A five-year-old mare broke down and had to be humanely euthanised at Thistledown in Cleveland, Ohio, becoming the ninth death since April
A race meeting was called off after just one race when a runner suffered a fatal injury at the first meeting since the track’s temporary closure over safety concerns.
Thistledown racecourse in Cleveland, Ohio, has been at the centre of controversy after the track was shut down for a week with jockeys alleging rocks had appeared in the dirt surface. Racecourse management fired the track superintendent, who claimed he was dismissed after alerting the Horseracing Safety and Integrity Authority to the issues, and brought in outside experts.
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Four meetings were lost before the track reopened for racing on Monday but the fixture was short-lived. In the first race of the day a five-year-old mare Tayyara was pulled up injured in the straight after taking the lead.
The Equibase footnote said: “Tayyara pressed the pace two wide down the back stretch, made the lead entering the turn, suffered a catastrophic injury by the five sixteenths pole, pulled up and was euthanized.”
It was noted that another runner Timely Secret bumped into “the rival in distress”, was pulled up and walked off the track.
Tayyara is believed to have become the ninth horse to suffer a catastrophic injury at Thistledown since the meet opened in April. Six have now occurred during races and three during training on the track.
After Monday’s tragedy the cancellation of the race meeting was announced following a pause of several minutes.
A spokesperson for HISA said: “Lisa Lazarus (HISA CEO) asked Thistledown to cancel after the first race and they agreed to do so.
“She also asked them to conduct an investigation and be prepared to discuss the results with her by this afternoon so that they can agree on next steps.”
