RACE HORSES BEING SLAUDERED

 "We the Undersigned"
Countless other deaths went unreported because of lax record keeping, the AP found in the broadest such review to date.

The catastrophic breakdown of filly Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby last month made the fragility of a half-ton horse vivid for the millions watching, but the AP found that such injuries occur regularly in every racing state. Tracks in California and New York, which rank first and sixth in thoroughbred races, combine to average more than one thoroughbred death for every day of the year.

Questions about breeding, medication, synthetic surfaces versus dirt and other safety issues have dogged the industry for some time, and a congressional panel has asked key players in the sport to testify this week about its direction, particularly the influence of steroids.

The AP compiled its figures from responses to open records inquiries sent to the organizations that govern the sport in the 29 states identified by Equibase Co., a clearinghouse for race results, as having had at least 1,000 thoroughbreds start a race last year.

Arkansas, Michigan, Nebraska said their organizations don't track fatalities at all, and only one of Florida's three main thoroughbred tracks provided numbers. There were wide differences among the other states in what types of deaths are monitored and how far back the records go.

Latest Horse Racing Photos

Jockey Gabriel Saez rides Beyond Ready (8) to a second place finish in the seventh race at Delaware Park, Tuesday, May 6, 2008, in Stanton, Del. Saez was the jockey on Eight Belles, the filly who was euthanized after breaking both front ankles following a second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)




AP




Eight Belles trainer Larry Jones waits to saddle a horse in the paddock before the start of the eighth race at Delaware Park, Tuesday, May 6, 2008, in Stanton, Del. The filly was euthanized after breaking both front ankles following a second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)




AP




Jockey Gabriel Saez waits in the paddock for his mount before the start of the seventh race at Delaware Park, Tuesday, May 6, 2008, in Stanton, Del. Saez was the jockey on Eight Belles, the filly who was euthanized after breaking both front ankles following a second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)




AP




Trainer Larry Jones, right, leads jockey Gabriel Saez in the paddock aboard Royal Diana before the start of the eighth race at Delaware Park, Tuesday, May 6, 2008, in Stanton, Del. Saez was the jockey on the Jones trained Eight Belles, the filly who was euthanized after breaking both front ankles following a second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)




AP




Frank Stronach, Chairman & Interim Chief Executive Officer Magna Entertainment Corp, speaks at the company's annual general meeting in Toronto May 6, 2008. Magna Entertainment Corp , which counts a number of prestigious U.S. horse racing tracks among its holdings, swung to a first-quarter loss on Tuesday, hurt partly by a poor performance at its Gulfstream operation. REUTERS/Mark Blinch (CANADA)




Reuters




Frank Stronach, Chairman & Interim Chief Executive Officer Magna Entertainment Corp, speaks at the company's annual general meeting in Toronto May 6, 2008. Magna Entertainment Corp , which counts a number of prestigious U.S. horse racing tracks among its holdings, swung to a first-quarter loss on Tuesday, hurt partly by a poor performance at its Gulfstream operation. REUTERS/Mark Blinch (CANADA)




Reuters




Frank Stronach, Chairman & Interim Chief Executive Officer Magna Entertainment Corp, speaks at the company's annual general meeting in Toronto May 6, 2008. Magna Entertainment Corp , which counts a number of prestigious U.S. horse racing tracks among its holdings, swung to a first-quarter loss on Tuesday, hurt partly by a poor performance at its Gulfstream operation. REUTERS/Mark Blinch (CANADA)




Reuters




Frank Stronach, Chairman & Interim Chief Executive Officer Magna Entertainment Corp, speaks at the company's annual general meeting in Toronto May 6, 2008. Magna Entertainment Corp , which counts a number of prestigious U.S. horse racing tracks among its holdings, swung to a first-quarter loss on Tuesday, hurt partly by a poor performance at its Gulfstream operation. REUTERS/Mark Blinch (CANADA)




Reuters




Frank Stronach, Chairman & Interim Chief Executive Officer Magna Entertainment Corp, speaks at the company's annual general meeting in Toronto May 6, 2008. Magna Entertainment Corp , which counts a number of prestigious U.S. horse racing tracks among its holdings, swung to a first-quarter loss on Tuesday, hurt partly by a poor performance at its Gulfstream operation. REUTERS/Mark Blinch (CANADA)




Reuters




Frank Stronach, Chairman & Interim Chief Executive Officer Magna Entertainment Corp, speaks at the company's annual general meeting in Toronto May 6, 2008. Magna Entertainment Corp , which counts a number of prestigious U.S. horse racing tracks among its holdings, swung to a first-quarter loss on Tuesday, hurt partly by a poor performance at its Gulfstream operation. REUTERS/Mark Blinch (CANADA)




Reuters

"Nobody really knows how big of a problem it is," said Rick Arthur, California's equine medical director. "They just know it's a big problem."

When a horse breaks a leg - let alone two, as Eight Belles did - often the only choice is to euthanize the animal. A thoroughbred's bones are thinner than most breeds. Usually it's not possible for the horse to lie down for long periods because that could disrupt the blood flow to the arteries in the lower limb, causing an extremely painful hoof infection called laminitis.

Barbaro, who won the Kentucky Derby in 2006, broke down in the Preakness Stakes and was euthanized with laminitis several months later after a gallant effort to save him.

Despite the regularity of such breakdowns and the money involved in the sport, no one is certain how many horses are lethally injected on the nation's tracks each year. The Jockey Club, which registers all North American thoroughbreds, did not know of another comprehensive, state-by-state tally of fatalities at tracks before the AP's, said Bob Curran, a Jockey Club vice president.

Larry Bramlage, the on-call veterinarian at Churchill Downs in Louisville, who made the grim announcement that Eight Belles had been euthanized after the Derby, said fatality numbers don't seem to be dropping, despite major medical advancements. To Bramlage, that suggests racing injuries are becoming more frequent because vets are already pulling the most injury-prone horses before post time.

"We're able to pick them up better, with digital X-rays, bone scans and MRIs, which give us the information we need to take those horses out of training," Bramlage said. "In spite of that fact, we're not denting the total number of deaths."

California officials became alarmed in 2005 when the number of thoroughbred racing deaths there spiked by nearly 50 percent from just two years earlier. Last year, 314 horses - 261 of them thoroughbreds - died at California's tracks, including those hurt in training or barn accidents, and a few that suffered other injuries or medical complications.

"Just seeing the totals and the recurrent theme, it's eye-opening," said Bon Smith, assistant director of the California Horse Racing Board.

Beginning this year, California has mandated that all its major tracks replace their dirt surface with a synthetic mixture found in some studies to be safer for horses and jockeys.

While California's thoroughbred fatalities are nearly triple those reported by any other state, its warm weather and bounty of tracks make it the nation's busiest racing state. And it has received high praise across the industry for the way in which it tracks deaths - every death that occurs on the public grounds of a California racetrack is recorded in detail, largely through veterinary reports.