All eyes on Santa Anita following horse deaths
ARCADIA >> As the Triple Crown season approaches, the talk should be about contenders for the Kentucky Derby. Instead, dead horses and canceled races are hot topics after Santa Anita Park suspended thoroughbred racing indefinitely because of a spike in fatalities that has cast doubt on the safety of its racing surface.
As of this weekend, 22 horses have died since Dec. 26. That is more than the 20 deaths that occurred over 122 racing days in 2017, according to Jockey Club data.
The Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields in Albany, announced last week it would ban the use of drugs and whips on racing days after the death of another horse in a spate of fatalities that has puzzled investigators at a track that has been closed since March 5.
The Los Angeles district attorney’s office assigned investigators Friday to look into the deaths in a joint effort with the California Horse Racing Board. The decision came a day after Princess Lili B, a 3-yearold filly, became the latest victim when she broke both front ankles at the end of a four-furlong workout on the main dirt track. She was later euthanized. It was the 10th death in dirt training, adding to seven during dirt racing and five during turf racing.
Santa Anita would be the country’s first racetrack to carry out such restrictions, an effort to restore public confidence in a sport that for decades has wrestled with drug and safety issues.
But instead of bringing a sense of calm to an industry on the precipice, it has been met with skepticism and a warning it could lead to the destruction of racing in California.
The new measures include a race-day ban on Lasix, a diuretic used to ease breathing and lessen the chances of bleeding from the lungs. Almost every country outside the United States bans its use on race day. According to the Jockey Club, only 3.6 percent of the almost 300,000 starts last year were made without Lasix.
“The safety, health and welfare of the horses and jockeys is our top priority,” Tim Ritvo, the chief operating officer of the Stronach Group said in a statement. “While we are confident further testing will confirm the soundness of the track, the decision to close is the right thing to do at this time.”
The closure of the historic track below the San Gabriel Mountains this month forced the postponement of its signature race, the Santa Anita Handicap, which was won by the storied horse Seabiscuit in 1940, and the San Felipe Handicap, a major prep race for 3-year-olds trying to qualify for the Kentucky Derby.
Santa Anita officials had little choice. Neither animal rights activists nor casual sports fans have the stomach to see a horse be put down after a catastrophic injury. Ever since the Kentucky Derby in 2008, when the filly Eight Belles had to be euthanized after finishing second, racing officials have worried that another highprofile breakdown could put the sport out of business.
“Quite frankly, we are no longer at a place or time where these incidents can withstand the status quo,” Jim Gagliano, the president and chief operating officer of the Jockey Club, said. “The health and safety of the horse and rider is of the utmost importance, and the entire racing industry has to redouble our efforts to prevent these tragedies.”
In a 2012 series, The New York Times showed that 24 horses died each week at racetracks across America, many of them because of over-medication or a lack of regulatory protection. It prompted meaningful regulations across the United States that led to a decline in the death rate of horses.
In 2017, for example, there were 1.61 deaths per 1,000 starts in the United States compared with two deaths per 1,000 in 2009. In California, horse deaths have decreased by 60 percent over the last 13 years, with most of the reduction coming in the last couple of years, according to the California Horse Racing Board.
So why have 22 horses died in such a short time?
Rick Arthur, the equine medical director for the California agency, pointed to a number of factors: heavy rains, a depleted horse population and impatience on the part of trainers and racetrack officials to get the most out of limited stock.
“Some people haven’t been as cautious as they should have on both sides,” Arthur said.