Letter to the Editor: Suffering in Puerto Rico is Happening on Our Watch

[Wandering Eyes]

On Jan. 9, 2025, a Thoroughbred mare named Kayseri was euthanized in Puerto Rico. She had no joint space left in her fetlocks. Her body was broken down from overuse, her mind likely exhausted from pain and confinement. Her death is not only a tragedy–it is the subject of three formal complaints now filed against the Puerto Rico Racing Commission, the track veterinarians, and her final owner.

Kayseri was not a forgotten horse. She was bred by the University of Kentucky. She raced under Hall of Famer Mark Casse. She competed at Gulfstream Park. But in 2021, after a decline in performance, she was sold off privately and shipped via cargo container to Puerto Rico–where she was raced over 50 times in three years, with minimal oversight, on a dangerous surface, while her condition clearly deteriorated.

I personally flagged Kayseri in July 2024 and submitted an official intervention request to the Puerto Rico Racing Commission. I provided race history, declining speed figures, and an offer to retire her to a safe home.

My formal complaints cite:

• Regulatory failure by the Puerto Rico Racing Commission for allowing Kayseri to be repeatedly raced after being placed on the vets' list multiple times (for lameness, medication violations, and appetite loss), and for failing to respond to a written intervention request made six months before her death.
• Veterinary misconduct by Equine Practitioners & Associates and Veterinary Clinic de Confederación for the continued administration of joint injections and pain-masking treatments rather than recommending rest or retirement, in direct violation of veterinary ethics and welfare standards.
• Owner negligence by Establo Anajalin PR, for knowingly exploiting a declining, unsound mare until she collapsed under the weight of their indifference.

These complaints are not symbolic. They are a plea for justice–not just for Kayseri, but for the 1,000+ horses euthanized at Camarero between 2021 and 2024. The data speaks volumes:

• 2021: 268 horses euthanized, 32.3% within 7 days of last race
• 2022: 257 euthanized, 34.8% within 7 days
• 2023: 270+ euthanized, 41.4% within 7 days
• 2024: 254 euthanized, 36% within 7 days

Many of these horses were Kentucky bred. Many were only three or four years old. This is not “retirement” racing. This is a disposal system in disguise.

Now, with the Ocala Breeders' Sales (OBS) approaching, the American Thoroughbred industry–breeders, consignors, trainers–must take responsibility for where these horses are ending up. If we continue to sell to bad-faith buyers who ship to Puerto Rico, we are enabling cruelty.

Puerto Rico is U.S. soil. These are U.S.-bred horses. And the suffering happening at Hipódromo Camarero is happening on our watch.

I urge the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) to expand its jurisdiction to include Puerto Rico, or for Puerto Rico's regulators to voluntarily adopt and enforce HISA's welfare standards. Until such protections are in place, U.S. sales companies and racetracks should blacklist any buyer known to ship horses to Puerto Rico, where there is currently no reliable oversight or enforceable safeguards. If Puerto Rico refuses to accept external accountability, the industry must act by cutting off its supply of horses. And the public and press must continue to shine a light on these regulatory failures until meaningful reform is no longer optional, but inevitable.

Kayseri ran in 60-plus races. She tried every time. She did not deserve to be discarded, ignored, and raced to death in silence. Her death must mean something.

The letters have been filed. The facts are documented. Now it is time for accountability.

Chrissy Laughlin is an advocate and owner of a retired racehorse.

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