SACRAMENTO, CA—NOVEMBER 19, 2020—According to an article by Bryon King published today on Bloodhorse.com the California Horse Racing Board tabled a vote to approve the license for Los Alamitos Race Course until next month, pending the track's written plan to reduce the number of racehorses receiving corticosteroid intra-articular joint injections at the Orange County racetrack.

CHRB Executive Director Scott Chaney told commissioners during a regular monthly teleconference that evaluations of fatalities at Los Alamitos showed that horses there had been injected on average three times over their lifetime, compared to a 0.6 average for racehorse at Del Mar, Santa Anita Park, and Golden Gate Fields.

"So about five times the number of injections seem to be present over there," Chaney said. "There's always been this kind of rumor that there's a cultural issue with respect to trainers and vets and how things operated. So the numbers seem to bear that out that (intra-articular joint) injections are more of an issue than it is (elsewhere)."

Los Alamitos, one of the premier Quarter Horses tracks in the county, conducts mixed-breed Quarter Horse and lower-level Thoroughbred meet at night and higher-quality Thoroughbred afternoon meet. It is also one of the major training facility in Southern California.

In positive discussions with the Chaney and CHRB chairman Dr. Greg Ferraro track owner Edward Allred indicated their facility would implement stricter protocols in regard to injections.

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