3-Year-Old at Santa Anita: “Horse collapsed while galloping, died spontaneously. Definite cause not apparent.”

Through a FOIA request to the California Horse Racing Board, I have obtained the following details on some of that state’s kills last year (more can be found here).

Danehill Song, Aug 3, Santa Rosa R
“[Multiple: I counted 7] complete, displaced, comminuted fractures; fragmentation of the radius; complete rupture of the joint capsule; severe, extensive hemorrhage.” Also: “osteochondral disease, cartilage erosion [both forelimbs].” Danehill was three years old.

Pastor T, Aug 26, Del Mar T
“Horse sustained leg injury during morning workout: [multiple] displaced, open [through the skin] fractures; complete rupture of the suspensory, intersesamoidean, and straight sesamoidean ligaments; complete rupture of the deep-digital flexor tendon; rupture of the fetlock joint capsule.” Also: “metacarpal disease, osteochondral disease [both forelimbs].” Pastor T was two years old. Two years old.

Club Cal, Oct 20, Los Alamitos S
“Found dead in stall at 4:15 am, foam coming out of both nostrils. Cause undetermined.” Club Cal was five years old and was to be raced Oct 22.

Zakkiyyah, Oct 21, Golden Gate S
“Acute colic, strangulation and complete obstruction of small colon.” Zakkiyyah was five years old and had last been raced Sep 30.

Nickel Nickel Nine, Oct 26, Santa Anita T
“Signs of acute colic following training and cooling out. Colon torsion, epiploic entrapment, necrotizing enteritis, transmural hemorrhages, vascular thrombosis.” Also: “extensive chronic ulceration.” Nickel was five years old.

Practical Move, Oct 31, Santa Anita T
“Horse collapsed while galloping, died spontaneously. Definite cause not apparent.” Practical was but three years old.

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One comment

  1. A three-year-old collapses and dies spontaneously while galloping and no explanation is given.
    The racing industry people who walk, talk, eat, sleep and breathe horse racing every day don’t have an explanation for why a horse exploited for racing drops dead while galloping.
    Forget about the oath to do no harm. If every veterinarian lived by the oath to do no harm, there would be NO veterinarians in horseracing.

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