The Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit ended Tuesday (Oct. 17) in Lexington, Ky., after more than 40 participants worked together to draft action plans in six areas to improve conditions in the Thoroughbred industry. The six areas were Education and Licensing; Racing Conditions/Racing Office; Research; Health and Medical Records; Racing Surfaces/Shoeing/Hoof Care; and Breeding Practices.

Specific recommendations included the following:

• Research, develop, and publish additional statistics that will provide insight into the durability and longevity of progeny of breeding stock.
  
• Make efforts to have scientific research more widely distributed among industry stakeholders.
  
• Examine the use or ban of certain horseshoes, such as toe-grabs, in the wake of presentations and research by Dr. Sue Stover and other summit participants.
  
• Develop a uniform on-track injury reporting system for horses and humans.
  
• Provide continuing education for all horsemen, exercise riders, and farriers, and make initiatives like the Groom Elite program more available throughout the country.

According to Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation president Ed Bowen, there also were recommendations concerning medication. They will be passed along to the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC).

“It would be a redundancy of effort because they are making such progress,” said Bowen of the decision to let the RMTC direct the medication effort. “It seemed like the most efficient use of manpower. We don’t want to get in the way.” He added that the recommendations involved “continuing to expand the knowledge of which medications should be used