DEL MAR — Something needed to be done. On that, everyone can agree.

Bob Baffert: “I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

Richard Mandella: “The attempt is good.”

Todd Pletcher: “We certainly needed to improve in that area.”

These three trainers, all members of the National Racing Hall of Fame, were speaking of increased efforts over the past five years to improve the safety of horse racing in North America. The scrutiny is highest at major events, including this week’s Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar.

“It is our goal to prioritize safety above all else,” Breeders’ Cup President and CEO Drew Fleming said Wednesday at a press briefing at Del Mar.

“We want to continually raise the bar every year … not just for (the Breeders’ Cup), but for our industry as a whole,” said Dr. Will Farmer, co-leader of the Breeders’ Cup veterinary team.

After the events of 2019, when more than three dozen horses died during Santa Anita’s two race meetings, including Mongolian Groom in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, officials at Del Mar, Santa Anita and the Breeders’ Cup led the enactment of several safety reforms that not only continue today but have been expanded.

“The numbers show all the things we’re doing are working,” Mandella said.

Indeed, fatal musculoskeletal injuries in racing and training have dropped by more than 50% in California over the past four years, said C. Scott Chaney, executive director of the California Horse Racing Board, which regulates the sport in the state.

Horses face far more examinations throughout the year, and at the Breeders’ Cup they are checked before galloping or working in the morning, and before races. Some are given PET scans. There are veterinary teams in the paddock and on the track to make sure horses look fit to race up until the moment they enter the starting gate.

“We introduced the entry panel in 2019 (for California racing),” Chaney said at the briefing. “Initially we were met with a fair amount of resistance from owners and trainers. Regulators telling horsemen whether they could run their horses based on risk factors was a novel and unpopular concept. But we stayed the course and eventually the panel gained acceptance.”

And that’s seemingly still true — for the most part. The question, at least among some, is whether the process has crossed the line between safety and overreach. More than half a dozen trainers were interviewed this week and while all expressed support for prioritizing safety, at least a few wondered if the pendulum has swung too far.

“There is being too careful, and I think we’re right on that line right now,” said Cherie DeVaux, a Kentucky-based trainer. “Nobody at this level wants a horse to get hurt.”

Said Mandella: “I don’t say it’s always right. But the attempt is right. I think it needs to be done. So I’m a supporter. Still, it can be frustrating.”

Said Pletcher: “The only way to improve is to amp up the number of checks, the quality of the checks. The scrutiny is extremely high. What’s difficult is to balance out what is a potentially dangerous injury versus maybe a horse has a little general stiffness here and there that they’re accustomed to, that the trainer’s accustomed to seeing and the horse has performed well.

“Balancing that out is what we’re trying to do, and I think we’re doing a better job of it. The easiest thing to do is to always say, ‘This horse can’t run.’ But it’s not always the right answer. That’s what’s difficult.”

Not surprisingly, those charged with regulating safety believe they’re on the right path, with the CHRB’s Chaney saying: “You can’t be too strict in safety.”

“I would say in 2019 there was no balance,” Chaney said. “We were faced with an issue, we had to make changes. … So we made the changes, and the horsemen and horsewomen were fantastic. We met very little resistance.

“We’re five years from that now, I think it’s natural that people get comfortable. We’ve made great strides … (but) we still are faced with driving the numbers down. I think it’s fair to say the bar has shifted. Whatever acceptable level of fatality, if that’s even a thing, existed in 2019, doesn’t exist anymore. We’re expected to decrease every year.

“I’m not unaware that it’s burdensome on trainers, principally, but also owners and veterinarians, but it’s something that we have to do. The criticism, if you can call it that, that we’re too strict in California, I think is unfair.”

Farmer said trainers have a traditional way they want to prepare a horse for a race but added, “I think the bar has changed with level of acceptance as veterinarians for what we deem as fit to race.”

Several potential Breeders’ Cup starters have been withdrawn since checks began Oct. 20 at Santa Anita. The most prominent was The Chosen Vron, a 6-year-old gelding with 25 career starts (and 19 wins) who had not had any known physical problems in recent years.

His trainer, Eric Kruljac, said the horse was “100 percent sound” but Chaney said a Breeders’ Cup veterinarian identified “some potential unsoundness.” The horse also was “flagged” by CHRB vets monitoring activity on the race track. The decision to put The Chosen Vron on the vet’s list, which prohibited him from training for 14 days, was made by a state vet.

DeVaux brought up the idea of a trainer possibly challenging the decision to put a horse on the vet’s list, especially if the vet who raised the issue wasn’t familiar with the horse. Any expense would be borne by the challenging trainer or owner.

“I’m not saying they should just let the horses run,” she said. “I think there’s a lot of depth to it. It’s not black and white, and there’s ambiguity in there.”

Pletcher, though, made the point even if most panel members support the challenge, if there’s one dissenter, “There’s always that concern: What if that person’s right? It’s tricky.”

Aidan O’Brien, the legendary Irish trainer who is tied for second all-time with 18 Breeders’ Cup wins, had the morning-line favorite in last year’s Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita scratched by vets on the day of the race. But he said he supports the scrutiny.

“You have to trust the vets. It’s their job,” he said Wednesday. “Whatever they decide, we are always happy to go with, really. And when it’s a feel from a person that has a lot of experience, and they know what they’re doing, I think that’s what you have to respect. Win, lose or draw, take them all out, leave them all in, we respect their decision totally.”

Said Mandella: “People are going to make the wrong calls, just as trainers make wrong calls. Anything you do is going to have right and wrong. But I say the attempt is good.”

Correspondent Kevin Modesti contributed to this report.

Originally Published: October 30, 2024 at 5:53 PM PDT