The California Horse Racing Board released its annual report on Tuesday, covering the fiscal year revenue of 2021-2022 and the California horse racing through the calendar year of 2022.
CHRB chair Dr. Gregory Ferraro lauded the efforts of the executive director Scott Chaney and deputy executive director Cynthia Alameda for their cooperation with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority on racetrack safety rules: “The result has been federal regulations that reflect, in large part, that which is already in place here in California.”
Ferraro also praised the CHRB's efforts to improve equine safety and reduce catastrophic injuries on the racetrack.
“In the last three years alone, fatalities have been reduced 54 percent, from 144 in fiscal year 2018-19 down to 66 for the last fiscal year,” Ferraro wrote. “The CHRB website lists dozens of safety initiatives implemented over the years with the cooperation of racetracks, horse owners and trainers, jockeys, and practicing veterinarians.”
He also listed three new regulations under consideration for further prevention of equine fatalities: “The Board is moving to establish a rule for those horses receiving multiple intra-articular injections. A separate rule will require mandatory examinations and greater scrutiny of horses returning to race or train after extended time off, and a third rule will require owners and trainers to inform the CHRB when their horse dies or is euthanized within 72 hours of leaving a facility regulated by the CHRB.”
Two additional safety measures the CHRB supports, Ferraro wrote, will likely be more difficult to accomplish: “Other racetracks are being asked to consider installing extensive video surveillance systems in their stable areas similar to the one already in place at Santa Anita. And given indisputable research findings that a horse's risk of serious injury increases in proportion to the miles of high-speed exercise the horse performs, whether in racing or training, the Board is considering a rule to limit the accumulation of high-speed exercises.”
The entire report can be viewed here: CHRB Annual Report 2021-22.
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