Another horse dies at Santa Anita, making it the 26th death on the racetrack since December
Another horse has succumbed to injuries at the Santa Anita Park. Kochees became the 26th horse to die at Santa Anita on Saturday, since December. A spokesperson for the Park, Mike Willman confirmed the death but did not state the nature of the injury that the horse suffered from.
A recent investigation painted a horrifying picture of the Santa Anita Park where more than 60 horses have been euthanized at the popular racetrack since 2018. Monday, May 20, marked the second horse's death in a matter of four days when a first-time starter named Spectacular Music pulled up during a race on Sunday, May 19, and suffered a pelvis injury. Before that, on Friday, May 17, Commander Coil, an unraced three-year-old gelding who was only galloping, was put to sleep after suffering a shoulder-area injury during a light training session. Before that, it was Arms Runner, who went down after a sprint in March.
As MEA World Wide had previously reported, experts on the subject think that there may be a number of contributing factors to this tragedy. They believed that rampant use of doping the horses, along with the wet weather and strenuous training for the horses, have led to this chain of events. The animal welfare activists also called on to the government to pass the Horseracing Integrity Act, H.R.1754 which would safeguard the animals against preventable deaths and would "create a national and uniform medication policy".
Elizabeth Zarkos, Ph.D. President and Founder of Hanaeleh, an Orange County Horse Rescue organization agrees. "Passing the Horseracing Integrity Act of 2019 would go a long way to help stop the doping of horses on the track." She urged that the horse racing organizations need to start treating these horses as more than just collateral damage.
Santa Anita's racing season ends June 23.
If you have a news scoop or an interesting story for us, please reach out to us at (323) 421-7514