Two racehorses died Saturday at Pimlico Race Course, site of the Preakness Stakes to be held later in the day.
Homeboykris collapsed after the first race of the day while walking back to his barn. The horse, a 9-year-old gelding, won the race at the Maryland track in Baltimore.
Pramedya, a 4-year-old filly, fractured a cannon bone in her leg while running on grass in the fourth race and was euthanized on the track. According to The Washington Post, jockey Daniel Centeno broke his collarbone in the fall.
The horses will have necropsies performed at New Bolton Center Hospital in southeastern Pennsylvania, Pimlico spokesman David Joseph said. He didn’t give a preliminary cause of death for Homeboykris.
Pramedya is owned by Roy and Gretchen Jackson, who owned Barbaro, the 2006 Kentucky Derby who pulled up lame during the Preakness. He underwent eight months of veternary care but was euthanized in in January 2007. Pramedya had won two of her first four career starts, including one race this year.
Homeboykris had run 62 races before Saturday, winning 13 and finishing in the top three 28 times. He finished 16th in the 2010 Kentucky Derby.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called on the horses’ owners “to release veterinary records & complete list of medications that horses were administered before #Preakness races.”
“It’s been in Ohio as early as the mid-1850s at least, brought in as an ornamental plant because of its unique foliage and white flowers,” Gardner said. “It was actually planted in people’s landscaping, and it has been spreading.”
A 2012 New York Times look into horse racing found that 24 horses die each week in the United States on average. The Times wrote that after Eight Belles was euthanized on the track after the 2008 Kentucky Derby, Congress got the horse racing industry to increase safety for horses and riders. One of the measures was a policy banning many anabolic steroids.
Last week, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s Safety & Intergrity Alliance announced that it had reaccredited Pimlico Race Course.
“We are proud to once again earn the highest of marks in safety and integrity in the alliance’s accreditation,” Maryland Jockey Club President Sal Sinatra said.