Third horse in three days dies at Santa Anita Park

The third horse in three days — the fourth this month — was put to death at Santa Anita Park in California Sunday, according to a state horse racing board spokesman.

The 3-year-old horse, named Tikkun Olam, “was involved in a head-on collision with another horse while training Sunday morning” and “suffered catastrophic injuries, necessitating euthanasia,” California Horse Racing Board spokesman Mike Marten told CNN in an email.

On Friday, a 6-year-old horse named Harliss was euthanized after fracturing its right front ankle, and on Saturday 5-year-old Uncontainable was put to death for the same reason.

Golden Birthday, a 4-year-old horse was the first to die this year at the track in Arcadia, northeast of Los Angeles, after being injured during a January 1 race.

The number of horse deaths at the track — almost 40 in just over a year — led officials to briefly halt racing there last year. Santa Anita has since made changes in an effort to increase safety for the horses, including restricting steroids, anti-inflammatory drugs and race-day medications.

Animal-rights organization PETA on Sunday called on the state’s horse racing board to suspend racing.

“Three dead horses in three days requires immediate action,” PETA said in a statement. “If it takes the closure of a track to stop the deaths, then close the track.”

Santa Anita Park said in a statement this weekend that horses raced or trained at the park “more than 420,000 times over the last year with a 99.991% safety rate.”

The park houses 2,000 horses and is one of the largest equine training facilities in the country, according to its website.