Final Notes on Santa Anita
After two more horses were fatally injured during races on June 8 and June 9, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) and other interested parties (including Governor Gavin Newsom) advised Santa Anita to cease racing immediately. The Stronach Group (TSG), however, opted to keep the track open through the original closing date of June 23, a decision that reportedly was supported by California owners’ and trainers’ organizations.
Santa Anita made it through the final six days of racing without serious incident, but last Saturday, American Currency, a 4-year-old gelding trained by Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer, was euthanized after breaking down during a morning workout. This brought the total fatalities since December to 30, including both racing and training.
In response, TSG announced that Hollendorfer, the trainer of record for four of the 30 deceased horses, was “no longer welcome to stable, race or train his horses at any of our facilities.” The statement added that “individuals who do not embrace the new rules and safety measures that put both horse and rider safety above all else will have no place at any Stronach Group racetracks.” Although the statement seemed to insinuate that Hollendorfer had not adhered to these new regulations, it provided no details.
Much of the focus of these new regulations is on preventing at-risk horses from making it to the track; according to the CHRB’s 2018 Annual Report,
necropsies of horses dying as a result of musculoskeletal injuries show that nearly 90 percent had “pre-existing pathology at the site of the fatal injury.” An additional level of pre-race scrutiny was added on June 12 when TSG announced the creation of a “safety review team.” All five members of the team of veterinarians and stewards must clear a horse before it is allowed to race. A single dissenting vote would result in the horse being scratched.
The Stronach Group appears to be making a serious effort to confront Santa Anita’s high number of fatalities, and in time these new measures – which also include tougher restrictions on pain and anti-inflammatory drugs, as well as a phase-out of race-day Lasix – could make a difference. Santa Anita is hardly the only track where catastrophic breakdowns are a problem, though, and until all U.S. racing jurisdictions are united in combating the issue, the overall impact is bound to be limited. If racing is unable (or unwilling) to create a central authority with real clout and accountability, the federal government – with growing support from people within the industry – may end up doing it for them.
The ghosts of Monongahela
With thoroughbred breeding increasingly concentrated on a handful of bloodlines, racing results tend to hold fewer and fewer surprises. Every once in a while, though, a horse with a connection to an earlier era comes charging out of the mist to win a stakes race. It happened last Saturday when Monongahela, a son of the forgotten K One King and a grandson of Apalachee, rolled to a fourlength victory in the Philip H. Iselin Stakes (G3) at Monmouth Park.
Monongahela is the first tail-male descendant of Round Table to win a graded stakes since K One King won the Oaklawn Handicap (G1) 19 years ago – and he will probably be the last. The 5-year-old horse improved his record to 6-11-2 in 24 starts, with total earnings of $381,043.
Round Table is best-remembered for his 3-yearold rivalry with Gallant Man and Bold Ruler in 1957. But the son of Princequillo raced through the age of five, compiling one of the most remarkable records in racing history, winning 43 of 66 lifetime starts, including an astounding 31 stakes.