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HISA and Palantir Develop AI-Enabled Tool to Help Identify At-Risk Horses

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) has partnered with Palantir Technologies, a leading provider of artificial intelligence systems, to create a data-enabled tool to assist industry stakeholders in identifying horses at risk for injury before they race, according to a press release Tuesday morning from HISA. The tool will generate a daily report for each racetrack, flagging any horses entered in that day's races who may present potential risk factors for injury. This enables identification of at-risk horses with increased efficiency and accuracy and will inform the hands-on pre-race inspections of each runner.

The new tool HISA and Palantir have developed reviews health information and historical entry data to determine whether each horse entered in a race is at increased risk for injury based on various factors. The tool accounts for such risk factors as the length of a horse's previous layoff (if any), term with current trainer, history on the vet's list and other indicators of previous injury or poor performance. The process for evaluating these records for each horse entered in a race had previously taken veterinarians an average of five hours per race. This same review can now be accomplished in a matter of minutes.

“HISA continues to work with leading partners like Palantir to utilize data and technology in its mission to reduce equine injuries and fatalities,” said HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus. “Our hope is that this revolutionary technology is used to more efficiently and accurately identify horses at risk of injury as part of the screening process for determining if they're fit to race. This powerful, AI-enabled tool will streamline and automate a process that had previously taken significant time away from veterinarians' hands-on care of horses. We're excited to be working with the experts at Palantir on this and future initiatives.”

“Palantir is proud to support HISA in its embrace of technology to reduce equine injuries and fatalities,” said Palantir's Head of Global Commercial Ted Mabrey. “HISA came to a Bootcamp for Palantir's Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) this fall and has rapidly scaled its implementation independently. HISA is proving that real world outcomes, in this case equine safety, can be achieved in weeks with the acceleration that AIP and boot camps provide.”

“By leveraging Palantir's technology, HISA is helping to significantly reduce the time it takes to identify horses potentially at risk,” said Steve Keech, Director of Data Usage and Technology Innovation for HISA. “We look forward to rolling this tool out to all racetracks under HISA's jurisdiction. This collaboration with Palantir puts us at the forefront of sports technology, and I have no doubt this partnership will be a game-changer for the safety of equine athletes.”

HISA said they expected to begin using this tool in early 2024. It will send daily reports to racetracks and regulatory veterinarians around the country that will provide them with data and resources .

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Keeneland Catalogs 1,401 to January Horses of All Ages Sale

Keeneland has cataloged 1,401 horses for the 67^th January Horses of All Ages Sale, which will cover four sessions from Jan. 8-11, 2024.

Click here for the catalog, which features broodmares and broodmare prospects, newly turned yearlings, horses of racing age, stallions and stallion prospects.

Print catalogs for the January Sale are scheduled to arrive in the mail the week of Dec. 18.

“The January Sale offers a variety of breeding and racing opportunities at all levels of the market for horsemen who operate domestically and internationally,” Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy said.

“With a selection of quality broodmares and broodmare prospects, the auction will appeal to breeders preparing for the upcoming breeding season. The short yearlings on offer will appeal to pinhookers and end-users alike, and horses of racing age will interest owners and trainers making plans for their racing stables,” Lacy said.

Some of the top offerings in the January Sale catalog include:

• Hidden Connection (Connect), whose five graded stakes performances include a 9¼-length romp in the GIII Pocahontas S. Offered as a racing or broodmare prospect, she is consigned by Hidden Brook, agent.
• Parnac (Fr) (Zarac {Fr}), winner of the GII 2023 Flower Bowl S. and a stakes winner in Germany. Offered as a racing or broodmare prospect, she is consigned by Lane's End, agent.
• Pipit (Quality Road), who won the Victoria S. (L) and was second in the Algonquin S. (L) at 2 this year. She is offered as a racing or broodmare prospect and consigned by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, agent.
• Prank (Into Mischief), who is a half-sister to GI Belmont S. winner Mo Donegal and won her career debut at Saratoga by an impressive 9¾ lengths. Consigned by Gainesway, agent, she is offered as a broodmare prospect.
• Star Act (Street Cry {Ire}) who is the dam of Just F Y I, undefeated winner of this year's GI NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and GI Frizette S. Star Act is offered in foal to Just F Y I's sire, Justify, and is consigned by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, agent.

Each session of the January Sale begins at 10 a.m. ET. The schedule is as follows:

Book 1 – Monday-Tuesday, Jan. 8-9.

Book 2 – Wednesday-Thursday, Jan. 10-11.

The first round of supplements to the entire sale will be announced Dec. 7.

The January Sale will be livestreamed at Keeneland.com.

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Breeders’ Cup Stallion Nominations Due Dec. 15

The Breeders' Cup issued a press release Tuesday reminding that all North American stallion nominations to the Breeders' Cup program for the 2024 breeding season are due by Friday, Dec. 15 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

A $100 initial payment must accompany the nomination form at the deadline.

All stallions standing in North America are eligible to be nominated to the Breeders' Cup program on an annual basis. The nomination fee is equal to the advertised stud fee, but not less than $1,000.

Following the receipt of the initial $100 deposit, Breeders' Cup will send quarterly invoices to the individual nominators through the remainder of the breeding season. New stallions have 90 days from their first cover to be nominated.

All foals sired by a nominated Breeders' Cup stallion are eligible for nomination to the Breeders' Cup program in their year of birth for a one-time fee of $400 by Oct. 15 or by payment of a $1,500 late fee by Feb. 28 of the following year.

A Breeders' Cup stallion nominator will earn Nominator Awards when any of their progeny finishes first through fourth in a Breeders' Cup World Championships race regardless of whether or not those foals were nominated to the program.

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Jockeys’ Guild Underscores Support for Keeping Category 2 Interference Standards

The Jockeys' Guild and its Board of Directors released a statement Tuesday underscoring that the organization has taken the position that the United States should remain under the Category 2 approach for adjudicating potential interference during Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing.

The press release was issued in advance of a panel discussion at Tuesday's Global Symposium on Racing hosted by the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program (RTIP) in Tucson titled “Embracing Change: Are We Ready to Adopt Category 1 Rules In the US?”

The Guild also noted that it plans to “voice opposition” to proposed modifications to that standard that will be up for discussion during the Association of Racing Commissioners International Model Rules Committee meeting Dec. 7.

“While considering this decision, the Guild considered the safety of both the human and equine athletes, as well as fairness for all parties involved,” the release stated. “The Category 2 method provides Stewards with the authority to disqualify a horse if, in their opinion, it interfered with other horses, regardless of whether the interference was accidental, willful, or the result of careless riding.

“Based on experience, the Guild believes that Category 2 provides for some additional safety protections for the riders,” the release continued. “By giving the Stewards the ability to disqualify the horse which has caused the interference, regardless of where the horse finished, it will serve as a deterrent to unsafe riding.

“We, as an industry, have a responsibility to assure safety for both the horses and the jockeys. It is unreasonable to create a racing environment that is potentially going to lead to more hazardous riding styles,” the release stated.

“Additionally, with regards to the fairness of such rules, while Category 1 often protects 'the best horse,' Category 2 rules enable strong advocacy on behalf of all horses and jockeys who suffered interference,” the release stated.

“This is achieved by ensuring that the interferer is placed behind all of the horses who suffered the interference, both directly and indirectly. Using this method provides a safeguard against horses having their finishing position compromised as a result of the interference, and in turn, provides a fairer playing field to all participants, as opposed to just the 'best horse'…

“It should be noted, with the exception of Oklahoma, no other racing jurisdiction in the United States has adopted Category 1 method,” the Guild's release stated.

A pre-symposium summary of the RTIP panel discussion stated that “The conflict of equity and fairness versus heightened consistency in decisions is the heart of the conundrum that surrounds the disqualification policies between Categories 1 and 2.

“While most international racing jurisdictions have shifted away from Category 2, which requires the demotion of a horse for consequential interference if the sufferer of the interference loses a placing, North America remains reluctant to embrace this global approach which only demotes horses when the sufferer would have beaten the interferer.

“In the age of the growing global wagering market, it is imperative for our racing companies to revisit this issue as our domestic bettors have already embraced such practices at events like Ascot, and our new international customers are already accepting of Category 1 disqualification policies,” the RTIP summarized prior to its panel discussion.

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