America’s Dead Racehorses, State By State, Track By Track

HW has been filing annual “Killed” lists since 2014; we are the first to ever do this. Here are the eight-year (’14-’21) totals across the nation, and at some of our most conspicuous tracks. Please note, however, that these figures are at a minimum: More, surely, were euthanized off-site or simply fell through record-keeping cracks. Not reflected, either, are the horses killed at the nation’s 200+ private training facilities. And finally, these numbers say nothing of the tens of thousands who were bled-out and butchered upon “retirement.” In short, this is but a partial reckoning.

Arizona
total all tracks: 309 dead racehorses
Turf: 285 dead racehorses

Arkansas (just one track) (note: AR did not honor FOIA requests from ’14-’18)
Oaklawn: 72 dead racehorses

California
total all tracks: 821 dead racehorses
Del Mar: 96 dead racehorses
Golden Gate: 212 dead racehorses
Los Alamitos: 203 dead racehorses
Santa Anita: 246 dead racehorses

Colorado (just one track)
Arapahoe: 65 dead racehorses

Delaware
total all (two) tracks: 144 dead racehorses
Delaware Park: 132 dead racehorses

Florida
total all tracks: 808 dead racehorses
Gulfstream: 410 dead racehorses
Tampa Bay: 191 dead racehorses

Illinois
total all tracks: 240 dead racehorses
Hawthorne: 114 dead racehorses

Indiana
total all (two) tracks: 218 dead racehorses
Horseshoe: 185 dead racehorses

Iowa (just one track)
Prairie: 113 dead racehorses

Kentucky
total all tracks: 387 dead racehorses
Churchill: 145 dead racehorses
Keeneland: 85 dead racehorses

Louisiana (just racing; LA does not disclose training/stall deaths)
total all tracks: 470 dead racehorses
Delta: 155 dead racehorses
Evangeline: 112 dead racehorses
Fair Grounds: 96 dead racehorses
Louisiana Downs: 107 dead racehorses

Maryland
total all tracks: 315 dead racehorses
Laurel: 243 dead racehorses
Pimlico: 53 dead racehorses

Minnesota
total all (two) tracks: 99 dead racehorses
Canterbury: 96 dead racehorses

Nebraska (NE record-keeping is particularly bad)
total all tracks: 48 dead racehorses

New Jersey
total all tracks: 171 dead racehorses
Monmouth: 141 dead racehorses

New Mexico
total all tracks: 574 dead racehorses

New York
total all tracks: 873 dead racehorses
Aqueduct: 114 dead racehorses
Belmont: 322 dead racehorses
Finger Lakes: 177 dead racehorses
Saratoga: 134 dead racehorses

Ohio
total all tracks: 409 dead racehorses
Belterra: 92 dead racehorses
Mahoning: 134 dead racehorses
Thistledown: 125 dead racehorses

Oklahoma
total all tracks: 370 dead racehorses
Remington: 236 dead racehorses

Pennsylvania
total all tracks: 741 dead racehorses
Parx: 353 dead racehorses
Penn: 263 dead racehorses

Texas
total all tracks: 254 dead racehorses
Lone Star: 125 dead racehorses

Washington (just one track)
Emerald: 133 dead racehorses

West Virginia
total all (two) tracks: 676 dead racehorses
Charles Town: 458 dead racehorses
Mountaineer: 218 dead racehorses

all other states: 205 dead racehorses

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9 Comments

  1. A shame and a scandal. I will write a letter to the editor of my local paper here in W.V. This need to be fought on a local level. Shut down the tracks and quit supporting them with subsidies.

  2. What about the UNBELIEVABLE amount that HELL HOLE Puerto Rico has tortured for YEARS and eventually drove them into the ground. There are some horses that have been in that Hell on earth for YEARS with no escape.

    • There is a specific area on the map of Puerto Rico that is designated for the dead racehorses. It’s a mass grave. It reminds me of how Jews were buried under Hitler’s regime.

  3. 🎊 👏 congratulations New York. You win the gold star for coming in first from the barbaric outdated sport(or we know what else it should be called) of unnecessary brutality.

  4. Horrendous! All these horses so cruelly and violently killed with no mercy in the process. Along with the thousands of unconfirmed deaths kept secret by the breeders, owners, trainers, racing commissions, et al in the industry. Oh yes, they know all about that and keep it under wraps big time.

    And the horseracing industry has the gall to regard itself as a sport alongside the likes of football, etc.
    Hey apologists, can you defend your bloodsport…?
    Silly question really because this bloodsport is utterly indefensible.

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