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HORSE RACING

HORSE RACING; 1986 Derby Winner Was Slaughtered, Magazine Reports

Victories in the 1986 Kentucky Derby and the 1987 Breeders' Cup Classic figured to have earned Ferdinand a cushy retirement when his racing days were over. Instead, his life apparently ended in a grisly manner, in a Japanese slaughterhouse in 2002, according to the racing industry trade magazine The Blood-Horse, which will report his death in its issue dated July 26. It is believed that his carcass was used to make pet food.

Efforts by the magazine to locate the horse, who was sold to Japanese interests in 1994 after a modest breeding career in the United States, led to the horse dealer Yoshikazu Watanabe. Watanabe told the magazine: ''Actually, he isn't around anymore. He was disposed of late last year.''

According to The Blood-Horse, in the Japanese racing industry, the term ''disposed of'' means slaughtered.

Speaking to The Associated Press, Watanabe said: ''Ferdinand was disposed of during last year. He was getting old and was in some discomfort.''

Ferdinand was removed from the Japanese Horse Registry's list of thoroughbred stallions on Sept. 10, 2002. He was 19 at the time of his death.

''This is sickening, it's disgusting, it's sad, it's every bad word you can think of,'' said Dell Hancock, whose family owns Claiborne Farm, where Ferdinand stood at stud before he was sold. ''The only positive thing I can think of is that this shows how important the efforts are of people working for the thoroughbred retirement foundations in this country. I'm so glad we have things like that here.''

The problem of horse slaughter has been a continuing issue in the United States and throughout the world. Even though Americans do not consume horse meat as a practice, tens of thousands of horses are slaughtered each year in this country and shipped overseas. In the latest available statistics, 62,000 horses were slaughtered in the United States in 2001, and it is believed that about 10 percent of them were thoroughbred racehorses. Most are horses who no longer have any practical economic value as sires, broodmares or racehorses, but can still attract as much as $600 from meat buyers.

''It's very disturbing,'' Bill Shoemaker, the jockey who rode Ferdinand in the 1986 Kentucky Derby, said from his home in San Marino, Calif. ''He was a real good horse. He won the Kentucky Derby, but, of course, that doesn't mean anything to the Japanese. I guess he wasn't reproducing well and ended up in a slaughterhouse. It wouldn't have happened over here.

''It hits you in the stomach. Had we known they were going to do something like that, we could have bought him and brought him back here.''

There are several horse-rescue operations in the United States, but they do not have the financial resources to care for every retired horse. Kentucky Derby winners, however, are pampered and revered in this country.

''The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation is committed to stopping the slaughter of all thoroughbred racehorses, no matter what their racing stature is,'' said Diana Pikulski, the executive director of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, the nation's largest and oldest thoroughbred-rescue operation. ''It saddens us deeply that a prestigious horse like Ferdinand would meet this horrific fate.''

In Japan, a retired horse may be even more likely to end up in a slaughterhouse. Land is scarce in Japan and horse meat is consumed by humans in that country, two reasons why the Japanese may be less squeamish about horse slaughter than Americans. Because the Japanese do not normally use thoroughbred horses as a source of meat for human consumption, it is very likely Ferdinand was used for pet food.

Trained by the Hall of Famer Charlie Whittingham and ridden by Shoemaker, Ferdinand retired in 1988 after winning 8 of 29 career starts and earning $3.7 million. But he was never able to pass on his greatness. From 247 foals, he produced only 8 stakes winners before being sent to Japan, where he continued to struggle as a sire.

''He was getting fewer mares here to breed than we had hoped for and thought the situation may be better for him in Japan,'' Hancock said. ''It was just a business decision. It's such a shame it ended up the way it did.''

He was sold to the JS Company in Japan and spent six breeding seasons there, but fell out of favor with breeders and was bred to only a handful of mares in his final years. According to The Blood-Horse, Watanabe acquired Ferdinand on February 3, 2001, and it appears that he briefly stood at stud at another farm before he was slaughtered.

Toshiharu Kaibazawa, a groom who took care of Ferdinand in Japan, told The Blood-Horse that the chestnut thoroughbred was ''the gentlest horse you could imagine.''

''He'd come over when I called to him in the pasture,'' Kaibazawa said. ''He was so sweet.''

Exceller, the only horse to defeat two Triple Crown winners when he won the 1978 Jockey Club Gold Cup over Affirmed and Seattle Slew, met a similar fate. After a failed breeding career, his life ended in 1997 when he was sold for horse meat in Sweden.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section D, Page 1 of the National edition with the headline: HORSE RACING; 1986 Derby Winner Was Slaughtered, Magazine Reports. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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