By Dick Jerardi
When the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) was formed, one of its major goals was to improve horse safety which, even before HISA, was already tracking in the right direction.
The 2024 Annual Metrics Report revealed that, for the first time since the Jockey Club’s Equine Injury Database (EID) began tracking racing-related fatalities in 2009, the national number at HISA tracks (47 in 19 states), has gone below 1 per 1,000 starts at 0.90, a 55 percent decrease from 2009 when it was 2.00 per 1,000 starts and a 35 percent decrease from 2021, the last full year pre HISA. In 2023, it was 1.23 per 1,000 so a 27 percent decrease year over year from 2023 to 2024.
A racing-related fatality is described as a death within 72 hours as a direct result of injury. Non HISA tracks were at 1.76 fatalities per 1,000 starts according to the EID.
“It has never been clearer that Thoroughbred racing has become safer under HISA,” said HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus in a press release. “While we celebrate this progress, HISA remains committed to collaborating with industry stakeholders to further reduce fatalities and to enhance safety for horses, jockeys and all those who love and participate in the sport.”
Parx Racing was just slightly above the national average with 1.11 per 1,000 over 10,808 starts. The first, second and fourth quarters of 2024 were all well below the national average (0.75, 0.68 and 0.71). For some reason, there was a spike in the third quarter which brought the overall average to 1.11. Penn National had an identical 1.11 per 1,000 over 5,396 starts.
There are so many factors that go into horse safety, with weather being an obvious issue. Tracks that race year round face conditions that seasonal tracks and tracks with very short boutique meets do not.
After a very difficult 2023, Saratoga recorded just one fatality from 3,536 starts, 0.27 per 1,000. The safest track for horses in 2024 was Horseshoe Indianapolis with just two fatalities in 7,601 starts or 0.26 per 1,000.
Bottom line here is that all the measures the industry has taken in the last 15 years, but especially in the last five and most especially in the last two, are working. And, with each passing year, as the HISA database fills up with more information, it will enable the industry to get a better handle of what’s working, what needs to improve and how to implement all of it to make racing as safe as possible for the horses.
“HISA has made significant progress in advancing its mandate across racetrack safety, technological innovation, uniform medication control and equine welfare,” Lazarus said. “HISA pursued these initiatives with input and support from the many racing stakeholders who are the backbone of the sport, and their collective efforts have led to meaningful improvements in our safety metrics. We look forward to continuing to work with the industry to make further inroads.”
