Mashnee Girl sustained a serious injury in the first race at Belmont Park on Sunday and was euthanized on the track.
That was the second horse death in less than 24 hours since the running of the Belmont Stakes. Excursionniste was injured in the 13th and final race on Saturday and also euthanized.
Mashnee Girl broke down on the turf with a catastrophic injury to her left front leg at the track just outside New York City.
“Despite the immediate response and best efforts of on-site attending veterinarians, the horse was humanely euthanized due to the severity of the injury,” New York Racing Association vice president Patrick McKenna said in a statement on Sunday.
The injury to Excursionniste came just past the half-mile mark. The horse injured his front left ankle during the first race held after the Belmont Stakes, the main event of the 13-race card.
Mark Hennig was the trainer of both horses.
“I’m not holding up very well,” Hennig told NBC News. “It’s been very emotional. I just can’t fathom this ever happening, two horses you run in a row. I mean, I’ve run over 10,000 horses and have never had anything close to this.”
Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sharply criticized Belmont Park officials.
“Two dead Thoroughbreds in two days with the same trainer on the same track means one thing: Belmont Park is failing to protect horses,” PETA senior vice president Kathy Guillermo said in a statement. “Like Churchill Downs, Belmont must suspend racing immediately to avoid the same bloodbath. Anything less makes Belmont complicit in the fatalities.”
The two deaths raise the total at Belmont Park to four this year.
It also continues a very disturbing pattern at this year’s Triple Crown events.
Churchill Downs, site of the Kentucky Derby, has had 12 horses die this year and recently suspended racing while studying safety protocols. Seven horses died in a 10-day stretch, including Chloe’s Dream and Freezing Point after they both broke down during Kentucky Derby undercard races.
On the day of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in Baltimore, Havnameltdown was euthanized after sustaining a leg injury in an undercard race. The horse was trained by Bob Baffert.
–Field Level Media