California’s historic Santa Anita racetrack has partially reopened its main dirt track to limited training after almost a week of being closed due to the death of 21 horses since Christmas.
Horses can only jog or gallop on the track. No timed workouts are being allowed. At this point no races are being scheduled.
Which means that it had to cancel some of its most lucrative days of racing, including the San Felipe Stakes and the Santa Anita Handicap.
Meanwhile the mile-long oval track is undergoing close scrutiny by the University of Kentucky’s Agricultural Equine Program that includes visual inspection, soil analysis and testing. This has been helped by the fact that rain has finally petered off.
Testing includes simulating the force and speed of hooves running at full speed.
The inner track hasn’t experienced any of the breakdowns that led to the death of so many horses in recent months.
Among other actions that the track has taken is to add a director of equine welfare, who will be required to be an accredited veterinarian.
Santa Anita is owned and operated by the Stronach Group, whose CEO Tim Ritvo said the new safety and horse welfare measure will be in force when racing resumes. These include requiring trainers to hold timed workouts for their horse at least 24 hours in advance of a race. The belief is that veterinarians will be able to identify horses with potential problems if they have that much time to look at their workout data and compare it to a physical inspection.
The racetrack has also hired additional vets to observe the horses during their training. The first 15 minutes of training after a dirt track opens or its surface is renovated will be reserved for horse completing timed workouts. This will cut down on the number of horses on the track at the same time, which will make things safer.
The California Thoroughbred Trainers support these actions, which it says will make everyone accountable.
Ritvo noted that such a transparent process for tracking horse welfare has worked well at Florida’s Gulfstream Park, also owned by the Stronach Group (TSG.)
