The proposed strategic plan that came out of last month’s Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit is one of those documents or white papers that most likely will land in one of two places: the Thoroughbred industry’s dust-gathering burial ground of so many other good ideas; or the hands of a leader with the energy, influence, and personal commitment to make a difference.

The plan gives hope there are things that can be done, substantive actions that can take place, to help strengthen the Thoroughbred breed and reverse the multi-decade trend toward shorter racing careers, fewer starts per year, increasing injury rates, and high-profile fatal or career-ending injuries to horses like Barbaro in this year’s Preakness Stakes (gr. I) and Pine Island and Fleet Indian in the Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Distaff (gr. I).

The actions can be as simple as regulators enacting a ban on racing plates with toe grabs, equipment that research has suggested can lead to a higher incidence of injury. They may be as complex as development of a microchip “medical passport” for all Thoroughbreds that will document every veterinary procedure, injury, and treatment a horse receives throughout its life.

There is a twofold purpose for taking the summit recommendations to heart. First, and most obvious, is the responsibility owners, breeders, and the industry at large have to the animals themselves. Simply put, we owe it to the horses that give us so much joy or contribute to our economic well being. Secondly, many of the recommendations will help serve the public relations requirements of an industry whose commitment to protecting its equine and human participants is called into question after every high-profile injury