2-year-old Secret Compass broke down during the running of the Breeders’ Cup $2 million Juvenile Fillies Saturday afternoon, suffering, in the words of the on-call vet (The Washington Post, 11/2/13), “the worst type of injury we get,” a lateral condylar…
5-year-old Centralinteligence (shown below), a Seattle Slew progeny, was vanned off after the $1 million Dirt Mile Grade 1 at Santa Anita. The video, which can be viewed here, shows no ambulance, of course; it’s all smiles and jubilation in…
Because NY is the only state to publicly disclose its breakdowns as they happen, we have to draw inferences on the rest of the nation’s “vanned off.” But consider this: Today, the Gaming Commission announced the death of a 3rd…
Running in his very first race, 2-year-old Mr Rabbits broke down and died yesterday afternoon at Finger Lakes, trainer James Acquilano’s 2nd dead horse in 3 days (Magestick Tomahawk on Saturday). The kill allowed Mr. Acquilano to hit his annual…
Two of the horses listed on this weekend’s ambulance report are confirmed dead. Again, thanks to NYS’s unique database, we know that Magestick Tomahawk and Irish Lady, both of whom fell at Finger Lakes (where else?), never made it out…
A 4-year-old Thoroughbred named Points Offthebench broke his right front fetlock Saturday at Santa Anita. He is now dead. This one, however, was not difficult to find, no scouring of the charts required. For you see, Points Offthebench, having won…
The following perished on Long Island yesterday – Belmont’s 30th, 31st, and 32nd victims of the year: 9-year-old Hewitts, “euthanized after suffering a fracture to his right femur after unseating his exercise rider on the pony track and hitting stationary…
3-year-old Sonic Dancer died yesterday afternoon at Keeneland. In race 6, the colt snapped his right leg and threw jockey Calvin Borel in the process. Because the stricken Borel was in harm’s way, the race was stopped, declared a no-contest.…
As you’ve probably noticed, I am now regularly reporting all Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses vanned off American tracks after actual races (training accidents are closely guarded secrets). One pro-racing reader took umbrage at the implication, arguing that not every horse…
Bloodhorse reports (10/17/13) that 6-year-old Take Control was euthanized at Santa Anita after, in the words of trainer Bob Baffert, “he took a bad step” while breezing. With only four career starts (and at least two surgeries), his death, I…
Formulaforsuccess, six, died during yesterday’s 3rd race at Belmont Park. The Gaming Commission simply says he “went over inside rail and died.” But Equibase offers a bit more detail: “[Formulaforsuccess] was eased at the quarter pole and in the midst…
In 2006, William Rhoden of The New York Times wrote an article (5/25/06) contrasting two breakdowns in May of that year. The first, Barbaro, received international attention upon shattering his leg in the Preakness Stakes. Four days later, a nondescript…
