Jackie Thacker, the trainer who opted to euthanize grade I winner Monzante, said he made the call when it was apparent the gelding was in a state of suffering following a breakdown in a July 20 claiming race at Evangeline Downs Racetrack & Casino.

"You could tell he was in a lot of pain," Thacker said of Monzante, who he claimed for $10,000 in May 2012 at Evangeline from previous owner Christine Hardy. Thacker said Monzante had suffered an injury to his right front sesamoids, the small bones located at the back of the fetlock.

"We still don’t know if he stepped on the back of his own foot and that caused it, or if it was another horse," he said.

While the state veterinarians who initially examined Monzante following the incident determined the horse was "salvageable," they also made Thacker aware of the seriousness of the gelding’s injury