Homeboykris dies after win; Pramedya euthanized after breaking leg

In a tragic start to Preakness day, two horses died after racing at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

Homeboykris had rallied to win the day's first race by a half-length on a rainy Saturday. After having his picture taken in the winner's circle, he collapsed and died on his walk back to the barn. Track officials believe the 9-year-old gelding suffered cardiovascular collapse.

Pramedya was euthanized on the track after breaking her left front leg during the fourth race of the day, Pimlico racing officials said. She broke down around the turn and tumbled to the ground as jockey Daniel Centeno was thrown to the turf.

Centeno was driven off in an ambulance. Officials said he broke his right collarbone.

Pramedya was owned by Lael Stables, which also owned Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, who broke his leg during the 2006 Preakness Stakes. The injury ultimately led to Barbaro's death eight months later.

"It's ironic, right?'' Roy Jackson, owner of Pramedya, told The Associated Press. "It was tough to watch.''

Homeboykris won the Champagne Stakes in 2009 and a year later finished 16th in the Kentucky Derby. Joe Torre, then the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, was a co-owner at the time.

Homeboykris had just won his 14th race in 63 career starts and fourth in six races. The horse will be taken to New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania for an autopsy.

"You never like to see that happen,'' Maryland Jockey Club President Sal Sinatra said. "Little different instances -- the first one, he actually won the race and on his way back collapsed. So he'll go for a necropsy. The other horse, he was handling the turf well and I don't know what happened. I had my inspectors check it out, and everybody's fine with that (the turf).

"And of course, Barbaro's connection with it makes it worse,'' he added.

In a statement, PETA called for the horses' owners to release their veterinary records and what medications the horses had taken in the past two weeks.

"Studies -- and our own investigations -- have shown that most breakdowns and deaths occur because horses have pre-existing injuries that are masked by the excessive use of legal medications. We want to know if that is what happened in the cases of Pramedya and Homeboykris," PETA senior vice president Kathy Guillermo said. "We have been advocating for no medications to be administered to horses in the two weeks before a race so that if a horse is sore or ill, the track veterinarian will be able to detect it. In today's racing drug culture, at least three horses are dying every day on U.S. tracks. The foolish use of muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatory drugs, and other medications must end now."

ESPN senior writer Dana O'Neil and The Associated Press contributed to this report.