La Plata: When Embarrassment Is the Hardest Thing to Shake Off

Thursday’s card was suspended after just one race, which featured only three runners, due to a “lack of Thoroughbreds…”

LA PLATA, Argentina—They say embarrassment is one of the hardest things to recover from, and what happened Thursday at this track was nothing short of a historic fiasco.

Just before noon, the La Plata administration proudly announced on social media that the scheduled race day would proceed as planned. The first race, featuring only three runners, went off without incident, but the next two races had just a single declared horse each. A couple of hours later, the initial statement—since deleted to erase the evidence—was replaced by a new one, in which "normalcy" suddenly ceased to exist.

“The La Plata Racecourse Administration informs that today’s meeting has been suspended due to a lack of Thoroughbreds,” it read.

What were the officials thinking? That racing could go on without jockeys? That all it takes for a horse to run is walking them to the gate? Why did they go through with the card when its fate was already sealed? And, most importantly, what are they waiting for to resolve the issue that led to this debacle?

In an utterly stubborn stance, Mariano Cowen and his team insisted that nothing would change—that whoever wanted to race could do so, and that they would "try" to improve what is already far from ideal, offering no real guarantees. Are professionals supposed to risk their lives without proper medical support in case of an accident? No, and they are standing firm on that, with every reason to do so.

Where are Gonzalo Atanasof and Juan Puleston, the President of Lotería and the Director of Racetracks? Holding public office means taking responsibility for problems and facing them head-on. No one is asking for extra effort—just for them to show concern and a willingness to fix a crisis that is sinking La Plata Racecourse deeper than ever.

By late Thursday, the United Association of Jockeys and Trainers had announced a new protest, calling on professionals, owners, and all industry workers to gather outside the Provincial Lottery headquarters and the Governor’s office on Monday at 11 a.m.

La Plata is scheduled to host racing on Saturday, but unless solutions emerge by Friday, that card also seems likely to be scrapped, deepening an already endless crisis—one that began when, unfortunately, the State took over the beloved Bosque.