Upward of 2,000 horses die on American racetracks every year. In 2016, there were roughly 170 deaths on California tracks alone. (horseracingwrongs.com) All to serve people’s desire to place a $2 bet.

Despite the typical opening day festivities with ladies in fancy garb and big hats, there is nothing glamorous about horse racing. Racetracks are battlefields where horses pay with their lives for our entertainment. How can we justify a spectacle in which an animal gets instantly euthanized for merely spraining an ankle or breaking a leg? Racehorses are tormented and tortured for the sole purpose of generating profits for their owners and race promoters.

How is this, the so-called “Sport of Kings”, still legal?

It wasn’t that long ago that another blood sport - greyhound racing - was legal in much of the United States. A more enlightened view has emerged that rightly recognizes it for what it truly is; cruel, inhumane and exploitative. Animal activists and advocates have fought long and hard to render it illegal in 40 states and counting.

Similarly, horse racing should be outlawed. Regulations to improve treatment of horses and reduce their rate of death are ineffective, as they are neither followed nor enforced. Frankly, given the money at stake, there are huge incentives to cheat at the track, as well as recklessly breed horses for speed to the detriment of their general health. The only answer is complete abolishment of the horse racing industry.

California can pave the way for other states by being the first to pass legislation making horse racing illegal. Please join me in calling upon California lawmakers to ban horse racing, as well as gambling on horse racing, in the State of California.