The Clinton E. Phipps Racetrack has temporarily closed to allow the St. Thomas/St. John Horse Racing Commission to investigate whether racing surface conditions contributed to the injury and euthanasia of three horses in December, the V.I. Sports, Parks, and Recreation Department announced Friday.
The department stated in a press release that the surface will be inaccessible to trainers and jockeys until further notice, but the stables will stay open.
The closure is part of an investigation the district Horse Racing Commission announced last month after Sports, Parks and Recreation issued a press release acknowledging the fatal injuries. The department also shared a letter from the commission stating that they reviewed the injuries and consulted with veterinarians, jockeys, trainers and track personnel.
“Several factors have been identified that may have contributed to the events, including pre-existing injuries, the age and overall health of the horses, the ease and availability of medication used by owners, and the condition of the racing surface,” according to the letter.
Commission Chair Hugo Hodge Jr. told the Source Friday that the track would likely be closed for two or three weeks and noted that the track itself is the Sports, Parks and Recreation’s responsibility.
“But the thought process is, while we do the investigation and do the inspection of the surface, you might as well do the maintenance … right now,” he said.
Hodge said the commission is also looking into whether anti-doping policies played a role in the horse deaths as well as the horses’ ages and whether or not they were sound to race.
“There’s information that one of the horses — it was told by more than one vendor it shouldn’t race anymore,” he said. “So those factors will be examined in that process, and then something will come out afterwards.”
The St. Thomas racetrack was closed for years following the 2017 hurricanes, and racing only returned to the island in early 2024 — just in time for the Governor’s Cup during Carnival. Lawmakers in the 35th Legislature had suspended the territory’s anti-doping regulations nearly a year earlier, in April 2023. A subsequent effort to repeal that suspension, introduced by Sen. Franklin Johnson, failed months later.
Hodge said the Dec. 22 race day was particularly bad, but it wasn’t the first instance of a horse being euthanized since races resumed.
“It very well may be six [horses] since the track opened,” he said Friday. Hodge said that the laws were suspended mostly for logistical reasons because the racetrack was still being restored, and a lab facility to drug test horses was still under construction. That facility is expected to be finished sometime in 2025, he said.
With the Clinton E. Phipps Racetrack’s temporary shuttering, the territory is once again without a single operational venue for horse racing, despite years of effort and investment. Progress has been particularly slow on St. Croix, and Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. lambasted Randall “Doc” James Racetrack developer VIGL during his seventh State of the Territory Address in January, saying they have neither “the wherewithal, nor the resources, to rebuild the track.”
Bryan also announced that the V.I. Justice Department had initiated a civil action against the developer for breach of contract.
VIGL responded in a press release the developer has “always had the clear intention to develop RDJ racetrack into a world-class facility that can provide lasting benefits to the community and return sanctioned horse racing to St. Croix.”
“Since taking on our racing projects we have invested over $19 million dollars [sic] into restoring and improving racing in the United States Virgin Islands,” according to the statement. “Most recently we spent nearly $500,000 to repair the barn roofs at RDJ. Additionally, we completed the first phase of resurfacing the racetrack just this past Sunday.”
VIGL is slated to appear before the V.I. Casino Control Commission Feb. 19 to request a six-month license extension to begin construction of the racetrack’s casino.
