Exploitation shouldn’t be sport
Rensselaer, N.Y.: In response to your article regarding trainer Eric Guillot (“Racist name gets trainer banned, horse renamed to ‘Respect for All,’ “Jan. 9): I completely agree that there is no place for racism anywhere or at any time. I also believe that there is absolutely no place where animal cruelty is acceptable. In the U.S., at least 1,200 horses die and many others are severely injured on racetracks each year. Horses are ridden before they are fully physically mature (or around 6 years of age), they race with pre-existing injuries, they are given performance-enhancing drugs that have no therapeutic benefit, and they are whipped until they are forced to run at breakneck speeds.
In addition, this so-called “sport of kings” does not allocate adequate funds to provide quality aftercare or appropriate retirement for racehorses. Horses — from those who never made it to the track to those who have earned millions racing — risk ending up in a slaughterhouse.
This so-called sport is nothing more than extremely inhumane animal exploitation. No matter what name any horse is given, racing will never be ethical, compassionate or respectful of the animals who are forced to participate. It is almost unbelievable that the industry would not see the glaring irony of renaming this horse Respect for All. I personally find using this name for any racehorse highly inappropriate and simply appalling! Susan C. McDonough
legislative committee member, NYS Humane Association
Manhattan: I don’t care what anyone says: Idiot Donald Trump is the greatest performance artist of all time. We should all only refer to him as “Sad Loser” for the rest of his life. Like the Razzies (awards for the worst movies and actors), a new award show should be created called the Trumpys. The biggest moron and self-defeating idiot of each year would get the credit they deserve! First Trumpy of 2021 goes to... Looney Giuliani!
Failed administration
Rego Park: In 1947, NYC had a smallpox outbreak and by no means was it on the scale of COVID-19. The outbreak was identified and contained quickly, with 12 people being sickened and two deaths. The city, state and federal health authorities responded by vaccinating city residents. Granted, the smallpox vaccine did not need extreme sub-zero storage, but the authorities had a major task at hand. They rose to the occasion by vaccinating 5 million New Yorkers in two weeks. There were no emails, no text messages. Many households didn’t even have a phone, yet 5 million people were vaccinated in two weeks. In March, the researchers started the race for a vaccine and it appears that the city, state and federal governments started the race for excuses to use in the inevitable blame game. Disgraceful.