A 4-year-old filly has died after suffering a training injury at Santa Anita Park, officials said Wednesday.
Eiffel, who had six career races and one first-place finish, died Saturday, according to the California Horse Racing Board, which categorized her death as “non-musculoskeletal.”
Eiffel’s last race was a third-place finish at Santa Anita on March 15, according to the industry website Equibase. She had an official workout on Saturday.
“Eiffel had what appears to have been a cardiac issue as she was returning to the barn following routine training Saturday morning,” Santa Anita’s Senior Vice President and Executive Producer Amy Zimmerman told City News Service.
“The horse was immediately attended to by an expert team of on-site veterinarians but sadly, quickly passed away,” she added. ” … As is protocol, the horse will undergo a necropsy overseen by the University of California (Davis) School of Veterinary Medicine and the findings reported to the California Horse Racing Board. Unfortunately, incidents such as this are generally classified as `sudden deaths’ and rarely have definitive causational findings.”
Eiffel is the seventh horse to die from a racing or training injury at the Arcadia track this year.