A horse has died after a race on Friday as part of Black-Eyed Susan Day, an event that occurs in the run-up to the Preakness Stakes. Hit Zero, a three-year Maryland-based thoroughbred, died shortly after making his racing debut during the first race of the day.

Hit Zero was the favorite heading into the Maiden Claiming, which kicked off Friday’s events, but finished last. Shortly afterwards, Hit Zero started coughing, collapsed to his knees and died, per WBAL.

Advertisement

Later on Friday, Hit Zero’s owner, Justin Horowitz, confirmed the horse’s death in a post on Instagram.

“It is with deepest sadness that I have to announce the death of my beautiful horse, Hit Zero. After his debut race today at Laurel Park, he suffered a sudden medical event and passed away. What was supposed to be a dream-come-true day to kick off his career—on my son’s 6th birthday no less—ended in the tragedy that every horse lover fears,” Horowitz said.

In the post, Horowitz said that Hit Zero was named in honor of his 10-year-old daughter Bailey, with the horse named after a cheerleading term for a perfect routine. Per Horowitz, Bailey was at the race track on Friday to watch Hit Zero’s race.

Nick Aldis made a massive announcement ahead of tonight’s episode of WWE SmackDown. This week’s edition of the blue brand will air live from the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina.

Aldis is the General Manager of SmackDown, and he made a huge announcement ahead of tonight’s show. WWE Tag Team Champions R-Truth and Damian Priest were scheduled to battle Talla Tonga and Tama Tonga in a tag team match tonight, but that will no longer be the case.

The SmackDown GM revealed that R-Truth was not medically cleared to compete and would not be in action during tonight’s show. Aldis shared that instead of the planned tag team match, Damian Priest would be squaring off against Tama Tonga tonight in a singles bout. You can check out the veteran’s announcement in his post below.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, R-Truth is not medically cleared to compete tonight, therefore Damian Priest will now go 1-on-1 with Tama Tonga. See you tonight on #SmackDown,” he wrote.

R-Truth and The Archer of Infamy won the titles by defeating JC Mateo and Tama Tonga in March on WWE SmackDown.

Popular WWE star reveals why he doesn’t like Damian Priest’s finisher

The Judgment Day’s Dominik Mysterio recently shared why he didn’t like taking Damian Priest’s finishing move.

Priest used to be a member of The Judgment Day but was betrayed by the faction at SummerSlam 2024. Rhea Ripley was also kicked out of the faction at the PLE a couple of years ago. Finn Balor was also betrayed by the faction earlier this year and went on to defeat Dominik Mysterio last month at WrestleMania 42.

In an interview with GiveMeSport, the former Intercontinental Champion named Priest’s finisher as his least favorite because the bump is very high due to the 43-year-old’s height.

“Probably Damian Priest’s South of Heaven. He’s just so tall, and he gets you even higher up there, so your bump is actually like 10 feet tall. So he’s just, it’s not a fun one for sure,” said Dominik Mysterio.

It will be fascinating to see if Priest can defeat Tama Tonga tonight on WWE SmackDown.