Racehorse drowns in ‘freakish accident’ at Indiana track

ANDERSON, Ind. – A standardbred racehorse drowned during a training session at an Indiana race track in an incident the track’s president called a “tragic, freakish accident.”

“We are truly saddened,” Jim Brown, president and COO of Centaur Gaming said at a meeting of the Indiana Horse Racing Commission Wednesday at Hoosier Park.

Just Dance With Me, a 3-year-old standardbred horse driven by Brett Wilfong of Donovan, Illinois, and owned by the Wilfong family, veered left off the racetrack at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday as a result of a broken bit, Hoosier Park officials said in a statement.

“The racehorse went through the inner racetrack fence, and into an infield pond,” the statement said.

Wilfong was uninjured in the accident. Rescuers were unable to save the horse, which was still attached to its sulky — a lightweight, two-wheeled cart used for racing — before it drowned.

Rick Moore, Hoosier Park’s vice president and general manager of racing, said it is the first such accident at the facility in more than 20 years of operation.

“Horse racing, much like any other racing sport, has its inherent risks that we must continue to keep in mind,” he told the Anderson, Indiana Herald Bulletin.

Moore offered the Wilfong family Hoosier Park’s condolences on their loss.

“In the sport of horse racing, racehorses are very much part of the family and are cared for as such,” he said.

The Indiana Horse Racing Commission was notified of the accident, and an investigation is ongoing, Moore said.

The Anderson, Indiana Herald Bulletin contributed to this story.