An analysis of statistics compiled by the Equine Injury Database (EID) for a two-year period shows a slight decline in the number of catastrophic injuries to Thoroughbred racehorses during that time, officials said Dec. 15.

Based on an analysis of 754,932 starts collected from Nov. 1, 2008, through Oct. 31, 2010, the prevalence of fatal injury declined to 2.00 per 1,000 starts compared with the 2.04 rate reported in March for the one-year period from Nov. 1, 2008-Oct. 31, 2009.

Tim Parkin, BSc, BVSc, PhD, Dipl. ECVPH, MRCVS, a veterinarian and epidemiologist from the University of Glasgow who has been involved with the EID for more than a year, performed the analysis for The Jockey Club. Parkin said the change in the fatality rate stemmed from data that revealed a statistically significant difference in the prevalence of fatality on both turf and synthetic surfaces versus dirt; the difference in the prevalence of fatality between synthetic and turf surfaces was not statistically significant.

According to the analysis for the two-year period, the catastrophic injury rate per 1,000 starts on dirt was 2.14; on turf, 1.74; and on synthetic surfaces, 1.55. For the first one-year period, the fatality rate per 1,000 starts was 2.14 for dirt, 1.78 for turf, and 1.78 for synthetic surfaces