Deadly Equestrian: Seven horses die leading up to the Kentucky Derby

Just before his race, Code of Kings is in his stable. The three-year-old gelding stares mesmerized into the lights above the DJ booth at the stables. Then suddenly he throws himself back and rolls over, once, twice, the third time he lies down, bleeding from his mouth. Code of Kings broke its own neck. The race takes place without him. Moments later, he is put to sleep.

It’s not the first death of a horse in the week before this year’s world-famous Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs Racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky. Seven horses die within days.

Chloe’s Dream is also put to sleep. Jockey Corey Lanerie retired the horse after the first turn due to a knee injury. But this turned out to be incurable. Two days later, Lanerie is in the Freezing Point saddle. After being bumped by another horse, the animal twists its leg violently and falls. This injury is also incurable: “It was just bad luck,” coach Joe Lejzerowicz said of the accident, “Freezing Point was completely healthy, had no physical problems and trained better than ever.” As is common practice with terminally injured racehorses, Freezing Point should be euthanized.

Parents Pride and Chasing Artie died for no apparent reason. They collapsed after their races on Tuesday and Saturday. Both horses belonged to Ken Ramsey, who runs a huge horse ranch in Nicholasville, Kentucky. His stable brought in almost 100 million prizes for the former truck entrepreneur. Horse racing and breeding is a lucrative business. In the US alone, bets lose between $10 and $20 billion every year.

Both parents Pride and Chasing Artie were coached by Saffie Joseph Jr.: “I’m devastated… I care for almost 4,000 horses and nothing like this has ever happened to me before. It just doesn’t make sense.” The young horse trainer (third generation) was indefinitely suspended from all races at Churchill Downs after the two incidents.

As everywhere money flows in sport, the performance-enhancing preparations are not far off. On May 22, the new doping regulations in American equestrian sports will take effect. The responsible committee had postponed the introduction at short notice. Just behind the “Run for the Roses” – as the derby is also known.

Wild on Ice will also no longer experience the new regulations. Although she was only an outsider at the Kentucky Derby, she was marketed as a public attraction. Because the mare would have been ridden by 60-year-old Ken Tohill, who would have broken the record as the oldest jockey in the main race. But it didn’t come to that. Wild on Ice had to be euthanized after a training accident, as did Take Charge Briana, who was seriously injured after a crash in race five on Tuesday. She fell in the middle of the crowd among other horses.

As a result, seven horses lost their lives in the previous week’s Kentucky Derby. For animal welfare organization Peta, these are unbearable conditions: “Churchill Downs is not a racetrack, it’s a killing ground,” Peta said in a press release. And for once the criticism does not leave the organizer cold: “We will work rigorously to understand how these incidents could have happened,” the circuit operator writes in an official statement.

Four fatalities were due to racing or training injuries – by far the most common cause in equestrian sports. This cheeky side is deplored in equestrian sports, but has long since come to terms with it. Only the other three cases raise real questions. But when the “Louisville Courier Journal” asked nearly a dozen trainers and owners about it, no one wanted to read their names in the paper. The industry is too secretive. At least one trainer reported anonymously, “In all my years I’ve had one horse that died in a race,” he explained, “The autopsy then showed it had a congenital heart defect. There can be deaths. But two in one week? It’s just bad luck – or just f*cking sh*****.”

Critics repeatedly complain that the commercialization of equestrian sport – particularly in Kentucky – has long since reached unhealthy levels. Many horse enthusiasts are annoyed that streams of visitors are led through the stables. The animals are not used to this kind of stress and would therefore be more susceptible to mistakes and injuries, the argument goes.

However, the numbers speak a different language. The number of horse fatalities in the US has fallen by 37 percent in the past thirteen years. This is after the introduction of a national cause of death register. This should make it possible to better identify – and disqualify – unhealthy or injured horses. The number of fatal accidents is still high. Of the 1000 animals started, 1.25 horses do not survive the race.

However, compared to English steeplechase races, American flat races are harmless. A few weeks ago, three horses died during three pursuit races at the Grand National at Liverpool’s Aintree Circuit. Chasing races involve jumping over various types of obstacles – which is much more likely to end in death. At the Grand National, 13 out of 1,000 animals die.

Kentucky’s dead horses are now being autopsied, in accordance with US equestrian regulations. The results should shed light on the cases of Parents Pride and Chasing Artie. However, the public will not learn about this. All clues that could lead to the identification of the horses are withheld. Only seven unnamed cases remain on the national registry.