No!!! put the knife away!!!
Alarming news just in…PETA wants to castrate 2008 Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown.
Source: http://blogs.usatoday.com/gameon/2008/10/peta-wants-big.html
Forced castration??? How emasculating! Has it really come to this? Apparently in the minds of the avenging PETA folks, yes.
Ironically, I actually share a bit of a concern with them about Big Brown’s potential offspring. I am a bit worried that his stock might inherit the hoof issues that kept the studly Big Brown perennially on the injury watch list for his entire career. I think that’s a valid concern for a sport that badly needs an infusion of strength, stamina, and durability into the bloodlines apart from just raw speed, so in that sense I get what they are saying.
But forced castration of the horse? Look, all I’m going to say is that I wouldn’t even be in favor of doing that to my old friend Rick Dutrow. There simply has to be a better option on the table.
Hasn’t Big Brown earned the right to “cover” a few mares? For all we know the big guy is sterile and the issue with his offspring is actually a non-issue. I’m not sure if they’ve had his sterility tested yet (one might assume they have considering his enormous stud value, but I’m not certain).
Plus, in the end, I’d think it foolish of anyone expecting the offspring of Big Brown to inherently be as freakishly good as he is/was. How many other freakish winners has his sire (Boundary) produced exactly? I’m having a tough time coming up with anyone that fits that bill.
Not to mention the fact that if we’re going to start nominating folks for castration, I have quite a laundry list that I think should be well ahead of Big Brown:
- Dustin “Screech” Diamond: Will we ever truly live in a world that is save without 100% assurance that another season of “Saved by the Bell” is not in production? Easily the weakest cast member of the crew, the life of Screech has become fodder for “reality tv” programs across the land – and bad reality tv programs at that. Perhaps the lowest point in his “career” is depicted below, when he unceremoniously beat-up the ironically named ‘Horseshack” from Welcome Back Kotter.
Dustin “Screech” Diamond pummels a helpless “Horseshack”
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Amy Winehouse: The meth influenced freak of a singer who sings about refusing to go to rehab is already border-line close to squandering an amazing amount of talent. Watching her career is like watching a car crash in slow motion from moments before impact. You know what’s going to happen. You can see it coming…but you cannot stop it. As a horrifying aside of what the world may be like if/when Winehouse reproduces, I submit to you the infamous “Amy Winehouse midget” of youtube fame. Why a midget? Well, the chromosome damage her rampant drug and alcohol abuse has caused would surely effect her offspring in some fashion. This is just one of many possibilities of what her progeny may be like. Some questions you’ll want to ask yourself after viewing this can be summed up by the letters “WTF?????”
The infamous “Amy Winehouse Midget” of youtube fame, dancing with a gimp
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David Hasselhoff: I know, I know, I’m sure to get many a “don’t hassle the hoff!!” style of reply for this. Just hear me out. I’m not concerned about his drunken debauchery with cheeseburgers, or his gallivanting around with college girls. Far from it. I’m more concerned that the offspring of “the Hoff” may defecate upon the esteemed legacy of Star Wars by participating in cheaply made Italian rip-off’s like their father did in “Star Crash.” What’s that? Never heard of Star Crash? Then allow me to present David Hasselhoff battling stop-motion animated droids with a light saber. Your life is now complete!
David Hasselhoff with light saber! Need I say more?
I think that’s a good start for now. Hopefully it’s clear to the reader that there are a great many candidates for castration who should be forced to undergo surgical procedure long before poor Big Brown is led away to have his manhood lopped off.
Thank you for being awesome…
Ah, PETA. I mean, I wouldn’t breed to BB either, but still! Here’s hoping he and The Green Monkey just don’t like the fillies.
[...] More here: Big Brown’s boys in trouble? [...]
Anytime, Nick!
Superfecta – I’d certainly hope you wouldn’t breed to BB. That kind of thing is illegal in most states!
Who is Dustin Diamond?
Now, I don’t know enough about breeding to really say anything…although I firmly believe there are a lot of stallions out there that have no business running around with all that equipment, but that’s a whole other post, in any event, I’m not one to say whether BB will pass on the bad feet, but my problem with PETA is that they came off extremely uneducated in that letter that the only conclusion I could make of it was that they’re trying to make noise and bring attention, nothing else. I mean, why didn’t they do this after BB’s stud deal was made the day of the Preakness? and if they bother to actually do some research, they would know that toe grab injury are nowhere near “career ending”, nor has anything to do with a horse’s soundness or the discipline it participates in….they can do that from running around in the paddock…the paddock that a majority of injuries take place, including fatal ones.
If PETA really cares about the warfare of horses, rather than attention, then they should put their resources into help policing what goes on in the “lesser” tracks all around the country, or attend and rescue horses from places such as New Holland, PA.
I’ll get off my soapbox now.
Hehe
You’re always welcome to step up on the soapbox here, Jane
Where to begin? Who is Dustin Diamond? “Screech” from “Saved by the Bell” – the sickeningly popish mid 90′s high school teeny-bopper show that also launched the career of Mark Paul Gosselaar (as “Zack”). Surely you remember?
Apart from that I totally agree. It seems more of a cheap attempt at capitalizing on Big Brown’s popularity for some controversial publicity than it seems to have anything to do with actually helping thoroughbreds.
Oh see, I had never watched a single ep of “Saved by the Bell”, I guess I’m lucky.
One thing I meant to mention in my previous post but didn’t get to, was that, if one wanted to eliminate Native Dancer from the pedigree, there aren’t that many TBs left to breed to, most certainly not in the US.
I’m not arguing the issues that come with the Native Dancer bloodline, not at all; I just think one needs to be a little more educated and see what else is in that pedigree before making any type of blanket statement or accusations.
PETA is ridiculous. Do you know that of the thousands of animals they took in last year, they killed 97%?!? And these are the people who want animals to be treated like humans. The president of PETA believes it cruel to own pets!
I think it’s ridiculous to try a forced castration of BB, he’s got terrible feet yes, but it may not be passed down to his offspring. Or he could pass it on and his breeding value and demand would plumet, so it doesn’t really matter. I don’t think anything will come of this anyway. Some folks (PETA) just like to make a stink!
I’m glad you guys at least enjoyed this post. I ask again – on what other horse racing blog can you get video footage of “Screech” beating a helpless Arnold Horseshack? Or of David Hasselhoff fighting droids with a lightsaber? I think that speaks volumes for how “seriously” I take PETA’s statements.