Bravo Gannis Becomes Ninth Death at Del Mar

Del Mar Race Track, hard-hit by injuries during the first half of the season, sustained two more during training hours Thursday when Bravo Gannis, a 4-year-old gelding, was euthanized after breaking a leg and Prosperous Bid, a top 3-year-old in trainer Bob Baffert’s barn, suffered a career-ending leg injury.

Bravo Gannis, who was still a maiden, and Rusty’s Gold were running in the stretch when Bravo Gannis broke down. Jockey J.C. Gonzalez, riding Rusty’s Gold, couldn’t avoid the fallen Bravo Gannis and both horses went down. Rusty’s Gold was not injured, but Bravo Gannis suffered a broken rear leg.

Gonzalez and Paul Atkinson, who was riding Rusty’s Gold, escaped serious injury, but Gonzalez was sore from the injuries and took off his mounts.

Prosperous Bid was vanned off the track after working five furlongs in 1:01 2/5. Baffert said the colt broke both sesamoid bones in his left foreleg and would undergo surgery this weekend.

Bravo Gannis is the ninth horse to suffer a fatal injury during the first 20 days of the 43-day season. Seven of the deaths came after breakdowns in races, and another horse suffered what was believed to be a ruptured aorta after a race.

A track spokesman said that six horses died last year from racing injuries. According to the latest statistics available from the California Horse Racing Board, there were 20 deaths at Del Mar in 1996, six of them racing-related, seven during training and seven others.

“That was the year [1996] when everybody wanted to come at me with a rope and a tree limb,” said Joe Harper, Del Mar’s president. “The clay content in the track was balling up, there was no question about that. But we’ve spent a lot of money to make the track safe, and this year, despite the numbers, I’ve gotten very few complaints.

“This has taken a lot out of us emotionally. I’ve met with [the veterinarians who make race-day examinations of horses] and told them to use extra caution in approving horses. I’d rather see 10 horses scratched than have one breakdown.”

Ray Baran, the track veterinarian, said that most of the fatal breakdowns came during the opening days of the meet.

“Since that onslaught,” Baran said, “we haven’t used the van [the horse ambulance] that much.”

Another horse was injured in the sixth race Thursday. Gary Stevens, who rode Prose to a win in a grass race, dismounted after crossing the finish line and the colt was vanned off.

“He was unsound in his right front [leg], but I don’t know how serious it was,” Baran said.

Prose ran for trainer Darrell Vienna, but before the race he was claimed for $80,000 by trainer Doug Peterson.