Los Angeles County’s Santa Anita Park is standing firm against calls to cancel the rest of its racing season after the deaths of two more horses over the weekend, bringing the number of horses that have died at the track since December to 29.
In a highly unusual move Saturday, the California Horse Racing Board asked the park to scuttle competition for the seven remaining race days to “provide the industry more time to fully implement announced safety initiatives and perhaps additional ones.”
But park owner The Stronach Group, along with the Thoroughbred Owners of California and California Thoroughbred Trainers, released a joint statement Sunday saying the racetrack will remain open until the season ends on June 23.
“Since wide-sweeping reforms have been instituted at Santa Anita, catastrophic injuries have dropped considerably compared to earlier this meet,” the statement said. “To be clear, there are no acceptable losses, and every day we work toward ending all serious injuries. But the reality is that our improvements and changes have been effective.”
Santa Anita suspended racing for much of March, when the toll of horse deaths neared two dozen — twice the rate of the previous year — and as it worked to figure out why so many horses were dying.
Before reopening on March 29, the park announced a series of changes it planned to implement, including limiting the use of pain or anti-inflammatory medications and treatment for horses and improving early detection of pre-existing health conditions. Santa Anita had already pledged to bring in outside experts on a regular basis to review its dirt, turf and synthetic course surfaces.
The park says those moves have already reduced catastrophic injuries “by 50 percent in racing and by more than 84 percent in training.”
Since the park reopened, seven more horses have died there.
On Saturday, a horse named Formal Dude was euthanized after “taking a bad step” in a mile race, according to the official race chart. An examination revealed a fractured pelvis, reports The Daily Racing Form.
In response to the death of the 4-year-old gelding, the state Horse Racing Board issued a recommendation Saturday that Santa Anita “suspend racing for the seven remaining race days but that they allow horses to continue to train during that period.”
Santa Anita issued its refusal on Sunday. That same day saw another horse fatality: Truffalino pulled up during the third race of the day, and the jockey dismounted just before the 3-year-old filly collapsed. The horse died of a suspected heart attack.
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