Churchill Downs will suspend racing on Wednesday and move the remainder of its spring meet to Ellis Park to conduct a “top-to-bottom” review of safety and surface protocols in the wake of 12 horse fatalities the past month at the home of the Kentucky Derby.
A release Friday afternoon stated that no single factor has been identified as a potential cause for the fatalities or pattern detected, but it decided to relocate the meet “in an abundance of caution.”
“What has happened at our track is deeply upsetting and absolutely unacceptable," Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen said in the release. "We need to take more time to conduct a top-to-bottom review of all of the details and circumstances so that we can further strengthen our surface, safety and integrity protocols.”
Racing will continue at Churchill Downs through Sunday before shifting to the CDI-owned racing and gaming facility in Henderson, Kentucky. Ellis Park's meet was scheduled to start July 7 and run through Aug. 27 but will now expand with Friday's announcement.
Ellis Park will resume racing on June 10.
The move comes a day after track superintendent Dennis Moore conducted a second independent analysis of Churchill Downs’ racing and training surfaces as part of an emergency summit called this week by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) with the track and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.
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The head of the federally created oversight agency suggested ahead of the summit that it could recommend pausing the meet and that Churchill Downs would accept that recommendation.
