Kentucky Derby Blog

Officials at a Kentucky horse track are trying to determine if their ban on a certain type of shoe aimed at making racing safer actually had the opposite effect after fatalities doubled in December compared to the previous year.

Turfway Park in Florence reported that eight horses died from racing injuries during its 21-day holiday meet that ended December 31. During the same meet in 2007, which included six additional race days, four horses died on the track and one other in the paddock.

Chief veterinarian Bryce Peckham of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission disclosed the figures Tuesday during the commission’s first meeting of the year. He said Turfway’s synthetic track has been reconfigured once in the last two years.

Racing officials are focusing their review on Turfway’s September ban on rear “toe grabs” - shoes that contain metal spikes intended to aid in traction.

While many states have banned front toe grabs, which have been identified as possibly contributing to breakdowns when they latch onto the surface, Turfway and Keeneland were the only tracks in Kentucky that banned rear toe grabs last year. Turfway rescinded its ban Jan. 2.

Mary Scollay, Kentucky’s equine medical director who also is compiling a national database on fatal horse breakdowns, warned that it’s difficult to identify a trend with such a small sample size. However, she said the issue of rear toe grabs is worth further study.

An investigation by The Associated Press found equine fatalities are a daily occurrence at America’s racetracks, with more than 5,000 reported at thoroughbred tracks between 2003 and 2007. Countless others have gone unreported.

Public attention about fatal breakdowns at thoroughbred tracks has grown since the high-profile deaths of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, who was injured in the Preakness, and last year’s Derby runner-up Eight Belles.

Steve Asmussen, Garrett Gomez, and Zayat Stables topped the lists of leading trainers, jockeys, and owners, respectively, by North American earnings in 2008, according to statistics from Equibase.

Big Brown led all Thoroughbreds in 2008 with North American earnings of $3,576,700, followed by Raven’s Pass with $2,700,000 and Zenyatta with $2,090,580.

Gomez topped the jockey list for the third straight year. His North American mounts earned $23,344,351, falling just short of Jerry Bailey’s record of $23,354,960, set in 2003. Gomez rode 214 winners from 1,023 mounts. Rafael Bejarano finished second, with 266 wins from 1,290 mounts and earnings of $16,439,729.

Asmussen, who previously topped the trainer list in 2003, won a single-season record 622 races from 3,002 starts for North American earnings of $24,235,247. Runner-up Todd Pletcher won 208 horse races from 1,090 starts for earnings of $13,784,546.

Zayat Stables won 116 races from 740 starts and earned $6,883,902 in North America. Runner-up was Stronach Stables, which won 114 races from 466 starts for earnings of $6,677,124.