Filly suffers fatal injury during work on Tuesday
ARCADIA, Calif. – A filly in the middle of a timed workout Tuesday on the Santa Anita main track suffered a catastrophic injury, the 21st equine fatality from racing or training since the winter meet began Dec. 26.
Lets Light the Way, a 4-year-old filly trained by Ron McAnally and owned by his wife, Debbie, was working at 7:45 a.m. when the exercise rider pulled her up after the three-eighths pole. She was vanned off the track with an injury McAnally said was a “shattered sesamoid.” Lets Light the Way was euthanized soon after.
Tuesday’s incident occurred one hour after 9-year-old Vyjack pulled up at the three-eighths pole after he completed a five-furlong workout. Vyjack was vanned off, but returned to trainer Phil D’Amato’s stable. D’Amato said Vyjack merely “took a couple of funny steps on the gallop-out” and added the “horse is okay.”
Vyjack, a Grade 2 winner with eight wins and earnings of 1,427,600 from 31 starts, has not raced since Aug. 20, 2017.
The mood was edgy Tuesday morning at Santa Anita. The warning siren went off at least four times, alerting horsemen and exercise riders a horse had been pulled up, or was loose on the track. In addition to sirens when Lets Light the Way and Vyjack pulled up, two other sirens were for loose horses that later were secured.
A spate of recent breakdowns at Santa Anita led track officials to close the main track last week while searching for irregularities in the surface. The main track closed after early training hours Feb. 24 and remained closed Feb. 25 and 26 while experts examined the surface. Track officials said the inspection did not reveal inconsistencies.
Lets Light the Way was the second horse to suffer a fatal injury since the track reopened last week. The claiming filly Eskenforadrink broke down in a race on Saturday and was euthanized.
McAnally, a Hall of Fame trainer, was visibly shaken after Lets Light the Way was put down. While specific answers to the breakdowns remain unknown, McAnally speculated that an unusually wet winter and its corresponding affect on the surface is one reason.
“To me, it’s the weather that is causing these breakdowns,” McAnally said. “This is the first one I’ve had (this winter).”
Lets Light the Way, a filly by Dunkirk, raced four times. She won one race, a $30,000 maiden-claiming sprint at Santa Anita in April 2018. In her most recent start on Feb. 2 over a sloppy track at Santa Anita, she finished fourth of six.
There were 169 workouts Tuesday on the Santa Anita main track, several by stakes runners. Notable workers Tuesday included were Instagrand ( four furlongs in 47.80), Vasilika ( four furlongs in 50:40), Dabster (five furlongs in 1:01.60), Galilean (five furlongs in 1:01.20), Mucho Gusto (five furlongs in 1:00.20), Chasing Yesterday (six furlongs in 1:17.00) and Dessman (six furlongs in 1:13.80). There were 95 workouts on the Santa Anita training track.