'The Derby Dozen': With racing deaths in mind, what to know as horses return to Churchill

The count of horse deaths rose until it hit a dozen.

A Derby dozen.

That's when Churchill Downs made the historic decision to shut down racing on its track and review its surface.

Now, nine months after the famed track's halt, horses return to training on the dirt this week ahead of the 150th Kentucky Derby.

What happened prior to the Kentucky Derby with horse deaths?

When the gates swung open on Derby Day 2023, the race marked 50 years since Secretariat's Kentucky Derby victory and the beginning of his eventual Triple Crown title.

But it was overshadowed by the death of seven racehorses leading up to post time for the "fastest two minutes in sports," including Derby contender Wild on Ice during a training accident on April 27, and two horses that suffered catastrophic injuries on Derby Day.

In all, a dozen horses would die before, in a historic move, the thoroughbred course shut down the track to racing to do a "top-to-bottom" review of its practices and its racing surface.

How often do horses break down in a 'normal' year?

There's a term for a horse collapsing on the track. It's called a "breakdown." The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) is the federal agency tasked with overseeing the health and safety of thoroughbreds.

Racing thoroughbreds at tracks within HISA's jurisdiction saw 1.23 racing fatalities per 1,000 starts in 2023. That's a slight decrease from the 1.25 deaths per 1,000 starts in 2022. Tracks outside of HISA's purview, though, saw a 32.5% increase in 2023, at 1.63 racing fatalities per 1,000 starts, according to the agency.

While racing fatalities have slowly decreased since the Equine Injury Database launched in 2009 (when it was a 2 per 1,000 starts), racetracks have continued to experience "clusters" of deaths, like at Santa Anita in 2019, when 22 horses died in less than two months.

The database includes only deaths of horses recorded while racing, not ones who may have died off-track, like when Code of Kings flipped in the paddock in 2023 after becoming fixated on lights from a DJ booth at Churchill and broke his neck.

What was done at Churchill Downs to ensure horse safety?

In June, before its announcement that it would shut down the track, Churchill Downs announced three safety initiatives. It would later reverse one: a payout bonus regardless of finish.

Two initiatives will remain in place heading into this year's lead-up to the Derby: restricting the number of starts per horse to four during a rolling eight-week period; and ineligibility standards for poor performance for a horse beaten by more than 12 lengths in five consecutive starts.

The track also created a backside safety committee, made up of trainers who meet weekly with the track crew to discuss any changes. Longtime trainer Tom Van Berg is on that committee.

"More than anything, it's trying to dial in some of the practices of the track crew to say 'This works for the horses, this doesn't' in response to various weather conditions," Van Berg said. "Whether it's wind, rain, heat, how can we try to get ahead of addressing a problem on the track instead of after the fact and kind of know why it became that way."

Did anything change with the dirt track?

Besides the safety initiatives, track superintendent Jamie Richardson put new harrows on the tractors that rake the track, following recommendations by HISA.

A report released by HISA in September confirmed the presence of rocks in the track.

Churchill Downs equine medical director Will Farmer said the track also instituted a "bucket brigade."

"We did have a daily crew that walked the racetrack every single day from there on out," Farmer said. "Our trainers have commented the vast improvement that they have seen on the surface."

The point of the bucket brigade, a trainer told The Courier Journal, has always been to pick up any rocks that find their way onto the track. Farmer told The Courier Journal, though, that the stoppage of racing at the famed track "had nothing to do with the rocks on the racetrack."

In the HISA report, Churchill Downs stated it believes it "resolved the issues of rocks on the racetrack" and would sift the dirt in 2024 "if needed."

"I know they were adding more material on as recently as last week, but didn't see if they had the sifter out," Van Berg said when asked about the dirt surface. "I think they're going by every safety measure you would want them to go through."

How is the new turf track at Churchill Downs?

Churchill Downs announced the installation of a new $10 million turf course, with a state-of-the-art irrigation and drainage system for the 2022 Spring Meet. When it launched, CDI suspended racing on the course for two weeks, following the breakdown of Gingrich, a 3-year-old colt, so the course could "develop its new root system."

Then in 2023, it continued to move turf races to the dirt in its fall meet before switching all races carded for the turf strictly to the dirt for the final three days of the meet when the thoroughbreds appeared to be losing footing on the surface.

"Whether it was the horses slipping on the surface or surface slipping away from them, I never did get a definite answer on that," Van Berg told The Courier Journal. "I didn’t run a single horse on the grass course last year because I wasn't comfortable with it."

Churchill Downs has spent the winter with lamps and tarps on the track hoping for accelerated growth.

Van Berg said he also spoke with the crew who said they did injections of sand into the turf because the roots were having "a tough time grabbing a hold of the surface so they're trying to put a little more grittier material, so the roots could grab on better."

As for the current quality of the turf track, Van Berg said, "you're never going to really know until you get horses to go over it and over it at speed. It can look as pretty as you want to the outside eye, but once you get a horse over it, you'll know what you're dealing with."

What are they saying about track safety now?

In January, Churchill announced Dr. Dana Stead as an equine safety and integrity veterinarian.

Stead previously served as the racing veterinarian for multiple California-based racetracks, including Santa Anita Park

Stead, Farmer and veterinarians across the nation will have access to medical records of different racing jurisdictions, a new rule under HISA.

Prior to 2023, veterinarians in Kentucky were not allowed to access medical records for a horse when they raced in, say, California.

For instance, trainers could race horses in Kentucky at Churchill Downs, Ellis Park in Henderson or Turfway in Florence, but those records wouldn't previously have been accessible to veterinarians at racetracks at Belterra Park in Cincinnati or Horseshoe Downs in Indianapolis.

"What we have seen on a pre-race exam is a moment in time," Farmer said. "Having access to medical records from across the country through HISA can complete the story on what you’re seeing in that moment of time. Many times, that’s to the trainer's benefit."

Stephanie Kuzydym is an enterprise and investigative sports reporter, with a focus on the health and safety of athletes. She can be reached at skuzydym@courier-journal.com. Follow her at @stephkuzy.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Churchill Downs horse deaths: what has happened since 2023