Thistledown canceled racing July 29, a day after its eight-race card was scrapped following a fatal breakdown in the first race. There is hope that racing and training can resume as early as July 30.
"I think there's a good chance we train and race tomorrow," said Ohio Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association executive director Dave Basler following a meeting involving the HBPA, horsemen, and track officials. "I don't want to speak for HISA, but I think yesterday, understandably, was a precautionary measure. And before racing resumed, they wanted to see some more data to make sure that everything's been looked at."
Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority CEO Lisa Lazarus asked the track to cancel the remainder of Monday's card after the breakdown of 5-year-old filly Tayyara in the first race of the card. That move came following safety concerns at the Ohio track last week about the dirt surface, which resulted in lost training days and racing cancellations.
Its track superintendent, Sean Wright, was fired July 21 amid allegations that there were large rocks on the track. Wright told Thoroughbred Daily News he was fired for "being a whistleblower because he took his concerns to HISA and the track stewards."
Horsemen and track officials were satisfied with the condition of the track after training over the weekend, and racing resumed Monday after scheduled dark days.
In Monday's opening race, Tayyara broke well and was either on or just off the lead for the opening quarter-mile before being injured on the turn of the six-furlong race. She fell back and was bumped by rival Timely Secret. She was vanned off the track and euthanized.
In a statement, HISA said that it asked Thistledown to "conduct an investigation and be prepared to discuss the results" with Lazarus Monday afternoon to plot out the next steps.
Basler said he believes that the investigation involves Thistledown providing measurements from the track, including depth measurements and moisture content—standard data points that tracks collect and give to HISA.
A call to Thistledown director of racing Patrick Ellsworth was not returned.
Basler said that horsemen do not believe there was anything wrong with the track on Monday that resulted in the breakdown.
"I didn't hear any negative complaints," he said. "I think we had 50-some horses work yesterday morning, without incident. Our horsemen, the track management, the riders were all in agreement that we had a safe racing service going into yesterday's card. So obviously, a tragic incident that we don't want to see repeated. But I don't think that we want to point fingers in any direction on what the cause was."
