The owners of Santa Anita, the Stronach Group, have refused to consider moving the Breeders’ Cup. A spokesperson for the group highlighted recent rule and law changes and insisted that reforms are starting to show results. The Stronach Group said they had introduced “wide-sweeping and effective” changes and measures such as a clampdown on pre-race medication and the use of whips by jockeys.
Stronach Group statement reads; “We are collectively working on behalf of everyone in the sport – grooms, hot walkers, jockeys, exercise riders, starters, trainers, owners, track managers and every horse wearing a bridle and a saddle – to reform and improve racing every day. After extensive consultation among all partners, Santa Anita Park will stay open through the end of its meet to see these reforms through.”
The statement continues; “Track management, owners, trainers and veterinarians, are redoubling their vigilance and close supervision of both training and racing protocols and will consider all enhancements to the sweeping new protocols already introduced.”
It is not known why so many fatalities have occurred this year, but it is not the first time that public opinion has turned against the sport with campaigners wanting the closure of horse racing tracks.
In 2016, between July and September, 17 horses died during morning training or while racing in the afternoon at California’s Del Mar meet. In the same racing season, 10 horses died during Saratoga’s 40-day meet in New York. This led to widespread protects with campaigners picketing Del Mar with placards displaying messages such as “Racing to the Grave” and “Raced to Death at Del Mar.”
Because of these deaths in 2016, stricter medication rules were introduced. Dr Rick Arthur, the CHRB’s equine medical director, had found that between 85% and 90% of all fatal musculoskeletal injuries had evidence of pre-existing pathology in the same area of the deadly wound.
This led to many people suspecting that horses carrying a severe injury were given drugs to mask the damage and forced to race. A Guardian newspaper investigation on the matter in 2016 found that intra-articular corticosteroids abuse was still widespread in the industry.
The Horses Studied
Dr Tim Parkin, who has studied fatalities statistics, believes eight different factors can lead to a horse suffering a catastrophic lower limb fracture during a race. Talking at a Jockey Club Round Table Conference, he said the main aggravating risks are, “horses that have not raced in the past 15-30 days, horses that had their first start in the last nine months, and horses with numerous starts in the past one to six months.”
Dr Parking investigated the findings of the New York Task Force on Racehorse Health and Safety who investigated the fatalities at the Aqueduct 2011-2012 Fall/Winter meet where 21 horses died and discovered that thirteen of the 21 had six or more of these factors present.
Although Tim Parkin’s theory is not universally accepted, it does pose the question of how effective moving the Breeders’ Cup to a new venue would prove. With many believing it is the care of the animals, not the course that is the issue.
It is thought that if the Breeders’ Cup does move, its likely destination would be Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby.
