A demonstration is scheduled for Saturday evening outside Los Alamitos Race Course after a 2-year-old filly became the 13th horse reported to have died from racing or training injuries at the Cypress track this year. The protest is set to coincide with the track's annual Halloween Carnival, which features games and pony rides.
MyNewsLA.com reported that the filly, Soo Bronx, died from injuries suffered at Los Alamitos. The official race chart cited by MyNewsLA.com described her as having been bumped early in the race, taking a bad step at the five-sixteenths pole, pulling up and then being taken away by equine ambulance. Horseracing Wrongs reported that Soo Bronx had made its ambulance report after taking the bad step in the second race Saturday, and that the California Horse Racing Board later confirmed she had died.
Orange County animal-liberation activists are planning to gather in front of the Cypress track from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, according to the MyNewsLA report. The same report notes the demonstration was also organized with involvement from Los Angeles Animal Defense League activists. Organizers intend to protest both the high number of horse deaths at the track and its pony rides, the outlet reported.
A Death Toll That Keeps Climbing
Soo Bronx's death pushed the 2026 count at Los Alamitos to 13 racing or training deaths, per the seed report, following a string of recent losses. As of an Oct. 13 report, the station's reporting put the figure at 12 racing or training deaths for the year. Just two days earlier, an 8-year-old horse named Empressum had been identified as the 11th horse to die from a racing or training injury at Los Alamitos in 2026, the outlet noted at the time.
The pace of deaths has been uneven across the year. Earlier reporting from Patch found Los Alamitos had recorded seven racing or training deaths by the time of its report, compared with 19 such deaths across all of 2025. That 2025 total of 19 racing and training deaths, drawn from California Horse Racing Board data, has become the benchmark against which this year's toll is being measured.
Part Of A Statewide Pattern
Los Alamitos is not alone in seeing an uptick. Reporting from The Mercury News found that a third racehorse death in an eight-day span at Santa Anita had pushed the combined 2026 total across Santa Anita, Los Alamitos and Del Mar to 26 fatalities in racing and training through Sept. 26. That figure exceeded the 2021-25 average of 22.6 deaths for the same stretch, according to the same report. Santa Anita's own count of 14 deaths through that date was double what the track recorded over the same period in 2025, the Mercury News reported, and by Oct. 13 the Southern California track had reached 15 horse deaths from racing or training injuries for the year.
Carnival Games Go On As Planned
The protest is timed to coincide with the track's own Saturday night event. Los Alamitos Race Course planned its annual Halloween Carnival for Saturday evening, Oct. 24, according to The Event News Enterprise, with more than 25 games for children, pony rides, a football toss and a photo booth. The event was also set to include a costume contest with cash prizes across seven age divisions, per the outlet's reporting. Admission was set at $3 for adults, while children 17 and under were to be admitted free, the publication reported.
Los Alamitos officials did not respond to a request for comment about the protest, according to the MyNewsLA report.
