health and safety

The closer the clock ticks down to Nov. 4, when Turf Paradise's latest 130-day meet is scheduled to launch, the louder will the questions resound about the facility's historically checkered approach to equine welfare and safety. Near the midway point during last year's Turf Paradise meet, its equine fatality rate was more than 2.8 deaths per 1,000 starts. This compares to the national equine fatality rate of 1.39 per 1,000 starts last year. Between Oct. 10, 2021, and May 7, 2022, 11 horses were fatally injured during morning training at...

The Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee will hold a legislative hearing Tuesday, Jan. 28, at 10:30 a.m. in the Rayburn House Office Building on H.R. 1754, the "Horseracing Integrity Act of 2019," Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) announced. The hearing is entitled, "Legislation to Promote the Health and Safety of Racehorses." "Over the last couple of years, the horse racing world has experienced some alarming deaths that call into question the health and safety of racehorses,"...

DAN METZGER, PRESIDENT, TOBA The top priority for our sport in 2020 is the enhancement of equine health and safety. We are facing other important challenges, but none nearly as critical as the health and safety of the Thoroughbred racehorse. We must reduce the number of fatal injuries of horses at the racetrack and demonstrate that the industry can work together to implement the needed reforms. We need to embrace new and existing technologies and policies that will significantly reduce the number of equine injuries on the racetrack.