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Virtual IFAR Set For April

The International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses will host its sixth forum as a series of two virtual webinars on Apr. 5 and 19 beginning at 12 p.m. BST.

The conference theme is “Many paths – One goal”, and topics to be covered are expected to include traceability, transitioning horses off the racetrack and assessing suitability for other careers, the use of Thoroughbreds in unique careers, responsibility in making end-of-life decisions, and the next generation's perspective on aftercare.

“After the positive feedback from last year's virtual IFAR, our team is excited to host another virtual series that will be easily accessible to anyone who works with or benefits from the Thoroughbred,” said Di Arbuthnot, chair of IFAR. “The theme we have chosen for this year's forum highlights the wide diversity of paths after racing, all with the consistent goal that the welfare of the horse is paramount. The topics assembled will be of interest to all stakeholders in the Thoroughbred industry, and we are assembling an expert group of speakers to discuss these issues.”

Recordings of the events, which are being staged in conjunction with the Japan Racing Association, will be made available on the IFAR website.

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IFAR Conference Concludes With Optimism For Racehorse Aftercare

The 2021 IFAR Conference, held virtually this year for the first time, closed April 27 with praise for the progress that racing has made in the realm of aftercare while acknowledging that continued work is necessary to address animal welfare concerns. Tuesday's webinar was the last of four sessions that were held each Tuesday in April.

The final panel, “Aftercare for Racing Industry Participants: Owners, Breeders, and Trainers,” was moderated by media personality and aftercare advocate Francesca Cumani, who expertly led the discussion and provided rich insights based on her many years of training and handling horses.

Presenters were Dr. Mark Fisher, Kotare Bioethics Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand; Dr. Eliot Forbes, member, IFAR Steering Committee; Tom Reilly, chief executive officer, Thoroughbred Breeders Australia and Aushorse; and Dr. Christopher Riggs, director, Equine Welfare Research Foundation, and chief advisor, Veterinary Science, The Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Reilly talked about horse racing's respected status in Australia but that the industry is still subject to intense criticism, as evidenced by the fallout of a 2019 investigative journalism piece that showed former racehorses being treated inhumanely at an abattoir. The Thoroughbred Aftercare Welfare Working Group was established with the support of industry stakeholders following that video, and the group will soon be releasing recommendations for the industry.

Reilly warned that while “Racing is well-accepted in society, there is a small subset in parliament that is opposed to it. The animal welfare lobby has proved to be incredibly effective.”

Fisher discussed the complexity of the animal welfare debate and that different people view an animal's lived experience differently. He highlighted that perhaps the most important parts of animal welfare are enabling animals to be in their natural environment and ensuring that they are treated with dignity and respect.

Fisher cited that two ways of losing the animal welfare argument with the public are to be reactive rather than proactive and to shy away from building coalitions that include consumers and the public. Keys to public support are being transparent about welfare practices.

“Get your house in order and show it,” he said. “What sort of life do your animals have? How do we know? Can we trust you?”

Riggs' presentation focused on the “one last race syndrome” – to squeeze one more race into a horse before retirement – and the risks associated with that mentality. He also warned of the impact of legal therapeutic medications because they can create a false sense of security as to the state of a horse's joints and should be used judiciously. Riggs called for horsemen to consider all of these factors when contemplating that “one last start.”

Forbes spoke on the aftercare toolkit developed by IFAR, including supply- and demand-based strategies for promoting Thoroughbreds beyond the racetrack. He stressed that aftercare should be a priority for all stakeholders, and a comprehensive aftercare plan includes transition strategies, effective traceability measures, community engagement, advocacy of the Thoroughbred breed, and networking.

“We want to see aftercare structurally embedded in the racing business model of every country and in the heart of every racing participant,” said Forbes. “A caring industry will be a sustainable industry.”

Di Arbuthnot, chair of IFAR, closed the conference.

“We are delighted by the global reception to this year's IFAR Conference,” said Arbuthnot. “All of our speakers and moderators offered valuable insights to share with our audience, and we are thankful for their participation and commitment to aftercare.

“The wide range of viewers who tuned into each of IFAR's sessions indicates the interest from the Thoroughbred industry in prioritizing aftercare on a global scale, and the IFAR team is here to assist jurisdictions who wish to develop or enhance their programs.”

Recordings of all four sessions of the 2021 IFAR Conference can be viewed at internationalracehorseaftercare.com/help-resources/conference-resources/ifar-conference-2021/.

IFAR has previously been held in conjunction with the Asian Racing Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, in February 2020; the European & Mediterranean Horseracing Federation's General Assembly in Oslo, Norway, in May 2019; the Asian Racing Conference in Seoul, South Korea, in May 2018; and the Pan American Conference in Washington, D.C., in May 2017.

IFAR is an independent forum that recognizes geographical and industry differences among racing countries and is designed to enhance Thoroughbred aftercare worldwide. Working with the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities, IFAR will raise awareness of the importance of welfare for Thoroughbreds, improve education on lifetime care, and help increase demand for former racehorses in other equestrian sports. For more information on IFAR, click here.

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IFAR: Traceability The Next Big Task For Welfare And Aftercare Advocates

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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‘People Don’t Know What’s Out There’: Marketing Key To Aftercare Success

The third session of the International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses' (IFAR) virtual conference series concluded Tuesday following speeches on the various paths for Thoroughbreds in different countries at the conclusion of their racing careers. This session was the third in a series of four webinars that compose the 2021 IFAR Conference.

The webinar, “Global Insights on Aftercare (Aftercare Providers, Equine Charities),” was moderated by Donna Brothers, who is part of the horse racing coverage team for NBC Sports in the United States. The list of speakers consisted of Stacie Clark, operations consultant, Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (U.S.); Lisa Coffey, founder and director, Racing Hearts (AUS); John Osborne, director of Equine Welfare and Bloodstock, Horse Racing Ireland; Dr. Ignacio Pavlovsky, veterinarian, owner, and breeder (ARG); and Kristin Werner, senior counsel, The Jockey Club, and administrator, Thoroughbred Incentive Program (U.S.).

Clark and Werner described the path from the racetrack to placement into accredited aftercare programs. They emphasized the importance of these organizations' promoting themselves and communicating to the Thoroughbred industry that they exist so that horse owners are aware of the retirement options for their former racehorses.

“The biggest disconnect that we have is that people don't know what's out there,” Clark said.

According to Werner, “Part of any aftercare program should be the permanent retirement of the horse's racing eligibility. This is accomplished through The Jockey Club's Transferred as Retired from Racing process. This ensures a horse will no longer be eligible to race, while maintaining eligibility for breeding and second careers.”

Coffey's Racing Hearts retrains off-the-track Thoroughbreds for use in equine-assisted therapy and other careers. It is the first charity of its kind in Australia and currently has a waiting list of about 50 clients. Coffey stated that Thoroughbreds are especially suited to therapy due to their willingness to please.

“Horses and other animals offer a genuinely non-judgmental relationship. They have no other agenda other than actually wanting to be with us,” she said.

Osborne indicated that aftercare has become a priority for the Irish Thoroughbred industry relatively recently, as perspectives have shifted from viewing horses as commodities to viewing them as individual, sentient beings. Last year, Treo Eile was founded in Ireland to assist racehorse trainers and owners who wish to rehome and retrain horses once their racetrack careers are complete.

“Ultimately, our catchphrase is that ownership comes with the responsibility to the animal, not just on the glory days but in the dog days, too, where things are not so promising, where the dreams are behind those horses, but the responsibility still remains to look after that horse properly and do what's best for that horse at all times,” Osborne said.

In Argentina, Pavlovsky indicated that Thoroughbreds are in high demand due to their versatility to be retrained in disciplines such as polo, jumping, and pulling carriages. Compared to other jurisdictions, it is much easier to place racehorses in homes following their retirement from racing.

“Today, the welfare of horses is something that we have to be extremely dedicated to and think about,” Pavlovsky said. “Horses are more than our business. They are our way of living.”

The 2021 IFAR Conference concludes 27 April with a final panel, “Aftercare for Racing Industry Participants: Owners, Breeders, and Trainers.” It will begin at 12 p.m. GMT (1 p.m. in the U.K.) and be moderated by Francesca Cumani, horse racing presenter in the U.K. and Australia. Speaking will be Mark Fisher, Kotare Bioethics Ltd, Wellington, New Zealand; Dr. Eliot Forbes, chief executive officer, AniMark Ltd. (AUS), and member, IFAR Steering Committee; Tom Reilly, chief executive officer, Thoroughbred Breeders Australia and Aushorse; and Dr. Christopher Riggs, director, Equine Welfare Research Foundation, and chief advisor, Veterinary Science, The Hong Kong Jockey Club.

The full schedule of webinars, including speakers, moderators, presentation topics, bios, and the link to register can be found here. All sessions are free, but registration is required. Those who attend each session live will be able to ask questions to presenters. A recording of the first three sessions is available here.

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