Horse dies after crossing the finish line in his first career race in tragic start to Preakness weekend
There’s always a lot of excitement for the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, but this year’s weekend got off to a tragic start.
Laurel Park is hosting this year’s Preakness while Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course undergoes renovations and a horse collapsed and died Friday after crossing the finish line in his first career race.
Trained by Brittany Russell, Hit Zero entered the race as the favourite. However, he finished last in the race, which was won by one of Russell’s horses, Bold Fact, and after crossing the finish line, it was reported that Hit Zero began coughing, fell to his knees, then put his head on the ground and died.
Shoot Zero before his race at Laurel Park. Unfortunately, he died after crossing the finish line. (Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images)
1/ST Racing Chief Veterinary Officer Dr. “After half-drawing and finishing, the horse became unsaddled, began to walk towards the barn, collapsed and suffered horrific sudden death,” said Dionne Benson. WBAL.
Dr. Benson said an event like this is often a sign of heart disease, but they won’t know for sure what happened until an autopsy is performed.
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This is of course the last thing anyone wants to hear when it comes to horse racing and remains a huge criticism of the sport.
This year’s Preakness Stakes weekend at Laurel Park began with the tragic death of racehorse Hit Zero. (Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images)
However, Dr. Benson emphasized that deaths are still rare and that a procedure is in place to determine what happened and prevent future incidents.
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“First of all, fatalities in horse racing are very rare in general. Less than 1% of 1% in horse racing. Realistically, that means when a horse dies from sudden death, every horse that dies at a racetrack in Maryland goes to an autopsy or necropsy and then there’s a meeting with the trainer to find out if there’s anything abnormal with the horse so we can work with it and really the goal is to prevent any future deaths,” Benson said.
The field crosses the finish line in race five ahead of the 148th running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on May 20, 2023 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)
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“But often, especially in sudden deaths, it is very difficult to understand what the cause is because if there is an electrical abnormality, for example, there is no evidence of this in the heart after death.”
The Preakness Stakes will take place on Saturday.
