Horse Deaths Cast a Shadow Over the Kentucky Derby

Trainer Saffie Joseph leaned against the outside wall of his barn at Churchill Downs on Wednesday morning and expressed a confused bereavement. Two of his racehorses had collapsed and died in the first two days of the spring meet at the racetrack, sudden tragedies that are, for now, without explanation.

“It shatters me,” Joseph says. “The odds of that happening twice, it doesn’t add up. Theories aren’t going to help anything. We need facts. … Twice, in three days? First two runners [of the Churchill spring meet]? Same owner [Ken Ramsey]? It’s mind-boggling.”

As horse racing attempts to celebrate its biggest race and most festive week, a series of tragic events here in Louisville threaten to overshadow the Kentucky Derby. Four horses have died in separate incidents in a five-day span—two from leg breakdowns and Joseph’s pair of collapses. Derby contender Wild on Ice, trained by Joel Marr, suffered a fatal hind leg injury last Thursday; Joseph trainee Parents Pride went down after the eighth race on Churchill’s opening night Saturday; filly Take Charge Briana, trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, fell in the stretch during a turf race Tuesday and was euthanized; then later in the race card Chasing Artie also collapsed and died in front of the grandstand.

The cumulative effect was a grim reminder of the tragedies that consistently accompany horse racing. It is the biggest threat to racing’s continued viability—fans can easily turn away from a sport in which the death of the competitors is an accepted risk. The fact that this spate of deaths has happened here and now makes it harder to ignore.

Joseph, who has 30–1 Kentucky Derby entrant Lord Miles and several other horses entered in races here this week, said he is considering pulling them out of competition while waiting for results of necropsies and testing on Parents Pride and Chasing Artie.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Joseph says. “I have to decide whether we’re going to scratch them or not. I’m very uneasy right now.”

In a sport that is making incremental progress toward dealing with chronic performance-enhancing drug issues, fingers will point quickly at a trainer who had two horses die in an unusual manner after competition. Joseph, a third-generation trainer from Barbados who has made an impact on the Florida racing circuit in recent years, received a 15-day drug suspension from the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission in March.

That was for a September positive test for gabapentin in trainee Artie’s Princess after that horse won the Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes. Gabapentin is an anticonvulsant and nerve pain medication that has been studied in horses for the treatment of chronic musculoskeletal pain, according to the Paulick Report. Joseph has appealed the ruling.

He also knows what scrutiny will come his way this week.

“That’s life in today’s world—people try to knock you and speculate and say all kinds of things,” Joseph says. “That’s the hurtful part. So you’ve got to deal with that. I’m a big believer in faith, and God wouldn’t give you something you can’t handle. I don’t even want to question why. I just know we’re in this position right now. We don’t have answers and we need to get answers.”

In an attempt to get some answers, Joseph said he’s having bloodwork done on his horses here in Kentucky and checking for potential contaminants.

“All bloods are coming back good,” he says. “We’re testing feed, hay, supplements—see if there’s anything on our part. A lot of thoughts run through your head, but you think too much and you can drive yourself insane.

“Until we get some kind of information, it leaves you shattered. It leaves you broken. We have to wait the process out. … If you have a horse get hurt by injury, you have an answer. You know the cause. If you don’t have answers, that’s the troublesome part.”

Wayne Pacelle, president of the Washington, D.C.–based lobbying group Animal Wellness Action, issued a statement on the Churchill deaths Wednesday:

“Multiple horse deaths at Churchill Downs in the week preceding the running of the Kentucky Derby should be distressing to anyone interested in the well-being of horses and the reputation of the horse-racing industry. The dead horses were juveniles, and they should not be dying at this clip…The work of Churchill Downs on the federal anti-doping legislation was very noteworthy and positive, but very significant horse wellness issues remain an ongoing concern. It should be a top priority for Churchill Downs and all other tracks to make horse welfare their top priority.”

Churchill Downs also addressed the tragic incidents in a statement:

“While a series of events like this is highly unusual, it is completely unacceptable. We take this very seriously and acknowledge that these troubling incidents are alarming and must be addressed. We feel a tremendous responsibility to our fans, the participants in our sport and the entire industry to be a leader in safety and continue to make significant investments to eliminate risk to our athletes. We have full confidence in our racing surfaces and have been assured by our riders and horsemen that they do as well.

“Each horse was transported to the University of Kentucky Veterinary Diagnostics Lab for complete necropsies. We continue to press for answers and are working with regulators to conduct swift and thorough investigations.”