Megan Judge

Rant alert…

This is Ginger Brew as a racehorse and this is Ginger Brew standing in a Texas kill pen this week. 

Ginger Brew is a Sovereign Award winner, multiple stakes winner and graded stakes-placed, second in the Queen’s Plate, Canada’s most prestigious race. Gulfstream Park even named a stakes after her. In retirement she had a bunch of babies by the best stallions in the game at first — Medaglia d’Oro, Giant’s Causeway, Awesome Again, Bernardini, Ghostzapper. When she failed to reproduce a foal to do much on the track, she was bred to some more “average” sires and then sold off by her billionaire owner/breeder at age 16 for a measly $90,000, about ten times less than what she earned for them. Considering it all, it’s fair to call it a dump job.

This is a classic example proving that any class of broodmare — from blue bloods to the more “average” pedigree — can be dumped into the slaughter pipeline. And are.

As egregious as Ginger Brew’s situation was, that’s not the kicker. See, Ginger Brew was never in danger of actually being shipped. 

The people who normally turn away from the plight of the broodmares in the pipeline had their crosshairs focused squarely on saving this mare because, well, she has some high-profile connections (money?) and a big name with a bigger race record. It mattered not that she probably won’t have a third career, the people who value only second career types were more focused on her big name than their stance on this topic.

(And I am not at all knocking the org who will give her safety for the rest of her life. They have and do step up for the slaughter pipeline mares when they can and I know lost one they pulled recently when she couldn’t overcome the neglect she suffered while on earth.) But for some reason I cannot comprehend why Ginger Brew’s life mattered more than the dozens we in the @ThoroughbredRA find and network for every week, many of which we cannot save due to lack of funding and resources who disappear into the abyss and/or across the border to a Mexican slaughterhouse.

I don’t know all of the details about this “save” but I do know enough to say I’m absolutely disgusted. For some twisted and arrogant reasons, to those in charge of aftercare (and I *know* their hands are all up in this deal) this mare’s life mattered more than the others and it’s appalling. 

This is why “aftercare” needs a complete overhaul. Anyone who thinks this is ok should be ashamed of themselves.

I am very grateful Ginger Brew is safe tonight but am very worried about the ones who weren’t so lucky and were left behind. Their lives matter, too.

After @PatCummingsNTA and I watched Everett Dobson talk about “unity” and “collaboration” at the HBPA Conference, I said to Pat… you know what, let’s give this one last real shot. So we did. I had my attorneys send a letter to the @jockeyclub attorneys. Not complicated. Sit down. One room. One full day. Let’s put everything on the table and actually fix this sport. We gave them 48 hours to respond. It’s now been over a week. Crickets. 🦗 No response. No respect. No interest. Sadly, it’s exactly what I expected. Here’s what we offered… All the Stewards. Jim Gagliano. Me. Pat Cummings. Aron Wellman. And a real group of industry leaders across every part of the sport… track operators, trainers, aftercare, breeders, etc. One full day. No hiding. No excuses. No bullshit. If all that talk about “unity” meant anything…this is an automatic yes. But it’s not. Because they don’t want unity. They don’t want collaboration. They don’t want transparency. They want control. They want silence. They want the same broken system that’s been dragging this sport down for decades. So let me be crystal clear… This was it. The last good faith effort. They ignored it. Now we move forward…and we’re going on offense at a whole different level. If there’s any real media left in this sport that actually gives a damn, ask the @jockeyclub why they’re afraid to sit in a room and answer real questions from real people??? This has been going on for 3+ years. I’m not going anywhere. This fight is for all of us. What do you think???

HISA’s 2025 Annual Metrics Report is now available. 📊 2025 Rates: Racing-Related Equine Fatality Rate: 1.04 Training-Related Equine Fatality Rate: 0.55 Use of Riding Crop Violation Rate: 3.31 Scratch Rate: 13.6% Read more: hisaus.org/news/hisa-publ… #SafetyInRacing