Churchill continues to seek answers as two more horses euthanized last week
?q=100)
Churchill Downs, troubled by a spate of equine fatalities this spring, had horses injured on the track and subsequently euthanized last Friday and Saturday. Tests will be performed on the track this week, and an emergency veterinary panel will be convened at the track by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.
Kimberley Dream was pulled up in the stretch of Saturday’s first race, a claiming event, and was diagnosed with a distal sesamodean ligament rupture to her left front leg, which was “inoperable and unrecoverable,” according to a statement released by Churchill Downs on Saturday night. Lost in Limbo fell in the final sixteenth of Friday’s seventh race, also a claiming race, and sustained a similar injury, the track statement said. Both horses were 7.
There have been 12 equine fatalities at Churchill since the stable area reopened for training on March 30. The meeting opened April 29, and the Memorial Day program was the 19th live racing day.
“It is with absolute dismay and sorrow that we report this highly unusual statistic,” Churchill’s statement said. “Our team members mourn the loss of these animals as we continue to work together to discover cause and determine appropriate investments to minimize, to the degree possible, any avoidable risk in this sport and on our property. We do not accept this as suitable or tolerable and share the frustrations of the public, and in some cases, the questions to which we do not yet have answers. We have been rigorously working since the opening of the meet to understand what has led to this spike and have yet to find a conclusive discernable pattern as we await the findings of ongoing investigations into those injuries and fatalities.”
The track said it has increased the frequency of the testing of its racing surfaces. Early last week, Mick Peterson, executive director of the racing surfaces testing laboratory and professor of biosystems and agricultural engineering at the University of Kentucky, was commissioned to perform tests on the racetrack.
“The report indicated that the measurements from retesting do not raise any concerns and that none of the data is inconsistent with prior measurements from Churchill Downs or other tracks,” it said.
Churchill Downs said it is “actively working in cooperation” with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and HISA in research into these fatalities, and that it is engaged in an epidemiological study with The Jockey Club to review each individual horse for any underlying patterns.
In a separate statement released Monday, HISA said the emergency veterinary summit was to be convened Tuesday, May 30, in Kentucky, with Churchill Downs, KHRC, and HISA teams participating. HISA was to dispatch Jennifer Durenberger, director of equine safety and welfare, to provide additional veterinary expertise and observation on-site at Churchill Downs, which will run its usual Thursday-through-Sunday race week.
In addition to Peterson’s recent examination of the track, HISA will dispatch well-known track superintendent Dennis Moore to provide a second and independent analysis of Churchill’s surfaces. Moore’s review was to begin Wednesday, May 31. HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus and racetrack safety director Ann McGovern will be on-site during the process.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.