Welfare and Safety Summit

The equine fatality rate in North America has shrunk significantly over the last 15 years, from 1.98 per 1,000 starts in 2009 to 1.32 last year. Still according to officials, that number remains higher than other racing jurisdictions around the globe such as Australia, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Japan, and New Zealand. If there was a unifying theme running through Tuesday's Jockey Club Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit, however, it was that the industry has all the tools necessary to uniformly reduce fatality rates to meet and beat...

When the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit opens Wednesday at the Keeneland Association sales pavilion in Lexington, it will mark the first time that the summit will be held in consecutive years since the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and The Jockey Club began the event in 2006. Considering the expanded emphasis on equine safety within the racing industry over the past decade, the switch seems both appropriate and warranted. "When you turn, it's like turning the Titanic," said Jamie Haydon, the manager of industry initiatives for The Jockey...