Two more horses died at Los Alamitos Race Course after suffering racing injuries last weekend, officials said Tuesday, bringing the number of racing or training deaths at the troubled track to 17 this year.
Both fatal injuries occurred Sunday night.
Backside Ace, a 2-year-old gelding running in his third race, finished third in Sunday’s seventh race after being bumped at the start, but was later ambulanced off.
Champions Run, also a 2-year-old gelding who had eight career races — all at Los Alamitos — and one first-place finish, did not finish Sunday’s eighth race and was also ambulanced off.
No further details were available about the deaths, which the California Horse Racing Board lists under the “muscoluskeletal” category.
In addition to the 17 racing and training deaths in 2025, 11 other horses have died at Los Alamitos this year from what the CHRB classifies as “other” causes.
The Cypress track saw 18 horses die from racing or training injuries in 2024.
The track was briefly placed on probation by the CHRB in 2020 due to a spate of racehorse deaths. Regulators later signed off on a plan to allow Los Alamitos to continue holding races after track officials agreed to add several layers of oversight, including adding another veterinarian to be a “roving observer of horses in training, while entering, exiting, or on the track,” a “security steward” who oversees veterinary and barn practices, and an “entry review panel” of experts who have the authority to scratch horses for races.
Los Alamitos officials did not immediately respond to a request for more information about the recent deaths.
California horse racing officials have taken a number of steps to try to reduce fatalities since 2019, when at least 42 deaths at Santa Anita Park sparked widespread debate about safety issues in the sport and even drew the attention of state lawmakers. Those changes include drug reforms, increased veterinary oversight and improvements to racing surfaces.