Tank Team, Unusual Angel, Secret Street, Derby Treasure, Noise Mandate, Amboseli. There will be no statues built at Santa Anita Park in memory of those six thoroughbreds, or the 17 others who died during this torrid winter but if – or when? – the doors ever close on this famous old track, their names will be written in what many in the industry fear could be the final chapter of Californian horse racing.

These are bloody times at Santa Anita. Literally. Over a three-month spell from December, 23 horses died at the track, either training or racing. Equine death has been a gruesome staple of American racing for decades but even an industry inured to ‘collateral damage’ has been shocked by the carnage and the condemnation that followed. There were plenty of excuses offered – bad luck, bad weather, ‘bad apples’ in the industry – and just as many promises to do better. Yet few within the industry are in any doubt it now faces an existential threat. California senator Dianne Feinstein has called on racing to be suspended at Santa Anita, while the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office announced an investigation into the deaths. Animal right activists are calling for the abolition of horse racing in California, an attainable goal in a state where the proposition system gives voters the power to write and enforce new laws. “If we don’t make racing safer I don’t think the public will allow us to continue,’’ says Rick Arthur, equine medical director at the California Horse Racing Board and one of the most respected voices in the industry. “We are one ballot away from being voted out of existence.”

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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/may/03/kentucky-derby-santa-anita-horse-racing-california