A horse running the Miss Preakness Stakes on Friday collapsed and died on the Pimlico Race Course track -- the same place 13 horses are set to race Saturday in the 2019 Preakness Stakes.

As reported by the Associated Press, the news has since been confirmed by the Stronach Group, which owns and operates the track. A necropsy will be performed.

Pimlico was packed Friday for Black-Eyed Susan Day, and the course's sizable crowd saw Congrats Gal, a 3-year-old Florida-bred filly, finish the Miss Preakness Stakes, an annual Grade III stakes run for female horses. About 100 yards past the finish line, however, Congrats Gal fell to the dirt and received attention from veterinarians before being transported off the track via ambulance and confirmed dead.

There were several indications that something may have been wrong beforehand. As the AP reported, the horse "faltered in the upper stretch" of the race and was "eased to the finish line." Congrats Gal's jockey, Trevor McCarthy, said the filly also felt hot walking under 83-degree weather on the track before the race, but a medical team apparently told him she was "clearly sound ... nothing's broken or anything like that."

The Miss Preakness Stakes had been Congrats Gal's sixth career race. Her death comes almost exactly a month after animal rights activists demanded the closure of Santa Anita, another Stronach Group-owned track, in the wake of 23 horse deaths at the course either through training or racing since December 2018.