Zito Speaks Against Horse Slaughter
Commentator Wins, Trainer Continues to Talk About Equine Brutality
Oct 2, 2008
As Commentator, a seven-year-old chestnut gelding trained by Nick Zito, continues his winning ways, Zito continues to spread the word about the ills of horse slaughter. Earlier this year, Zito got word from a race record secretary who discovered a note from Zito that a son of 2004 Kentucky Derby favorite The Cliff's Edge, whom Zito had trained, was awaiting his death in a Pennsylvania slaughter pen.
Zito and Robert LaPenta, previous owner of The Cliff's Edge and his son, acted to rescue Little Cliff.
Commentator Gives Zito Voice
Winning big with Commentator in the September 20 Massachusetts Handicap, the most prestigious Thoroughbred race in New England won in the past by great stars such as Stymie, Seabiscuit, Whirlaway, Riva Ridge, Secretariat, and Cigar, Zito afterward praised Richard Fields for taking a stand against the brutal practices of horse slaughter.
Fields, a majority owner of Suffolk Downs, the site of the $500,000 MassCap, this season declared any participating horseman at Suffolk Downs who knowingly engages in any acts that support horse slaughter would risk losing his stable at the track. Fields had noted that sometimes horses are transported from the track directly to a place of slaughter.
Zito Claims Horseracing as 'Family Affair'
Zito was quick to endorse Fields' zero tolerance attitude, and said he was pleased to race at Suffolk. "...slaugter is brutal," Zito commented (The Blood-Horse, "Speaking Up", September 27, 2008, page 4723). "Some countries would look at us as barbaric if we allowed slaughter. Racing is a family affair and we're all in this together."
Commentator Makes Statement On Track
Owned by Tracy Farmer, Commentator spoke up on the track, galloping to a 14-length win in the MassCap. The gelding suffers frequently from minor hoof problems and other ills. When he's fit, he's a winner, declares Farmer, who owns Shadowlands Farm at Midway, Kentucky.
Up against six others in the MassCap, Commentator took to heart and will the names of the race's most storied past winners and stamped his own hoofmark in the niche of records of the famous MassCap.
Jockey John Velazquez said his chestnut took the bridle on the backstretch and "got serious" by the half mile of the nine furlongs event. By the three-eighths marker, Commentator had the win in hoof and finished in a very credible 1:48.97, crushing Menow's record eight-length triumph of 1938.
Commentator Qualified for Breeders' Cup Classic
The MassCap is part of the Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" series, but Zito said he would take a long look at letting Commentator participate on Santa Anita's new Pro-Ride surface. "I'm not crazy about running on rubber, something that comes out of your attic, or anything artificial," he commented.
Commentator had already qualified for the Breeders' Cup Classic by capturing the July 26 Whitney Handicap (G2) at Saratoga. It was his second triumph there. In 2005, he beat Horse of the Year Saint Liam by a neck.
Commentator Closing In On $2 Million in Earnings
Commentator's MassCap win, his 13th from 20 starts, boosted his career earnings to $1,841,963. A son of Distorted Humor, he is out of Outsource, an unraced mare by Storm Bird.
When Zito Learned of Ferdinand's Fate
The Zito family began to get more heavily involved in the fight to ban horse slaughter when they became aware of the fate of 1986 Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand, who brutally died in a Japanese slaughter house.
