Racehorse collapses, dies after 4th-place finish at Los Alamitos

HEY SOCAL | by City News Service Inc.

Another horse has died [was killed] in a racing accident at Los Alamitos Race Course, State horse racing officials have confirmed.

Smokin Hot Fire was a 2-year-old gelding with five career races [emphasis added] and collapsed after crossing the finish line in fourth place at the end of Saturday night’s seventh race.

His cause of death was listed under “musculoskeletal” by the California Horse Racing Board, but no further information was immediately available.

He is the ninth racehorse to die in a racing or training accident at the Cypress track this year — three from training injuries and six from racing injuries.

Eleven horses died from a racing or training injuries at Los Alamitos Race Course in 2021, and the track was briefly placed on probation by the CHRB in July 2020 due to another spate of racehorse deaths. At that time, at least 20 horses had died at the track in 2020 after suffering racing or training injuries.

WE SAY: A two year old gelding with five career races? This is unimaginable cruelty for a young horse, especially on a dirt track.

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Speaking of 2 yr old racehorses

Up until approximately 40 years ago, horses were not even considered for racing until they had reached at least three years of age. Even then, many three-year-olds were considered too young. As horseracing sought to have a larger card, to feature more races, two year old racing was introduced under a cloud of controversy.

Horses are not skeletally mature until around five years of age. Young horses risk serious injury each time they are made to run at high speeds. As a result, most two-year-olds will sustain injuries in their first year of racing and many of them will not race in the subsequent year.

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The benefit of racing two-year-olds is simply economic. It means that owners can hopefully see a return on their investment twelve months earlier, therefore making it cheaper to prepare a horse for his first race. To further encourage investment in racehorse ownership, races for two-year-olds offer some of the highest prize money.

Training deaths

“One area in which the industry still trails the field, is in monitoring, reporting, collating and analyzing the circumstances surrounding racehorse fatalities during morning training. There’s a great divide between what happens on race-day and what happens during morning training,” said Steve Koch, executive director of the NTRA (National Thoroughbred Racing Association).

Horseracing Wrongs

For detailed coverage of all US racehorse fatalities please see HorseRacingWrongs.com.

The following are some of the racehorse deaths that were in the news and we posted here on Tuesday’s Horse.

• Colt dies as racehorse fatalities mount up at Los Alamitos, Jul 29, 2022

• 4-yr old filly disappoints Santa Anita by dying, Nov 3, 2021

• Another horse injured, killed at Los Alamitos, Aug 20, 2020

• Los Alamitos gets green light to continue, Jul 20, 2020

• Two more horses killed at Los Alamitos, Jul 17, 2020

• Racehorse Jabber Now dies after suffering an injury at Los Alamitos, May 28, 2020

• Tap the Wire fatally injured while winning at Los Alamitos, May 26, 2020

• Horse Racing 2019 Year in Review, Jan 24, 2020

• Snapped leg, broken back — two more kills at Los Alamitos, Apr 13, 2016

• When a “scratched” racehorse is actually dead, Aug 10, 2016

More

“The Mysterious Deaths That Exposed Horse Racing’s Brutal Underbelly,” The Daily Beast, Mar. 08, 2020. Audio version available, 46 minutes.

Thank you for stopping by.

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Tuesday’s Horse

Official Blog of The Fund for Horses