Horse traceability will be key to improving Thoroughbred aftercare and welfare in the coming years, according to global experts on the subject who gathered for a recent panel of the 2021 International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses.
Aidan Butler, chief operating officer for 1/ST Racing and owner of four off-track Thoroughbreds (OTTBs) himself, said that inventory control will be a critical part of The Stronach Group's aftercare strategy going forward. Now that horses are microchipped, Butler said it will be easier for track ownership to verify identities when they enter and exit track premises. Previously, not only was it difficult to verify horses' identities, but whatever gate records existed were on paper, and Butler said there was often a delay in that information being transmitted to officials. The Stronach Group is working on a software program called Racehorse 360, now in beta testing, which will give the racing office direct access to data taken at the gate, as well as allow the office to see which stall a particular horse is kept in and provide alerts when a horse leaves the property.
Butler also said that funding mechanisms are critical to the success of aftercare, pointing out that Stronach Group tracks host fundraiser days, work with horsemen to match per-start contributions to aftercare funds, provide mutuel machines that give horseplayers the option of a donation to aftercare, and also keep on-track aftercare liaisons to help trainers place horses that are ready for retirement.
The Stronach Group has also struck partnerships with nearby equine hospitals to help provide surgery or other salvage medical procedures in cases where an owner or trainer can't afford it. The goal in those cases is to help a horse suffering a major injury in racing or training become sound and able to do some kind of second career, even when returning to the track isn't going to be an option.
“There is no need and no point anymore in people not taking all of the offers we have and all of the abilities for aftercare,” said Butler.
Of course, improved traceability for horses would make all of these efforts easier, and the need for better traceability is something racing officials in other countries have also struggled with. Through the years, many American equestrians have pointed to the European equine passport system as a potential solution to better identify horses and inform subsequent owners about the horse's health and history. The passport is meant to contain information about a horse's registration status, identifying markings, vaccination history, catalogue for public sale, and race history. Simon Cooper, director of the Weatherbys General Stud Book, says however that the passport system has not done much to improve Thoroughbred traceability.
“The biggest problem I have is paper,” said Cooper. “Paper disappears. Paper is not on a database. For 250 years, we've been tracing our horses using paper.”
Cooper is often asked about the whereabouts of a particular Thoroughbred; while he can sometimes pull up their information in a few minutes, there are other times when he finds a horse has fallen off the regulatory map. He pointed out one case of a horse whose papers were turned in to his office by a slaughterhouse in another country. Three different sections of the passport were clearly faked, missing embossing, holograms, watermarks, and more. Additionally, the marking information didn't match the horse who'd arrived with the passport, making Cooper question which horse had actually been sent to slaughter, and where the horse was whose identity matched the paper passport.
There is now a push to digitize paper passports to provide regulatory and sport authorities with real time data on horse movement and health information. Cooper points out however that there will still be certain types of information that isn't necessarily recorded digitally under current guidelines. A horse's private sale, transition to a new career, a spell or rest, or time with a pinhooker/breaking farm are all likely to happen without a check-in from a regulatory authority that would appear on a digital passport. Filling in those gaps is crucial to keep a horse from falling off the radar.
Cooper said that the new digital passport will also include GPS location for a smart card to be kept with a horse's identification papers, but the stud book can only require that for Thoroughbreds in active careers as breeding horses.
To harness the power of digital passports for Thoroughbred aftercare, Cooper said racing authorities will need to issue new requirements for owners, mandating notification through the digital passport smartphone app of a horse's retirement, vaccination, movement, ownership changes, and death.
Catch the full replay of the IFAR session below.
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