CHRB: Los Alamitos Taking Safety Steps After Fatalities

The California Horse Racing Board has been in contact with personnel and executives at Los Alamitos Race Course concerning four recent equine fatalities there, the regulator said in a release.

The Southern California racetrack runs Quarter Horses and lower-level Thoroughbreds at nights for much of the year, as well as short afternoon meets for higher-level Thoroughbreds during the summer and winter. Their mixed-breed season is ongoing.

One horse died of a sudden death episode after racing March 12, and two others experienced fatal injuries when racing March 19-20. The most recent fatality occurred when an unraced 3-year-old sustained a catastrophic injury when galloping March 23. The horses that died were Ballet Royalty, Fastidious, Stolen Lives, and See You At Front.

Los Alamitos has taken four recent steps to help improve safety, the CHRB said, by (1) eliminating the breaking bar in Quarter Horse races; (2) eliminating high toe grabs on hind shoes; (3) consulting a racing surface expert regarding the track; and (4) contacting the University of California, Davis, to fund a study of lumbar fractures in Quarter Horses.

According to the CHRB, these safety measures are particularly applicable to a back fracture, which led to the death of one of the four runners. The CHRB believes that breaking bars and toe grabs could be a contributing factor to lower leg injuries, the types of incidents that involved two of the horses.

The CHRB will continue to closely monitor and scrutinize activities at Los Alamitos and will take appropriate action as needed, it announced.

Los Alamitos, which also serves as a year-round training center, has come under critique previously by the CHRB after spikes in fatalities there. In a couple of CHRB meetings last winter, a divided board battled over whether to grant the track its customary year license. 

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Twice over the second half of 2020, Los Alamitos amended its procedures to improve equine safety, bringing them in line with other major Thoroughbred tracks in the state.

Since the start of 2021, Los Alamitos has experienced fewer musculoskeletal fatalities (nine) than both Golden Gate Fields (14) and Santa Anita Park (17), according to CHRB online statistics.

Over that same time period, Golden Gate leads with non-musculoskeletal fatalities (15) followed by Los Alamitos (nine) and Santa Anita (six). Many non-musculoskeletal fatalities are difficult-to-foresee sudden death episodes.

Last year, equine fatalities at CHRB-regulated facilities across the state dropped to 71, their lowest tally in 10 years of CHRB data. The figure represented a sharp reduction from 2019 when a cluster of deaths at Santa Anita Park in the early part of the year led to the implementation of equine welfare initiatives by the CHRB and racetracks.