Derby winners end up in Japanese slaughterhouse

[snopes]

Comment: I've recently read old articles that indicate that Kentucky Derby
winner Ferdinand was slaughtered and eaten in Japan. And now I'm hearing
that the current Kentucky Derby winner has also been sold to a Japanese
owner and will probably meet the same fate.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...-for-ferdinand

[DawnStorm]

Yes, the 1986 winner Ferdinand was slaughtered; I don't remember the circumstances of how he ended up in a slaughterhouse. Since then though, many horses sold to foreign interests contain a clause that says when their stallion duties are over, they are to shipped back here. Once here, the horses usually live out their lives at Old Friends.
Here is a recent article about I'll Have Another's sale to Japan. It doesn't say whether or not there is a repatriation clause in the contract. I do know that the racist rhetoric I'm seeing on some horse racing boards is nasty.

[queen of the caramels]

Why send them to Japan for slaughter? I know several of several horse slaughter-houses round here.

Chevaline is a rasonably common meat in Quebec.

[Mad Jay]

As the article in the OP claims, he was exported to Japan as a stud, and his owners got rid of him after he started failing to breed

Sold to Japan's JS Company in the fall of 1994 at a time when Japanese breeding farms were aggressively pursuing American and European breeding stock, Ferdinand spent six breeding seasons at Arrow Stud on the northern island of Hokkaido, from 1995-2000. Initially popular with local breeders (he was mated to 77 mares his first year), Ferdinand was bred to just 10 mares in his final year at Arrow, and his owners opted to get rid of him.

Read more on BloodHorse.com: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...#ixzz1yq6eZ154