Whatever they’re doing to fix the Santa Anita racetrack, it does not appear to be completely working. Arms Runner, a five-year-old gelding, had to be put down Sunday after severely injuring his front right leg in a fall on Santa Anita’s turf track, according to the Los Angeles Times. He is the 23rd horse to die at the racetrack since the start of the season on Dec. 26, 2018, a span of 95 days. For reference, 44 horses died at the track all of last year. The root cause of the spike in deaths is still not known. Despite numerous safety changes, it still only took two days after Santa Anita's reopening for a horse to die. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) What went wrong at Santa Anita As the Times describes it, the incident appeared to be a random occurence on a dirt portion of the turf track: The accident occurred in the feature race of the day, the Grade 3 $100,000 San Simeon Stakes, a 6 1/2-furlong turf race that starts at the top of a hillside and has a crossover point on dirt. The spill happened just as the horses were about to re-enter the turf portion of the course. It appeared that Arms Runner injured his right front leg. Most worryingly, this death occurs only two days after Santa Anita proudly reopened its doors and announced the changes it had made for the safety of the horses. Santa Anita had announced sweeping safety changes Among the changes announced were the ban of race day medication with the exception of the diuretic Lasix, the use of which was also restricted by 50 percent. Other protocols implemented included transparency of veterinary records, approval for workouts, a commitment to purchase state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment for identifying pre-existing conditions before they become injuries, and a continuous review of the racetrack’s dirt and turf surface. A ban on jockeys cropping their horses for anything other than a “a corrective safety measure” was also passed, though it could be some time before that is enacted due to regulations. Per the Times, 62 horses raced Friday and 84 raced Saturday without incident. Thousands of timed workouts also went by without fatalities. Story continues Those changes were made after Santa Anita cancelled all races indefinitely after its death toll hit 21 earlier this month, though another horse has died during limited workouts since then. Despite the step in the right direction, Santa Anita’s reopening was still met with protest, and those voices are likely to only get louder now. More from Yahoo Sports:<doc-sep>The Associated Press ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita has canceled racing indefinitely to re-examine its dirt surface after the deaths of 21 horses in the last two months. Tim Ritvo, chief operating officer of The Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that racing won’t be held this weekend, when two major races were scheduled: the San Felipe for 3-year-old Kentucky Derby hopefuls and the Santa Anita Handicap for older horses. Ritvo wouldn’t speculate on when training and racing would resume. After this weekend, races were to be run again starting March 14 at the storied racetrack that will host the Breeders’ Cup world championships for a record 10th time this fall. “In whole, we feel confident in the track and we’re just being very proactive,” Ritvo said. “We want to do all the testing that needs to be done. When we believe we’re in good shape, we’ll start to train over it again.” The "Daily Racing Form" first reported the cancellation. The latest fatality occurred during training on Tuesday, when a 4-year-old filly got injured and was euthanized. “Obviously, one horse is too many,” Ritvo said. “The recent rash is just horrible. We need to definitely take a step back and evaluate everything.” Santa Anita received 11½ inches of rain and had unusually cold temperatures in February, but it’s unclear whether track conditions played a role in any of the fatalities. The National Weather Service was forecasting 1 to 2 inches of rain in Los Angeles County starting overnight Tuesday and into Wednesday. “We think that (rain) could definitely contribute even though our experts are telling us not,” Ritvo said. “The tracks out here are built not for weather like that.” Ritvo said officials are “a little bit concerned” with the latest impending storm and how the dirt surface can change from muddy to fast in a short time. Besides re-examining the dirt track, Ritvo said all racing protocols would be looked at. “We won’t rush it,” he said. “Everybody takes a deep breath.” Ritvo was uncertain whether the San Felipe and Santa Anita Handicap would be rescheduled. “Those are huge races,” he said. “We hope so.” Seven deaths have occurred during races on the dirt oval at Santa Anita since the track’s winter meet began on Dec. 26. Five have occurred on the turf course and nine came during training on dirt. The highest-profile horse to be euthanized was Battle of Midway, winner of the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. The 5-year-old bay also finished third in the 2017 Kentucky Derby for Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. The horse suffered injuries during a workout on Feb. 23. KENTUCKY DERBY 2019:Here are 10 horses to watch Last week, Santa Anita was closed for two days while the dirt surface underwent extensive testing and was declared fit for racing. Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally said 4-year-old filly Lets Light the Way “took a bad step or something” on Tuesday. He said the injury was a shattered sesamoid in her right front leg. Sesamoid bones provide anchor points for the two branches of the suspensory ligament. The bones are under stress each time a horse takes a step. Lets Light the Way was X-rayed and later euthanized. “I think the weather has a lot to do with it,” said McAnally, whose wife, Debbie, owned the filly. “Santa Anita has been a wonderful track, and they’ve done all kinds of tests,” McAnally said. “I don’t know what else they could do. It’s a fluky thing.” Also Tuesday, Vyjack was pulled up after completing a five-furlong workout, according to trainer Phil D’Amato. The graded stakes-winning 9-year-old gelding was taken off the track in a van. But D’Amato told the "Daily Racing Form" that Vyjack “took a couple of funny steps” and was OK. The number of deaths has drawn both concern and criticism. A handful of animal-rights activists gathered outside Santa Anita’s main gate on Sunday, carrying signs and shouting. “The first and most important thing is the health and welfare of the horses and jockeys,” Ritvo said. In 2017, 20 deaths occurred among a total of 8,463 starts over a span of 122 racing days at Santa Anita, according to the most recent figures compiled by The Jockey Club. There were 1.61 deaths per 1,000 starts in the U.S. in 2017, according to the most recent figures from the Equine Injury Database, compiled by The Jockey Club. That was a slight increase in the rate of fatal injury compared with 2016, when there were 1.54 deaths per 1,000 starts. The deaths were more frequent on dirt surfaces (1.74 per 1,000 starts) than on turf (1.36). Santa Anita was closed for two days last week while the dirt surface was tested. Mick Peterson, a soil and safety expert brought in from the University of Kentucky, proclaimed the track “100 percent ready” to resume racing. Peterson said radar verified that all of the silt, clay and sand, as well as the moisture content, were consistent throughout the track. Its dirt surface was peeled back 5 inches and reapplied. Since Peterson’s comments, two horses have died, including McAnally’s filly. The 86-year-old trainer is one of the most respected in horse racing and has won three Eclipse Awards as the nation’s outstanding trainer. Lets Light the Way had one win in four career starts and earnings of $18,500, according to Equibase. She last raced Feb. 2 at Santa Anita. McAnally purchased the filly for $15,000. The other death occurred Saturday during the third race when 4-year-old filly Eskenforadrink was in the lead. Jockey Geovanni Franco pulled her up with an injury to her front leg. The filly was taken off the track and later euthanized. Track officials announced Tuesday that a former track superintendent is returning immediately to Santa Anita as a consultant on site as “a precautionary measure with regard to the condition of the one-mile main track.” The consultant, Dennis Moore, worked in Arcadia from 2014 until retiring Dec. 31. He currently holds the same position at Del Mar and Los Alamitos racetrack in Orange County.<doc-sep>Another racehorse died Sunday at California’s Santa Anita Park, raising the death toll there to 23 since Christmas, officials said. The fatal injury came two days after racing resumed at the thoroughbred track with new rules aimed at improving horse safety. The horse that died in Sunday’s race, Arms Runner, suffered a fatal injury after colliding with another horse at a dirt crossing, park officials said in a statement. The second horse, La Sardane, walked back to her barn with no reported injuries, they said. “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,” park officials said. The rash of lethal accidents at Santa Anita, about 20 miles northeast of Los Angeles, began in late December. Racing was suspended there on March 3. Officials have said they weren’t sure why so many horses were breaking down. Rules regulating the use of whips and medication were introduced earlier this month. The advocacy group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which has called for a criminal investigation of Santa Anita’s trainers, called the new rules a “watershed moment” and urged other race tracks to adopt similar guidelines.<doc-sep>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.<doc-sep>
Another horse has died at Santa Anita Park, the prominent Southern California racetrack, becoming the 20th reported dead there in about two months. The horse suffered an ankle injury while leading the pack at a race on Saturday, just two days after the track reopened after closing for a soil inspection. The 4-year-old filly, named Eskenforadrink, had to be euthanized. "We love these animals. We don't send them out there thinking something bad is going to happen, and it's stressful," trainer Bob Baffert told ABC Los Angeles station KABC. Park officials told KABC on Sunday racetrack conditions were good and that 390 horses completed workouts from Thursday to Saturday without incident, but that didn't stop animals rights protesters from showing up to the track and railing against the "ongoing danger to horses and riders from dangerous racing practices." Santa Anita Park closed its main track in Arcadia, about 17 miles northeast of Los Angeles, for four days last week to evaluate the soil and determine if recent rainfall had contributed to the spike in deaths. Eskenforadrink is the 20th horse to die since the track's winter season began Dec. 26. "This is unusual. It does happen though -- it's called statistical clustering -- but we always take it seriously," Mick Peterson, director of the University of Kentucky's Agricultural Equine Programs, told KABC. "This is not an acceptable number of catastrophic injuries." Experts said the unusually wet winter could have contributed to the deaths, but animal rights activists, including PETA, have alleged the horses are overworked. "Twenty dead horses is 20 too many, and the only responsible action is for the track to close immediately to stop this spiral of deaths," PETA said in a statement. Peterson and Santa Anita Park track Superintendent Andy LaRocco tested soil samples and deemed the main track "100 percent ready" for racing and training last week. "The ground-penetrating radar verified all of the materials, silt, clay and sand, as well as moisture content, are consistent everywhere on this track," Peterson said in a statement Wednesday. "This testing ensures all components, the 5-inch cushion, pad and base, are consistent and in good order." Officials said the horses died after suffering various fractures, and at least one had a heart attack, KABC reported. Necropsies are being done to determine exact causes of death. ABC News' Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.