Kentucky Derby death being investigated as a homicide

A dead body found just after the Kentucky Derby at a Churchill Downs barn is being investigated as a homicide, the Associated Press reported. 

The man, identified as Hispanic, may have been injured in an altercation just hours before he was discovered by a track security officer shortly before 5 a.m., Alicia Smiley, a Louisville Metro Police spokeswoman, told the Louisville Courier-Journal. Smiley told reporters that there was no connection between the man's death and the 138th annual Derby.

The body was found in a barn used by Louisville trainer, Angel Montano Sr., about 150 yards from where Derby winner I’ll Have Another was kept, according to the AP. 

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Montano did not have a horse in the Kentucky Derby, which was attended by a record 165,000 spectators, the AP reported. 

The victim was not an employee of Churchill Downs, and police are trying to determine whether he worked for a trainer and what the motive was for the killing, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. 

Marc A. Guilfoil, deputy executive director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, told the Courier-Journal the victim was a groom for trainer Cecil Borel, but Borel could not confirm Guilfoil's account.

"I've got one groom who's missing, but I don't know exactly where he's at," said Borel, whose brother Calvin has won three of the last five Derbys, CNN reported. 

“Upon investigation it became clear that foul play was involved,” Smiley told reporter. “It’s an active and ongoing investigation." 

The results of the autopsy are expected to be announced tomorrow, according to Bloomberg. 

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