By Dan Ross
The long-awaited findings of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Task Force investigation into the rash of equine fatalities at Santa Anita was made public Thursday, and the main takeaway is that they did not find evidence of “criminal animal cruelty or unlawful conduct.”
However, the 19-page report–which covered an investigation into 56 equine fatalities between July 1, 2018 and Nov. 30, 2019 at Santa Anita–notes various areas of concern “and possible factors that may have contributed to the deaths,” including issues surrounding medication restrictions for horses during routine training, pre-existing injuries and track conditions.
As such, the report makes a series of recommendations pertaining to the early diagnosis of injuries, track maintenance, and regulatory safety enforcement. Many of these recommendations are already in place, while most of the others either are “in the process of being implemented or under consideration,” wrote the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB), in a Thursday statement.
“The California Horse Racing Board agrees with the Santa Anita Task Force Report of Investigation issued by the Los Angeles County District Attorney. The CHRB has cooperated in every way with D.A. investigators and will continue to do so,” the CHRB wrote.
It was back in March that the district attorney's office announced that it had opened an investigation into the spike in fatalities that occurred this past winter and spring at Santa Anita, triggering a frenzy of media coverage.
As part of its investigation–which is in an “ongoing capacity”–the 12-member Task Force relied upon “hundreds” of documents, including CHRB fatality reports, veterinarian records, training records and medication records, “as well as statements from witnesses, industry stakeholders and experts,” the report states. So, what did they identify as areas of concern?
According to the report, the Task Force “did not uncover evidence indicating that an owner, trainer or jockey intentionally or knowingly raced an injured horse at Santa Anita Park. Such a scenario could constitute animal cruelty.” However, the report notes that, despite heightened scrutiny in the wake of the fatalities this past winter and spring, “racing injuries and fatalities continue to occur.”
Unsurprisingly given current understanding of catastrophic breakdowns, necropsies revealed the existence of preexisting injuries, “but presented as asymptomatic,” the report notes. And while “treating veterinarians, trainers and riders… did not identify any red flags that would have alerted them to the horses' preexisting degenerative conditions,” new imaging equipment like the recently unveiled MILE-PET scan machine will help diagnose these issues earlier, the report adds.
When it comes to the ever-contentious issue of medication, the Task Force initially reviewed the toxicology reports from the 23 equine fatalities that occurred between Dec. 30, 2018 and Mar. 31, 2019, the report states. This period was during the height of the rainy season that bedeviled the track earlier in the year.
The report notes that the following eight substances were present in “a number of the horses”: Phenylbutazone (NSAID), Xylazine (sedative), HEPS (metabolite of the tranquilizer acepromazine), Methocarbamol (muscle relaxant), Hydroxydetomidine (sedative), Flunixin (NSAID), Furosemide (Lasix), Trichlormethiazide (diuretic).
When it comes to the entire 56 horses investigated between July 2018 to Nov. 2019, 30 necropsies tested positive for NSAIDS, and nine for Lasix, the report states, noting too that none of the medications are illegal to administer to racehorses, and that none of the substances were at levels that would “constitute a CHRB violation for a horse that was racing or training.”
However, while the CHRB does tightly regulate race day medications, “there are fewer restrictions on the presence of various substances in the blood of a horse that is training,” the report adds.
When it comes to the issue of the safety of the track surface, some of the interviewees expressed concern that “high speed workouts and racing on a sealed or recently sealed track could cause stress fractures, particularly in a horse's front legs,” according to the report. “Four of the fatal breakdowns in 2019 occurred on a sealed track. Two occurred on a track that had been unsealed earlier on race day,” the report states.
Mick Peterson, a mechanical engineer and University of Kentucky professor, has been a long-time track surface consultant in Southern California, including for Santa Anita. The Task Force leant heavily on his testimony.
According to the report, Peterson admits that while synthetic and turf tracks are safer than dirt, “he believes that it is not unsafe to run on a sealed track,” and that “issues arise in a track's consistency due to the complex decision making process when managing excess water and allowing the track to dry. He noted that Santa Anita Park had an unusually high amount of rain during the time period at issue.”
Furthermore, “Dr. Peterson is in favor of adding as much data as possible when the decision is being made as to whether to cancel racing due to rain or poor track conditions. Dr. Peterson also recommends that tracks install sensors on tractors that measure moisture content all around the track,” the report states.
Finally, at the height of the welfare crisis, a number of horsemen claimed that they had been unduly pressured by Santa Anita management to run horses. According to the report, the Task force interviewed approximately 100 witnesses “and found no evidence supporting this supposition” and no evidence “of trainers losing their stalls for a failure to run their horses in enough races.”
The report includes several revealing statistics which add valuable context to the situation. For example, it notes that in 2018, the national average of racing fatalities was 1.68 deaths per 1,000 racing starts, according to the Jockey Club. That same year, Santa Anita Park averaged 2.04 deaths per 1,000 racing starts while Churchill Downs averaged 2.73 deaths per 1,000 racing starts. However, the report similarly highlights how overall fatality numbers for major California tracks have been trending downwards over the past 10 years.
The report also breaks down the fatalities into several different categories. For example, the most common catastrophic breakdown site on the horse was the right front leg, followed by the left front. When it comes to identifying potential risk factors, the majority of the horses fatally injured were 3-year-olds, most were geldings, and most of them had had no prior starts.
The vast majority of horses–46 of the 56–had not been claimed at some point in their career.
Since July last year, the most dangerous period at Santa Anita was this past January, when 13 horses were fatally injured during the entire month. The report also identifies the facility's main track as the place where the majority of the catastrophic injuries occurred, with the most dangerous prevailing conditions proving to be when it's classified as “fast.”
In response to the report, The Stronach Group (TSG) wrote in a statement that “we thank District Attorney Lacey's Office for their diligent work in this robust investigation into whether any conduct or conditions at Santa Anita Park affected the welfare of safety and horses. We are all committed to the same thing–the highest level of equine safety and welfare–and we will continue to do everything possible to promote equine and rider health and safety. And we are gratified that the District Attorney's report into the conduct and conditions at Santa Anita Park found no evidence of misconduct.”
According to Jeff Blea, a practicing veterinarian and the current chair of the American Association of Equine Practitioners' Racing Committee, he's not surprised the Task Force found no evidence of criminal conduct.
“I didn't expect them to find anything,” Blea told the TDN. “Certainly nothing intentional or nefarious or in a negative animal welfare sense. That's not what we're about. These people care about their horses. I didn't expect anything different in what the DA reported.”
PETA vice president, Kathy Guillermo, however, took a much more critical position. “It's beyond credible that the district attorney doesn't see that trainers who medicate horses obviously know that they are injured and sore, so they should be criminally culpable if they then force them to race to their deaths,” she wrote, in a statement. “No sane person can find it acceptable for horses for horses to suffer and die in a sport.”
Ultimately, the district attorney's report emphasizes industry efforts to improve overall welfare and safety, and points to the period between April 29, 2019 and May 17, 2019–after Santa Anita implemented a broad sweep of safety protocols and medication reforms–when Santa Anita had more than 7,000 timed workouts and almost 800 race starts without a fatality.
“The industry as a whole should strive to do everything in its power to achieve these model numbers and continue to trend toward improved safety standards,” the report states, before listing its recommendations.
The CHRB is conducting its own investigation into the horse racing fatalities at Santa Anita, which is due early next year.
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