Racing at Churchill Downs has been paused, but training at the track continues

Some people in the horse racing industry are calling the deaths of 12 thoroughbreds at Churchill Downs a string of bad luck.

Others call it a cluster that seems to pop up at race tracks across the country every few years.

None can explain the reason.

Regardless, the numbers will forever stand: fives weeks, a Derby dozen.

"It’s a tough situation," said Dale Romans, a Louisvillian and, at one point, the winningest trainer in Churchill Downs history. "It’s tough times for horse racing in Kentucky. Churchill is doing what they think is best and we can’t argue with them. We need to take a step back and try to figure out what’s going on."

Friday, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), an 11-month-old federal agency tasked with increasing safety in the sport, recommended Churchill Downs pause racing.

The track's board then voted to move racing four weeks early to Ellis Park, another Churchill Downs-owned track located in Henderson, Kentucky, about two hours west of Louisville.

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The change of venue allows the meet to continue while effectively stopping the possibility of another thoroughbred death added to the total at Churchill Downs during the 2023 Spring Meet.

Dr. Will Farmer is Churchill Down's equine medical director who oversees horse safety at the nine tracks owned by Churchill, six of which are for thoroughbred racing.

"With regards to racing, we still have not been able to identify a singular cause, let alone the likely multi-faceted causes of the recent spat of injuries that we’ve seen during racing," Farmer said. "HISA made the recommendation to Churchill Downs that they felt it would be in everyone’s best interest as an industry, that we shift racing away from Churchill Downs. As Churchill Downs, we respected that opinion and are very fortunate we own Ellis Park as well and are able to shift racing there immediately."

But while racing stops at the most famed track in horse racing, training continues.

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So if there are concerns about racing at the track, is there a concern about training at the track?

"It is a valid question," said Travis Foley, an assistant trainer for Foley Racing where his dad is head trainer. "I’m not a track expert, but I don’t really see anything myself wrong with (the track). But the numbers kind of speak for themselves."

Several owners, trainers and industry experts the Courier Journal reached out to Monday regarding training at the track all concluded one thing: training must continue.

Why?

One reason is there hasn't been a reported death related to training at the track since April 27, when this whole string of deaths at the Downs started with Wild On Ice.

"Through all of the scientific testing that has been done by Churchill Downs, by the race track surface testing laboratory and HISA, we have not identified any factors related to the race track that have shown that it has been inconsistent or changed from previous years," Farmer said.

Another is the welfare of the horses, 1,400 of which live and train at Churchill Downs and about 600 more at the Trackside Training Center, located a few miles off-site from the downtown Louisville track.

"From a welfare standpoint for these horses, we felt that it was important for them to be able to continue to train based on what we know about the racing surface, for the horse's well-fair and well-being," Farmer said.

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Depending on the trainer, horses typically only breeze - or run at racing speed - once a week. The rest of their time on the track is spent training, like a runner trains for a race.

Chauncey Morris, executive director of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, which includes a membership of owners, trainers and those in the industry, said there are studies that show horses who train with regularity are sounder when they race.

To stop training at the track, he said, could have the opposite effect on their health and safety.

"So if you start putting a lot of horses in training, basically on the shelf, it’s going to take a long time to get them back up," Morris said. "That's not to say spelling horses, or putting them on layups, is bad for them. Not at all. It's just the layup when they’re put out to pasture temporarily, takes a bit of lag time to get them ready to start again."

Romans, who trains more than 70 horses at the track, has no concerns about the track's racing surface.

"I really don’t," he said. "I don’t see any odd injuries like you see when it’s a bad race track. But until we know for sure, they’re doing the right thing ... You always have to put the horses first."

Then there's the economic impact for more than 1,000 employees that work on the backside: from the grooms and farriers to those who indirectly work with the industry, like transport services.

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The American Horse Council Foundation found the racing industry is worth $6.5 billion, making it the commonwealth's premier industry.

And Churchill Downs is the lynchpin of that industry.

"We love Churchill Downs," Foley, also a Louisvillian, said. "Churchill Downs is home for us. And that’s kind of the meet that we try to have our best meet at for the year. Whenever there’s any type of issue or the meet is cut short, it’s never great for the industry, much less locals like us."

The switch does mean several days of races in the condition book were cut, but track management does have the ability to add days if they feel "it is safe to do so," according to Morris.

Ed DeRosa with Horse Racing Nation, has shown that despite the deaths and the switch, betting at Churchill Downs is actually up 4.5%.

But is Ellis Park safer for the horses?

There were only two deaths at Ellis Park in 2022, compared to 28 at Churchill Downs, according to Horseracing Wrongs− a website that tracks horses killed at U.S. racetracks.

"Historically, if you look at it, it has been a consistent surface with a low injury rate," Farmer said.

The move brings higher-profile races, like stake racing with maidens running for more than $100,000.

"Typically when racing at Ellis Park, it starts at $70,000," Morris said.

As horses continue to train at the Churchill, the one thing everyone seems to agree on is that time away from racing at the famed track may be the quickest way to solve the problem.

Besides the horses dying, it's a PR problem fueled by pressure from the public.

"It’s just so many unknowns right now," Romans said. "We'll come back in September and hopefully everything is good."

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Thoroughbred horses continue to train at Churchill Downs