Horse Dies On Just Second Day Of Santa Anita's Fall Meet

Santa Anita Park was "met with a gruesome breakdown on the front stretch" yesterday when Emtech broke both front legs, as the venue tries to "shake the memories of a winter/spring meet in which 30 horses died." The death "occurred on the second day of the 23-day meeting" and is "likely to intensify the debate over safety and viability of horse racing in California." Southern California "hadn't had a thoroughbred racing fatality since June 9," also at Santa Anita. Yesterday's death "came on the same day as one of Santa Anita's signature fall races, the Grade 1 $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes." The crowd yesterday was a "larger than normal 11,997" (L.A. TIMES, 9/29).