A 7-year-old gelding has died after suffering an injury during a race at Santa Anita Park, officials confirmed Monday.
Damazio, who had 13 career races and two first-place finishes in his career, was injured in Sunday’s second race, unseating his jockey.
“The horse was immediately attended to by an expert team of on-site veterinarians and transported via equine ambulance to the on-site equine hospital for further examination and advanced diagnostics,” Amy Zimmerman, Santa Anita’s senior vice president and executive producer, told City News Service on Monday. “Sadly, given the nature of his injury, surgical repair was not an option, and the veterinary team recommended humane euthanasia after a thorough evaluation.”
Zimmerman said jockey Adrian Escobedo was immediately attended to by the paramedic team, examined by a physician and released to his home.
Damazio is the second racehorse to die from a racing or training injury at Santa Anita this year. On Jan. 7, Mo Town Gal, a 6-year-old mare with 23 career races, died from a training injury.
The Arcadia track had 12 racing and training deaths in 2025, 14 in 2024, 17 in 2023, 12 in 2022, 19 in 2021 and 16 in 2020.
Those numbers are a substantial improvement over 2019, when 42 such deaths at Santa Anita Park sparked widespread debate about safety issues in the sport and even drew the attention of state lawmakers. Several changes arose from that controversy include drug reforms, increased veterinary oversight and improvements to racing surfaces.
“No legitimate sport would tolerate these deaths of its athletes in just one state, California, not to mention in a sole venue: Santa Anita Park,” said Martha Sullivan of Kill Racing Not Horses.
Zimmerman, however, touted Santa Anita’s 99.985% safety rate, which she called “unrivaled among tracks with similar racing and training dates.”
“Last year’s national fatality rate average as reported by Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority is 1.0 out of 1,000 starters, whereas Santa Anita Park’s was 0.148 out of 1,000,” she added.