After a Series of Fatalities That Left the Equestrian World Shocked, Californian Racetrack Switches to Damage Control

The tragic news of horse death leaves one heartbroken. The series of horse fatalities past month at prestigious racetracks has shocked the equestrian world. Still reeling from its impact and working on averting such a situation, the news of two horses’ deaths arrived.

This time the news is from the Del Mar racetrack. Both the horses have to be euthanized after getting injured in a matter of two days. Both injuries happened during exercise and workouts. After the incident, the animal activist demanded strict action and a ban on horse races. This caused an embarrassing situation at Del Mar, which went into damage control mode and was quick in its response.

Del Mar takes remedial action

The horse death occurred in the opening week of the summer racing season. The first death happened on Friday. It was a five-year-old mare, Nevisian Sunrise. During the exercise, she ran and hit the fence post. The mare got severely injured due to the hit and after a veterinarian’s consultation; she was euthanized. The second horse died on Saturday. This time it was a four-year-old filly Ghostem. It was working out when she suffered a musculoskeletal injury on her right front leg. She was euthanized on the track after veterinarian’s consultation.

The Del Mar track was swift in its response and released a statement saying, “Del Mar sends its condolences to the people who owned, trained, and cared for both horses“. It further said, “We will continue to focus on the safety and welfare of horses and riders at our facility.” Speaking on Del Mar racetrack, Mac McBride, the spokesperson of the club said, “While there is always more work to be done, we are proud of the fact that Del Mar has been among the country’s safest race tracks for five consecutive years“.

The Del Mar club stated that the veterinarian teams examine the horses multiple times on race days. They also mentioned that a new regulatory agency has been hired to look after the horse. The name of the new agency is the Horse Racing & Safety Authority. Its task is to ensure that new reforms and protocols were implemented at the Del Mar Racetrack and throughout the state. Meanwhile, animal rights activists have up their sleeves and demand an end to horse atrocities.

Activists are concerned and calls for a ban

After the news of the death of the horses arrived, many activists gathered on the race course demanding a ban on horse racing. The organization called Kill Racing Not Horses has raised its voice after the tragic deaths. An activist in the group Ellen Ericksen said, “I’m upset and I’m triggered about the loss of life at this racetrack“.  She further said that horses are in pain, they suffer, but nothing conclusive is done in that regard.

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She said that she does not consider horse racing a sport nor it is an entertainment. In response to Del Mar’s claim that they are the safest track in the country, she said, “We already have two dead horses in two days…so that makes them not a safe race track because one dead horse is too many“.  The activists think that the reforms taken by the racing track authority are not enough and call for a ban on the horse race.

The horse death at Del Mar is tragic and authorities should work on more reforms to contain this problem.

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