California Horse Racing Board Comments on Death of Racehorses During Filming of HBO’s LUCK
We just received this statement for CHRB regarding HBO’s decisiion to cancel LUCK filming at Santa Anita in the wake of the three horses euthanized.
“The California Horse Racing Board takes very seriously and cares deeply about the death of any racehorse in California and is conducting an investigation of the equine fatality in connection with the filming of the Luck television program Tuesday at Santa Anita Park. Even though HBO announced the cancellation of the Luck series Wednesday, the CHRB will conduct a thorough investigation, which will include a postmortem examination and toxicology testing.”
The Horse Racing Board went on:
“The CHRB is assured by those onsite at Santa Anita who are responsible for equine health and safety that every precaution was being taken to protect the horses appearing in the HBO program. In fact, because the filming was taking place in an enclosure within the CHRB’s jurisdiction, the level of care for these animals exceeded the level of care for animals on other filming locations. Everyone involved in the handling of the horses that appeared on Luck is licensed by the CHRB and qualified to do so.”
In a preliminary report following Tuesday’s accident, Dr. Rick Arthur, the CHRB’s equine medical director, explained that the horse was being led back to her barn, reared, slipped on a hind leg, and went over backwards, striking her head on the ground.
Three equine veterinarians were on the scene and did everything possible on behalf of the horse. They were Dr. Heidi Agnic, HBO’s attending veterinarian and licensed by the CHRB as a racetrack practitioner; Dr. Gary Beck, who normally works as the CHRB official veterinarian at Los Alamitos Race Course, and Dr. Scott Meyer.