The worst serial murderer sports has ever seen

Burns’ arrest removed the lid over the best kept secret in the history of equestrian sports. The alarming rate at which show horses and jumpers were dying led to widespread speculation of a possible defraud scheme adopted by stable owners and trainers but due to lack of solid evidence the investigative agencies could do little about it. But Burns’ vivid narration of the ignoble practices prevalent within the industry finally helped the FBI bring the perpetrators to book.

One of the most high profile horse murders was that of Alydar. Considered to be one of the quickest stallions and finest thoroughbreds in the early 90s, Alydar was allegedly murdered by his owner J.T. Lundy so as to prevent the takeover of his Calumet farm by First City after finding himself neck deep in multi million debts.

Masthead of Texas Monthly chronicling the gruesome murder of overvalued horses

“It would not be until October 2000, almost ten years after Alydar’s death, that Tomala would finally reveal what she had been doing. At a little-publicized hearing in a nearly empty federal courtroom in Houston, she stood before a judge and said that the death of Alydar was no accidental tragedy. Alydar, she proclaimed, had been murdered.” – Skip Hollandsworth wrote in the Killing of Alydar.

Burns’ corroboration of evidences also helped the Federal authorities to close down Larry Lombardo, a licensed horse trainer, for allegedly murdering one horse named Fins and trying to murder a $1.4 million New York stakes winner named Cutlass Reality. It is believed that Lombardo purchased Fins for a meager $7,500 before inflating his value upto $400, 000 by the sale of phony shares.

Although Lombardo reiterated his stance over the horse not being overvalued, there have been reports to the contrary claiming that Fins was ‘a big, crooked-legged colt who couldn’t run a lick’.

The horse murders dealt a knock out blow to the equestrian sports and the president of American Horse Shows Association in 1993 was quick to defend the already tarnished image of the people involved with this sport. Even leading riders came forward to condemn the killings and save the face of the sport!

Burns’ best bet to reduce his sentence was to co-operate with the investigation and also get back at the wealthy clients he had worked for in the process. Even Burns’ realized that the series of murders he carried out against the helpless animals standing in their stalls cannot be defended and won’t be forgotten.

“You killed all those horses, and we know you did!” Burns’ recounted how the cops screamed at him after he was arrested.

“They were right,” says Tommy Burns.

Almost two decades later, here I am ensuring people remember they were.