Live racing was canceled for the rest of the week after a horse named Tayyara was euthanized following a catastrophic injury Monday at JACK Thistledown Racino.

NORTH RANDALL, Ohio — It was a devastating scene at JACK Thistledown Racino in North Randall on Monday. 

“Suddenly Tayyara has pulled up. Tayyara is out of the race. She’s broken down,” said the race’s announcer. 

According to Equibase, the official database for the thoroughbred industry, a horse named Tayyara suffered a catastrophic injury and had to be put down. 

“It’s sad, I haven’t seen it that much,” said Jim Catalano, a horse racing fan. “But I’ve been here a few times where it’s happened.”

It was the first racing event at JACK Thistledown Racino since races were cancelled last week “due to the jockeys refusing to ride citing safety concerns regarding the racing surface.” This is according to a post by the Ohio Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association (HBPA).

The HBPA’s executive director said he has no comment on the situation at this time. 

According to the Paulick Report, a horse racing website, Tayyara’s death marks the 10th catastrophic injury to occur at Thistledown since April. 3 News has not independently confirmed that number. 

After Monday’s incident, races were cancelled for the rest of the day. HBPA’s website shows Thistledown management also canceled racing and training for Tuesday. Then, another post said the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and track management called off the races for the rest of the week. 

“I was kind of surprised they weren’t racing today,” said Catalano. 

An HISA spokeswoman sent 3News the following statement: 

After consultation with HISA, Thistledown cancelled racing for two additional days on Wednesday, July 30 and Thursday, July 31. 

The track will be open for training each morning to jog or gallop horses but no works. Ongoing coordination is taking place with Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory (RSTL) to review current track measurements and confirm the track surface is consistent and there are no abnormalities or areas of concern. Once this exercise has been completed to everyone’s satisfaction, full training is expected to resume on Saturday, August 2 and live racing on Monday, August 4.

3News tried to talk to a representative from JACK Thistledown Racino on Wednesday, but the director of security told us no one was available. We also left a message for the assistant director of racing and have not heard back.