Los Alamitos plans to implement wider safety protocols at its evening meeting for Quarter Horses and lower-level Thoroughbreds after three Quarter Horses were euthanized as a result of injuries sustained during time trials for the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity on Sunday.
B Ratifyed, Backside Ace, and Champions Run were euthanized after sustaining musculoskeletal injuries, according to the California Horse Racing Board’s website.
B Ratifyed finished eighth of 10 in the fifth race. Backside Ace finished third in the seventh race and was listed on the official chart as vanned to the stables via equine ambulance. Champions Run was injured during the running of the eighth race, causing jockey Armando Cervantes to be unseated. Champions Run was vanned to the barn area, according to the race chart.
On Tuesday, the racing board informed Los Alamitos officials that the regulatory agency may call an emergency board meeting to consider suspending the track’s license to run the evening meeting unless enhanced safety guidelines are implemented.
The letter was co-signed by racing board executive director Scott Chaney and Jeff Blea, the state’s equine medical director, and referenced a suggestion by chairman Greg Ferraro to conduct an emergency board meeting regarding the injuries.
The letter stated that the racing board “was profoundly concerned about the recent safety record at Los Alamitos, including the alarming catastrophic injuries that occurred this past weekend.”
An emergency meeting will be held “unless Los Alamitos makes significant changes to its safety program and the injuries decrease precipitously and quickly. CHRB requires that you develop a plan that will address this issue.”
The letter called for the track to add a second veterinarian from the racing board to conduct pre-race soundness examinations; ensure a private veterinarian is available in the stables during racing; have a second equine ambulance available during races; further restrict the use of intraarticular injections close to workouts or races; and hold weekly progress meetings with racing board staff and commissioners, Blea, stewards, regulatory veterinarians, racing board investigators, and track officials and “other personnel who may be helpful in identifying additional ways to reduce fatalities.
“These meetings should be held weekly until the risk has been mitigated,” the letter stated.
In a response released on Tuesday, Los Alamitos officials agreed to the racing board’s protocols.
“Los Alamitos Race Course management takes the safety and welfare of our equine athletes and humans with paramount urgency and will be implementing every measure listed on the California Horse Racing Board letter received on November 25,” the statement read, in part.
“As early as Sunday night, November 23, Los Alamitos Race Course management began working with our medical and racing teams on installing even more strict measures and enhanced safety protocols to decrease equine injuries. Animal safety has always been our top priority, and it has become an even greater priority today.”
There have been 19 musculoskeletal fatalities at Los Alamitos this year through Nov. 23, according to the racing board’s website. There were 11 in races, six in training, and two listed as other, for back and spinal injuries. Of the 11 fatalities in races, eight were Quarter Horses and three were Thoroughbreds.
During the same time period in 2024, there were 18 musculoskeletal fatalities at Los Alamitos, including 10 in races, five in training, and three listed as other. Of the 10 fatalities in races, six were Quarter Horses and four were Thoroughbreds.
The track has come under scrutiny from the racing board in recent years because of equine fatalities.
In July 2020, the track’s racing license was placed on a 10-day probation after 19 fatalities were recorded in racing or training in the first six months of the year, including six fatalities in a five-week period in June and early July. In response, the track enacted several safety-oriented procedures, including additional pre-race inspections and significant changes to permitted medications.
In December 2020, the racing board granted Los Alamitos a six-month license for the 2021 racing season, instead of a year-long license, after the racing board expressed concern about equine fatalities. In January 2021, the racing board voted 4-3 to give Los Alamitos a license for the entirety of that year.
In March 2022, the track enacted further changes following four equine fatalities in a two-week period at the evening meeting, including a review of the condition of the main track, restricting use of some toe grabs, eliminating a “breaking bar” used at the gate to aid horses in gaining footing at the start, and enhanced communication with veterinary officials with the University of California-Davis regarding back injuries.
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The issue of equine fatalities at Los Alamitos was discussed briefly at the racing board’s meeting in Sacramento on Nov. 19. Commissioner Brenda Washington-Davis expressed concern about two Thoroughbred training fatalities earlier this month.
“I don’t think you all need a reminder,” vice chairman Oscar Gonzales told Los Alamitos officials. “The question [Davis] brought up is taken very seriously.”
Track officials reiterated to the racing board that trainers involved in fatalities attend a review with Rick Arthur, who preceded Blea as California’s equine medical director.
Through a rule approved in 2020, the racing board can suspend a track’s license to operate in the event of “an above-average number of injuries to horses and/or riders,” pending a hearing with track officials.
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