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13th horse dies this year at Los Alamitos racetrack
LA County Sep 28, 2022
Invictatatus, second from left, runs in what turned out to be his last race Feb. 12 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia. | Photo courtesy of Santa Anita Park/YouTube
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Another racehorse has died at Los Alamitos, state horse racing officials have confirmed.
Invictatatus died Tuesday, and was listed as a “sudden death” on the California Horse Racing Board website.
Invictatatus was a 6-year-old gelding with 18 career races and three first-place finishes. He won a claiming race at Los Alamitos on Sept. 18, 2021. His most recent race was at Santa Anita on Feb. 12, when he finished sixth.
He was owned by Belico Racing LLC and Lizbeth Medina. His trainer was Milton Pineda and his jockey was Edgar Payeras.
Thirteen horses have died at Los Alamitos in 2022, including six from racing injuries, two from training injuries and five from “other causes.” Of the latter group, two are listed as “sudden death” — including Invictatatus — two are listed as accidents, and one is listed with the cause of death still pending.
Los Alamitos officials did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
Earlier this year, Los Alamitos took a series of steps aimed at improving safety following a spate of four horse deaths in an 11-day span.
According to the CHRB, Los Alamitos has eliminated the use of “high toe grabs” — similar to cleats worn by football players to give them better traction on turf — on rear horseshoes. The track also eliminated the “breaking bar” in quarter-horse races. The bar is similar to a starting block in track meets, adding traction at the start of a race.
The track also consulted with a racing surface expert to determine if the track surface is a contributing factor to the injuries, and it contacted UC Davis to “fund a study of lumbar fractures in quarter-horses,” CHRB officials said.
Eleven horses died from a racing or training injuries at Los Alamitos in 2021, with another two deaths listed as “other.” The track was briefly placed on probation by the CHRB in July 2020 due to another spate of racehorse deaths. At that time, at least 20 horses had died at the track in 2020 after suffering racing or training injuries.
