Reform Horseracing Now!

Barbaro has awakened the public to both the joys and perils of thoroughbred horse racing. The tragedy of Barbaro is not and will not be seen as an anomaly. The recent reports of 7 deaths in 7 days at Del Mar and 25 racehorse breakdowns at Arlington Park in just 61 days have made this glaringly apparent.1 These particular fatality rates are running >5 times higher than the already stunning national average of over 1 death per 1,000 race starts. This is at least 800 deaths per year and over 2 per day nationally.2 We believe that the horse racing industry has the obligation to make racing safer and saner for all horses, their connections and the public.

Yes, Thoroughbreds are born to run. Some Thoroughbreds, not all, love what they do. We as an industry are not doing enough to insure quality of life and protection of our equine athletes from fatal/career ending injuries. This industry is in a crisis and has done very little to bring about change. It becomes increasingly obvious on a daily basis that this industry is FOCUSED ON PROFIT over human/equine interests and it is the human/equine athlete that puts on the show and brings in the money. These atrocities of late can no longer be ignored. The repeated breakdowns, the repeated drug positives of big name trainers who get slapped on the wrist and continue to train at the expense of many others, the flawed training surfaces, the unsound and drug induced sires sent to the breeding shed, all must stop now.

We the undersigned are requesting the following changes:

1) THE IMMEDIATE IMPLEMENTATION OF A NATIONAL, PUBLICLY AVAILABLE DATABASE THAT REPORTS RACING AND TRAINING INJURIES AND DEATHS. Several states and most nations involved with horse racing already have such a reporting system in place. The Equine Racing Injury Reporting System was briefly in use in the mid-1990s in the U.S and must be reinstated.3 This could easily be instituted with records being kept through Equibase or collected as before by the American Association of Equine Practioners (AAEP). The data collected must include injury and death rates for both races and training at all tracks. The national data should be published monthly (in both hard copy and on-line) for easily accessible public review.

2) A RE-EVALUATION OF CURRENT DRUG TESTING POLICY AND SANCTIONS FOR VIOLATORS. Fines and suspension length must increase and multiple violators should be banned from the sport. A 3 strikes" policy should be adopted. If a trainer is caught with a Class I, II, III drug positive 2 times then they will have their licensed revoked and suspended for a minimum of 1 year on the third drug positive. This policy should also include sanctions for veterinarians who are implicated in the administering of banned substances or attempts to skew test results.

3) RESTRICTIONS ON THE NUMBER OF TIMES HORSES CAN RACE PER YEAR. Limitations of on the number of races per month should be immediately set for all horses. In particular, horses entered in claiming races should be limited to no more than three races per month and mandatory retirement at age 8.

4) AN INDUSTRY-WIDE MANDATE FOR THE INSTALLATION OF SYNTHETIC SURFACES AT ALL EXISTING TRACKS. Plans should be made for the conversion of all tracks to synthetic surfaces with a timetable indicating how this will proceed in a timely manner.

5) A SERIES OF INDUSTRY-WIDE POLICES THAT PUTS HORSE AND RIDER SAFETY BEFORE PROFITS. This includes a policy of independent veterinarians to examine all horses at the track, bone density tests for all registered horses, and a ban on racing horses under the age of 21/2.

6) REAL COMMITMENT ON THE PART OF THE RACING INDUSTRY TO FUNDING RETIREMENT FOR RACEHORSES. All tracks should contribute a percentage of the daily mutual pool to a retirement fund. In addition, all tracks across the US should hold an annual stakes race named in honor of Ferdinand or Exceller and contribute the entire mutal pool to a retirement fund.

The need for these changes is well-documented, and they have been widely discussed in horse racing circles and among fans for years. It is long past time for the horse racing industry to instititute these sensible and relatively simple reforms to improve horse racing for the public, those employed in the industry most importantly for the horses.

NOTES
1) http://www.chicagotribune.com/search/dispatcher.front?page=1&Query=arlington\%20park\%20track&target=article; http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/delmarraces/20060727-9999-1n27delmar.html, http://opinions.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=34352; http://watchingpolitics.com/?p=2210
2) http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=2&aid=101750; http://opinions.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=33797; http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA052106.1A.dying.racehorses.7e1a7e5.html
3) http://www.ivis.org/proceedings/aaep/1997/Mundy.pdf; http://www.ivis.org/proceedings/aaep/1997/Wilson.pdf