Racing Set to Resume at Santa Anita Amid Investigations into 23 Horse Deaths

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Photo credit Jon Baird

Racing is set to resume today at Santa Anita Park, but there won't be any races on the track's hillside turf course, on which a horse suffered a fatal injury Sunday and became the 23rd equine death at the facility since late December.

The hillside turf course requires horses to briefly cross over the main dirt track.

It was on that crossover that 5-year-old Arms Runner stumbled during the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes on Sunday, suffering a fatal injury to his right leg.

Horses getting some morning practice/training time at @SantaAnitaPark. Four days of racing starts today at 1 p.m., despite demands from two lawmakers to halt racing, and investigate cause of 23 horse deaths since late December. pic.twitter.com/KO3DtUB8AL

— Craig Fiegener (@CraigNews3LV) April 4, 2019

This comes following the 23rd horse death at Santa Anita Park, Sen. Dianne Feinstein this week called on the California Horse Racing Board to suspend all racing at the track, and hours later the board scheduled a special meeting to consider relocating races to other tracks.

On Tuesday afternoon, the CHRB announced a special meeting for April 12 -- providing the required 10 days of public notice -- to discuss "possible reallocation of race dates granted to the Los Angeles Turf Club at Santa Anita Park Race Track."

San Gabriel Valley Congressmember Judy Chu also says there are simply too many unanswered questions about exactly what's behind the deaths of 23 racehorses at the park since late December and until there are more answers, she wants racing at the park halted.