In humans, one of the warnings is it may decrease bone mass by increasing calcium excretion in the kidneys. Perhaps that’s where it came from. But from the reaction here it sounds like it’s not the same with horses.
Not at all, not even close.
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And as the article noted, the two most recent deaths were a result of less than common injuries… a shoulder and a pelvis. It’s also worth noting that the horse was vanned off on Sunday and a decision was not reached to euthanize until this (Monday) morning.
Also in locations that are much harder to detect.
Why are deaths continued to be itemized for Santa Anita and completely, IMO, disregarded at other tracks? It is not like SA is the only track where horses are having to be euthanized.
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The media has really gone overboard on this. There were 23 deaths in 3 months and 2 in 7 weeks. Clearly, they have improved their numbers. There are also about 1800 stabled at the track. There were 80,000 horses out exercising on the track since the last incident. I wonder in a typical year how many horses die at boarding barns or in pasture accidents if you examined that large of a horse population. Say 18 boarding barns with 100 horses each. I would think each barn would lose 1 or 2 per year of various causes.
Not that it isn’t unfortunate, but its not a national tragedy and doesn’t need to make the evening news. There are much larger issues in my opinion. For example—1.6 million dogs and cats euthanized in 1 year at shelters in the US. 1411 dogs killed by PETA last year. 80,000 horses sent to slaughter each year (and approx 85% of those were NOT race horses). So, really we need to look at the bigger picture if ANY of us intend to own animals.
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And, to add to the woe: The CBS affiliate here (KCAL) had a report tonight that listed 38 deaths at SA in 2018. Along with that statistic they interviewed a track vet that looked at necropsies and stated that a number of the horses were racing with injuries. The reporter then when on to interview several local, elected officials at the federal and state level. Each stated that they wanted to look into legislation. The idea of giving the Racing Board the power to close a track was mentioned.
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Hype. The EID had those statistics and reports available months ago. It’s common knowledge that most catastrophic breakdowns are preceded by microfractures. You can’t see microfractures, and they are not uncommon. It’s part of progressive loading - you stress the body, a tiny bit of damage occurs, and the body rebuilds stronger. But you can’t see them, so you don’t know if the horse is ready to run again. And Ritvo admits that the racing secretary was aggressive in trying to fill races, and many of the horses were running too frequently. Unfortunately the trainers test doesn’t ask a whole lot about anatomy, physiology or conditioning a race horse.
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We now have 26 dead at Santa Anita, Three in the past 9 days.
Nothing has yet addressed that US racing is based on claiming races. As far as I know, this is unique to North American racing, just as race day Lasix is.
Why not have handicap racing instead? It would still be possible to have conditions in handicap racing, but the trainers and owners would have a lot less freedom to choose what races a horse could enter, and no chance for an owner to lose a horse to someone else.
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This last one was really sad. The horse, Kochees, is a well known older claimer that is a hard trier. This one is on the trainer. He ran him 3 times in the span of 5 weeks AND he had 3 works in that time span as well. Mismanagement of a nice horse. This hall of fame trainer has lost 3 of the 26. Not fair to the horse. Was hoping they could save him.
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Could the tracks limit how often a horse races during any given time period?
FWIW, Hollendorfer is also part owner as well as the trainer.
I was watching on TVG when Gutierrez pulled Kochees up and continued watching until TVG (IIRC Brittany Eurton) got back to the barn and talked to Hollendorfer/staff. Said bilateral fractured sesamoids but they were optimistic that Kochees could be saved as it wasn’t a compound fracture. Wondered at the time how blood flow to the foot was as that is also key in successful surgery.
Sleep well Kochees. 
Good grief. I absolutely agree with you. Once they are fit, they are fit, and there is no need to keep laying them on the fence. I usually have older claiming horses, and we rarely work them once they are racing fit, unless we have a hard time getting them into a race. If a race comes up quick, we will walk and jog them into the race, and not work at all. But I prefer 3 weeks between races. That seems to be a good time frame for sufficient recovery without having to work them.
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Sometimes I do not understand the value of having legislators (regardless of party 
) to be weighing in on areas in which they really have no background other than what information may be provided to them in the short term by various sources with specific objectives.
Where is the head against the keyboard emoji???
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Unfortunately she is probably right. We all know it’s not whips or Lasix or drugs that are causing the breakdowns, and Kochees is the perfect example of what NOT to do. I’d bet my farm that his breakdown was due to overuse. Until they identify the cause of the breakdowns and take steps to mitigate the cause, then horses will continue to break down. Luckily they do have a huge amount of data at their fingertips that needs to be analyzed to see if any meaningful trends develop.
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While I think we all agree that breakdowns are inevitable in racing as they are in all areas of equine ownership, I would agree that Kochees appears, at least from the outside looking in, like his breakdown possibly could have been avoided. Before the race, TVG did point him out as an old campaigner still racing and I watched the race to see how he would fare. Not the outcome I wanted to see. Continued watching to hear what TVG was able to find out (they had 3 on-air at the time, 2 broadcasting and one free roaming who did go to the barn (Brittany Eurton) to get an update). I was encouraged and as hopeful as I am sure everyone else was that his outcome could have been positive; yes, bilateral sesamoid fractures but not compound.
Hollendorfer seems to be an upstanding trainer (but then again, that’s on the outside looking in, I have no idea what his backside reputation is). I did wonder why Kochees was still racing. Wondered if it was similar to Lava Man who was retired after racing over 6 years and 47 starts (17 firsts include such prestigious races as the Hollywood Gold Cup G1 and the Santa Anita Handicap G1) and was just not happy in retirement. He’s still at the track (forget the barn) who uses him to help pony horses to/from/on the track in the morning.
Data, there is a ton available if they (legislators) choose to utilize it. Sometimes I wonder if they will just use whatever data is provided to them from whatever sources they use (shall we say some animal rights organizations). I can’t believe the organizations et al involved in the racing industry are just idly sitting by watching the SA train wreck. Racing doesn’t want SA shut down. If SA gets shut down, it wouldn’t take much to get Golden Gate Fields shut down (as it is also currently holding a meet) and later this summer, Del Mar.
This link is to an editorial in today’s LATimes. It calls for an end to the season at SA until the cause of the deaths is discovered:
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-santa-anita-stop-racing-20190529-story.html
Can’t read it as I’ve reach my “free” limit.
Was the writer someone who actually sounded knowledgeable or more just repeating all the hype that everyone else is who doesn’t understand that things like whips and Lasix aren’t the problem?
Does this person realize that full necropsies are performed on these horses to attempt to know what the cause of the breakdown was? (Since, IMO, the cause of the breakdown is what needs to be emphasized and not the cause of death as the type and severity of the injury often drives whether the horse can be saved or must be euthanized, such as Kochees).
Probably the cause of the breakdown was microfractures. That seems to be a theme according to the EID. Unfortunately they can’t be detected so you don’t know if they are present, and if so, at what point they are healed enough for the horse to go on. Common sense says give a horse a little bit of rest after a race or work, then resume training, and race or work again when he appears to be 100%. If you stress them again too soon, the microfractures don’t heal, and the cumulative effect of stress may result in a breakdown at some unknown point. I was shocked when @jolise pointed out how frequently that older horse raced and worked. Most trainers back off training with a mature horse that is racing fit and has a lot of miles on it. Most trainers in my neck of the woods tend to walk and jog those types of horses between races, and only work them if they are going to go more than 3 weeks between races. But who am I to criticize Hollendorfer?
I actually started a spreadsheet about a decade ago with my horses to see if I could detect a pattern wrt days between races and results. I do usually have older claiming horses with a good number of miles on them. Couldn’t come up with anything, but my sample size was tiny and I only did it for a few years, and I don’t have the computer power that a real statistician would have to analyze the data. I think they need to look at days between races and works as well as the other things that are tracked by the EID.
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