Colt euthanized after suffering injury during Santa Anita race

A 3-year-old colt running his first race suffered a fatal injury at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, state horse racing officials confirmed Sunday.

Beverly Vista was injured in Saturday’s sixth race, requiring euthanasia, Mike Marten, public information officer for the California Horse Racing Board, told City News Service.

Beverly Vista was owned by Little Red Feather Racing, whose managing partners grew up in Beverly Hills and like to name their horses for things with ties to the city. Beverly Vista was an elementary school and is now a middle school in the city.

He was trained by Philip D’Amato and his jockey was Ramon Vazquez.

Beverly Vista is the eighth horse to die from a racing or training injury at the track this year.

Twelve racehorses died at Santa Anita in all of 2022, according to the CHRB.

Santa Anita officials have said they’ve made major improvements in horse safety after 2019, when 42 horses died at the track, sparking widespread debate about safety issues at Santa Anita and about horse racing in general. The uproar led to procedural and veterinary oversight changes at the park.

After the completion of Santa Anita’s winter-spring season last June, track officials hailed what they called major improvements in horse safety, and called the facility the safest track in North America compared to those with similar racing and training activity.

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