U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) has penned a letter, co-signed by 15 bipartisan supporters, urging the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority to launch an investigation into the equine deaths at Churchill Downs earlier this month.
In a statement on May 6, the Authority already indicated it has been in “constant communication” with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission as it looks into the recent spate of fatalities and also that HISA initiated its own investigation.
Blumenauer's letter, which was distributed to media May 19, makes note of figures from the Equine Injury Database showing that between 2009 and 2021 some 7,274 Thoroughbred fatalities have occurred on American racetracks. Blumenauer urges the Authority to make the findings of any investigation public, and encourages the group to review the horses' necropsies and medical records — which has been a standard part of mortality reviews in Kentucky for years and is spelled out in the existing HISA racetrack safety rules.
The letter asks the Authority whether it is “planning to expand its investigation to consider a holistic perspective which examines how breeding techniques, equine medicine, and training practices contribute to horseracing deaths.”
A response to the letter is requested within 60 days. A copy of the letter is available here.
The letter was co-signed by Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IN), Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa), Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill), Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Tex), Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Rep. Donald Payne, Jr. (D-N.J.), Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.), Rep. André Carson (D-IN), Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill), Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev), Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex), Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md), and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn).
Blumenauer is the co-chair of the bipertisan Congresional Animal Protection Caucus alongside Buchanan. According the animal welfare page on his website, he has been part of efforts to ban private possession of primates, condemning the removal of endangered species protections from the gray wolf, and to permanently ban horse slaughter.
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