Dog Track Lies to Newspaper About Injury Policy

Last month, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported on the death of a 23-month-old greyhound named Raiders Uncle Mo, who died at Sarasota Kennel Club after he fell into the racetrack rail during a February race and was apparently electrocuted.

During its work on this report, the Herald-Tribune spoke to track Director of Racing Thomas Bowersox. To our great surprise, Bowersox told the newspaper that Sarasota Kennel Club's injury reports were open to public inspection. According to the story:

"Bowersox said SKC's injury reports are open to public inspection. 

'We don't announce injuries or deaths -- you can understand that,' Bowersox said. 'We do have accidents, just like horse racing and auto racing. But we're not trying to hide anything.' 

'I would prefer not to send (injury reports) to (Theil), but he's welcome to come down and take a look.'"

Within days, GREY2K USA President Christine Dorchak wrote directly to the track and accepted its invitation to inspect these documents. In part, she wrote:

"I am happy to arrive at the track at whatever time you prefer, and look forward to hearing from you so we can make arrangements. If you do not respond to this letter, I will plan on arriving at approximately 11:00 AM."

However, only two days before we were scheduled to inspect the Sarasota injury reports, Director Bowersox called our office and said that he needed to reschedule due to an unspecified personal issue. We complied with this request, and informed him that we would instead inspect the documents on May 29. This provided the track with more than three weeks advance notice.

Can you guess what happened next? A week later Bowersox called Christine again, and stated that he had absolutely no intention of allowing us to inspect the track's greyhound injury reports. He also stated that he felt "threatened" by the possibility that this injury data might be published in the Herald-Tribune.

In hindsight, it's now clear that Bowersox simply lied to the newspaper. The track never had any intention of allowing greyhound injury reports to be inspected by GREY2K USA or anyone else. Director Bowersox told the Herald-Tribune a feel-good story about track policies that had absolutely no basis in fact.

The bottom line is that citizens have a right to know how many greyhounds are being injured at these tracks. When Florida lawmakers consider this issue next year, they should keep in mind the extreme lengths to which dog race promoters have gone to hide this important data. When it comes to injuries, they will apparently say anything to keep the public in the dark.

More greyhound deaths documented at Sarasota racetrack, including dog who was electrocuted

The final race for Raiders Uncle Mo, who died in February

Yesterday, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported on two fatal greyhound injuries that occurred at Sarasota Kennel Club, including a dog that died after apparently being electrocuted. This coverage followed a state investigation that was launched in February, after GREY2K USA provided regulators with information from a confidential source.

Unfortunately, the state investigation confirmed that our informant was correct about the fate of Raiders Uncle Mo, who died on February 9. In what was apparently just his third official race, the 23 month old black dog was bumped by another greyhound, stumbled, and "landed on the electrified lure tracks that are located under the guard rail." According to a track veterinarian, Mo's cause of death was listed as:

"Dog fell or was pushed within 20 yards of leaving box. Fell under rail. Death by electrocution, burns on jacket."

Despite Mo's death, business continued as usual at the track. According to the state report it was determined that "there was no interruption of positions caused by the early incident" and the race was declared "Official." Further, the track lure operator told regulators he was "thankful that no one was seriously injured."

This is not the first time that greyhound deaths have been documented at the Sarasota racetrack. Our informant told us that second greyhound had died at the facility under similar circumstances weeks earlier, and this was confirmed by the state Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering:

"I again spoke with DVM David Wyatt, about any additional electrocutions that had recently occurred ... He showed an entry in his Treatment & Injury Sheet. It involved, 'Se's Yukon Joe' which hit the guard rail going into the first turn, he then continued to run and collapsed after the far turn ... Cause of death was listed as unknown; consider electrocution, cardiac arrest, brain hemorrhage, aneurysm, etc."

Finally, another state investigative report indicates that at least fourteen greyhounds died at Sarasota Kennel Club between November 2009 and April 2010, including three greyhounds that died on the same day.

When the Herald-Tribune asked the track for comment, Racing Director Thomas Bowersox contradicted his own records and claimed that there was "no way to say for sure" whether Raiders Uncle Mo died due to electrocution or "something else."  He then stated:

"Dogs are euthanized for reasons other than accidents."

To our surprise Bowersox also claimed that the track's injury records are open to inspection, but added that he would "prefer not to send" them to me. This was shortly after GREY2K USA sent the track a letter urging it to voluntarily release its greyhound injury data. So far, we have not received a response.

The sad death of Raiders Uncle Mo is another example of why greyhound injury reports should be made available to the public. If we had not received a confidential tip, his fate would have been simply swept away as another nameless dog. All of the greyhounds racing in Florida, and elsewhere, deserve better.