Summit for Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Held at Keeneland

Lexington, KY–The 2022 Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit was held Wednesday, June 22 in the Keeneland sales pavilion. The event was presented by The Jockey Club and the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation.

“This was the tenth edition of the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit,” said Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation's President Jamie Haydon following the event. “It's really astounding to think that we couldn't measure how many horses had died on the racetrack when we started this, and now not only are we presenting risk factors nationally, but we heard veterinarians also giving local risk factors. Since the first summit until now, the safety and welfare of our human and equine athletes is the guiding principal and stays the guiding principle. To see over a 30% decrease in fatality rate tells me that we've come together and we've done a lot of work.”

The full video of the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit will be available to watch on the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation's website on Thursday, June 23.

Equine Injury Database Update, 2-Year-Old Fatality Spike in 2020

Dr. Tim Parkin, the Head of Bristol Veterinary School and a member of the Equine Injury Database Scientific Advisory Committee, provided the most recent findings from the Equine Injury Database.

Parkin reported that since the database was launched over a decade ago, annual fatality figures on all racing surfaces have reduced by 30.5% from a high of 2.1 per thousand starts in 2009 to less than 1.5 in 2021. In addition, fatality risk has reduced by 35.6% since 2009 for dirt racing specifically.

Parkin also presented findings on data collected in 2020, when there was a 43% increase in fatal injuries in 2-year-old compared to 2019. With the increase in fatalities, there was a decrease in the overall number of workouts by 2-year-olds due to the impacts of COVID and an altered racing schedule.

“It is interesting to see that while we saw a similar, less pronounced training disruption in older-aged horses, we didn't see an impact on their risk of fatal injuries,” Parkin noted.

Along with the conjecture that the disruption in training may help explain the increase in fatal injuries, Parkin said they found that later in the year as racing resumed to a more normal schedule, 2-year-olds workouts suddenly increased–presumably in an attempt to compensate for a lack of training earlier in the year. He noted that this could have been another contributing factor leading toward the spike in fatalities.

Parkin also discussed recent findings on sudden deaths in racehorses. Since 2009, the database has recorded a 30.6% drop in the risk of musculoskeletal fatal injury, but only an 18% drop in risk of sudden death in the same period.

“A decrease in breakdowns suggests that risk factors have been identified and people are starting to develop interventions for musculoskeletal injuries, but those same risk factors haven't had the same impact on sudden death,” he explained.

While the percentage of overall fatalities due to sudden death was between 5 and 6% in 2009, in several recent years, sudden death has accounted for over 10% of overall fatalities.

“Probably the reason why people are talking more about sudden death, apart from potential high-profile cases, is that because of the reduction in the overall contribution of musculoskeletal injuries to the total number of fatal injuries, the proportion of horses that are dying due to sudden death is rising,” Parkin said.

One potential risk factor for sudden death, according to Parkin, could be the use of Lasix. Their data has shown that use of race-day Lasix increases the risk of fatality by 62%, with a 0.08% incident of sudden death per thousand starts with horses raced without Lasix and a 0.13% incident per thousand starts with horses treated with Lasix.

“The reason why this has not been identified before is purely due to statistical power,” he said. “When you have more than 95% of starts being made on Lasix, it is very difficult to identify a difference between those racing on Lasix and the very few that are not. We now have a sufficient number of years of data related to sudden deaths in the database to enable us to draw these conclusions.”

Dr. Bramlage Examines Advantage of 2-Year-Old Racing

Internationally-recognized equine surgeon Dr. Larry Bramlage of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital spoke on recent findings relating to the racing and training 2-year-olds. Bramlage is a strong advocate of training horses as juveniles.

“2-year-olds are right at the end of their growth period,” Bramlage explained. “During their growth period, their skeleton is replete with the blood supply and cell population to build bone. It doesn't make any sense to let that totally atrophy until this horse is a 4-year-old, because then you have to build it all back. You want to pick up that support system and convert it from growth to adaptation to training.”

Bramlage evaluated findings examining the most effective methods for building up bone in racehorses. He said that one important aspect of equine physiology is that while bone trains to the level of work, the cardiovascular system trains to the amount of work. He used the example of interval training. While the high-intensity exercise benefits humans, whose limiting factor is the cardiovascular system, he said the same form of training is not as effective for horses.

“Horses can't take that amount of training,” he said. “Their heart and lungs are so good that they just pass the skeleton. The limiting system is always the skeleton in the horse. The best training episode will have a furlong in it that's a little faster than the other furlongs. That shows the horse where they're going to go next week when they breeze.”

Bramlage connected this idea to what may have caused the increased 2-year-olds fatality rate in 2020. During the first half of the year, with few race dates on the horizon, most trainers were only galloping their 2-year-olds. Bramlage said that once racing started up again, trainers may have squeezed breezes together in a tighter time period with a higher intensity.

“What that does is we've now wound up the engine at a much higher level than we've wound up the undercarriage,” he said. “Since the heart, muscle and lungs train to the amount of training, not to the level, if you're just galloping at the same speed, the bone is not making much adaptation. When you ask it to adapt in a short period of time, you compound the problem of the faster breezing schedule with the fact that the heart, lungs and muscle are more mature than the skeleton is. The horses could go faster, but the skeleton wasn't as prepared.”

Regulatory Veterinarians' Perspectives and Looking Toward Racing's Future

In a session focused on equine safety and welfare from a California perspective, Dr. Dionne Benson, the Chief Veterinary Officer of 1/ST Racing, and Equine Medical Center surgeon Dr. Ryan Carpenter discussed the many changes California racing has made since the publicized series of breakdowns at Santa Anita in the spring of 2019.

Medication reform, private veterinary exams, additional race day monitoring and risk assessments prior to races and works were among the major implementation that Benson said has bettered their program and improved the safety and welfare of their horses. Since September of 2019 at Santa Anita, 7,400 unique horses have been examined and over 21,000 pre-work exams have been conducted.

“We just finished a six-month meet at Santa Anita and had three fatalities in racing,” Benson said. “I think it's working. It's certainly a team effort. It's not just the veterinarians. It's the trainers, the owners and the private veterinarians. The one thing that impresses me the most is that we really have changed to a culture of safety out there. Very few people will take that one last shot and enter that horse to get one last race whereas at other tracks, we tend to see that more aggressive attitude. I think there is a conscious effort to put the horse first there.”

Later in the day, a regulatory veterinarian panel was moderated by Dr. Mary Scollay-Ward, the Executive Director and COO of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium. Participants included Prairie Meadows' Dr. Jaclyn Bradley, Churchill Downs Equine Medical Director Dr. Will Farmer, and the Minnesota Racing Commission's Chief Commission Veterinarian Dr. Lynn Hovda.

Scollay asked the three veterinarians a series of prompts centered around how their jobs have evolved since they first started out in the industry.

“One of the unique aspects of my role is that I deal with multiple racing jurisdictions,” Farmer said when asked of the most challenging aspect of his position. “For me to really be in the weeds in each of those jurisdictions, that's why I see the usefulness of HISA to be able to bring some of that together. I have four racing jurisdictions and every one of them is different. As regulatory veterinarians, our biggest challenge is communication.”

Later in the day, KEEP Foundation's Equine Education Coordinator and Amplify Horse Racing President Annise Montplaisir, who served as MC for the summit, moderated a panel on the importance of welfare and safety to youth entering the Thoroughbred industry. Participants discussed why the younger generation places a greater emphasis safety and welfare and shared their thoughts on practical tactics individuals in the industry can use to promote racing to young people.

Also during the summit, a panel was held on the latest updates with equine wearable technology. TDN's Dan Ross recaps the segment here. Other topics throughout the day included jockey wellbeing and fitness, positron emission tomography, an update on racing surfaces testing, and Keeneland and The Thoroughbred Training Center's use of InCompass Solutions.

Biographies of participants, agendas and additional material from the summit can be found here.

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Welfare and Safety Summit To Return To Keeneland

The 10th Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit will take place June 22, 2022, in the Keeneland Sales Pavilion, the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation announced Feb. 28. The previous summit, held in June 2020, was a virtual webinar due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The event will be free and open to the public as well as being streamed online. The agenda will include a review of the Thoroughbred industry's implementation of safety recommendations developed at the first summit in 2006 as well as a presentation by Dr. Tim Parkin on the latest statistics from the Equine Injury Database. The full program and list of speakers will be announced at a later date.

“This year marks 16 years since the first Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit, and our 10th edition of this event will showcase the progress our industry has made during that time as well as areas of safety and welfare that continue to require our attention,” said Jamie Haydon, president of Grayson. “Keeneland has been a committed partner with us from the beginning, and we are thankful for their hospitality as well as their recognition of the importance of the summit to the Thoroughbred industry.”

Added Keeneland President and Chief Executive Officer Shannon Arvin: “Keeneland is a firm believer in promoting the safety and welfare of our human and equine athletes. The accomplishments of the previous summits are a testament to the value of this gathering, and Keeneland is proud to support it.”

Among the major accomplishments that have evolved from the previous nine summits are the Equine Injury Database; the Jockey Injury Database; the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory; a uniform trainer test and study guide; the racing surfaces white paper and publication of educational bulletins for track maintenance; the publication of stallion durability statistics; the Hoof: Inside and Out DVD, available in English and Spanish; protocols for horses working off of the veterinarian's list; recommended regulations that void the claim of horses suffering injuries during a race; and inclement weather protocols.

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Thoroughbred Safety Committee Revises Recommendation For Voided Claims

The Jockey Club Thoroughbred Safety Committee (TSC) announced today a revision to its recommendation titled, “Timing of Title Transfer with Claimed Horses,” which regards voiding claims of horses injured during a race. The TSC first announced a recommendation for voided claim rules at the 2012 Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing.

The revision calls for enabling a claim to be voided by the claimant if the claimed horse is placed on the official veterinarian's list due to the horse's exhibiting signs of unsoundness, lameness, or epistaxis within one hour of the race's being declared official.

“Research by Dr. Tim Parkin, head of Bristol Veterinary School and a consultant on the Equine Injury Database, indicates that racetracks that enforce void claim rules have significantly lower incidences of racing fatalities per 1,000 starts when compared to tracks without void claim rules,” said Matt Iuliano, executive vice president and executive director, The Jockey Club. (The full presentation by Dr. Parkin on the subject can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Aa2_inAgU&t=2s).

The full text of the void claim recommendation revision, as well as the complete list of recommendations by the TSC, can be found at http://jockeyclub.com/default.asp?section=Advocacy&area=14.

The TSC was created in May 2008 to review every facet of equine health and to recommend actions the industry can take to improve the health and safety of Thoroughbreds. The committee convenes to review myriad safety issues with a cross section of industry representatives, including jockeys, trainers, veterinarians, chemists, pedigree experts, handicappers, owners, breeders, blacksmiths, racing commissioners, racetrack executives, and geneticists.

Committee members are Craig R. Fravel (chairman), Dr. Rick Arthur, James G. (Jimmy) Bell, Dr. Larry Bramlage, Dell Hancock, Jim Lawson, Christopher J. McCarron, Dr. Hiram C. Polk Jr., Tom Robbins, and Jaime Roth. Each is a member of The Jockey Club.

The Jockey Club, founded in 1894 and dedicated to the improvement of Thoroughbred breeding and racing, is the breed registry for North American Thoroughbreds. In fulfillment of its mission, The Jockey Club, directly or through subsidiaries, provides support and leadership on a wide range of important industry initiatives, and it serves the information and technology needs of owners, breeders, media, fans and farms. It founded America's Best Racing (americasbestracing.net), the broad-based fan development initiative for Thoroughbred racing, and in partnership with the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, operates OwnerView (ownerview.com), the ownership resource. Additional information is available at jockeyclub.com.

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Equine Fatality Rate Lowest Since Record Keeping Began

According to the Equine Injury Database, released Monday, there were 1.41 fatalities per 1,000 starters at North American racetracks in 2020, the lowest number recorded since The Jockey Club began compiling injury rates in 2009. The number of fatal injuries declined by 7.8% from 2019 and 29.5% overall since 2009, when the rate was 2.0 per 1,000 starters.

“Overall, there was an 8% decrease in the risk of fatal injury from 2019 to 2020,” said Dr. Tim Parkin, a veterinary epidemiologist. “Since 2009, risk has declined by 29.5% or equivalent to 140 fewer horses sustaining a fatal injury while racing in 2020 than would have occurred had there been no change in risk since 2009. We will dig deeper into the numbers in the coming months to better understand trends in the 2020 data.”

There was also good news out of Santa Anita, which reported six deaths for the year for a rate of 1.17. Just a year earlier, in 2019, when the breakdowns at Santa Anita were making headlines and giving ammunition to animal rights activists, there were 20 deaths for a rate of 3.01 per 1,000 starters. The 2020 numbers at Santa Anita were the lowest since 2009 when the main track was a synthetic surface.

“The continuing reduction in equine fatalities is due to the collaborative effort of the industry stakeholders and regulators putting the safety of the horse first,” said Aidan Butler, COO of racing for The Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita. “This has been a significant culture change and, while it has required much adjustment from a lot of different parties, this modernization will allow for the sport's future. There is still some work to be done to ensure that  horses in every jurisdiction receive the same opportunity for intervention and injury prevention.

“We are thrilled to be on the low end and back to where we've been historically,” said Dr. Dionne Benson, the chief veterinary officer for The Stronach Group. “This year we are seeing another decrease in our numbers from last year and we are optimistic that we will continue to improve. At Santa Anita, there has ben a complete culture change when it comes to how everyone views racing. It's from the trainers to the jockeys to the racing office to the veterinarians. It has become a culture of safety.”

Once again, synthetic tracks proved to be the safest surfaces among the three surfaces used for racing. The fatality rate on synthetics was 1.02 per 1,000 starters, a bit better than the 1.27 number recorded on turf. The number for dirt tracks was 1.49.

The injury database also revealed that sprint races are more dangerous than route races. The fatality rate for races run at more than a mile was 1.22. It was 1.35 for races run between six and eight furlongs and 1.66 for races shorter than six furlongs.

The Jockey Club report did reveal one area of concern. The breakdown rate in 2020 was highest in 2-year-old races, with 1.69 fatalities per 1,000 starters. That was higher than the numbers for 3-year-olds (1.57) and 4-year-olds and upward (1.29). In all other years between 2009 and 2019, the 2-year-old number was the lowest among all age groups.

Del Mar led the way when it came to the sport's safest tracks. It had just one fatality in 2020 from 3,417 starters. The rate of 0.29 breakdowns per 1,000 starters was best among all tracks holding meets of one month or longer. Keeneland came in a close second with one fatality in 2020 from 1,989 starters or 0.50 fatalities per 1,000 starters,

“Over the past three years, there has been an extremely dedicated safety effort by everyone involved with racing at Del Mar–our owners, trainers, jockeys, regulators, staff and others,” said Del Mar President Josh Rubinstein. “And we have seen a positive change in our culture. There is still more to be done, and we will continue to laser focused on the safety and welfare of our equine and human athletes.”

Kristin Werner, senior counsel and administrator of the EID, said the work to further reduce the numbers continues.

“Although we are thrilled to see improvement in the numbers from 2020 and commend the racetracks and regulatory authorities in their efforts to reduce injuries, other areas require closer study,” she said. “The recording of additional data through tools like the Electronic Treatment Records System and the Management Quality System of the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory will give regulators, racetracks, and researchers a better understanding of horse health and racetrack safety, allowing for additional scrutiny and research aimed at preventing injuries.”

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