Developing: Santa Anita cancels racing 'indefinitely,' per report

Santa Anita Park officials, according to the Daily Racing Form's Steve Andersen, canceled racing "indefinitely" at the Arcadia, Calif., track on Tuesday afternoon, further fallout from an above-average run of equine fatalities over the one-mile main dirt surface.

DRF cited Tim Ritvo, chief operating officer of track owner The Stronach Group, and the news came hours after Santa Anita announced the hiring of former track superintendent Dennis Moore as a consultant.

Attempts to reach Ritvo were unsuccessful. The track has not yet issued a formal announcement on the matter.

Per DRF, racing will not be held at Santa Anita through at least this weekend with race cards originally scheduled for Friday-Sunday. Among the stakes expected to be affected are the Santa Anita Handicap (G1) and San Felipe Stakes (G2), a key prep intended to mark the season debut for top 3-year-old colts Game Winner and Improbable.

Tuesday morning, the Ron McAnnally-trained filly Lets Light the Way was pulled up during her workout and found to have a fractured sesamoid. She was euthanized, becoming the 21st equine fatality as a result of racing or training since Santa Anita's meet began Dec. 26.

"Whether it’s in the training or our fault, I don’t think there is one thing you can blame it on," Ritvo told DRF, adding that "it's not good" and that "we’re taking every precaution necessary."

The consultant Moore was primarily responsible for putting in place Santa Anita's current "El Segundo sand" track in 2014. His analysis of the surface will follow that of Mick Peterson, director of the University of Kentucky’s Agricultural Equine Program, who last week peeled back the track and examine sub-surface conditions such as moisture content and soil consistency. 

Petersen deemed the track “one hundred percent ready to reopen” after completing the evaluation. The 20th equine fatality then occurred over the weekend, prompting the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to call for "the track to close immediately to stop this spiral of deaths."

“We’ve had a bad run here, but I’ve been fortunate — haven’t had any problems,” Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert told Horse Racing Nation on Monday. “It’s happening. That’s why I never go on air and talk about it. I’m very superstitious. I don’t want to go out there and then it happens to me.

“...The most important thing is that it’s making everyone more conscientious about sending your horses out there.”