Trainer Saffie Joseph leaned against the outside wall of his barn at Churchill Downs on Wednesday morning and expressed a confused bereavement. Two of his racehorses had collapsed and died in the first two days of the spring meet at the racetrack, sudden tragedies that are, for now, without explanation.
“It shatters me,” Joseph says. “The odds of that happening twice, it doesn’t add up. Theories aren’t going to help anything. We need facts. … Twice, in three days? First two runners [of the Churchill spring meet]? Same owner [Ken Ramsey]? It’s mind-boggling.”
As horse racing attempts to celebrate its biggest race and most festive week, a series of tragic events here in Louisville threaten to overshadow the Kentucky Derby. Four horses have died in separate incidents in a five-day span—two from leg breakdowns and Joseph’s pair of collapses. Derby contender Wild on Ice, trained by Joel Marr, suffered a fatal hind leg injury last Thursday; Joseph trainee Parents Pride went down after the eighth race on Churchill’s opening night Saturday; filly Take Charge Briana, trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, fell in the stretch during a turf race Tuesday and was euthanized; then later in the race card Chasing Artie also collapsed and died in front of the grandstand.
