3 horses die, driver is hurt in Kentucky trailer crash

A crash in Nelson County, Ky., south of Louisville, left three horses dead, four injured and the driver hospitalized.

The Bardstown Police Department said in a Facebook post that they responded to a call at 4:49 a.m. EDT Monday. The truck had been in the eastbound lane of Bluegrass Parkway when it crossed the median and the westbound lanes and then collided into the embankment of an overpass.

The driver was transported to a hospital in Bardstown and then flown to a hospital in Louisville, where he was in stable condition with no life-threatening injuries.

The trailer was carrying seven Thoroughbreds, according to the report. Three were pronounced dead at the scene, and the other four were transported to an equine hospital with life-threatening injuries. According to a post on Facebook from the Bardstown Fire Department, the horses were en route from Arkansas to Keeneland.

Neither the post from the police department nor the fire department identified the horses or the driver. In a comment on the fire department's post Kelly Wheeler, an assistant to Eddie Kenneally, wrote that the horses were under her care and thanked the fire department for their work.

"These are all horses under my care for Eddie Kenneally Racing," Wheeler wrote. "I can’t thank everyone enough for doing what they could to save the horses. Losing three of them is an unbelievable tragedy. But because of everyone’s hard work there are four at an equine hospital and hopefully on their way to recovery."

A post on X from Double O Racing, one of the co-owners of recent Fair Grounds allowance winner Darkroom, identified Darkroom as one of the horses killed in the accident.

The trailer appeared to be operated by Creech Horse Transportation. Officials at the company's Troy, Mo., headquarters declined to comment.