By the way.. Equine fatality rate drops to lowest ever

[Kasept]

Equine fatality rate drops to lowest level on record
Matt Hegarty

The fatality rate for racehorses making starts at North American racetracks was 1.53 per 1,000 starts in 2019, according to statistics released on Thursday, the lowest rate since the launch of the Equine Injury Database in 2009.

The 1.53 rate, which includes all surfaces at all distances, is an 8.9 percent drop from the 2018 rate of 1.68, and a 23.5 percent drop from 2009, when fatalities first began being tabulated through the EID. Fatalities are recorded if they occur within 72 hours of a horse suffering an injury during a race.

The decline came during a year in which the racing industry became the focus of criticism nationwide due to a spate of fatalities that occurred during the first three months of the year at Santa Anita Park in Southern California. The rate of fatalities at Santa Anita dropped sharply for the remainder of the year, concurrent with a host of measures the track and state racing commission put in place to better monitor the racing population and tighten regulations on medication.

“The 23.5 percent reduction in fatal injuries since 2009 indicates that the Thoroughbred industry’s commitment to equine safety is paying dividends,” said Kristen Werner, senior counsel for The Jockey Club, which administers the EID.

However, Werner pointed out that the database is still not receiving fatality data from training injuries. The Jockey Club has been pushing for that data to be included, as well as supporting an effort to collect and analyze veterinary records.

“Capturing data from morning training hours at racetracks as well as data related to treatments and procedures would greatly improve the precision of our risk models, increasing the ability of racetrack personnel to identify horses at risk even before they hit the entry box,” Werner said.

Once again, the data showed that the fatality rate on artificial surfaces is well below that of turf and dirt, at 0.93 per 1,000 starts. Dirt surfaces had a 1.60 fatality rate in 2019, while turf surfaces had a 1.56 rate.

Although the dirt rate was the lowest recorded since 2009, the turf rate was a significant increase over the 1.20 rate in 2018.

“The number of starts on turf has been trending upward, and this increase in fatalities likely indicates a set of risk factors unique to turf racing may be driving the result,” said Dr. Tim Parkin, an epidemiologist who analyzes the data for The Jockey Club. “Understanding the factors that contribute to increased risk of fatality is a continuous pursuit, one that would benefit tremendously from reporting data on injuries to horses that occur during morning training hours.”

Data from the EID has been used to identify risk factors for horses, and those risk factors generate flags on racing-office software that is used by regulatory veterinarians to subject certain horses to greater scrutiny during pre-race exams, or scratch the horses outright.

Although the reporting of fatalities is voluntary, The Jockey Club said that racetracks representing 99 percent of all races run in 2020 are expected to contribute data to the EID this year. The data does not include steeplechase races, which make up a small portion of the overall races run in the U.S.

Tables detailing categories of fatality rates can be found at The Jockey Club website.