8th Horse Dies At Churchill Downs

Tragedy has struck yet again in Churchill Downs, as another injured horse has been lost.

According to Darren Rogers, Churchill Downs spokesperson, Rio Moon broke his leg on Sunday. Sometime after the day’s sixth race, the three-year-old colt reached the finish line when the injury was discovered.

An Equibase chart reported, “suffered a catastrophic injury to his left foreleg a few strides after the wire” which resulted in the horse, trained by Dale Romans, of Louisville, being euthanized.

The nearly 150-year-old home of the Kentucky Derby has reportedly lost eight horses since April 29, with seven of the deaths happening over ten days during the Spring Meet at Churchill Downs.

“Churchill Downs is unwavering in our commitment to the health and well-being of equine safety,” the facility wrote in a statement. “The equine fatalities leading to this year’s Kentucky Derby are a sobering reminder of the urgent need to mobilize our industry in order to explore every avenue possible and effectively minimize any avoidable risk in the sport. Despite our determination to continually improve upon the highest industry standards, there is more to be done and we will rigorously work to understand what caused these incidents and build upon our existing data, programs, and practices to better understand what has been incredibly difficult for us to witness and accept this week.”

Since then, several more horses have lost their lives during the running of the 149th year of the famed horseracing event. Seven of these deaths happened before the Kentucky Derby even began.

With an NBC-reported 14.8 million viewers for the 2023 Kentucky Derby, a dip from last year’s 16 million