The tracks of the Los Alamitos Course, California, are home to several thoroughbred and quarter-horse races. Regardless of the assets invested in the equestrian events, the enormous number of horse deaths at the track does not fall short. Despite the frequent deaths at Los Alamitos each year, the number of casualties does not seem to slow down.

At the most recent Quarter Horse Stakes at Los Alamitos, a misfortune took place during the prestigious event when a colt died after suffering injuries during the race. This is a tragic piece of news for not only the horse lovers, but it has stunned the whole world with the fatality of an innocent animal.

Tragic death of Fire Stel caused by musculoskeletal injury

Fire Stel was a 3-year-old black colt owned and trained by Angela Aquino, who is one of the youngest trainers in the female category in the USA. She has also won several races at the Orange County Oval and secured many horse racing titles. The fatality occurred when Fire Stel clipped its heels during the race. According to the race charts, he was later transferred.

When Sunday’s sixth race began, the riders were pushing strength as required, but Fire Stel was coming in at the last position. And when the horse tried to outrun the others by running between them, he fell. Through the visuals of the race, it seems like the jockey, Yordan Machado, has also endured some minor injuries.

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The musculoskeletal injury caused by the fall is held liable for the horse’s tragic death. However, the official notice for the cause of the death is still pending. During his life, Fire Stel had great 11 career races with some second positions, as informed by the industry website Equibase. However, the equine athlete met with an upsetting and untimely fate. Fire Stel is not the only horse to suffer this fate, but is, in fact, the seventh casualty this year. Six other horses died either on the racing track competition or during training in Los Alamitos. 

Frequent deaths of horses in Los Alamitos 

The frequent deaths of horses have raised concern among horse riders. In 2020, the track was on probation by CHRB due to the sudden series of horse deaths in that particular year. In 2021 alone, eleven tragic deaths were reported during the competition or the training session in Los Alamitos. And that was not all; two more deaths were reported as ‘other’ for uncertain reasons. Then again, in 2022, 17 horses died from various causes, seven from racing injuries, three from training injuries, and other seven from ‘other’ causes.

Through all these unfortunate incidents, the track had taken some steps to improve the safety of the horses and the riders as it had seen another 4 horse deaths in the span of 11 days. The track took a series of steps to improve safety in 2022. As per reports, they eliminated the use of ‘high toe grabs’ and the ‘breaking bar’ in quarter-horse races.

However, the recent tragic death of Fire Stel after suffering fatal injuries was heart-wrenching, to say the least. 

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