Posted on 03/06/2019 4:03:17 PM PST by Libloather
Arcadia, Calif. -- Santa Anita has canceled racing indefinitely to re-examine its dirt surface after the deaths of 21 horses in the last two-and-a-half months.
Tim Ritvo, chief operating officer of The Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita, told The Associated Press Tuesday that racing won't be held this weekend, when two major races were scheduled: the San Felipe for 3-year-old Kentucky Derby hopefuls and the Santa Anita Handicap for older horses.
Ritvo wouldn't speculate on when training and racing would resume. After this weekend, races were to be run again starting March 14 at the storied racetrack slated to host the Breeders' Cup world championships for a record 10th time this fall.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
That’s so tragic.
Was this the place some detectives found a pond of sulfuric acid the horses were drinking from ?
What horse won the race?
When I was a young teen in the early ‘60’s, my uncle who lived in La Habra would take me there and we’d stay for the entire card betting on every race. I don’t recall any problems buying tickets at the windows even though I wasn’t more than 15 or 16 at the time. My uncle taught me rudimentary handicapping and one day said that sometimes he just bet on the jockey, not the horse. This particular day he told me he was betting on whatever horse the rookie Laffit Pincay was riding. I think he had six mounts that day and won five of the races and placed in the sixth. Almost all his horses were chalk. I’ll never forget how gorgeous that property was, especially in the winter with the snow-capped mountains in the distance and the clearest blue sky you won’t see today.
The last horse I bet on was so good, it took 10 other horses to beat ‘em.
No doubt the torrential rains have destabilized the track's base. If anyone can figure it out, though, it's the former track superintendent who was just called in as a consultant.
Left unsaid in all this is the pressure that Santa Anita has been putting on owners and trainers to run their horses more frequently. SA has been experiencing short fields --sometimes as few as 4 horses in a race -- and that's not good for business. I would not be surprised to find that at least some of those deceased horses should not have been racing in the first place.
Supposedly, the training track has no issues, and has the turf track had any deaths? Races are cancelled when the turf gets too much rain.
Odds of a fatal injury in any one race would be around 1 in 500 then.
“Seven deaths have occurred during races on the dirt oval at Santa Anita since the track’s winter meet began on Dec. 26. Five have occurred on the turf course and nine came during training on dirt.”<<<<<<<<<
I didn’t know there were so many horses put down every year.
This year has been really rainy.
But not unprecedented.
I would have humans run some laps on that track and if any break a leg then maybe you know.... put them out of their misery.
“In any case, I’d suggest that the track owners have the soil for the entire course...”
Living (unfortunately) in So Cal this is getting a lot of press. The track manager claims he has checked the soil. But what else could it be other than track conditions? Yes this isn’t the first time Santa Anita has run with a wet winter, yet maybe the dirt composition has been changed over the years?
Yer’ an L.A. boy too right? I’ll keep ya in mind dude lol
They should have bought “sea horses” instead.
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