And yet Santa Anita’s problems are hardly isolated. The horse deaths here have put a bull’s-eye on the sport and focused unwanted attention on other racing circuits that are having, or have had, deadly race meets.

Nearly 10 horses a week on average died at American racetracks in 2018, according to the Jockey Club’s Equine Injury Database. That figure is anywhere from two and a half to five times greater than the fatality rate in Europe and Asia, where rules against performance-enhancing drugs are enforced more stringently.

At Belmont Park in New York, home of the Belmont Stakes, there have been seven fatalities because of injuries over the past 18 race days — four in afternoon racing and three in morning training hours. On Friday, the Keeneland fall meet, an elite and highly anticipated race meeting in Lexington, Ky., will open amid heightened anxiety after a troubling rash of horse fatalities in its spring meet.

Keeneland had four race-related deaths — three on dirt and one on turf — over the course of its 16 racing days, for a rate of 3.12 fatalities per 1,000 starts, or almost twice the national average.

California has adopted some of the most aggressive drug and safety reforms in the nation, but the death of Emtech on Saturday is likely to give fuel to skeptics who wonder if the track has gone far enough to create a safer environment and whether the members of the California Horse Racing Board are up to the task of policing the sport. Earlier this month, The New York Times revealed that the 2018 Triple Crown champion, Justify, had failed a drug test before the Kentucky Derby, but that those regulators secretly decided not to pursue any punishment.