Animal wellness group calls for investigation after ‘healthy stallion’ dies unexpectedly
A national animal rights group is calling for state officials to look into the circumstances of a horse’s death in Central Kentucky after a report that the horse was given expired medication in an effort to boost his libido to breed more mares.
Animal Wellness Action, a non-profit organization out of Washington, D.C., that promotes legal standards forbidding cruelty, has asked the Kentucky State Veterinarian’s office and the Kentucky State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners to investigate after Laoban, a healthy stallion, “died unexpectedly ... after being given vitamin and mineral supplements,” according to court records.
Laoban was the winner of Saratoga’s 2016 Jim Dandy Stakes. Animal Wellness Action asked officials to launch an investigation after a report from the Louisville Courier-Journal, which stated that Laoban died after he was given expired medication with the intent to boost the stallion’s libido and breed more mares.
Laoban died on May 24, according to court records.
Animal Wellness Action executive director Marty Irby and Kentucky state director Joseph Grove wrote a letter to the Kentucky State Veterinarian’s office and the Kentucky State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners one day after the report surfaced, requesting a thorough investigation.
“With the ongoing controversy in American horse racing due to equine deaths both on and off the track and the rampant overuse of medication in the sport, and now this unfortunate incident in the breeding shed, we believe it imperative for the Kentucky Board of Veterinary Examiners and Office of the Kentucky State Veterinarian to investigate this matter, and report to the public its findings,” Irby and Grove said in the letter.
Irby also said the number of drug-related scandals in horse racing is rising.
“Growing up just minutes from Churchill Downs, accustomed to the false grandeur and romance of the Kentucky Derby, I’m ever more disheartened to see how poorly Thoroughbreds are regarded,” Grove, a resident and native of Louisville, said in a statement. “This horror shows that’s what really at stake is profits, not the well-being of these exquisite horses.”
Laoban’s death occurred in Fayette County, according to court records.
The North American Specialty Insurance Company denied a payout of mortality insurance coverage to Laoban’s owners after the horse’s death, according to court records. Cypress Equine Creek, a limited liability company which partially owned Laoban, sued the insurance company last month, claiming the denial was wrong.
The North American Specialty Insurance Company has yet to file a legal reply to Cypress, but the company did move the lawsuit from Fayette Circuit Court into federal court, according to records.
