Another horse dies at Santa Anita racetrack, bringing the death toll to 23

Anti-racing protesters outside of Santa Anita Park. — (Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Only two days after Santa Anita Park reopened, another race horse died on the California track, the 23rd since Christmas.

The horse, Arms Runner, fell on a dirt track crossover. Another horse, La Sardane, tripped over him, but was able to get up and had no reported injuries, Santa Anita officials said in a statement. Because of the severity of Arms Runner's injury, he was euthanized.

Santa Anita was shut down March 3, due to the unexplained horse fatalities on its tracks. It reopened on Friday, although officials still do not know why so many horses have died there. "While this incident happened during competition on a track that has been deemed by independent experts to be safe, we are working closely with the California Horse Racing Board to understand if there was anything additional that we could have done to prevent today's tragedy," the park said in a statement.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.