CALGARY—Century Downs has said it has indefinitely banned a jockey from its facilities after Animal Justice flagged the jockey’s prior history of animal abuse in Manitoba.
Whistleblower footage released last year by Animal Justice showed an Assiniboia Downs jockey grabbing a mare named Scarlett’s Flower by the throat, repeatedly striking her face, and whipping her with his headgear.
An employee captured the incident on video inside the barn. Animal cruelty charges were brought and later stayed, and the jockey entered into a one-year peace bond that expressly allowed him to continue working with animals.
After publicly available records revealed the same jockey was now racing at Century Downs, Animal Justice contacted the Calgary-area horse racing track to inform it of the man’s past history of abuse. In its response, Century Downs said it would be cutting ties with the jockey due to the concerns which Animal Justice brought to its attention.
“It is deeply concerning that an individual with a history of animal abuse was able to move to another jurisdiction and be permitted to work with horses,” said Alexandra Pester, Calgary-based Senior Staff Lawyer at Animal Justice.
“While we’re glad Century Downs acted on the information we provided, the fact that this man could be permitted to work with horses at all shows a troubling gap that needs to be closed.”
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