Despite Changes, Feinstein Wants Santa Anita Halted

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) renewed her call for a moratorium on horse racing at Santa Anita Park following the death of a 26th horse since Dec. 26.

"Another horse has died at Santa Anita Race Track, the 26th in five months and the third in just nine days," Feinstein said in a statement May 27. "How many more horses must die before concrete steps are taken to address what is clearly an acute problem?

"I once again call for an immediate moratorium on racing at Santa Anita. We need a thorough investigation of practices and conditions at the track before any more races are held."

Multiple national news outlets reported May 26 that Kochees was euthanized Sunday after breaking down in the sixth race at the Southern California track on Saturday, May 25.

The statement was issued despite a reduced rate of breakdowns since new house rules were put in place at Santa Anita March 29 that has seen the track's catastrophic breakdown rate fall below both the track's 2018 rate and the national 2018 rate.

There have been three fatal breakdowns during racing and one during training since the new rules were put in place March 29. The industry standard, the Equine Injury Database, tracks breakdowns during racing—allowing for comparison from track to track.

From March 29-May 27 there have been three catastrophic racing breakdowns at Santa Anita from 1,911 starts, or 1.57 per 1,000 starts. While a small sample size, the 1.57 rate is down 23% from the 2018 rate at Santa Anita, 2.04; and down 7% from the 2018 national rate of 1.68.

Also Tuesday, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals issued a release calling on racing across the country to be halted until rules similar to the house rules now in place at Santa Anita are instituted throughout the country. 

Feinstein went on to say that more study is needed on issues that may be impacting horse health and leaving them susceptible to breakdown.

"I believe we need to carefully review what medications horses are given and under what circumstances, as well as take a close look at the issue of overrunning horses, which may be contributing to deaths.

"Tracks in the United States have significantly higher rates of death than tracks overseas. We need to determine what we're doing wrong in this country and fix it. If we can't, we need to consider whether horse racing has a future here."