For the second day in a row, and the 12th time since April 27, a horse is dead at Churchill Downs in Louisville.
Kimberley Dream, running in her 61st race, was euthanized after she pulled up in the upper stretch. She was running in the first race of the day Saturday at the famous racetrack.
She suffered an “inoperable … ligament rupture to her left front leg,” the track announced.
Her death comes less than 24 hours after Lost in Limbo tumbled into the dirt during the seventh race at the track Friday and was unable to get up.
Trainer Bob Baffert returned from his two-year suspension Saturday. He had been barred from the sport following a positive drug test for the original winner of the 2021 Derby, Medina Spirit. The horse was disqualified from the race and died that December.
In his return, one of his horses died during the Preakness Stakes undercard.
Havnameltdown sustained a “non-operable left fore fetlock” injury at Pimlico, and doctors made the decision to put the horse down.
PETA previously called Churchill Downs a “killing field” and called for the banning of Baffert prior to the Preakness.
More than 30 horses died in 2019 at the Santa Anita racetrack in California. The track closed down racing when the toll reached 21, and it revamped its safety protocols. Since then, horse fatalities have decreased by 55% in the state.
Churchill Downs said it is “focused on our responsibility to provide the safest racing environment possible on our property” in recent weeks.
“We simply will not allow these equine fatalities to be in vain …,” the track added. “We are committed to doing this important work and updating the public with our developments.”
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