HORSE RACING
SITUATION
Equine Death Rate at tracks continues Decline in 2021
Only a slight decline in fatality rate from 2020
Industry powers claim 98% of Racing without a fatality
3 & 4 year old horses are most vulnerable to injury & death
SOLUTIONS:
Ultimate solution would be stop racing horses under 5 years of age;
Change to racing on Dirt track surfaces — are the safest.
Racing officials claim positive changes in last 3 years are working.
More support is needed for the technologies that can detect injuries
Use of artificial intelligence to reduce the amount of time for injury analysis.
Use of & need for anesthetics when scanning horses,
CHRB to expand the restrictions on medications to two weeks before a race
More authority to go after problematic trainers;
STATS:
1.39 or 1,000 vs 1.42% in 2021
Equine Injury Database (EID) shows decrease in rate of fatal injury in 2021
(1.39 per 1,000 starts) compared to 2020 (1.41 per 1,000 starts),
Risk of fatal injury in 2021 declined 1.4% from 2020
And has dropped 30.5% overall since 2009.
Racetracks reported 1.24 racing fatalities per 1,000 starts
Versus 1.50 for the 58 non-accredited tracks that raced in 2021
SOURCES :
“Horse Death Declining” – https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/equine-fatality-rate-continues-decline-dips-slightly-in-2021/
