As the sports world turns its attention to the Kentucky Derby (G1), the focus will include questions about the races’ safety records, the industry’s efforts to ensure the health of competitors and the The integrity of the race began many months ago.
During an April 23 conference call, a representative from the Horseracing Safety and Integrity Authority noted that approximately 150 out-of-competition tests have been conducted on this year’s Derby runners and other athletes. Potential Derby runner. And, the information from those trials is just the tip of the iceberg for a sport that sees the potential of data in providing a path toward improving horse safety.
As the sport looks to bounce back from a problematic 2023 Churchill Downs spring racing in which dozens of horses die while racing, training, or preparing to race before the race is moved Ellis ParkHISA officials and its enforcement agency, the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit, on Tuesday outlined advances being put in place to protect horses during Derby week and beyond.
This will be the first Derby week in which HISA has overseen anti-doping efforts and controlled drug regulation, as it launched ADMC on May 22, 2023. This will be the second year that HISA has overseen Derby week. Monitor the safety of horses and riders in this sport.
HISA director of equine safety and welfare Jennifer Durenberger said HISA collects 4,700 treatment reports a day and has more than 2 million on file. Artificial intelligence is being used to examine this aggregated data in an effort to identify horses at risk of injury, including among competitors in this year’s Kentucky Derby (G1) and throughout the week Derby at Churchill.
Dr. Jennifer Durenberger
HISA says there will be a significant amount of information available about every horse that will compete during Derby week. That information, collected through the HISA portal, can be used to identify horses in high-risk categories, helping on-site veterinarians focus their efforts. Not only is the information available to veterinarians, but because HISA is nearly national in scope, it is collected in a similar manner across the country. That ensures consistency from the point of collection onwards.
“For the first time, HISA brings to the industry a centralized online database of horses and the people involved in the sport,” said Durenberger. “Our portal allows managing veterinarians in any jurisdiction to access equine medical records and other important information for their review of the horse’s health history. “
Officials note that while the average sports fan is increasingly interested in racing this time of year, it is important to note that on a daily basis, horses are benefiting from HISA and industry efforts. For example, veterinary records on confirmed horses will travel with the horse to new connections to help ensure continuity of care.
Durenberger notes that because some safety advances have been made in these areas at larger tracks in recent years, smaller tracks have lagged behind in these efforts — sometimes not at all. funded — are benefiting the most.
“We believe that the interventions implemented under HISA’s track safety program have had a positive impact,” said Durenberger.
Those advances were shown in the year-end numbers. Despite problems at Churchill last spring, horse mortality in 2023 fell at HISA tracks to 1.23 per 1,000 starts — an improvement over the industry’s record year in 2022 it will be 1.25. Last year was the sport’s first full year under HISA and 2022 is its first partial year under HISA.
“We were able to identify 44 potential risk factors and create a model that essentially looks at every race card in the United States that falls under HISA’s jurisdiction on a daily basis,” said HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus. “It assigns each horse a numerical risk factor. We are currently beta testing it with a group of veterinarians who are working with us and providing us with feedback that is being provided to Churchill Downs to be one of the tools they can use.” uses our sophisticated veterinary team and their practices to help determine whether any Derby Day horses are at risk of injury.”
Also of note:
- Lazarus said early numbers show improved safety in the first quarter of 2024.
“I can’t give you specific numbers right now, because we’re still conducting our data quality control at the end of the quarter, but we certainly look better than last year, I pretty confident about that,” Lazaro said.
- HISA director of track safety Ann McGovern noted that Churchill had added material to the dirt surface before this meet and had invested in new equipment to bring it back to fruition.
“Based on our pre-race assessment that HISA performed on every track before the start of the season, the metrics were much improved compared to last year. When I say ‘much improved,’ the Last year’s Churchill siding was in very good shape but it could be improved even more with additional materials and additional equipment.”
(In the coming days, BloodHorse plans a full report on these and other track changes at Churchill aimed at improving safety.)
