As reported in The New York Times, PETA's investigator went undercover and worked behind the scenes in the racing industry for leading thoroughbred trainer Steve Asmussen, who has won more races in the last decade than any other U.S. trainer, at two of the most famous racetracks in America: Churchill Downs in Louisville (home of the Kentucky Derby) and the Saratoga Race Course in New York.

Racehorses are given an aggressive, daily regimen of pain-masking drugs and treatments. These drugs don't appear to be used for genuinely therapeutic purposes—they're used to keep horses going when their legs and lungs are screaming "Stop!"

An average of 24 horses suffer fatal breakdowns at tracks across the country every week, due in part, according to a 2012 New York Times investigation, to the misuse of drugs that keep injured horses running, and 10,000 broken-down thoroughbreds are sent to slaughter every year.

You can help stop this!

Please sign this petition to tell your U.S. Representative and Senators and ask them to support the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2013, Senate Bill 973 and House Bill 2012, which would increase oversight and penalties for overusing drugs in horse racing. 

And remember, the best thing you can do for racehorses is never to attend or place a bet on any race, including the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes.