Derby's $1,000 Mint Juleps Helps Retired Horses, But Horses Still Slaughtered for Meat
Equestrian News Release
GLENVILLE, Pa., May 4 /PRNewswire/ -- $1,000 mint juleps made with Kentucky's finest bourbon, served in a gold-plated cup with a silver straw, will be sold to 50 people at the Kentucky Derby.
The sale will raise $50,000 for a nonprofit organization that provides homes for retired racehorses.
"This is a wonderful gesture for a fine cause but it's not enough," says Jo Deibel, President of the Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue, Inc. in Glenville, Pa. (http://www.saveahorsenow.org/ ). "American racing fans need to know that more than 86,000 horses, many of them thoroughbreds, are slaughtered in the United States each year and sold as horsemeat to be eaten in Europe and Asian countries."
Most horse owners and breeders as well as racing fans are unaware that far too many retired thoroughbreds are actually sold at auction to kill buyers who are commissioned by horse meat processing plants -- two in Texas and one in Illinois. Deibel purchases retired thoroughbreds at a price higher than the kill buyer's bid. After ensuring their good health, the thoroughbreds are put up for adoption.
Most racing fans would not tolerate American thoroughbreds being slaughtered to end up in France, Belgium or Asia where diners are paying up to $25 a pound to eat horsemeat. But most are kept in the dark about the racing industry's "dirty little secret." The horses are sold by the pound, based on supply and demand -- $600 to $900 for a 1,200-pound thoroughbred. Horsemeat demand in Europe has been rising because of the Mad Cow scare.
Deibel quit her job and founded the nonprofit Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue and now works full time with a volunteer team to rescue thoroughbreds otherwise headed to the slaughterhouse.
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