LOS ANGELES -- The death of Mongolian Groom in the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 2 could have been prevented, according to a report released Wednesday by the Breeders' Cup.

The report said that 253 horses were evaluated several times and that 24 horses were scratched either in the Breeders' Cup races or on the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Santa Anita, trying to reset the clock after a disastrous year of horse fatalities, had its first racing death of the new meet when a horse broke down in the last race on Wednesday. Golden Birthday took a bad step early in the stretch and jockey Victor Espinoza came off the horse while he was trying to pull up the 4-year-old ...Read more

Los Alamitos had its first two deaths during daytime thoroughbred racing this year when two horses died in the first race on Saturday. The deaths were not related.

Mighty Elijah injured his left front leg in the stretch, according to the stewards. He was vanned off and euthanized when his injury could not be repaired. The horse was trained by ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- The California Horse Racing Board, faced with a crisis over a spike in equine deaths, on Thursday voted to implement the most stringent use of the riding crop by jockeys in North America.

The riding crop, or whip, has not been proved to be a factor in the series of deaths, but the optics of a jockey hitting a horse repeatedly has...Read more

DEL MAR, Calif. -- On the day that it had to cancel its Thanksgiving Thursday racing card due to predicted storms, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club took a semantical stab at looking on the bright side.

In a press release, Del Mar's turf stakes "festival" became a "bonanza," and that's not just a public relations spin.

All seven stakes races ...Read more

DEL MAR, Calif. -- From his seat beyond the finish line Saturday at Santa Anita, Josh Rubinstein was focused on the celebration in the seconds after Vino Rosso won the Breeders' Cup Classic.

It was only when the president of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club turned his gaze to the left that he saw the ambulance on the track and the 4-year-old ...Read more

It appeared that Santa Anita had a safe Breeders' Cup, but in the last race, at the top of the stretch, Mongolian Groom was pulled up in distress. He suffered a life-ending injury to his left-hind leg and was euthanized on Saturday. It was the 37th death at Santa Anita since Dec. 30 and will raise the temperature even higher on the track with ...Read more

There were 13 Breeders' Cup races run without incident over the last two days at Santa Anita Park.

But in the 14th and final race, the Classic, Vino Rosso's win was overshadowed by the breakdown of Mongolian Groom, a 4-year-old gelding who was vanned away after pulling up and not finishing.

The Breeders' Cup later announced horse had been ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Horse racing has never experienced a year like this one. A spike of deaths at Santa Anita, Keeneland and tracks in New York, mixed with a controversial finish in the Kentucky Derby that prompted a lawsuit, have left the sport with a crisis-a-week feel.

This week, there is plenty more anxiety as attention turns to the Breeders' ...Read more