Santa Anita 'Devastated' by Another Tragedy

A 4-year-old gelding pulled up with a pelvic fracture on the training track during a workout at Santa Anita Park in California this week. Veterinarians worked to save Zeke, the Los Angeles Times reports, but eventually euthanized the horse. The chief veterinarian for the track issued a statement saying everyone there "is devastated by the loss." Zeke was the 31st horse to die at the track since Dec. 26. The track's owners have made changes in response to the fatalities, and Santa Anita said there had been 1,034 workouts without injury until Monday's. The training track is thought to have Santa Anita's safest surface. Racing had been halted in March, per the Washington Post, while the policy changes were being developed.

The accident and necropsy reports will be examined by the state's Horse Racing Board. "We are carefully reviewing what factors could have contributed to Zeke's injury," the chief veterinarian said. Santa Anita’s fall racing meet begins Sept. 27, and the Breeders' Cup is scheduled for Santa Anita in November. That event, one of racing's biggest, considered moving elsewhere but was reassured by policy changes, per MSN. (There were two deaths at Del Mar in July.)