3-year-old filly dies from racing injury at Los Alamitos
CYPRESS, CA - DECEMBER 01: Thoroughbred race at Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, California, on Friday, December 1, 2017. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images)
CYPRESS, Calif. - Another horse has died at Los Alamitos Race Course -- at least the 27th horse to die from a racing or training injury at the Cypress track this year.
Celtic Miracle, a 3-year-old filly, was injured in the fifth race on Friday. Her death was confirmed Monday by the California Horse Racing Board.
She was owned by Connie Nutt and Turner Farms and trained by Paul Jones. Jones has had three horses die at Los Alamitos this year: Bob E McGee was fatally injured Sept. 13, and Eyell Be Back was injured Jan. 10 and died two days later.
Celtic Miracle ran 12 races in her career, winning one and finishing second in two others. She finished last in Friday's race before being banned off, and was later euthanized.
According to a preliminary assessment, she injured her right fetlock, a joint horses have that is similar to the ball of the foot. A postmortem examination will determine the official nature of the injury, according to CHRB spokesman Mike Marten.
Los Alamitos is holding nighttime quarter horse racing without fans due to the coronavirus.
The track was placed on probation by the CHRB in July in response to this year's spate of horse deaths, essentially putting the facility at risk of having its racing permits suspended. The CHRB later signed off on a plan aimed at bolstering safety and equine-oversight at the facility.
The plan included adding another veterinarian to be a "roving observer of horses in training, while entering, exiting, or on the track," as well as a "security steward" who oversees veterinary and barn practices.
The new plan also included an "entry review panel" of experts who have the authority to scratch horses for races.
Since the probation, at least eight more horses at the track have died, five from racing injures and three from causes listed by the CHRB as "other."