Animal rights group protests at opening day of Rillito Park Racetrack

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — It’s the start of a new season of horse racing at Rillito Park Racetrack.

“It’s a fun environment. It’s family friendly. I’ve been to a lot of racetracks and there’s nothing like Rillito,” Hailey Shiffer, their assistant general manager said.

However, at the entrance to the racetrack on First Avenue, Gary Vella and other members of SPEAK, or Supporting and Promoting Ethics for the Animal Kingdom, protested on Saturday.

They were protesting the deaths of 5 horses that were euthanized last year.

Vella said the horses are too young to race.

“Is it any surprise that these horses are coming up with injuries and having to be euthanized?” he said.

Schiffer said their horses start racing at two years old. She said in 2019 none of their horses died and said it’s rare for them to die.

In 2021, they also had 3 horses die on opening weekend.

Shiffer said in order to prevent deaths, they’re using a new biometric sensor that tracks the horse for anything that’s not normal in their stride.

“The sensor is detecting it before the human eye can. So something that can get past our vets, the sensor is going to pick up,” Shiffer said.

The tracker also uses a red, yellow, and green scale to warn if a horse is in trouble. If it shows yellow, the vet will take a look and if it’s red, the horse won’t race. It takes about one to two days to get the result.

Shiffer said if they think the environment isn’t safe, they would cancel a race.

However members of SPEAK said even though they support fewer horse injuries and deaths, horses should be cared for better.

Dona Laschiava said she doesn’t have a problem with horses racing if there aren’t drugs involved and if they’re caring for the horses properly.

“I don’t have a problem with this for the most part. Ideally I would love to see it shut down,” Laschiava said.

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