Drug Money & Horse Racing

Miniature Horse Talk Forums

Help Support Miniature Horse Talk Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Jill

Aspiring Cowgirl
Joined
Nov 30, 2002
Messages
27,188
Reaction score
528
Location
Spotsy., VA (USA)
I thought this article might be of interest to some of you...

---------

Mexican drug cartel launders money through American horse racing

On Tuesday, the Justice Department moved against Tremor Enterprises, a horse racing business funded by Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales, the second in command of Mexico’s Zetas drug cartel, reports The New York Times.

The company has operations in Oklahoma and New Mexico and is run by Treviño’s older brother José, a legal resident of the United States. The younger Treviño, Miguel, is one of the DEA’s most wanted fugitives, and there is a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest. He has become the lead enforcer of the Zetas, who are known for mutilating his victims’ bodies while they are still alive.

The brothers’ horse breeding company won three of horseracing’s biggest races in the last three years, earning about $2.5 million in prize money. The operation was used to launder money from the drug cartel through legal enterprises in the United States.

The Justice Department sent helicopters and hundreds of agents to Tremor’s stables in New Mexico and its ranch in Oklahoma Tuesday morning.

The Zetas were originally a protection force for another but split off in 2010 to start their own operation, which is now one of the most influential in Mexico.

Read more: http://dailycaller.c.../#ixzz1xbuyhH7S
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I think it's a pretty corrupt industry.
default_sad.png
 
I think it's a pretty corrupt industry.
default_sad.png
Jill,

Please clarify. Are you saying the horse racing industry is a pretty corrupt industry? I did not want to elaborate (just yet) not knowing for sure that is what you are saying. Living down here in the south a hop from both Louisiana Downs and Oaklawn Park I am a walking novel of stories.
default_whistling.gif
default_xreiter.gif
default_firstprize.gif
default_frusty.gif
default_luck.gif
default_thumbdown.gif
default_doh.gif
default_pinocchio.gif
default_mlala.gif
default_gaah.gif
default_sad.png
default_smile.png
default_shutup.gif
default_472.gif
:GetDrunk
default_cheers.gif
default_aktion033.gif


Gee, I did not mean to get so emotional. Memories...........pressed against the pages of my miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind!
 
Horses killed for insurance money, yearngs and 2yo's run so hard their lungs bleed, the drug connections, etc.
default_sad.png


Most prospects do not pan out, but few come off the track (as very young horses) sound.

These are some of the reasons I am a non fan of TB racing.
 
I have heard enough about racing when it comes to TB and QH to personally find myself unable to enjoy it with a clear conscious... I'm sure not everyone is corrupt or commits abuse, but the knowledge of the corruption that happens and the wasted horses sucks the joy out of it for me personally. I'm actually sure MOST people are not like the bad examples, but it still taints it for me. This latest is just one more example, and as always, just my honest feeling.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
if memory serves me correctly, wasnt there the same thing going on with the hunter jumpers? They were doing the same thing to collect insurance money, etc. The name is slipping me, but it was a big name in the hunter jumper world that got caught.

Its sad tp think this could happen, but unfortunately greed and money talks.

Julie

Victory Pass Stable

Maine
 
It is a double edged sword for me. I know nothing first hand of the money laundering but have no doubt it does exist and it saddens me. This is just the first time I have to admit crime exists in the horse racing industry aside from rigged races, horses drugged illegally, illegal gambling, crooked bookies, and greedy people actually cheating bookies. Greed and corruption have not been absent in any aspect of humanity no doubt. ANY, we can all site examples in sports, politics, religion, education, and likely even beauty pageants. This is a first that I have to see of abuse of the animal (other than drugs) in the industry and it saddens me because I realize that it IS going on. Right now I cannot even convey how many good and bad memories I have from horse racing because it hits home with me in both memories of lives destroyed and joyous moments. I am going to have to distance myself from it for now (since Dallas just came on and as an old Texan I get excited). Literally, I have so many memories I do not know if I am willing to resurrect them.
default_ohnoes.jpg
(teeth chattering) I was introduced to horse racing by my parents as a teen-ager. After that, several chapters were written........
 
Way back when, when I was working on the race track. There were many, many nights that I made a ton of money because we all knew who was going to win. Oh, and I was 17.
 
Professional sports in general draws corruption and tainted money...lots of $$$ there, lots of crooked ways to make it grow but after working in the Standardbred racing industry for several years please don't paint the whole industry black!! Wherever there is money there is corruption but most are in it for the same reason we raise and show horses....they love the horse, and the joy of breeding, raising and racing the next champion!!
 
Please don't tell me they're in it for the love of the horses. I've yet to see a race horse owner or trainer wait until the horse is 3 or 4 years old before they start racing them. Don't tell me they don't understand horse anatomy. They know exactly what they are doing racing a one or two year old horse and it's not about the well being of the animal. Horses in the racing industry are nothing but commodities. If they were anything else they wouldn't be put down in the thousands they'd be put out to pasture.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/horse-racing/rspca-call-for-bechers-brook-to-be-removed-after-deaths-at-aintree-grand-national-3081681.html
 
"If you think back, we even had convicted, illegal, corrupt activities with people in the Miniature Horse breeding business.. "

WOW!!! Never heard about this but not surprised!
 
In most cases in the US, horses are put out to pasture or used for breeding after their racing careers. There are also rescues/organizations that adopt out retired or priorly injured racers.

Studies show that horses who begin racing as two-year olds have better musculoskeletal health throughout life than horses that race at a later age.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It is completely inaccurate to state that the racing industry is corrupt based on the one drug-related QH racing place/ They were obviously not in it for the horses at all even though they had an All American Futurity winner, I think.

Where are yearlings run til their lungs bleed, Jill?

It is also an outright LIE that no one cares about the horses. That burns me up - no, it makes me furious - every time I hear someone who obviously has never worked at a track or on a breeding farm say that. Or even hung around a track for any extended period of time. You might as well say all mini people hate the horses and just view them as inventory - it would be just as accurate. There may be a small percentage of owners and breeders out there IN ANY BREED/DISCIPLINE who do look at things purely from a numbers and inventory standpoint but the majority do not. So just because I know of a few mini breeders/trainers who gave their stallion liposuction or had other "work" done - it means that EVERYONE does it all the time. That is the kind of logic in play here that simply does not add up.

I am not just blowing hot air here. I have worked on the backstretch (both TBs and Standardbreds). I have worked on a breeding farm (both TBs and Standardbreds). I have prepped yearlings for the big sales in Keeneland. I have sat next to a farm manager in the straw when he could not revive a stillborn foal from his favourite mare and broke down in tears. Yeah - he hated the darn horses all right. Of course he did. I know - someone will say he was lamenting the lose of potential $$$$. NO, he was lamenting the loss of a life. But I guess people who were not in that stall that February night know better. That guy cared deeply for all the horses - and followed them throughout their careers, making sure they had good homes when they were no longer racing.

What makes people think that anyone who puts in those long hours doing tedious work on the backstretch must hate the horses? I am sorry - but every time I read a less than factual, sneering, blanket statement like that... I see red. No one puts in those hours and basically dedicates their life to the horses - who hates them.

More show horses are badly treated than racing TBs. Subjected to gimmicky training, physical alterations and devices all for a cheap blue ribbon. And yes - DRUGS.

I do not care for two year olds racing - but at least they have light weight on their backs centered over their center of gravity and are doing what horses love to do - run. What about the endless two year old futurities for stock horse breeds? Where babies are asked to pivot and spin and turn and may have a 200 pound weight sitting back on its pockets in their backs? Look at some of the bigger (in physical size as well as reputation) QH and Paint trainers - where is the outrage directed at them? Outrage is only selectively convenient, it seems.

No matter that our neighbour down the road has ruined three Paint two year olds. Overworked in deep footing they were not physically capable of holding up to, their front legs are a mess. No problem - she just buys a new one for 5 figures and goes back to the same trainer. The medicine cabinet in her barn is alarming...

You do know that drug tests are constantly run in a random fashion? You do know that a vet is on hand at the starting gate to ascertain if a horse is not warming up correctly and/or seems "off" - and can scratch them even at the last minute? When was the last time you saw a show horse pulled at the gate by a vet - oh, wait.

As far as breakdowns and injuries at the track go - yes, sadly it happens - even to the best, most conscientious trainers at the upper levels. Do you have any idea how much work and research goes into footing and anatomy and mangement to try and prevent that? Not that I expect the naysayers here to have noticed this or care - but the past few years have been full of fabulous horses with caring, open trainers and owners who have stirred people's hearts and brought many back to racing. Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta were stars. Superstars. Zenyatta's owners and trainer even had regular visitng hours with her at her barn. Everything was open and above board. The track is not an opium den as many would have you believe. They brought out crowds of what many here must think were delusional morons instead of intelligent racing fans and horse lovers who appreciated great horses and the good people that go with them. They retired sound. Happy. And they each have a colt at heel this spring.

Some of the biggest breeders in the country have taken back one of their own 10 years after the fact when he/she turned up at one of the bottom level tracks and then was headed for Mexico. They take responsibility for their horses for the duration of their lives. How many horse breeders do you know who do that? Or even dog breeders?

If the industry and the people in it are so evil as some maintain - why all the support groups and charities for injured horses and jockeys. Why all the organizations that help horses off the track find new homes and/or careers? What about the edicts some tracks have issued fining and banning any trainer who is discovered to have dumped horses at an auction for meat or sodl them to a meat dealer?

No - it must be a fact that the entire industry is evil and corrupt - based on a lot of conjecture and finger pointing and some bad episodes instead of the big picture.

This past week, I'll Have Another - who IMO would have been the next Triple Crown Champion - was pulled from the Belmont Stakes due to a bit of tendonitis. They did the right thing for that horse and yet were heaped with un-founded accusations. They thought of the horse first - and yet were vilified. I can guarantee you that many show horses were out in the ring that same weekend, performing on that same kind of tendon injury - as at that stage it appeared to be just a bit of inflammation that you could hose and treat.

Sorry to get a bit heated and longwinded- but maybe some facts are preferable to a litany of generalizations, misinformation and condemnation.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Wow, if people think money laundrying only goes on in horse racing, you should check out bigger sporting events. As for horse racing, I agree with Mary Lou and Tag. Unless you have been there, behind the scenes, up close and personal, how can you even begin to judge. One bad thing in one place doesn't make the entire industry bad, thank goodness. Because if it did, we would all be in prison for some of the things that go on in the entire equine industry. Miniature horses included.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top