Two Horses Die at Del Mar after Racing Injuries

Two Thoroughbred horses were euthanized at Del Mar Racetrack on Sunday after catastrophic fractures to their front leg racing on Saturday and Sunday. Four-year-old colt Cornucopian and three-year-old filly Can You Dream are the first two deaths at the Del Mar Racetrack in its 2026 season started on July 17th.

"Can You Dream, a 3-yr-old filly trained by Rafael DeLeon, sustained a left front fetlock injury on the backstretch of Sunday’s 8th race & was euthanized due to the severity of the injury.” https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/07/26/del-mar-notebook-gold-phoenix-wins-eddie-read-stakes-cornucopian-euthenized/

Tom Ryan of lead owner SF Racing wrote in a 10:44 a.m. PDT post on X. “Yesterday our brilliant colt Cornucopian sustained a catastrophic injury. We worked very closely with our veterinary team, and after hearing every expert opinion available, the kindest and clearest decision was to let him go with dignity. He was a brilliant colt with a huge heart and a partnership and fan base that loved him dearly. RIP.”

Memorial YouTube video for Cornucopian, including the Bing Crosby Stakes on Saturday in which he was mortally injured: https://youtu.be/hyAfs7kzVps

These two horse deaths represent the economic range of the horse racing industry, with Cornucopian injured in the $400,000 Bing Crosby Stakes and Can You Dream injured racing for the third-cheapest of the day at $31,000 with the second-cheapest Claim (purchase) price at $16,000 (Race 8/Sunday).

Cornucopian was purchased as a yearling for $1.1 Million by one of the top U.S. Thoroughbred racing partnerships, was trained by top U.S. trainer Bob Baffert and was raced eight times earning $465,655 for it since March 2025. Can You Dream was a California-bred raced 18 times starting in May 2025 earning $45,620 for her owners and trainer Rafael DeLeon.

Cornucopian is at least the 85th horse to have died in trainer Bob Baffert’s care since 2000: The Washington Post reported in June 2021 that 74 horses died in Baffert’s care since 2000, based on CA Horse Racing Board data; since then, Eight more horses have died in his care per the CHRB; plus Baffert trainee Havnameltdown died racing on Preakness Day in 2023; and his two-time Grade 1 winner in 2022, Cave Rock, was widely reported to have died in August 2023 in North San Diego County.

Can You Dream’s trainer Rafael DeLeon has no horse fatalities listed by the CA Horse Racing Board, which displays deaths in California since 2020: https://www.chrb.ca.gov/veterinary.html

No legitimate sport would tolerate the deaths of 24 of its athletes in 28 weeks of competition in just one state, California, much less two in just two weeks at only one venue, Del Mar Racetrack. 

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