ARCADIA, Calif. - An outstanding weekend of racing came to a tragic end early Saturday evening at Santa Anita when Mongolian Groom suffered a catastrophic injury to his left hind leg during the running of the Breeders’ Cup Classic and was subsequently euthanized. A statement from Breeders’ Cup Ltd. said Mongolian Groom was attended to by an expert team of veterinarians led by board certified veterinary surgeon Dr. Ryan Carpenter immediately after sustaining his injury. And that given the extent of the injury, Carpenter, in consultation with several other veterinarians, including attending veterinarian Dr. Vince Baker, recommended the humane euthanasia of Mongolian Groom. “The death of Mongolian Groom is a loss to the entire horse racing community,” the statement said. “Our equine and human athletes’ safety is the Breeders’ Cup’s top priority. We have worked closely with Santa Anita leading up to the World Championships to promote enhanced equine safety and that the Breeders’ Cup always observes the most thorough up-to-date medication practices and restrictions, testing protocols, equine security and surveillance programs, veterinary exams, injury management protocols and racing surface testing.”   Abel Cedillo, who rode Mongolian Groom, was visibly shaken when walking back to the jockeys’ quarters after the race and declined to comment on the incident. Mongolian Groom raced forwardly placed from the outset of the 1 1/4-mile Classic and was still second as the field approached the stretch before sustaining the injury in the vicinity of the three-sixteenths pole.  Mongolian Groom, who went postward at odds of 15-1 in the Classic, entered the race off an upset victory over McKinzie here five weeks earlier as a 25-1 outsider in the Grade 1 Awesome Again.  Owned by the Mongolian Stable and trained by Enebish Ganbat, the 4-year-old Mongolian Groom had won three races from 16 previous starts for earnings of $579,141. Dr. Scott Palmer, on-call veterinarian for the American Association of Equine Practitioners, commented on the extensive protocols that had been put into place in the weeks leading up to the Breeders’ Cup to best assure the safety of all the horses who participated in the event. “The week has been a very busy week,” said Palmer. “I’ve been involved in racing for almost 50 years and I’ve never seen a group of horses who have been more thoroughly evaluated and scrutinized in the weeks leading up to this race in terms of out-of-competition testing and out-of-competition examinations once they get here. These horses have been examined by a team of up to 30 veterinarians and I’m very, very confident that everything that could have been done in terms of the physical examination was done to this horse. I’m confident there is nothing about this horse that led anyone to believe this was going to happen, or certainly he would have been scratched.” The veterinary team ordered a half-dozen horses entered in the Breeders’ Cup to be scratched prior to the races on Friday and Saturday. Palmer also praised the work track management at Santa Anita has done preparing the racetrack for the Breeders’ Cup. “I think the work that’s been done on the racetrack has been phenomenal,” said Palmer. “We’ve seen great racing here these past few days at Santa Anita, and obviously it’s very distressing when this happens. We’re all very upset about it.  I can tell you I have no question whatsoever the track was in appropriate condition. That whatever happened out there on the racetrack (to Mongolian Groom) was not something that had anything to do with any pre-existing condition leading up to this race.” Trainer Todd Pletcher, whose Vino Rosso won the Classic, and Bob Baffert, the trainer of runner-up McKinzie, had the following comments in the wake of Mongolian Groom’s injury.  “The safety of the horses is something we’re all very concerned about at the end of the day,” said Pletcher. “We were anxious not only about running in these huge races, but also hoping everything would go smoothly and safely. Everyone took every precautionary measure we could.” Said Baffert: “I didn’t see it happen, but you just don’t know what’s going to happen. “He was going at a pretty good clip with McKinzie and they get tired. It’s a very tiring racetrack. It’s unfortunate what happened. We keep them as safe as we can. Something like this is hard on us, you know. It ruins a great moment.”