Churchill Downs to move remainder of horse racing Spring Meet to Ellis Park

Churchill Downs is moving the remainder of its current horse racing meet to Ellis Park in Henderson, the track announced Friday.

Live racing will continue Saturday and Sunday at Churchill. Track operations will be suspended on June 7 and resume June 10 at Ellis Park, according to the track.

The news comes in the wake of 12 equine fatalities suffered during the Louisville race track’s Spring Meet, as well as a veterinary summit and track testing by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.

In its press release, Churchill Downs said that “no single factor has been identified as a potential cause and no discernible pattern has been detected to link the fatalities.” It also said the testing of the track has been consistent with prior measurements, however, “in an abundance of caution, and in alignment with a recommendation from HISA, CDI has elected to relocate the meet in order to conduct a top-to-bottom review of all safety and surface protocols and integrity measures in collaboration and consultation with nationwide experts.”

“The team at Churchill Downs takes great pride in our commitment to safety and strives to set the highest standard in racing, consistently going above and beyond the regulations and policies that are required,” said Bill Carstanjen, CEO of Churchill Downs Inc. “What has happened at our track is deeply upsetting and absolutely unacceptable. Despite our best efforts to identify a cause for the recent horse injuries, and though no issues have been linked to our racing surfaces or environment at Churchill Downs, we need to take more time to conduct a top-to-bottom review of all of the details and circumstances so that we can further strengthen our surface, safety and integrity protocols.”

Churchill Downs will continue racing this weekend before moving to Henderson. Ellis Park is owned by Churchill Downs. It is located 134 miles west of Louisville. The current meet runs to July 3.

HISA released a statement after the announcement saying it had recommended that Churchill Downs suspend racing.

“The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) has recommended to Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) that racing at Churchill Downs Racetrack be temporarily suspended to allow for additional comprehensive investigations into the cause of recent equine fatalities at the track; CDI has agreed with and accepted this recommendation,” the statement said. “The investigations conducted by HISA, CDI and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) to date have not revealed any obvious or specific pattern connecting the recent deaths of 12 Thoroughbreds at Churchill Downs. Given that no cohesive explanation has been identified for this unusually high number of fatalities, HISA has recommended that racing be temporarily suspended to allow time to more clearly identify the factor(s) contributing to these fatalities as well as tangible interventions to prevent them in the future.”

“HISA’s highest priority is the safety and well-being of equine and human athletes competing under our jurisdiction,” HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus said. “Given that we have been so far unable to draw conclusions about the cause of the recent equine fatalities at Churchill Downs, and therefore have been unable to recommend or require interventions that we felt would adequately ensure the safety of the horses running there, we made the decision to recommend to CDI that they temporarily suspend racing at Churchill Downs while additional reviews continue.”

Kentucky horsemen’s association questions move

Rick Hiles, president of the Kentucky division of the Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association, released a statement questioning the action taken by Churchill Downs.

“Horsemen question the purpose of this unprecedented step, especially without conclusive evidence that there is a problem with the racetrack at Churchill Downs,” Hiles said. “We all want to find solutions that will improve safety for horses. However, we need to discuss allowing trainers and veterinarians to use therapeutic medications that greatly lessen the risk of breakdowns. Drastic steps, such as relocating an active race meet, should only be considered when it is certain to make a difference.”

Churchill and HISA had announced safety measures

On Thursday, Churchill announced a new round of safety initiatives and measures that included:

▪ A pause of track-based incentives such as trainer start bonuses and purse payout allocations to every race finisher through last place. Purse payouts will now be limited to the top five finishers. Churchill Downs is engaged in ongoing discussions with horsemen to determine ways to reallocate these funds to best serve industry needs;

▪ Restricting the number of starts per horse to four starts during a rolling eight-week period;

▪ Ineligibility standards for poor performance. Horses that are beaten by more than 12 lengths in five consecutive starts will be ineligible to race at Churchill Downs until approved by the equine medical director to return.

Later Thursday, HISA announced its own restrictions, including:

▪ Effective with Saturday’s entries, HISA’s director of equine safety and welfare was to conduct an additional layer of post-entry screening. HISA’s rule 2142 (Assessment of Racing Soundness) requires post-entry screenings of previous prerace inspection findings of entered horses to identify horses that may be at increased risk for injury. The review includes past performances, layups (more than 60 days without a timed workout or race), last 30 days medical history, previous injury and lameness diagnostics, intraarticular corticosteroid injections, previous surgery and other individual horse risk factors.

▪ HISA has directed the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) to collect blood and hair samples for all fatalities involving covered horses. The results from such collections will be used to facilitate investigations into the cause of such fatalities. The data collected by HIWU in connection with covered horse fatalities will also be used to track relevant statistics and trends in connection with fatalities.

▪ HISA has appointed Dr. Alina Vale, an equine forensics specialist, to conduct an additional thorough review of all necropsies performed on covered horses. Dr. Vale has conducted several postmortem reviews as an official veterinarian for the California Horse Racing Board, including participating in the review following a spate of equine fatalities at Santa Anita in 2019.

Ellis Park traditionally plays host to a summer race meet that is scheduled from July 7 to Aug. 27. The new safety initiatives announced by Churchill Downs this week will remain in effect for the remainder of this meet at Ellis Park.

Churchill Downs purchased Ellis Park last year for $79 million.

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