LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) 鈥 Racing will resume at Churchill Downs in September, with no changes being made after a review of surfaces and safety protocols in the wake of 12 horse deaths, including seven in the days leading up to the Kentucky Derby in May.
on June 7 and moved the rest of its spring meet to Ellis Park in western Kentucky at the recommendation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the sport鈥檚 national overseer.
Training continued at Churchill Downs during the track鈥檚 investigation.
Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen called the deaths "a series of unfortunate circumstances鈥 and said the review 鈥渄idn鈥檛 find anything fundamentally wrong or different about our track from previous years.鈥
鈥淭hat, in a sense, can sometimes be unsatisfying,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 business, and that鈥檚 sports.鈥
Two of the horse deaths occurred in undercard races on Derby day. Another five died later.
鈥淭he takeaway is, the track is very safe,鈥 Carstanjen said Thursday on an earnings call with CDI investors.
"What we needed to do was spend some of this time in the interim, while we ran the rest of the (spring) meet at Ellis to just go soup to nuts through every single thing we do at the racetrack. There was nothing that jumped out as an apparent cause of the injuries, of the breakdowns; and, as we went through and rebuilt our processes from the ground up to check everything that we do to make extra sure, we didn鈥檛 find anything material.鈥
The track's fall meet begins Sept. 14 and runs through Oct. 1.
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