ARCADIA, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 23: Race horses run on the final day of the winter/spring horse racing season at Santa Anita Park on June 23, 2019 in Arcadia, California. Santa Anita ownership banned a Hall of Fame trainer yesterday following the death of a fourth horse from his stable at the track. It was the 30th race horse to die at the famed racetrack since December 26. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
5-year-old gelding named Chosen Vessel has become the ninth horse to die since the racing season at Santa Anita Park began Dec. 26, according to officials at the race track in Arcadia.
The horse suffered a fracture of the left front ankle Saturday during the ninth race of the Santa Anita Breeders Cup and was transported to the Equine Hospital where, "after diagnostics and X-rays were performed, it was determined to be an unrecoverable injury" and the horse was euthanized, according to the track website.
Chosen Vessel was being ridden by jockey Edwin Maldonado and suffered the injury as he approached the far turn in the ninth and final race. It was the first fatality for trainer Craig Dollase since the rise in horse deaths at Santa Anita was first noted in December 2018.
The horse's last start was in the San Marcos Stakes on Nov. 3 at Santa Anita.
At least 45 horses have died at the facility since December 2018.
But officials with the Stromach Group, which owns Santa Anita, told the Los Angeles Times that 19 horses had died there as of this time last year. They credit improved safety measures for the decline.
Still, animal-rights activists have continued to push for an end to horse racing in California.
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"So you see, last year was no anomaly, not here, not anywhere," organizers with the group Horseracing Wrongs noted on their website. "Horseracing kills horses."
