The crisis of 2019 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., saw 30 horses die during the meet that began on Dec. 26, 2018, and ran through June 23, 2019 (including a three-week shutdown). Management took a hard look at the track's safety practices, ultimately deciding to implement significant changes including additional veterinary scrutiny, new training protocols, and better track maintenance monitoring.
Those changes have made a difference: the Thoroughbred Daily News reports that not one horse died during a dirt race in 2022 at Santa Anita.
“We had an opportunity in 2019, albeit after an awful situation, to really reset the clock and look at every aspect of how we operate at Santa Anita,” Aidan Butler, chief executive officer at The Stronach Group 1/ST Racing and Gaming, told TDN. “Everybody understood that something had to change. Something had to give. Horsemen, owners, trainers, everyone, understood that business as unusual will not fly anymore. The emphasis on safety had to be the core of the sport because without it the sport could be in jeopardy.”
The numbers were not perfect: 12 deaths were reported during turf racing, main track training, and training track training. Sudden deaths are also included in that total.
Trainer Eoin Harty, president of the California Thoroughbred Trainers, believes the biggest difference has been made by the pre-work and pre-race inspections required to be performed by both veterinarian and trainer. In 2022, 5,381 veterinary exams were conducted on 4,673 unique horses.
Of course, not all trainers were immediately pleased with the new requirements, but Harty said that sentiment has changed.
“Initially, there was some push back,” he told TDN. “But trainers in California realized at the time that we were in a dire situation and unless everybody got on board and started pulling with the same oar potentially we were going to be out of business. There is always resentment when there is a change like that but in general horsemen have come to embrace this. People can adapt very quickly when they have to.”
Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.
The post ‘In General Horsemen Have Come To Embrace This’: Safety Changes At Santa Anita Led To No Main Track Fatalities In 2022 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
