Trainer Commits Suicide After Promising 2-year-old Breaks Down

Thirty-seven-year-old conditioner Monique Snowden appears to have committed suicide Sunday, hours after her promising 2-year-old trainee The Chilli Man broke down at Emerald Downs and was euthanized, Daily Racing Form reports. The Chilli Man romped by 11 1/2 lengths in his June 26 debut, and was 2-5 in Sunday's Emerald Downs Express S., but was pulled up and vanned off after sustaining a bilateral sesamoid fracture. Owned in his first two starts by Nelson Family Racing, The Chilli Man was to be sold to East Coast-based owners Dean and Patti Reeves after Sunday's race and transferred to trainer Kathy Ritvo. The Reeves and Ritvo traveled to Emerald for Sunday's race, and Patti Reeves later tweeted, “We were so excited to ship The Chilli Man to Saratoga…never expected this.” Snowden, whose husband Dennis is an assistant to leading local trainer Frank Lucarelli, is believed to have jumped off a bridge, and her car was found nearby. According to Equibase statistics, her trainees have made 193 starts since 2009, giving her 31 career wins and $326,664 in earnings.