Churchill Downs suspends racing to conduct 'top-to-bottom' review after 12 fatalities in three months

Racing has been suspended at Churchill Downs, the home of the Kentucky Derby, after a series of investigations into the 12 deaths at the track this season was unsuccessful in discovering a cause.

The racecourse has volunteered to halt its racing programme after reviews from independent experts was unable to find a single factor or pattern regarding the high amount of deaths since March 30. The track had sought expert advice following two deaths on Kentucky Derby day.

Last week, an examination of the turf and dirt surfaces was unable to highlight a problem, while it launched new safety and precautionary measures before its meeting on Thursday such as restricting runners who had been beaten by 12 lengths in five consecutive starts and those that had run in quick succession.

Churchill Downs will not race until at least July 3 to allow officials to conduct a "top-to-bottom" review, closely investigating the racing surface along with safety and integrity procedures. Fixtures will be temporarily moved to nearby Ellis Park racecourse.

The track's CEO Bill Carstanjen said it would only cause "minor disruption" to trainers and owners and stressed that ensuring the fixtures went ahead was extremely important to Kentucky's racing industry.

Carstanjen told Bloodhorse: "The team at Churchill Downs takes great pride in our commitment to safety and strives to set the highest standard in racing, consistently going above and beyond the regulations and policies that are required.

"What's happened at our track is deeply upsetting and absolutely unacceptable. Despite our best efforts to identify a cause for the recent horse injuries, and though no issues have been linked to our racing surfaces or environment at Churchill Downs, we need to take more time to conduct a top-to-bottom review of all of the details and circumstances so that we can further strengthen our surface, safety and integrity protocols."

In 2019, Santa Anita suspended its racing programme after 21 horses died in two months. It undertook a major investigation and has since become one of the safest tracks in North America. There were only three fatalities from over 4,800 runners at the California track last season.

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