Last year, four days after Christmas, a 3-year-old filly named Blazing Amanda broke from the gate in a race at Golden Gate Fields in Albany. It was her fourth race in two months, and her 11th that year.

As she rounded the last turn of the race, her left front cannon — the long, thick bone between knee and hoof — shattered, piercing the skin and tearing tendons and ligaments, according to racetrack and necropsy documents obtained by this news organization. Other bones fractured and destroyed the fetlock joint, an equine version of the human wrist.

Blazing Amanda was euthanized on the track.

Complete article: Not just Santa Anita: At Golden Gate Fields and other tracks, horses are dying and horse racing is in crisis