Two horses fatally injured in Del Mar races

DEL MAR, Calif. – After a summer season at Del Mar in which there were zero fatalities in races, two horses were euthanized here on Sunday owing to injuries sustained in races on day three of the fall season, and a third horse injured was scheduled to undergo surgery to save her.

The incidents occurred in races 2, 3, and 6 on the nine-race card, two in races on dirt, both sprints, one in a route race on turf.

Ghost Street, injured early on the far turn in race 3 on turf, and Prayer Warrior, injured on the far turn in race 6 on dirt, both had fractures that were “inoperable,” according to Dr. Dana Stead, who has been the association veterinarian for Del Mar for 10 years.

A third horse, Princess Dorian, who was pulled up entering the stretch of race 2 on dirt, was taken to an equine hospital adjacent to San Luis Rey Downs and was scheduled to undergo surgery.

Princess Dorian, trained and co-owned by Andrew Lerner, was competing in an $8,000 claiming race and was coming off a victory at Santa Anita.

Erik Johnson, the Colorado Avalanche defenseman who is a co-owner of Princess Dorian, on Sunday night said that the 5-year-old mare’s “prognosis is better after new and better X-rays.”

“I asked how her quality of life would be after if it all goes well and they said good,” Johnson said of discussion with veterinarians at the equine hospital. He said he was told Princess Dorian could “be a broodmare or on pasture,” adding, “overall, worth doing it.”

“People need to know owners and trainers will do everything they can for their horses,” said Johnson, who said Lerner was “a big part of this, too.”

All three horses were pulled up by their riders and did not fall. All were removed via the equine ambulance.

Ghost Street, 3, was making his fourth lifetime start, all against maidens, all on turf, for trainer Paddy Gallagher. Prayer Warrior, 3, was competing in an optional-claiming race at the same level at which he had finished third in his prior start Oct. 25 and was seeking his third win in his last four starts for trainer Jeff Metz.

Stead was tasked by Del Mar to host a media briefing after the day’s final race at which crews from four local television stations were in attendance. He said both horses who were euthanized had suffered fractured sesamoids in their injured limbs.

He described the two fatalities as an “anomaly.”

“Del Mar has been the safest track since 2018,” Stead said, citing data produced by The Jockey Club. Del Mar had one racing fatality last fall, so the two on Sunday were the first here since then.

In 2018, Del Mar instituted new policies for racing and training, policies that have been or are being adopted by many tracks nationwide, most notably by Santa Anita following a cluster of fatalities earlier this year. At the summer Del Mar meeting, there were 297 races with 2,372 starters, and nary a fatality.

“There has been a reduction in race-day fatalities,” Stead said.

Joe Harper, Del Mar’s chief executive, said “All protocols are in place.”

Both horses who were euthanized Sunday will undergo necropsies at the University of California at Davis, which is standard procedure for equine fatalities at all tracks overseen by the California Horse Racing Board.