More than four months after the conclusion of the historically grim 2023 Triple Crown season, horse racing has returned to a health-related crisis mode.
This weekend’s Breeders’ Cup — one of the sport’s most prestigious sets of races and also among its most lucrative, thanks to the $6 million Classic — has already been marred by the death of Practice Move following a Tuesday morning gallop in what has been suspected as a cardiac-related event.
Soon after, Belmont Stakes winner Arcangelo dropped out of the featured Classic with a hind-foot issue. Kentucky Derby winner Mage had also been an expected entrant in the Classic but never made the trip to Santa Anita Park in California due to a spiking fever.
