https://www.latimes.com/sports/story...ta-horse-death
Gut wrenching to watch live during NBC Sports prime time last night. Laffit Pincay III and Randy Moss were visibly shaken by what had just taken place. Earlier on the program there was a segment addressing measures being taken by Stronach group to improving racing safety.
This is a partial C & P from the LA Times article...
“As is protocol at Santa Anita, we will open an immediate review into what factors could have contributed to Emtech’s injury,” said Dr. Dionne Benson, chief veterinarian for the Stronach Group. “Santa Anita will work closely with the California Horse Racing Board and will continue to brief our stakeholders and all of our constituents.
“Emtech will undergo a necropsy at [the UC Davis] school of veterinary medicine, as is mandatory for all on-track accidents. The accident and the necropsy report will be reviewed by a team to learn what, if anything, could have been done to have prevented the accident.”
Emtech was running for the sixth time, in a six-furlong allowance/optional claiming race. He had two wins and one second and a third. His won his first race, a maiden claiming race on Oct. 6 of last year at Santa Anita, and was claimed. However, the veterinarian voided the claim because the horse was found to be unsound and was placed on the Veterinarian’s List.
On Oct. 29, he failed a workout that would have removed him from the list. He was taken off the track in November and did not work again until May of this year. On June 20, he passed a required five-furlong workout and was removed from the Veterinarian’s List.
He was on the panel’s special examination list for races July 6 at Los Alamitos and Aug. 8 at Del Mar.
“After passing five examinations and racing successfully for those races, he was not flagged by the [review] panel for special attention in his subsequent races other than his required pre-race examinations,” said Mike Marten, a spokesman for the CHRB.
After his Del Mar race, he was claimed and went from the barn of Simon Callaghan to Steve Knapp, who was racing the colt Saturday. The horse was bred and originally owned by Kaleem Shah and then was claimed by Steven and Sabina Romo Zoltas.
The death will only intensify the debate over the safety of horse racing. In the midst of the spate of fatalities earlier this year, Santa Anita instituted a series of veterinary and medication reforms and fatality rate dropped dramatically. In addition, the state created a panel of medical and safety experts that evaluates the soundness and risks in each horse that was racing at Santa Anita, Del Mar and Los Alamitos.
Both the CHRB and Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office launched investigations into the deaths, but no conclusions have been released.
“D.A. [Jackie] Lacey needs to release the findings on the culpability of trainers and veterinarians who may have used drugs, knee joint injections, and other dangerous methods to keep injured horses racing,” said Kathy Guillermo, senior vice president of PETA.
Before Saturday’s racing at Santa Anita, animal rights protesters and counter-protesters representing the backstretch workers lined up on opposite sides on the main entrance of Santa Anita. There were no incidents.
