PETA Accuses Asmussen of Cruelty to Animals in Undercover Investigation

After conducting an undercover investigation in which a PETA investigator worked for trainer Steve Asmussen for four months in 2013, the organization has filed complaints with federal and state agencies in Kentucky and New York saying that Asmussen “forced injured and/or suffering horses to race and train,” according to a story in Thursday's New York Times. 
    The report, written by Joe Drape, says that PETA claims Asmussen–a 2014 finalist for induction into the Hall of Fame–and his assistant, Scott Blasi, subjected their horses “to cruel and injurious treatments, administering drugs to them for nontherapeutic purposes, and having one of their jockeys use an electrical device to shock horses into running faster.” 
   The filings include more than seven hours of videotape showing abuses, the story alleges, and contains clips of the tape which includes footage of a person identified as Blasi discussing injured horses and how one of the stable's jockeys, Ricardo Santana Jr., used a battery on horses. 
   Additionally, the Times reports, “PETA has also accused Asmussen of employing undocumented workers, requiring them to use false names on Internal Revenue Service forms, and conspiring with Blasi to produce false identification documents, according to the complaints filed with state and federal agencies. Asmussen also paid the PETA investigator $5.95 an hour–less than minimum wage–and did not pay proper overtime wages, according to complaints filed with the labor departments of Kentucky and New York.” 
   The PETA report and portions of the video may be seen here. The complete New York Times story, which contains several embedded video clips, including one in which the foot problems of Nehro (Mineshaft) are discussed, is availablehere. 
   In the video, a person PETA identifies as a blacksmith is heard discussing a horse's feet. PETA identifies that horse as Nehro, and the video shows the blacksmith pointing out various holes and sores in the horse's feet. 
    “He lost Z-bars on both feet multiple times,” says the blacksmith, “until he had bloody holes in the bottom of his feet. It's been like that for three months. And from putting a Z-bar over top of it, it all rotted.” A person the tape identifies a Blasi replies, “Listen. I know the (deleted) hurts bad.” 
   The TDN reached a clearly upset Ahmed Zayat, Nehro's owner, Thursday afternoon. “I am emotionally distraught about this,” said Zayat. “It's horrifying. I haven't slept. I can tell you my heart is bleeding.” 
    Zayat said that he was around Nehro frequently and was never informed that he was having problems with his feet. “I knew zero–zero–about Nehro having a foot problem. We never heard about this. I was around this horse every day and we knew nothing about this. This is insanity. I'm trying to understand this craziness that's going on. It's mind boggling.” 
Zayat said that the impressions given on the tape did not jive with what he knew of the stable. 
    “The way they talk about horses, their owners, the whole industry–it's like different people. It's not the people I know. I don't know what to make of it.” 
    Zayat, who currently has around a dozen horses in Asmussen's care, said that he would have a decision to make regarding those horses in the coming days. 
    “Every story has two sides but it doesn't look good at all for Steve and his party,” said Zayat. “We are trying to gather facts. I'm waiting for [Blasi] to call me. The whole world is going to see what I am going to do. I want do to what's proper and right. I have to make decisions, and I have to make sure they're right for the industry.” 
    PETA's nine and a half-minute video also includes footage of Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens and Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas jokingly discussing the use of buzzers.