In a spring at Churchill Downs full of horse losses, where at least nine race or track-trained horses have died since April 27, an ongoing safety initiative in Louisville, Ky., oval Education has provided reason for optimism.
With funding provided by the Kentucky Equestrian Commission, a Washington State University study is underway there using StrideSAFE, a biometric sensing mechanism placed in the saddle that can detect changes small changes in the horse’s gait at high speeds in the hope of identifying the runner at risk before a catastrophic injury can occur. All of the horses are racing against these little sensors during the spring encounter at Churchill Downs, and a smaller group of horses are wearing the sensors for the morning wind.
According to veterinarian Dr David Lambert, while the technology is not yet so advanced to prevent potential injuries from being detected mid-race—such as a jockey being warned to pull up—StrideSAFE and its innovations Other technology has paid off, according to veterinarian David Lambert, CEO of StrideSAFE and trainer Dale Romans.
Speaking May 24 on Show V on ESPN Louisville along with Bob Valvano, Lambert described how sensors were able to find an anomaly in an unidentified horse that, after evaluation with a Positron Emission Tomography scanner at Churchill Downs, showed potential for injury serious accumulation. Churchill Downs is the only racecourse outside of California with a PET machine in place. It is housed in the medical center for recumbent horses.
Romans said the horse was his, and identifying the injury early could mean shorter time on the sidelines in the long run.
“It’s the degeneration of the bone that will become a condyle (fracture),” Romans said on May 25. “I believe we prevented a conduit because either by eye or by driver, you won’t know it until it’s too late.”
Coach Dale Romans pats his horse Howling Time last summer at Monmouth Park
Churchill Downs is not the first track to use the StrideSAFE sensor. They tracked thousands of horses in other states, including in New York and more recently in Arizona at Rillito Park through winter. Rillito reported no horse breakdowns in more than 140 races there during the 18-day season in 2023, although there are many factors contributing to that favorable statistic beyond the use of sensors.
Lambert said at the University of Arizona Racetrack Industry Global Symposium in December that the costs associated with the sensors amounted to about $35 per horse, a figure which he considered “peanuts” but that was not accepted by the racing horse industry.
Dr. David Lambert speaks during the University of Arizona Racetrack Industry Program’s Global Symposium in 2022
According to Lambert, pre-existing pathology is present in the majority of equine deaths and, once the baseline is established with the horses studied, their gait can be classified into three categories based on data. material—red, yellow, and green, like the color of a horse. traffic lights.
Concern about false-positive results—that is, flagging a healthy horse as yellow or red—is a concern among reluctant advocates of the new technology. Romans is one of the few coaches to have announced his use of sensors during morning training, though Lambert said Steve Asmussen and Tom Van Berg have supported the project.
Lambert’s early data showed that 90% of fatal musculoskeletal injuries could be identified from the sensor’s “fingerprint”. Lambert says it’s a misconception that horses “step into the pit” and get injured.
He told Valvano: ‘These animals are gradually becoming vulnerable over a period of 10 to 12 weeks. “We’ve seen cases where a horse can come out of the gate and have a faulty signal, and it can take 70 seconds for the leg to actually break. So it’s ongoing. It’s a slow process. , steady until it goes.”
The devices cannot detect sudden deaths, such as heart attacks. Sudden death is much rarer than fatal musculoskeletal injury.
Two suspicious sudden deaths occurred during Derby Week at Churchill Downs in horses trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., then Churchill Downs Inc. suspended the trainer indefinitely “until the details are analyzed and understood,” CDI president and chief executive officer Bill Mudd said in a press conference. Declaration of May 4.
Veterinarian Will Farmer, CDI’s equine medical director, said Churchill Downs, is under criticism from animal welfare advocates and has suffered from negative publicity following the deaths this spring. , is supporting the StrideSAFE program and other initiatives for horse safety.
While the incident occurred despite using the sensor this spring, officials hope that with the data collected, future injuries can be prevented.
Scaling the StrideSAFE program beyond spring meeting research could be one of several areas CDI officials are addressing in their ongoing safety efforts, along with increasing frequency track surface testing by Dr. Mick Peterson, a track surface analyst and supporting research toward preventing musculoskeletal injuries, Farmer said.
He noted that Churchill Downs was assessed by Peterson on May 23 following the track’s customary pre-meeting checks.
“Ultimately, we all have the same goal: none of us want to see an injured horse on the track—from the casual fan, to the vet, to the journalist. No Who wants to see that. Right now it’s unfortunate that it’s getting attention,” Farmer said. “We feel an obligation and an obligation to help continue our leadership in finding cutting-edge ways to help identify horses at risk and then what we can do to protect them and prevent those horses from getting hurt.”
Dr. Will Farmer is a member of the veterinary team Breeders’ Cup 2021 in Del Mar
Thoroughbreds seem more fragile than in previous eras when horses raced more often and rested less between starts.
Changes in medication, veterinary supervision, track monitoring and cultural changes have contributed to the purebred racing industry having the lowest fatality rate in 2022 at 1.25 deaths per year. 1,000 starts, based on 14 years of data in the Jockey Club Horse Database. Last year, Churchill Downs featured nine musculoskeletal deaths in 6,061 starts, which, according to Kentucky Horse Racing Commission records, has a morbidity rate of 1.48 deaths per 1,000.
Romans calls StrideSAFE’s technological advancements “a great tool to reduce the incidence of serious injuries.”
“Whether we can get it to zero, I don’t know. I’m a bit skeptical about that,” he added. “But if we can get it down to the lowest possible denominator, that would be a great thing.”
