British Tracks Testing Padded Hurdle for Jump Races

The fall rate since the trials began has reduced to 1.59%, a reduction of 0.5% compared to the 10-year average.
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The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has reported that two additional racecourses—Kelso Racecourse, in Scotland, and Exeter Racecourse, in England—are the latest to join the extended trial of the “One Fit” Padded Hurdle, joining Newton Abbot, Taunton, and Uttoxeter in England, and Bangor-on-Dee in Wales, in using the enhanced hurdle which is designed to be safer for both horse and rider.

The One Fit design is a modified hurdle frame with a custom fitting close-cell foam pad replacing the traditional birch. The hurdle was developed by the BHA’s Senior Inspector of Courses Richard Linley, in consultation with relevant industry bodies, with the objective of reducing both the fall rate and the risk of injury as the result of a fall.

The BHA launched a trial of the new hurdle at Newton Abbot in 2013 and the design has subsequently been rolled out to further courses in order to collate data about the impact that the new design has on safety of both horse and rider, and gather participant feedback. Since the inception of the trials, refinements have been made to the shape of the pad and the hurdle frame based on this data and the feedback received.

The fall rate over the hurdles since the trial began in June 2013 has reduced to 1.59% (56 falls from 3,525 runners), which represents a reduction of 0.5% compared to the 10-year average number of fallers across all hurdles. This would represent a reduction of around 90 to 100 fewer fallers on average each year if the hurdles were to be rolled out across all British courses

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