Two horses die on Preakness undercard

One horse collapsed and died after winning the first race, and another was euthanized on the track after falling in the fourth race at Pimlico Race Course.

Homeboykris, a 9-year-old gelding, rallied to win the first race and was being taken back to the barn when he collapsed. The cause of death was thought to be a heart attack, but the horse’s body is being taken to New Bolton Center veterinary hospital in Pennsylvania for a necropsy, according to a Pimlico official.

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His trainer, Francis Campitelli, who grew up near Pimlico, was in the grandstand when Homeboykris collapsed.

“Not long after leaving the winner’s circle, the boy that takes care of him said they had gone probably 100 yards, and he got wobbly and fell over and he pretty much was dead when he hit the ground,” Homeboykris’s trainer Francis Campitelli told the Baltimore Sun. “They’re thinking at this point it was some sort of heart attack -- you know, ruptured aorta or something like that.”

The death of Pramedya was more gruesome and visible to the Preakness Day crowd. She suffered a fracture of the left front cannon bone on the far turn as she was running a turf race. She was a 4-year-old filly.

The jockey, Daniel Centeno, was taken to a nearby hospital with what was believed to be a fractured collarbone.

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