Churchill Downs’ Failure to Disclose Horse Deaths Prompts PETA Warning to Shareholders

For Immediate Release:
August 19, 2025

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Ahead of Churchill Downs’ September 11 opening day for its fall season, PETA today sent a letter to the company’s top institutional shareholders warning them that the track is on its way to becoming one of the deadliest in the country, yet appears to have kept this fact hidden from shareholders.

Stewards’ reports list only five deaths in 2025, with two more reported by media, including Valley of Fire, but insiders tell PETA that at least 13 horses have died racing or training at Churchill Downs or on its training track—a number that the company has so far failed to disclose.

PETA, which owns a small amount of stock in Churchill Downs Inc. in order to bring issues concerning horses directly to shareholders and the board, also points out that shareholder prices fell in 2023 following the deaths of 12 horses in the weeks surrounding the Kentucky Derby that year. As one financial analyst wrote at the time,”[I]investors may want to be cautious of its stock until the smoke clears surrounding health and safety concerns for horses at its venue.”

The company acknowledges it has failed to identify the cause of the fatalities, and the numerous measures it claims to have put in place have not prevented the reported spiral in the death toll.

“Churchill Downs cannot keep its shareholders in the dark and must account for the inexplicable reason why its preventative measures fall short of the regulations and requirements implemented in California, which has drastically reduced the number of deaths in recent years,” says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. “It’s a disgrace that the home of the world’s most famous horse race and one of the wealthiest racing companies in America can’t keep its involuntary ‘athletes’ alive.”

PETA also points out in the letter that among the three top racing states—Kentucky, New York, and California—only Kentucky fails to post racing and training deaths publicly.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.