Identifying At-Risk Racehorses a Priority

As the North American Thoroughbred industry continues its quest to lower the catastrophic breakdown rate, it is actively pushing the need to identify at-risk racehorses, even if the effort makes stakeholders uncomfortable.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

As the North American Thoroughbred industry continues its quest to lower the catastrophic breakdown rate, it is actively pushing the need to identify at-risk racehorses, even if the effort makes stakeholders uncomfortable.

The two-day Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit kicked off July 8 at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky, with a two-hour presentation on using data to keep racehorses safe. Though statistics might be the foundation, the discussion exposes a need for cultural changes within the racing industry. It's now widely known that preexisting conditions in racehorses can be a telltale sign of breakdown risk. It appears, however, the message gets lost in the translation.

"We need to dispel the myth of inevitability (of catastrophic injuries)," said Mary Scollay-Ward, DVM, equine medical director for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. "When we have acceptance without objective analysis, we have complacency."

In speaking about Kentucky's mortality review program, Scollay-Ward said those involved are becoming more cooperative, if not appreciative, in determining the cause of racehorse fatalities. In response to questions she acknowledged that horse owners and grooms don't participate in the reviews, but said that could change as the program evolves

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Tom LaMarra, a native of New Jersey and graduate of Rutgers University, has been news editor at The Blood-Horse since 1998. After graduation he worked at newspapers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania as an editor and reporter with a focus on municipal government and politics. He also worked at Daily Racing Form and Thoroughbred Times before joining The Blood-Horse. LaMarra, who has lived in Lexington since 1994, has won various writing awards and was recognized with the Old Hilltop Award for outstanding coverage of the horse racing industry. He likes to spend some of his spare time handicapping races.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

How much time do you usually spend grooming your horse?
440 votes · 440 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!