A racehorse died after a collision on the training track at Santa Anita early Thursday morning, according to a track executive and the California Horse Racing Board.
Details were incomplete, but it appears Less Is More, a California-bred, thoroughbred 3-year-old filly with one victory in six races for trainer Doug O’Neill, died after being hit head-on by another horse who had thrown its rider and run loose, the executive said.
Both riders were reported uninjured in the unusual incident that occurred shortly before 6 a.m.
By unofficial count from a list of horse deaths posted on the CHRB website, Less Is More is the 11th racehorse to die in racing or training at Santa Anita in 2025, and the 36th in total at Santa Anita, Los Alamitos and Del Mar. The Santa Anita number is slightly lower than for recent years, while the total for the three Southern California tracks is lower than in 2024 but slightly higher than in the few years before that.
Los Alamitos has seen an increase in horse deaths this year, including three quarter horses from injuries during one night of racing on Nov. 23 and the Grade I stakes-winning quarter horse Stanley Cartel from an injury in the Champion of Champions on Dec. 13.
Santa Anita opens its winter-spring season on Dec. 26, although track management is monitoring forecasts for rain next week. In 2019, Santa Anita postponed its opening-day card for two days because of wet-weather forecasts. Rainouts have become protocol in California since a spike in fatal injuries during an unusually wet winter in early 2019.