Less than a month after millions of sports fanatics tuned into the 2023 Kentucky Derby live from Churchill Downs, the Louisville, Kentucky racetrack is suspending operations as they re-evaluate several safety measures in place.
Churchill Downs made the announcement official on Friday, June 3, indicating the remainder of the scheduled Spring Meet races will instead be held at Ellis Park, starting June 10. This means each of the remaining Spring Meet competitions through July 3, will now take place at Ellis Park in Henderson, Kentucky instead.
The main reason why Churchill Downs has decided to put a brief pause on hosting more horseracing events is due to increasing concerns over safety. Twelve horses have perished in the last month alone, and so far, no single factor or pattern has been found.
Because of the ongoing confusion regarding the horses’ health, Churchill Downs is conducting a “top-to-bottom review of all safety and surface protocols.”
“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 has 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.”
Bill Carstanjen, CEO of Churchill Downs
Facing plenty of controversies, Churchill Downs is seemingly putting their foot down to get to the bottom of their current health and safety concerns. Let’s hope their latest effort pays off for everyone’s sake.
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