Kentucky Derby taking place under shadow of 4 horse deaths, trainer suspension

Churchill Downs suspended trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. indefinitely and Lord Miles, who was trained by Joseph, was scratched from the Kentucky Derby on Friday, as part of the fallout of four horse deaths in the past week as the Triple Crown Chase began.

The suspension prohibits Joseph, or any trainer directly or indirectly employed by the person, from entering a horse in a race or applying for stalls at all Churchill Downs Inc. tracks.

The decision follows the deaths of Parents Pride on Saturday and Chasing Artie on Tuesday. Both collapsed on the track and died after the race.

“Due to the sudden, unexplained death, we have reasonable concerns about the horse’s condition, and have decided to suspend him indefinitely until the details are analyzed and understood,” said Bill Mudd, CDI’s president and chief operating officer, in a statement.

“The safety of our equine and human athletes and the integrity of our sport is our highest priority. We feel these steps are our duty and our responsibility.”

Investigators have yet to determine the cause of two of Joseph’s horses dying within 72 hours, along with two others over the past week. In addition to Joseph’s horse, the long-shot Derby Wild On Ice and the three-year-old filly Take Charge Briana were each euthanized after they suffered musculoskeletal injuries during training or racing at Churchill Downs.

The four deaths plagued Churchill Downs in its final preparations for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.

“That’s the worst part of the game,” said Mike Repole, co-owner of early Derby favorite Forte. “It’s so sad.”

The first horse death for a suspended trainer

Joseph said earlier that he had been questioned by investigators from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and Churchill Downs.

“They found no fault on our part,” he said.

Joseph obtained permission from the KHRC to scratch five horses from other races on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, according to the Daily Race Form. He had scratched one on Wednesday. He told reporters the day before that he scratched the horse that had been in contact with the two people who died, out of caution.

Joseph, a 36-year-old third-generation trainer, said earlier that the investigators checked the barn, checked the veterinary records of the horses and took blood samples from each horse, which showed abnormalities. The feed, hay, hay and supplements used by the horse are also checked.

The death was the first for Joseph, who came to Florida in 2011 after training in his native Barbados.

“It crushes you. It defeats your confidence, it makes you doubt everything,” he said.

Joseph said the first necropsy performed on his horse did not reveal a cause of death.

“We’re living on terms that we don’t understand right now, so that’s the uncomfortable part,” he said.

Repole believes it will help if the sport does more to reassure the public how much it takes safety.

“People will understand the injuries,” he said. “People will never know injury with death.”

Some reforms, but others are delayed

The industry was rocked in 2019, when more than 40 horses died at Santa Anita in California. As a result, a raft of security reforms were implemented that have spread throughout the country.

“The horses are very careful and we do our best to prevent it from happening, but it still happens,” Joseph said. “A lot of times in that sudden death, you never respond.”

LISTEN / Front Burner episode during the Santa Anita controversy:

Death comes as horse racing’s new anti-doping and medication control program has stumbled out of the starting gate, delayed several times for nearly a year amid lawsuits by those who oppose the new rules and frustration from those eager for national uniform standards in sports.

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) comes into effect on July 1, 2022, with two main components: racetrack safety and antidoping and drug control.

The Antidoping and Medication Control (ADMC) program is supposed to start along with the safety program. However, it has been pushed back several times amid legal challenges.

The ADMC program includes drug tests, drug samples, out-of-competition tests, decisions and fines. Labs will test for the same substance and at the same screening level instead of different countries testing at different levels.

Certain performance-enhancing drugs can increase endurance or mask pain, which causes the horse to overextend its body and injure its legs. Another horse had heart disease.

The National Benevolent and Protective Horsemen’s Association has pushed back against HISA and, along with Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia, has filed multiple lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the new governing body. The HPBA represents approximately 30,000 owners and trainers in the US and Canada.