The Breeders' Cup "ended in tragic fashion" with a fatal injury to Mongolian Groom in the $6M Classic, an incident that "could have major consequences for the horse racing industry" going forward, according to Jim Chairusmi of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The death on such a high-profile stage -- the race aired Saturday on NBC in primetime -- was the "worst possible news for both the racing industry and Santa Anita, which has been the site of more than three dozen fatal incidents" since December. California political leaders had "warned the track last week they were viewing this weekend's event as an important test of the industry's future" in the state (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/4). DAILY RACING FORM's Jay Privman noted horse trainer Bob Baffert was "infuriated over what he thought was a difficult racing surface," while trainer Shug McGaughey yesterday morning "expressed frustration with the loose nature of the racetrack." McGaughey said Santa Anita "did a terrible job" with the track surface. McGaughey: "They want to make it like a beach. It doesn't work." Neither trainer had a connection to Mongolian Groom (DRF.com, 11/3).
STATE OF THE SPORT: NBC SPORTS' Tim Layden wrote the thoroughbred racing industry throughout the Breeders' Cup had "held a sigh of relief in its throat, which it would release when the 11th horse in the field crossed safely beneath the wire" in Saturday's Classic, but "that never happened." Layden: "The sigh of relief instead became a gasp." Mongolian Groom's death was a "crushing reality for a sport which has not yet provided a unified, industry-wide plan for dramatically reducing horse deaths due to catastrophic breakdowns" (NBCSPORTS.com, 11/3). In Louisville, Tim Sullivan wrote "calls for the abolition of thoroughbred racing will surely intensify" given how the "sport's nightmare scenario" played out (Louisville COURIER JOURNAL, 11/3). USA TODAY's Josh Peter wrote the death was a "catastrophic ending to an otherwise incident-free Breeders' Cup at the embattled racetrack" (USA TODAY, 11/3).
CHANGES COMING? In L.A., John Cherwa writes expectations for a safe fall meeting at Santa Anita were "high," especially after Del Mar had "no racing fatalities during its seven-week summer meeting." But even before opening day in Santa Anita's six-week meeting, a horse "died while training." Cherwa: "They kept coming." When the meet closed Sunday, there were "four horses dead from racing and three from training." Last year, there were only four total in the same period of time. The end of this year's Breeders' Cup comes as President & CEO Craig Fravel is leaving the organization to become The Stronach Group's CEO of Racing Operations, and one of the decisions he will have to make in his new role will be "whether to install a synthetic track at Santa Anita, one of the few major steps the track could do to rebrand itself." Statistically, a synthetic track is "safer than dirt, although it may result in more soft-tissue injuries." The Stronach Group acting Exec Dir of California Racing Aidan Butler was "vague about the possibility of switching to synthetics." But he said that "everything is on the table" (L.A. TIMES, 11/4).
