Trainer Reveals Tyler's Tribe Died from a Collapsed Trachea

According to trainer and co-owner Tim Martin, a necropsy performed on the popular Iowa-bred Tyler's Tribe (Sharp Azteca) revealed that his death was the result of a collapsed trachea. He died following a workout Wednesday at Oaklawn.  Martin said that when the trachea collapsed Tyler's Tribe was deprived of air and oxygen, which caused him to die.

Martin said the problem with the trachea also explains why Tyler's Tribe had on-going problems with bleeding. The gelding bled in each of his last two starts and also bled in the 2022 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. He was eased in the Breeders' Cup and had to be vanned off the track.

“He had a weak trachea and from what I've been told that's why he was bleeding,” he said. “His oxygen was getting shut off and that made him bleed.”

Martin said he had Tyler's Tribe scoped as a precautionary measure the day before he worked.

“On Tuesday before I worked him, I galloped him and scoped him,” he said. “I brought my vet in to make sure that everything was clean and everything was good so I could work him the next day. He scoped clean. Everything was good. He didn't show any signs of a weak trachea. I've never experienced having a horse with a problem like that.

“The exercise rider told me that he breezed good. He worked in :48 and change. Never did he show any signs of having a breathing issue. He never seemed liked he had a problem getting air. Every time he worked he acted liked he had done nothing. But they said he was losing oxygen and that would make him bleed. He pulled up after the work and was on his way back to the barn and then he just fell over.”

Of the condition Martin added, “I had never even heard of this. I was told the only way you can detect this is you have to put a tube down their throats. That's news to me. This is a very rare thing, or at least that what I've been told.”

After an 11-month layoff, Tyler's Tribe returned in a Mar. 10 allowance race at Oaklawn. He was beaten 20 3/4 lengths and was reported to have bled.

“I did everything I could with that horse,” Martin said. “I gave him almost a year off. He is an athlete. If he wanted to run, I was going to go ahead and run him. But we talked about if he couldn't make it back I wasn't going to keep pushing him. We'd make him into a riding horse. That horse meant a lot to us and to a lot of people.”

Martin lost another horse on the day after Tyler's Tribe perished. Following a five-furlong workout the gelding Collins (Into Mischief) collapsed and died. Martin said the results of the necropsy on Collins have yet to come in, but he believes the horse died of either a heart attack or an aneurysm.

“I can't believe this happened twice to me, back to back,” he said.

After the second fatality, the Oaklawn stewards scratched all horses trained by Martin entered to race over the final three days of the meet, which concluded Sunday.

“They acted like I committed a big crime,” he said. “I didn't do anything. I know where I stand and what I do. Once I knew they died of natural causes there was nothing to be alarmed about. I've been there 40 years and they're telling me to get my horses off the grounds. What's the old saying, 'guilty until proven innocent?'”

Martin has shipped out to Prairie Meadows, which opens Saturday. He said that to the best of his knowledge he will be able to race there.

Tyler's Tribe won his first five starts by a combined margin of 59 3/4 lengths, which earned a trip to the Breeders' Cup. He finished last in the Juvenile Turf Sprint and was never again the same.