BATTLE WAS LOST
Racehorse’s death brings demands for accountability
The prized racehorse stood on three legs inside an equine ambulance. ❚ It was almost 8 a.m. Feb. 23, and a heightened state of concern permeated Santa Anita Park. ❚ Less than two months into the winter meet, 19 horses had died on the racetrack, spurring protests by animal rights activists and fear over what might come next. Here was Battle of Midway, weeks after emerging as a possible favorite for the world’s richest horse race – the $12 million Dubai World Cup on March 30 – standing in an ambulance with one hind leg cocked into the air. ❚ The 5-year-old horse had lost his footing during a workout, was pulled up by his exercise rider and loaded into an ambulance with his fate uncertain.
Jennifer Finley, the attending veterinarian, began examining the injured leg of a horse that, by tradition, she’d already seen that day. Every morning, Battle of Midway was the first horse Finley visited. He was her favorite, and not just for the moxie he showed on the track.
Battle of Midway had long “donkey ears” he liked rubbed, stuck out his tongue as if it were an act of mischief and, when he was a foal, once pulled fan wires out of electrical sockets. At the end of each day, Finley fed Battle of Midway an apple and marveled as he took perfect bites.
Not on Feb. 23.
Finley led Battle of Midway to the equine hospital’s radiology room. When images of his X-rays flashed onto a screen, Finley burst into tears.
The bone above the hoof in one of Battle of Midway’s hind legs was shattered. Because horses must be able to stand on all four legs, the horse could not be saved – so he became part of a growing controversy and an investigation occurring as the sport moves into its Triple Crown season with Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office launched an investigation into the horse deaths at Santa Anita that will hinge in part on how California authorities handle the deaths of racehorses.
After being euthanized, Battle of Midway was transported to the University of California-Davis, where by state protocol he underwent a necropsy. The district attorney’s office is keeping those results confidential during the inquiry, so it’s uncertain if they will yield answers to the following questions:
❚ How is it that Battle of Midway was healthy enough to win three of his last four races yet broke down during a routine workout?
❚ Should anyone be held accountable for the death of Battle of Midway, one of 23 horses that have died on the track during the winter meet at Santa Anita and one of hundreds that die at U.S. tracks every year?
Jerry Hollendorfer, the Hall-of-Fame trainer who handled Battle of Midway, declined to comment.
Flavien Prat, who was Battle of Midway’s regular jockey, did not respond to an interview request made through his agent.
Elliott Walden, president and CEO of racing operations for WinStar Farm – a group that co-owned Battle of Midway – declined a request for interview.
No central authority
Victoria Keith, who has spent almost 20 years in horse racing and works for the man who bought, then sold Battle of Midway, said she is fed up with the status quo. It’s time to hold trainers accountable, she said.
“I want to work towards there being rules and punishment for those consistently over the average in breakdowns,” she said, referring to deaths. “That has never been regulated in any way.”
Each state involved in horse racing has created its own governing body and enacted its own rules, and the sport has no central authority.
“That is truly the issue,” Keith said. With the backing of a prominent horse owner, Rick Porter, she has a plan to affect change. Keith is the executive vice president of Fox Hill Farm, owned by Porter, who purchased Battle of Midway as a yearling.
Last year, Porter formed the National Thoroughbred Welfare Organization (NTWO), which addresses aftercare for racehorses, many of which end up in slaughterhouses. Keith, in her role with the NTWO, said she intends to collect data that will identify trainers associated with an abnormally high rate of horse deaths.
One of horse racing’s fiercest critics, Patrick Battuello – who documents horse deaths on his website, www.horseracingwrongs.com – said focusing on specific trainers obscures the fundamental problem.
“This industry has been killing horses since the beginning,” he said. “Let’s not pretend this is something that just recently happened.
“So when you ask, how come they’re not trying to identify wayward trainers, my answer to that is (industry members are) all complicit.”
The Jockey Club, a Thoroughbred industry organization, reported 493 horses in the USA died from racing-related injuries in 2018. Battuello said the number of deaths, across all breeds, each year is about 2,000.
Battle of Midway’s fate helps illustrate the discrepancy.
The horse will not be included in the
“While steeped in both history and tradition, the sport needs to be modernized.” The Stronach Group Owner of Santa Anita Park
Jockey Club’s 2019 death count because he died after getting injured in training.
The Jockey Club tracks fatal injuries of Thoroughbreds that occur during an official race, as reported by veterinary officials, and includes horses that succumbed to a race-related injury within 72 hours after race day, according to the organization’s website.
Battuello said as many racehorses die in training as in races.
He said he expects little to come from the Los Angeles County district attorney’s investigation.
“Typically what happens in any animal exploitation industry is that the law defers to common industry practice,” he said, “and common industry practice in horse racing has been (use of) various drugs, whipping, running horses before they’re physically mature. So there is not going to be any accountability from outside of the industry. The industry is left to police itself.”
Rick Arthur, equine medical director for the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB), shares Battuello’s doubts that anyone will be held responsible for the 23 deaths but for a different reason.
“For the most part, frankly, there is very little evidence of regulation violations or any law violated,” he said. “You would have a hard time proving anybody did anything wrong.”
Jackie Lacey, the Los Angeles County district attorney, has offered no comment since announcing the creation of a task force to conduct the investigation.
An endearing commodity
As is nearly any Thoroughbred, Battle of Midway, on one level, was nothing more than a commodity, to be bought, sold and managed in pursuit of a profit. The horse changed hands twice, was the subject of an insurance payoff and earned his various owners more than $1.5 million in purse money. But Battle of Midway endeared himself to his handlers and racing fans with a compelling story on and off the track.
Sired by Smart Strike, a gradedstakes-winning stallion, and out of Rigoletta, a graded-stakes-winning mare, he was expected to sell for up to $800,000 at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale. But vets found a small defect in one of his knees. Damaged goods.
Porter, a war veteran looking for a Kentucky Derby contender, paid $410,000 for the brown colt with the black mane and named him Battle of Midway.
The ensuing battle looked bleak. Porter was diagnosed with b-cell lymphoma. While undergoing chemotherapy, he had given up on his chances of survival and, only four races into Battle of Midway’s career, given up on his hopes of the horse developing into a champion. Weeks before the 2017 Kentucky Derby, Porter accepted an offer from Don Alberto Stable and WinStar Farm for Battle of Midway, then watched the deal hit a snag.
Two veterinarians found inflammation in the horse’s knees.
“My estimate is that he would probably make it through the Triple Crown, but not through the season without these knees being a factor . ... Although there is no permanent damage at the present time, the effect on the rest of the year is a major factor in estimating this horse’s future,” veterinarian Larry Bramlage wrote in an email that was read to USA TODAY by Keith, who works for Porter. “His knees need to be followed and at some point he needs to stop to heal before he does permanent damage.”
To Porter’s surprise, Don Alberto Stable and WinStar Farm still wanted the horse. The deal was completed at a price that Porter said was less than the original figure but still more than $1 million. He declined to be more specific, and the sale was not publicly recorded.
At the Kentucky Derby, as a 37-1 long shot, Battle of Midway changed his trajectory. He finished third. The new owners did not enter him in the Preakness or the Belmont Stakes, the final two legs of the Triple Crown. But he had no more than seven weeks off between any of his next five races, which included a win in the $1 million Las Vegas Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile in November 2017.
Looking to cash in, the horse’s owners put Battle of Midway out to stud on a farm in Lexington, Kentucky. He mated with 60 mares, impregnated only five and was declared subfertile.
Having insured Battle of Midway against subfertility, according to BloodHorse.com, the owners received an insurance payment, and Battle of Midway temporarily became property of the insurance company. Don Alberto and WinStar bought him back and put him back on the track. He quickly rounded into form, won three of his last four races and, upon his death, further stoked a controversy.
Changes at Santa Anita
The same day on which Finley euthanized Battle of Midway, she left flowers with red apples inside his stall. That stall was still empty March 3, when animal rights activists gathered outside Santa Anita Park.
Three days later, after the death of yet another horse, the Stronach Group – which owns Santa Anita Park and tracks elsewhere around the country – shut down the dirt racing surface and said experts would be brought in to investigate. Racing resumed a little more than three weeks later. Another horse died during training.
Soon after the track reopened for racing, the horse death count reached 23, when Arms Runner suffered a fatal injury after colliding with another horse. Changes came.
The track’s owners abolished the use of whips except for safety reasons; reduced the maximum allowable dosage of Lasix, a medication to prevent bleeding in the horse’s lungs that is used by almost every U.S. Thoroughbred; pledged to improve diagnosing pre-existing conditions in horses that could lead to injuries and regular evaluating of the track that some trainers said became unsafe during the first two months of the winter meet because of excessive rain.
The rain stopped, the rules took effect and not a single horse has died over the past month.
In response to an inquiry from USA TODAY, the Stronach Group issued a statement that said in part:
“Last month, The Stronach Group, together with our industry partners in California, took the bold and necessary steps to begin to modernize and reform our sport for the betterment of horse and rider welfare. This industry-led initiative successfully gained approval on ground breaking Lasix reforms from California’s regulatory body for horse racing, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB). While steeped in both history and tradition, the sport needs to be modernized in a way that prioritizes the health and safety of horses and athletes first and foremost.”
As the DA’s investigation goes on, questions remain unanswered about the deaths of horses, including that of Battle of Midway.
“At this point, I honestly do not know of any reason to believe that there was any other reason other than just a tragic situation, a tragic accident,” David Nash, a longtime veterinarian, said before adding, “I think the jury is still out.”