact the N.C. Regional Equine Information Network System through the N.C. Cooperative Extension: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/. Visit the Union County chapter of REINS at www.reinsunioncounty.org/home.

For the Dream Equine Therapy Center, visit www.dreamequinetherapycenter.org. E-mail Terri Stemper at detc@comporium.net or call 803-980-8422.

ROCK HILL Terri Stemper has an expensive habit she can't seem to shake – she rescues orphaned baby horses.

“It's my weakness, I've been around horses since I was 7 years old. I can't stand to see a horse suffer,” said Stemper, 30. “And some of the neediest horses are these unwanted foals, some as young as a day old, that are taken from their mothers at birth.”

Stemper works as a registered nurse during the day but the rest of the time she runs the Dream Equine Therapy Center on her five-acre farm in western York County.

The center cares for and finds homes for orphaned horses. At the moment, she's caring for 15 adult horses and five foals. The foals need to be fed a milk formula every four hours around the clock, and the stalls' pine shaving floors need to be emptied twice daily. Neighbors and volunteers help with the horses when she's at work.

Stemper used to work in a veterinary clinic near Lexington, Ky. There she learned a dirty little secret of the thoroughbred horse breeding business.

Horses are big business in the Bluegrass State, with mares worth $200,000 and more. Top-of-the-line mares give birth to foals that are handed off to nurse mares of lesser breeds. That's so the thoroughbred mare can be quickly bred again. The catch is that the offspring of the nurse mares are practically worthless to the horse breeders. They sometimes end up at feedlots where they are eventually slaughtered to be sold as a delicacy food in Europe or Asia, or as pony leather for belts, shoes and purses.

Stemper works with a network of horse rescue agencies in the Midwest that buy the foals from breeders for $100 to $300. Stemper and her boyfriend, Mark Hill, transport foals back to her farm.

She presently has five foals who range in age from one week to three weeks. She plans to take in another 20 foals this spring. The couple care for the foals until homes can be found. In order to adopt the foals, clients must provide background information and prove they have adequate facilities to provide for the horses. They pay a fee of about $500.

On a recent afternoon, the gangly foals were nudging each other, kicking their skinny legs and licking the gated doors of their stalls.

“They're just babies and they're attempting to nurse, so they are constantly licking,” Stemper said as she rubbed the nose of a chestnut foal named Phoebe.

Neighbor Gina Chapman says Stemper is a rare breed.

“I don't know how she does it. She takes better care of those foals than some people do of their children,” Chapman said with a laugh. “It's a money-losing operation with feeding and the vet bills for these horses, but that doesn't slow Terri down. Her heart is in it, and she won't stop until she finds a good home for each of her horses.”

Stemper, who used to work with terminally ill cancer patients, says the name for her center came from her work on the cancer ward.

“I guess I was always talking about my horses and the patients would talk about how they dreamed of someday seeing my horses and riding them. And I got to thinking about how therapeutic it could be for them,” she said. “Well, that's part of my dream too – to save these nurse mare foals and help people get their mind off their illnesses.

“Horses can do some amazing things. I've seen them.”


http://www.charlotteobserver.com/276/story/611804.html

Strangles Outbreak / UK

STRANGLES, EQUINE - UK (ENGLAND)
********************************
A ProMED-mail post

ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases


Date: Mon 16 Mar 2009
Source: Cambridge News [edited]



Horse disease outbreak confirmed
--------------------------------
Racehorse trainers are on alert after a highly infectious disease was
confirmed in a horse at one of Newmarket's stables. The horse, at
trainer William Jarvis's stables in Fordham Road, has strangles -- a
disease which can restrict animals' airways and can prove fatal. The
outbreak has come just days before the start of the flat racing
season and a month before the start of racing at Newmarket.

The horse has been isolated and measures have been introduced to
reduce the risk of spreading the disease. Mr Jarvis was not available
for comment. But Mark Tompkins, chairman of the Newmarket Trainers'
Federation, said: "He has done everything right by letting everyone
know about it as early as possible. He has been absolutely brilliant.
The vets are on top of it. Let's hope it can be contained to just the
one horse. His string of horses are being tested and swabbed
constantly and he will exercise his horses in the afternoon when
no-one else is on the heath."

Experts from the Animal Health Trust, based just outside Newmarket,
are also monitoring the situation alongside Mr Jarvis's own vets. Tim
Morris, British Horseracing Authority equine science and welfare
director, confirmed the outbreak was currently limited to a single
horse. He said no restrictions were being imposed on Mr Jarvis's
horses because he had shown a responsible attitude by reporting the sickness.

The last strangles scare in racing was 5 years ago when an outbreak
was confirmed near Epsom about 10 days before the Derby. The race
went ahead as planned after precautions were put in place.

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Suasan Baekeland

[For background on this equine infectious, contagious disease,
characterized by abscessation of the lymphoid tissue of the upper
respiratory tract, caused by _Streptococcus equi equi_, see Mod.TG's
commentary in ProMED-mail posting number 20080903.2752. - Mod.AS]

[see also:
2008
----
Strangles, equine - NZ 20080903.2752
Strangles, equine - India (Maharashtra) 20080503.1519
Equine strangles - USA: (OH) 20080212.0562
2006
----
Strangles, equine - UK (Scotland) 20060918.2656
2005
----
Strangles, equine - Australia (SA) 20050723.2126
Strangles, equine - USA (DE) 20050531.1517
Strangles, equine - USA (multistate)(02): proposed rule, FL 20050407.0999]
....................arn/ejp/dk

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Alex Brown speaks out against horse-slaughter

The Sentinel-Record/RICHARD RASMUSSEN Exercise rider Alex Brown heads back to trainer Steve Asmussen's barn after galloping a horse at Oaklawn Park on Wednesday. Brown is dedicated to finding a cure for laminitis, a circulatory foot disorder.

HOT SPRINGS - Alex Brown likes to ride horses and write about horses, but is passionate about saving horses.

"I feel like I've got my PhD in this," Brown said of his effort to save horses from slaughter.

Brown, 43, is chronicling his daily f ight through his Web site, www. alexbrownracing.com, dedicated to the legacy of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro by improving horse welfare, finding a cure for laminitis, a circulatory disorder of the foot, and ending slaughter.

Brown's journey has brought him to Oaklawn Park, where he gallops horses for trainer Steve Asmussen.

"Everything I'm doing is a consequence of following Barbaro," Brown said. "Previously, I had spent the best part of 20 years in racing completely oblivious to horse slaughter and really little regard to horse welfare in general."

Barbaro was euthanized in January 2007 after developing laminitis, which developed after the colt broke multiple bones in his right hind leg shortly after the start of Preakness in May 2006.

Brown became attached to the story while galloping horses at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland, where Barbaro was based much of his career.

An Internet marketing professor at the University of Delaware, Brown already was blogging on a site for local trainer Tim Woolley when Barbaro won the Kentucky Derby.

Two weeks later, the site unexpectedly became a mainstream news source.

"We built the traffic up to about 150 page views going into the Preakness," said Brown, a native of Manchester, England. "Then obviously, we know what happened in the Preakness. My initial reaction was to stop the project, because I wasn't going to exploit a very bad situation."

Brown said he was messing around on the site the following day and realized "everybody was Googling Barbaro and getting nothing."

Brown said after he broke a story concerning Barbaro's surgery, the site crashed after receiving 3,000 visits within an hour.

"Basically from then on, I just committed deliberately to providing updates if I could get them," Brown said. "That's how the project began."

Brown said he has a contract with Barbaro's owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, to write a book, Greatness and Goodness: Barbaro and His Legacy.

Brown said three-quarters of the book - 150 pages of pure text - is already on the Internet.

"It's more to establish that Barbaro is great, and then talk about the good things that have occurred as a result of Barbaro, which would be horse slaughter, horse rescue, issues related to horse racing," Brown said.

A little over a year ago, Brown cut his roots and left Fair Hill (he had been based there for 20 years) to tour North America to get a better handle on those issues at a local level.

The easiest way to do that, Brown said, was to work for a trainer and move when the horses moved to another track.

Brown galloped horses at Penn National and Presque Isle in Pennsylvania and at Keeneland and Churchill Downs in Kentucky before going to work exclusively for Asmussen in November 2007 at Sam Houston Race Park in Texas.

Brown also galloped horses last year at Woodbine in Canada. Now he's at Oaklawn for the first time.

Although he's in Arkansas, Brown still runs his Web site, which, in the past two years, has raised more than $1 million to rescue approximately 2,700 horses from the horse slaughter pipeline.

Brown said the site has had almost a million messages posted.

One of the site's recent success stories is Clever Allemont, who won Oaklawn's Rebel and Southwest stakes in 1985 for trainer Lynn Whiting and owner Cal Partee of Magnolia.

Clever Allemont was discovered in a kill pen late last year in Kansas.

Roughly a half-hour after the story was posted on Brown's site, a forum reader donated funds to purchase Clever Allemont from the dealer who sells horses for slaughter.

Clever Allemont is now at Old Friends, a facility for retired thoroughbreds in Georgetown, Ky.

"If any horseman can argue to me that Clever Allemont should be slaughtered, I don't think so," Brown said. "The fact that slaughter is an option puts horses like that at risk. It was purely by chance that a horse rescue was going to that kill pen to go look for a palomino pony, and the kill buyer talked to that rescue and said, 'Look, I've got this old thoroughbred, I really don't want to send him to kill. Will you take it?'

"Even the kill buyer's compassionate enough to realize that horses shouldn't be slaughtered."

Slaughterhouses in Texas and Illinois have closed in recent years, but they are still prevalent in Canada and Mexico.

"The issue is quite complicated, and I think the pro-slaughter lobbies have done a good job convincing people slaughter is necessary," Brown said. "But as a horseman, I know it's not necessary and I certainly know it's not right."

Rabid Horse Found in Kentucky

A horse in the Hamilton Lane/North Yarnallton Pike area of Lexington,
Kentucky, has tested positive for rabies, according to a statement
from the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department.

Department Spokesman Kevin Hall said the thoroughbred began showing
clinical signs similar to colic on 5 Feb 2009. The horse was admitted
to an equine hospital and underwent exploratory surgery. While in
isolation following surgery, the animal started having violent
seizures and was euthanized. Testing confirmed rabies in the animal
11 Feb 2009. Hall said the investigation into the level of human
exposure is under way.

"Right now we're looking to see the level of exposure," Hall said.
"We're visiting with the farm and with any workers that might have
been exposed."

A skunk near Abbeywood Road also tested positive this week 8-14 Feb
2009]. Earlier this year, another skunk that tested positive for the
disease was found in a pasture near Spurr Road. In that case, a man
was bitten while trying to dispose of the animal. These bring the
total of rabies cases in the county in 2009 to 5 -- already one more
than in all of 2008.

Kentucky state law requires that dogs, cats, and ferrets maintain
annual rabies vaccinations.

Clinical signs of rabies in a horse can look like many different
things, including colic. The CDC reported 53 cases of rabies in
horses in 2006. A Webinar (Web-based seminar) on rabies, along with a
transcript, presented by Steve Reed, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, is available
at the Source URL, noted above.

[Byline: Erin Ryder, News Editor]

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Susan Baekeland

[This moderator has long been an advocate of rabies vaccination in
horses and any farm animal that is shown or handled. It is very cheap
insurance compared to losing a human life or even a prized animal.
Unfortunately, when a large animal is exposed to rabies there are
often many people exposed before the diagnosis is made. The reason is
because rabies mimics other diseases in our large animals. - Mod.TG]

[A map of the state of Kentucky is available at: click on title above to see;

- CopyEd.EJP]

[see also:
2008
----
Rabies, equine - USA: (MO) 20080823.2632
2007
----
Rabies, equine - USA (NH): correction, RI 20070428.1388
Rabies, equine - USA (NH): correction, RI 20070428.1387
Rabies, equine - USA (NH) 20070426.1364
2006
----
Rabies, equine - USA (TN): alert 20060912.2586
Rabies, equine - USA (NM) 20060330.0956
2004
----
Rabies, equine - USA (IL) 20041230.3448]
....................tg/ejp/dk

Requip: A Gamble

Requip Put Mother in Rehab
February 7, 2009. By Jane Mundy

Ocean Springs, MS: Chris M. has her name on a list so she can't step into a casino without being arrested—her choice. However, in the right frame of mind, she wouldn't have chosen to gamble: the prescription drug Requip made that decision for her. Requip compulsive gambling has become a huge problem for people suffering from Restless Leg Syndrome and Parkinson's Disease: they are prescribed the drug without knowing Requip's gambling side effects.

"Before moving here, we lived in Maryland which does not have casinos—buying a lottery ticket was my only gamble," says Chris. "In 2004 my neurologist diagnosed me with Restless Leg Syndrome and prescribed Requip—it really helped but I had no idea how damaging the side effects would be.

"That time of my life was a milestone—we also moved here with my disabled father and I became his full-time caregiver. Then Katrina hit and that put a damper on everything. I started going to the casino by myself and was still taking Requip. I hadn't noticed anything different about my behavior. Then something snapped; I would drop by the casino for a few hours and I would win, then bet more and more. I guess that is part of the disease.

By Christmas of 2005 more casinos started to open; the ones on the coast were still closed from the hurricane. Around this time I was getting into serious trouble: I had opened 5 different credit card accounts and I was paying one with the other—the credit card companies enable you to go deeper into debt. I am not blaming them because the ultimate responsibility was mine, but you get caught up in the gambling disease itself, and Requip was "Mother's Little Helper". This drug puts you in an altered mental state so you don’t realize what is going on.

Once you start with the Requip it creates added stress, it feeds on the anxiety. How do you now get out of debt? And I continued to hide the fact that I was in debt. Eventually the lying, cheating and stealing becomes a way of life, and I was like a full blown alcoholic or drug addict. I hid in the casino to try and make myself feel better.

My father's credit card company had notified him that he was maxed out and he caught me. I joined Gamblers Anonymous for a few months to try and get some help—by this time I had been gambling intensely for about one year--but it didn’t do a whole lot; we have a very small community and nobody attended meetings, just me and another guy.

So I went back to the casino.

My family had no clue, even though I was at the casino a few hours each day, 7 days a week. My husband, Jimmy, didn't know either until he went through the family's finances one day—I used to handle our budget so he didn't find out right away…Jimmy was out of town and I had burned through all the money in our checking account. He tried to pay for parking at the airport and his credit card was denied—maxed out. We had a confrontation and that's when I told him what was going on.

This time I went to some therapy sessions and rehab in Jackson. I was still taking Requip and nobody mentioned anything about Requip gambling side effects. Every addict was at this rehab center and I soon discovered gambling is rather new on the addiction scene; it is weird but drugs and alcohol are more acceptable whereas gambling is more private, yet it comes with the same amount of guilt and shame.

I stayed in rehab for 30 days and came home in October, 2006. I haven't gambled since. I had to file bankruptcy the following year and all debts were discharged in December, 2007. Plus I had to leave the family home for 6 months—that was part of the personal bankruptcy law.

We were watching TV one night and a Mirapex ad flashed onscreen, mentioning compulsive behavior and its association with Restless Leg Syndrome. Then I did some research on the Internet: I was outraged—there was Requip, on the same page as Mirapex.

My first thought was, 'Ohmigod you've got to be kidding me!

But at the same time I was relieved, I wasn't the bad person I thought I was. And I was appalled that this powerful drug-- that could alter your life-- was on the market. Here we are in a huge gambling mecca and this doctor prescribes Requip for many patients. She told me that none of her patients had come back to her with compulsive behavior problems. How could a doctor have a patient like me fall through the cracks? She knew about these side effects but didn't say anything to me! I wondered how many other people she hasn't told about Requip and its association with compulsive behavior.

It is just now that Jimmy and I trust each other again. I have my own ATM card back but for the longest time, if I wanted any money I had to ask; it was so embarrassing and humbling. At the age of 53 I had to ask a family member for $10. I always thought I was a good person; taking Requip and dealing with compulsive gambling is a horrible thing to go through."


http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/11870/requip-gambling-compulsive-2.html?ref=newsletter_bca_requip-gambling-compulsive-2

Mutual Funds Losses Linked to Internet Gambling

February 5, 2009. By Heidi Turner

New York, NY: It is one thing to suffer mutual fund losses when the economy has taken a downturn and everyone is in the same boat. However, it is another situation entirely when your mutual fund loses money because it was invested in companies that were involved in illegal activity. Unfortunately, this sort of thing happens—some mutual funds invested in shady companies, and when regulators shut the operations down, the mutual fund investors lose big time.

We recently spoke to Thomas Sheridan, a partner at law firm Hanly Conroy Bierstein Sheridan Fisher & Hayes LLP, who has brought lawsuits on behalf of investors seeking to recover such losses.

Background Information

"The litigation we have brought involves illegal Internet gambling," says Sheridan. "Until approximately 2006,” he explained, “there were a number of publicly held foreign companies that took bets over the Internet from gamblers in the United States. Examples of those companies include PartyGaming, Sportingbet, BWIN and 888 Holdings.

"It is illegal for companies, regardless of their location, to take bets from gamblers in the United States. In 2003, the United States Department of Justice issued a public warning letter that Internet gambling and offshore sports books operations that accept bets from US customers were in violation of federal law.

"The companies themselves were aware that the government took that position. One of the companies, PartyGaming, went public in 2005 and issued a prospectus to public investors. Because the company did not want anyone to accuse them of being misleading, they were candid about their activities. The prospectus said, 'The US Department of Justice considers that companies offering online gaming to US residents are in violation of existing US federal laws, including (but not limited to) the Wire Act, the Illegal Gambling Business Act, the Paraphernalia Act and the Travel Act'. They went on to say that despite the risk, they were conducting over 80 percent of their business in the US. Thus, investors were on notice that the US authorities took the position that the gambling was illegal."

Mutual Funds and Internet Gambling

"Despite these risks, many mutual fund managers and advisors caused the mutual funds they controlled to invest in the gambling companies, even though they knew or should have known about the illegalities," Sheridan says.

"In 2006, various prosecutorial offices stepped up criminal and civil proceedings against illegal gambling companies and forced them out of the US market. Some officers were indicted, some were arrested, and some have pled guilty. Basically, the state and federal prosecutors said they had enough of the illegal gambling and put them out of business."

On December 16, 2008, PartyGaming’s founder and former director, Anurag Dikshit, pleaded guilty to illegal Internet gambling and agreed to cooperate with the US Justice Department in an investigation of the Web-based gaming company. Dikshit, 37, the biggest shareholder of Gibraltar-based PartyGaming, entered the plea to one count of online gambling in violation of the Wire Act today and agreed to forfeit $300 million. As alleged in the documents filed and statements made during Dikshit’s plea allocution in Manhattan federal court, and as set forth in his plea agreement with the Government: From about 1997 through October 2006, PartyGaming operated an Internet gambling business which offered casino and poker games, among other games of chance, to customers who wished to gamble online. During that time a substantial majority of PartyGaming’s online gambling customers—who accounted for approximately 85 percent of PartyGaming’s revenue in 2005—were located in the United States.

"When the companies lost their US revenues, they lost approximately 80 percent of their business and the value of their stock went down approximately 80 percent," Sheridan says. "As a result of that, the US mutual funds that had been caused to invest in these companies lost tens of millions of dollars. A lot of mutual funds did this. We don't know exactly how much each mutual fund invested, but we know that dozens of mutual funds invested millions of dollars in these companies.

"We believe that many of these mutual funds lost millions of dollars and some mutual funds lost tens of millions of dollars."

The Lawsuits

"We have filed 3 lawsuits so far," Sheridan says. "The first is McBrearty v. The Vanguard Group, the second is Seidl v. American Century Companies and the third is Gamoran v. Neuberger Berman Management. All three lawsuits are in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York and all are assigned to Judge Denise Cote.

"All 3 lawsuits basically claim the same thing: when investment managers and advisors caused the mutual funds to invest in illegal gambling companies, they were violating a federal statute that makes it a felony to own an interest in or to finance a gambling company [The Anti-Gambling Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1955].

"If you violate that statute repeatedly, that is considered racketeering under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act [RICO, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-68].

"What we say is that when the fund managers caused the mutual funds to invest in illegal gambling, they violated the RICO statute, were negligent in their actions, breached fiduciary duties and wasted fund assets. We are claiming that the investment advisors and managers should have to pay damages to the mutual funds to compensate investors for losses suffered as a result of illegal investments.

"It is important to note that we are not suing to recover money from the mutual funds but rather on behalf of the mutual funds for the benefit of their investors. Those who will have to pay are investment advisors and managers. Those who will benefit are the investors and the mutual funds themselves.

"The lawsuits are brought in the form of a derivative action—[which occurs when] the plaintiff is a shareholder in a company or a member of limited liability or something of that sort and they sue on behalf of the organization they are a part of. In this case, investors are suing on behalf of the mutual funds against the investment advisors and managers who harmed the mutual funds.

"Any investor, in order to be part of a lawsuit, must have been an investor at the time of the wrongdoing, in this case probably in or before 2006. If they didn't invest until 2007, they don't have a claim because most of these companies were out of the market and the losses were already suffered by then.

"The other qualification is that they have to still own the mutual shares. If they don't own the shares any more, they can't be part of lawsuit. Derivative lawsuits are only for current shareholders.

"Vanguard, American Century and Neuberger were just 3 of the mutual fund families that lost millions investing in illegal gambling. There were many others. My firm is interested in speaking to investors who invested in those other mutual funds that lost money investing in illegal gambling."

http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/11865/mutual-fund-losses-thomas-sheridan.html?ref=newsletter_bca_mutual-fund-losses-thomas-sheridan

UK Racehorse Slaughter & Foal Killing

Why healthy foals are being killed across Britain...to end up as dog food and on French dinner plates

By Zoe Brennan


Graceful and sleek, the beautiful bay racehorse was used to the thunder of applause as she swept past the grandstand - not the sound of a rifle. The seven-year-old mare had raced at courses up and down the country, nostrils flaring, long neck straining and mane flying in the wind as she approached the winning post. However, earlier this month, her career ended unceremoniously with one last outing - to the slaughterhouse.

She was led into a 12ft square metal stall and killed with a bullet fired from the 'meat man's' .22 rifle into her brain.

No more crowds, galloping hooves up the home straight or champagne corks popping. That single shot was the last sound she heard.


For the bullet: Just one of the thousands of horses paying the price of the recession


Next, her body was lifted and strung up by her elegant hind legs, and her throat cut. Then the process of dismemberment, disembowelling and flaying began. Afterwards, her carcass was loaded onto a freezer lorry and driven to the Continent, to be sold as gourmet meat.

Shockingly, this perfectly healthy racehorse was taken from her stables in Lambourn, Berkshire, and slaughtered at a British abattoir simply because 'business is bad' in the racing world.


Her owner, who talks only on condition he is not named, says curtly: 'I didn't have a choice. I couldn't afford to keep her at the stud.'

The man did at least have a pang of conscience - he had first called Serena Miller, of the Midland Racehorse Care Centre in Ludlow, Shropshire, to see if she could take the animal.

'He had two mares, and we put them on our waiting list. But when I called back, he told me they'd already been sent to the abattoir. It was very, very upsetting,' she says.

So much for the sport of kings. A Mail investigation has revealed that, across Britain, the racing industry is indulging in wholesale slaughter: foals are being killed at birth; mares shot in the field; pregnant horses aborted and healthy prize-winners butchered in abattoirs.

In the meantime, racehorse rescue centres are so overwhelmed by abandoned animals that their waiting lists are longer than ever.

A deadly combination of the credit crunch, plunging bloodstock prices and an over-production of horses during the racing boom of the past few years has resulted in a slaughter which could not be further removed from the glamour of the racecourse.

A few weeks ago, for example, the eight-year-old chestnut gelding, Cash King, which came sixth in a field of 16 at Aintree last May and won thousands of pounds in prize money, was rescued by an animal charity as he was about to be loaded onto a lorry for the slaughterhouse. A stable lad alerted the charity to the horse's plight.

One source says: 'The bottom has fallen out of the industry and we are seeing some true horror stories.'

There are two main horse abattoirs in Britain: L.J. Potter in Taunton, Somerset (where animals are killed on Wednesdays), and Turners near Nantwich, Cheshire, where they carry out 'equine services' on Fridays.




Unscrupulous: Foals are no longer worth last year's 'extortionate' prices

Serena Miller witnessed what happens at Turners: 'I went in pretending to be a racehorse owner and was given a tour of the slaughterhouse by Valerie Turner, the owner's wife,' she says.

'There were some very young thoroughbreds waiting to be killed. They were just babies. Shots were going off all the time, and they were petrified.

'They were shaking, weeing themselves, eating each others' necks. Their eyes were wild, they were wet with sweat and there was a stink of blood. I asked how long they had been there for, and I was told a week.

'A week waiting in terror to be shot. It was a sorry sight. I was told that their trainer had dropped them off on the way to the races.'

Miller was also shown the slaughtered horses being skinned. 'They put the carcass on the floor, with their foot in the middle of the horse's head. They then held it by the ears and ripped the skin off. They threw it to one side. It turned my stomach.'

Turners claims to kill about 700 racehorses a year. The skins go into the leather trade, while the meat is shipped for human consumption on the Continent, with off-cuts going for dog meat.

Certainly, this is not the world imagined by racegoers in their Ascot finery. But the problem is made far worse by a huge surfeit of horses, deliberately created in order that only the very best and fastest animals are available to satisfy the demands of the multi-millionaire owners who bankroll the business.

Animal Aid, the welfare body which monitors the industry, says 18,000 foals were born in the British and Irish racing industry in 2008 - double the number of a decade ago. Only 8,000 make it into competitive racing.

Of the remaining 10,000, about 2,000 racehorses a year are slaughtered at abattoirs, according to Animal Aid.

Research by the Food Standards Agency shows that, in 2008, a total of 3,183 horses were killed in British abattoirs.

But this does not tell the whole story. A number of live animals are sent to the Continent to be slaughtered, with some ending up at French 'fat farms', where they are bulked up in order to get the best price at the butcher.

And an unknown number are shot dead on British farms.

Happily, a proportion end up loved and employed in other areas of the horse world. And some are used as brood mares - although now there is no profit in producing a foal, there is far less demand.

However, the racehorse industry disputes Animal Aid's figures. The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) says it conducted an audit of thoroughbreds last year - horses can be 'tracked' thanks to micro-chipping and the introduction of 'horse passports' - and it found that about 1,200 had been killed in abattoirs. A further unspecified number were killed in Irish slaughterhouses.


Lost glamour: A racehorse is led off to be shot at an abbattoir


Professor Tim Morris, director of equine science and welfare at the BHA, says: 'The humane killing of an animal is not in itself a welfare issue.

'We have no objective data to make us think there are major welfare issues, though we recognise that 2009 is likely to be a testing year for owners of any kind of horse.

'We need to ensure we are well-informed and neither over nor under-reacting on thoroughbred welfare. We will continue to work closely with animal welfare organisations.'

It is the fate of newborn foals that is perhaps the most gruesome. In the boom years, breeders would pay a stud fee - sometimes running into hundreds of thousands of pounds - to have their mare covered by a stallion, and would then sell the resulting foal for considerably more.


Today, however, the foals are no longer worth anything like the stud fees that breeders committed themselves to paying 11 months ago - the length of a horse's gestation.

And so unscrupulous and desperate breeders have found a grotesque and illegal solution: killing foals at birth - or aborting them - to avoid having to stump up the fees, which become payable only once the foal has lived for 48 hours.

'Breeders pay a nomination fee to have a mare covered by a stallion. Last year, that fee could have been £250,000, but now you would pay half that for the same stallion,' says a bloodstock agent.

'A lot of people are making sure the foals don't live 48 hours so they can avoid having to pay the fee. Why pay last year's extortionate prices when you won't cover your cost on selling the foal?' There are also reports of pregnant mares being 'given a shot' by the vet to induce abortion, again to avoid paying stallion fees.

A spokesman for the BHA says: 'It is possible that some of the thoroughbreds put down last year were foals. Foals can certainly suffer from accidents in paddocks or have physical problems that could prevent them becoming racehorses.

'I would reiterate again that the Authority regulates racing, not breeding, and requires that those it licences, in this case owners and trainers, meet the law - the Animal Welfare Act.'

Foals which previously might have been sold for £40,000 each at auction now sell for just hundreds of pounds - if at all. The result is that many breeders are abandoning unsold foals at auction houses rather than taking them home.

Just before Christmas, Animal Aid received a tip-off from a well-known National Hunt jockey that 18 thoroughbred foals were destroyed after a horse auction at Goffs in Ireland (which supplies the British race circuit).


Gruesome: Breeders are killing newborn foals to avoid paying the stud fees


The healthy young animals had not sold, and so their owners paid for them to be put down rather than take them home and bear the expense of keeping them.

Animal Aid director Andrew Tyler says: 'An increasing number of thoroughbreds are being killed because they are just not profitable,' he says. 'The recession is putting owners under pressure, and this is an industry which disposes of its surplus ruthlessly, without sentiment.'

A racing insider says: 'There has been a real over-production and the industry is in a mess. It is stagnant. Horses have been turning up at sales half-starved because owners can't afford to feed them.'

Andrew Goatman, an independent knacker's man working in Devon and Cornwall, confirms the gruesome trend: 'There has been a marked increase in the number of racehorses being shot. I'm a one-man band, but the big abattoirs must be busy. I've shot ten racehorses since Christmas.'

Stephen Potter, a partner at Potters abattoir, admits they are seeing more racehorses - particularly brood mares - but he believes it is better for a racehorse to be put down than sold cheaply.

Potter, who estimates he is slaughtering around 750 racehorses a year, says: 'There has been a great deal of growth in racing in the past decade, and now, with the recession, interest is waning.

'It is better for a racehorse to be put down than for it to go to a home where it will be neglected.'

As for the welfare centres, they cannot cope with the demand. Serena Miller, of the Midland Care Centre, says: 'We are turning away more and more racehorses every day. I have noticed an increase in the number of people calling who are considering slaughter as an option.'

Increasingly, she is finding that, rather than pay vet's bills to have the horse put down, which can cost as much as £500, owners are looking to cover costs by selling the horse for meat - they can pocket £650 for a full-grown thoroughbred.

Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock, officer of the Parliamentary Animal Welfare Group, has demanded an investigation into what he calls 'a barbaric waste'.

'This disgusting slaughter of healthy animals is a tragedy, a horrendous story,' he says. 'When you consider the amount of money in the horse-racing business, it is scandalous that they are disposing of animals in this callous manner.

'Many organisations would welcome these animals - they can be retrained and placed with private owners.'

That, indeed, would have been a gentler fate for the friendly bay mare than a perfunctory bullet in the head. We can only hope she has gone to a greener, more pleasant land than the racing world.