Racehorse Dies At Santa Anita, 31 Deaths Recorded At Track

SANTA ANITA, CA —With fall racing slated to begin at Santa Anita Park on Sept. 27, the 31st racehorse perished from injuries suffered while at the embattled Santa Anita Race Track. It has been 14 weeks since a horse has died racing.

Zeke, a 4-year-old gelding trained by Dean Pederson, was diagnosed with a pelvic fracture after being pulled up while working on the training track, which is considered to be the safest surface at Santa Anita, the Los Angeles Times reported. Veterinarians tried to save the horse but at 11 p.m.

Monday, decided that euthanasia was the best option.

"Everyone at Santa Anita and throughout The Stronach Group is devastated by the loss," said Dr. Dionne Benson, chief veterinarian for The Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita.

Officials are reviewing all factors that could have contributed to Zeke's fatal injury.

"Santa Anita will continue to work closely with the California Horse Racing Board and will continue to be transparent with our stakeholders and all of our constituents, including the public, as more facts come in," Benson said in a statement.

Before Monday"s fatality, there had been 1,034 workouts without incident, officials said.

Santa Anita opened for training following the end of Del Mar's summer meet. Racing in the area has moved to Los Alamitos.

Benson said Zeke would undergo a necropsy by the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, a procedure mandatory for all on-track accidents. The California Horse Racing Board will then review the accident and necropsy reports.

Zeke last ran on Aug. 29 at Del Mar, where he finished fifth in a claiming race.

Santa Anita is under unprecedented scrutiny over safety concerns after the now 31 fatalities, 30 in the track's winter-spring meeting, and this, the first horse death at the track in advance of the fall racing season.

The track has implemented several measures to try to solve the mystery of why so many horses have died. Santa Anita has been at the forefront of new protocols to establish horse safety, including medical testing, to ensure horses were as sound as possible before running.

Santa Anita, in addition to other measures, tore up its track in its offseason to install a new drainage system.

The sport is currently in a long stretch of safe racing.

During the seven-week meet in Del Mar, four horses died during training. Two recent racehorse deaths resulted from "a freak accident" on the second day of the meet. One horse threw his rider, then ran headfirst into another horse, killing both animals instantly, the track reported.

Zeke's is the fifth training death in Southern California since Santa Anita's closing day on June 23.

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.