Comments on: GOOD NEWS FRIDAY sponsored by Liberation Farm: DRIVING FOR JOCKEYS

By: How To Blog

How To Blog — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:03:52 +0000

I agree… We are entitled to our own opinion. Just focus on your trip. Don’t mind other people

By: Making Money Blogging

Making Money Blogging — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:54:13 +0000

I definitely agree.. Synergistic View… The whole is better than the sum of its parts….

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Trackback Submitter — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:06:18 +0000

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By: John Engelhardt

John Engelhardt — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:13:35 +0000

Ray and Brad - Don’t let anyone take you away from the positive focus you put on your trip. It was a great buzz to those I know in the racing industry. Your heartfelt meetings with some of the jocks that may benefit from the PDJF goes a long way and puts a face on a tragic reality that sometimes happens in this exciting sport we all love.
The concept and completion of your efforts are appreciated by so many. Job well done!

By: Jan Hortyk

Jan Hortyk — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:05:06 +0000

I think someone missed the point of this beautiful story. It was about people. life, and working together to help each other. After all, we are all put on this earth for just a short time. Make the best of it!

By: Thehorses

Thehorses — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:24:09 +0000

One of those independent researchers used my mother for a guinea pig in her radiation experiment and her bladder tissue started dying off causing her so much pain she wanted to die. She had an operation but she wound up dying within days being almost brain dead. Someone I used to work in the same place with complained to me about how her father who had one cancer cell had his insides cooked by an overdose of radiation and died in agony. A journalist I read about was killed by an overdose of chemotherapy drugs. Why are you so in favor of wasting money on research that will most likely never ever save a single life? The people who touted you on this charity maybe be friends or relatives of one or more of those getting these huge grants. Why do keep ignoring the fact that their research and the money spent on it may be a total waste. What do you have against Novartis and their artemisinin drug Coartem. They are a respectable drug company. Don’t you think an inexpensive cure that has already been used in many thousands of people is something to celebrate or do you prefer people being tortured and made ill and sometimes killed by poisonous drugs and radiation. I think you have a serious problem if you think we should ignore a cure to make researchers rich. Several people in my family died because of cancer before researchers discovered that artemesinin kills cancer cells. I do not want poeople to keep dying because other people do not want to see their big fat grants disappearing and the money spent actual saving lives. I am angry because people are dying while other people are wasting money that could have saved them or their fellow creatures.

By: Ray Paulick

Ray Paulick — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:04:09 +0000

Dear Thehorses….

I’m sorry that something has happened in your life to make you so jaded and angry toward scientists and researchers. I have had more friends and family die from this disease than I care to remember.

At Keeneland this fall, when the track hosted nine families via the Make A Wish Foundation, there was a husband and wife from Louisville with two beautiful teenagers–a boy and girl. The two children had different forms of cancer, and it was heartbreaking to see what the entire family was going through. Yet none of them was crying “why me?” They were dealing with it courageously and with a perspective from which we could all learn.

When Breeders’ Cup agreed to partner with us on the Breeders’ Cup or Bust, they asked if would consider the V Foundation as a co-beneficiary with the PDJF. I thought of that family and of the friends and loved ones I’ve lost to cancer and agreed immediately. We shouldn’t be insular in our charitable giving.

Thehorses, whoever you are, I assume you are a big supporter of equine charities, and I applaud you for that. But please don’t denigrate those who don’t necessarily see the world in black and white like you seem to do. I have supported and will continue to support equine charities and currently sit on the board of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, so I understand the needs of horse rescue and rehabilitation organizations.

Again, I’m sorry for whatever has happened to you in your life to make you so angry. Perhaps if you direct that anger in a positve way through volunteer work you’ll be able to deal with whatever personal issues you have.

By: Thehorses

Thehorses — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:51:30 +0000

I agree with you Joe. Horses need lots more help and deserve help. Horses earn the money. They are not inanimate objects like cars. Jockeys know the risks and the horses do not. Horses usually die if it would cost a lot to save them but no expense is spared in saving the jockeys. Jockeys have done things that caused injuries to other jockeys and horses. Maybe they could train horses to run without them just like the greyhounds. When was the last time a jockey got euthanized because he broke one or more bones? More money for the horses. They earn it and they deserve it. Artemisinin like Novartis Coartem might have saved Lost In The Fog if they had tried it. Researchers have said it kills cancer cells and not just malaria. It has already been used in people for years and it is inexpensive. It is also quick and does not make people sick. Many cancer researchers in the US do not want their gravy train to stop. Greedy hospitals ditto. One needs no expensive prolonged treatment if it is as effective against cancer as it is against malaria and it is according to some people. There are many self serving people against an inexpensive safe cure. There would be no more huge grants of $100K per year. Did it occur to some people that drug companies have been doing cancer research for years with the hope of increasing their profits and that these so called charities with their inferior people who were not good enough to get jobs with those well heeled companies are highly unlikely to ever produce anything that could save lives?

By: blacktieaffair

blacktieaffair — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:32:49 +0000

You spent all that time with Ray and you still sound sane. Congratulations — it was a great thing that you guys pulled off.

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:38:34 +0000

Brad said:
“…as of late with over 50 horse related charities and only a handful of groups concentrating on the jockeys that risk their lives every day.”

The number of equine charities doesn’t matter, it is the amount of financial support it receives from the industry and if it even begins to match the need created by the careless discarding of unprofitable horses. All equine rescues struggle to feed and repair others’ horses.

I agree that cancer research is an extremely well marketed and capitalized industry.

How much money is donated by the industry and its insiders to help:

- jockeys

Including insurance, while jockeys refuse to take responsibility for their own lives by demanding accident prevention reforms.

- causes which have nothing to do with horse racing and are already extremely well funded

Including tsunami victims in Indonesia, a country which hates Americans yet for which millions were raised overnight by racing insiders.

- repair, rehab, retrain, retire with dignity and/or humanely euthanize spent, wounded, unwanted racing and breeding horses

Rescuers of racing and breeding horses receive inadequate financial support from the industry. Many horses cannot be saved from a barbaric trip and death and it is not due to lack of will but to lack of funds.

Racing powerbrokers’ pet charities are selected most the time and they include horse charities nearly often enough and horses deserve far more compassion and protection, at least so the industry can earn some respect.