Two Race Horses Die At Santa Anita, Los Alamitos Over Weekend

ARCADIA, CA — As Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Safer At Home order is set to expire Friday, Santa Anita Racetrack is chomping at the bit to resume live racing. But whether the track will be able to leave the starting gate as hoped remains yet to be seen.

Yet, despite not hosting live racing since March 22, a week before the Los Angeles Department of Health ordered the track to close due to the coronavirus pandemic, four horses have died at the track since, including a 4-year-old gelding, which died during training on Sunday.

In Orange County, meanwhile, eight horses have died at Los Alamitos – the only track in the state to remain open despite operating as a non-essential business during the pandemic. Like Santa Anita, Los Alamitos reported the death of a horse during training on Sunday – the 13th horse to die since December. Tailback, the gelding who required euthanasia at Santa Anita, was the 14th horse to die at the track since the start of the season.

According to a California Horse Racing Board database, 12 of the deaths at the two Southland tracks have occurred since the end of March, including eight at Los Alamitos. Three of the injuries that required the horses to be euthanized occurred during racing while three occurred during trainingruns. The other two causes of death were classified as “other”, the CHRB reported.

The latest death, Rowboat Romeo, an unraced 2-year-old colt, took place after the colt had participated in a 220-yard workout on Sunday, The Daily Racing Form reported. All four of the injuries that led to the horses being euthanized at Santa Anita occurred during training.

“The CHRB remains committed to reducing the number of racing fatalities in California, as evidenced by the numerous safety measures implemented in recent years and months,” CHRB spokesman Mike Marten wrote in an email to Patch on Tuesday. “This effort is ongoing with additional safety measures already in the regulatory process.”

Emails sent Tuesday morning seeking comment from Los Alamitos and Santa Anita regarding the deaths of the horses on Sunday were not immediately returned.

While racing has continued at Los Alamitos during the pandemic, Santa Anita officials have submitted a request to the Department of Health seeking to resume racing as soon as Friday as long as the standards for reopening the business are met.

`This reopening is contingent upon the county's Safer-at-Home order expiring that date and the county meeting their necessary metrics,” Santa Anita officials said in a statement.

On Tuesday, a Santa Anita spokesman said the track is "optimistic" about running races on Friday.

City News Service contributed to this report