How does the stunning occurrence of fatal injuries at Churchill Downs affect the sport of horse racing during its height of visibility, with the Preakness and Belmont Stakes following over the next couple of months?
“Everyone in the industry wants to make racing as safe as possible,” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday. “And even in situations like that where right now everyone is doing everything they can to make sure the horses are going out there in the safest possible conditions, we still had two fatal breakdowns yesterday. It’s something as a trainer that keeps you up at night.”
An examination of factors including necropsies, preexisting health conditions, training sessions and inspection of track surfaces will take several weeks. Racetrack surface expert Mick Peterson, who has worked with Churchill Downs since 2008 and was once retained by HISA, said Sunday that the surface was consistent.
“We’ve got to look at every factor on that and get it so that we reduce the risk further and further and further to protect them,” Peterson said. “But we need to learn more in order to understand whether this consistency is going to get us to the safety we need. And we need to keep improving it.” Ramiro Restrepo, Mage’s part-owner and a bloodstock agent, will watch the colt’s workouts this week and consult trainers and other owners before deciding his immediate plans.
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