Point of Attack

Point of Attack (February 17th, 2004 - April 2008) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse.

Point of Attack was the daughter of Bertrando, out of Point Break. She was a descendent of the mighty Man O'War. She was foaled in California by Point Break Partners LLC. As a two-year old she sold under the name B J's Point for $32,000 at Barrett's Equine Limited Mixed Sale on January 23, 2006. She was purchased by Bienstock, Mandabach and Winner.

Trained by Patrick "Paddy" Gallagher, the dark bay filly began her race career in 2006 at Santa Anita Park under jockey Alex Solis. Solis rode her in her first four starts. Her final California race was March 1, 2007 at Santa Anita. She was claimed by Dale Baird and taken to West Virginia.

She finally broke her maiden in her tenth race at Mountaineer Park under jockey Deshawn L. Parker. Trained by Penny L. Mathias, Point of Attack would only finish first one other time. Her career was unremarkable. She was 2-1-5 in 22 starts earning a meager $25,654, less than she originially sold for in 2006.

Her last race was run at Mountaineer Park on March 25, 2008. She finished 6th. On April 18th, 2008 she was sold at Sugarcreek Auction and slaughtered for meat. While the slaughter of horses for human consumption is illegal within the United States, horses are regularly exported to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. Horse meat is very popular in upscale restaurants in Europe and Japan.

Nine other horses from Mountaineer were sold for slaughter that same day. One of them, No Day Off, was featured on HBO's recent Real Sports segment on horse slaughter. Point of Attack was identified by HBO's people by her lip tattoo (#H05614)and, amazingly enough, by the fact that her name was embroidered on the halter that she was still wearing.
Many question how HBO could have allowed ten beautiful horses to perish in such a horrible fashion when it was clearly within their power to stop it. Slaughter horses can routinely be purchased for a few hundred dollars or less. Apparently, it was a better story for the horses to die.

The late Dale Baird is a controversial figure in the world of horseracing. While he is often lauded as the "winningest trainer of all time" he has so far been denied entry into racing's Hall of Fame. Many feel this is due to his practice of sending tens of thousands of unsuccessful runners to the "Meat Man." At the time of her death, Point of Attack was owned by The Estate of Dale Baird.

The author of this profile saw Point of Attack race one time at Santa Anita - the day she was claimed. I met her in the paddock before her race and was in awe of her beauty. I bet on her but we both lost. She was unremarkable on the track but captured my heart anyway. I followed her career online and on television. It broke my heart to learn of her fate. The reality of horse slaughter is something I am all too aware of and something that I abhore - but this time I really took it personally. Point of Attack was not just any old claimer, she was MY claimer and I will never forget her.