Maiden Filly Breaks Down In Training At Santa Anita; 22nd Fatality At The Meet

Three-year-old filly Princess Lili B broke down during a half-mile workout at Santa Anita Thursday, becoming the 22nd horse to die in racing or training since the meet began Dec. 26. Thursday's breakdown occurred at the finish line of the main track at the end of Princess Lili B's breeze. “It's devastating,” Stronach Group chief operating officer Tim Ritvo told Fox 11's Good Day LA morning show. “She's a low-risk filly, meaning she'd run twice in her life. She's a 3-year-old filly with a good work pattern. Ran as early as February. No starts on sealed tracks or muddy tracks. So we are just perplexed by what has happened, and devastated. We have complete confidence in the track with the greatest track crew in America. It's just a devastating time for all of us.” Ritvo said Princess Lili B would been sent for a necropsy to see if it might reveal more information. The filly's exercise rider sent she felt fine and then all of the sudden went bad. Like all horses under a new policy at Santa Anita, Princess Lili B's trainer gave 24-hour notice of her workout. “This horse was examined as they come on the track as all of them are,” said Ritvo. “They got permission to work, based on looking at the past performances. We denied a bunch of horses that maybe have been off a long period of time. All of these things, the protocols and processes are put in place to prevent this from happening and unfortunately sometimes this happens. We are going to continue to try and improve those process and continue to look at what we are doing. All of us.”...MORE