A 3-year-old gelding suffered a fatal injury while winning a race at Los Alamitos Race Course, state horse racing officials said Monday.

One Favorite Racy was bumped at the start of Sunday’s eighth race, crossed the finish line first and was later taken off by ambulance. The California Horse Racing Board confirmed his death Monday, but no further information about the cause of death was immediately available.

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One Favorite Racy had 11 races in his career and three first-place finishes, including Sunday’s race.

He is the second horse to die from a racing or training injury at the Cypress track this year. Three horses have also died at Los Alamitos this year from what the CHRB terms “other” causes, including the 6-year-old mare Kimberly’s Devil, who collapsed and flipped while being loaded into the gate for the third race on Feb. 15 and was later euthanized.

Los Alamitos saw 18 horses die from racing or training injuries in 2024.

According to numbers provided last week by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, racing-related horse fatalities fell nationwide in 2024 to their lowest percentage since such data has been recorded.

In 2009, two out of every 1,000 horses to start a race at U.S. tracks subject to HISA rules died as a result. That number dropped to 0.9% in 2024. HISA credits changes to safety rules implemented in 2022 and improvements in drug regulation in 2023 for the decline.

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