Racehorse injuries and fatalities are a side effect of the training and competition of horse racing. Racehorse injuries are considered especially difficult to treat, and often result in euthanizing the horse. A 2005 study by the United States Department of Agriculture found that injuries are the second leading cause of death in horses, second only to old age.
Two years after Secretariat's record-breaking US Triple Crown took the sport in the United States to a new level of popularity, the breakdown and death of Ruffian brought on a new era of safety concerns. The breakdown and death of racehorses at races had been known of for centuries, but had never before been witnessed in an event so widely seen as the great match race between Ruffian and Foolish Pleasure at Belmont Park, with 18million viewers. The horse racing industry has been trying to adapt to increased safety concerns ever since.
History Accidents and disputes were so bad in the early 1700s in England that soon after nobility first started racing Thoroughbreds, participants were ending up in court. The "Sport of Kings" has been described as an exercise in controlled chaos, with the jockeys described as "daredevils," and the racehorses as "unpredictable." As a response to this, stewardship of racing began to evolve in 1751 when the first set of recorded racing rules were printed and in 1752 when Britain's Jockey Club started to become racing's first regulatory authority.
In 1990, apprentice jockey Benny Narvaez was paralyzed from the chest down after his horse threw him while jumping over another horse who had broken down directly in front of him during a race at Tampa Bay Downs. A jury found that Tampa Bay Downs was responsible for Narvaez's injury because the track veterinarian failed to perform an adequate pre-race examination on the horse that broke down.
National television coverage of the Breeders' Cup by NBC helped generate millions of dollars in revenue and publicity for Thoroughbred racing in the mid- to late 1980s. Since the inaugural running of the event in 1984, there has been an injury in almost every Breeders' Cup race. This national publicity backfired when horse racing increasingly came under attack from animal rights groups in the early 1990s. In the 1990 Breeders' Cup Distaff, champion two-year-old and three-year-old filly Go For Wand got back up after breaking her ankle. She was unable to finish the race; however, she did stand up. Handlers caught her and made her lie down; she was immediately euthanized on the track. In the 1992 Breeders' Cup Sprint, the five-year-old European horse Mr Brooks fractured his cannon bone and fell on top of his jockey, Lester Piggott. Piggott had told fellow European jockey Walter Swinburn before the race that the horse did not warm up well. Mr Brooks had also been reluctant to go in the starting gate before the race. There was so much controversy over the handling of Mr Brooks that the Breeders' Cup implemented rigid pre-race inspections in 1993. The resulting media pressure from the deaths of Go For Wand and Mr Brooks prompted racing industries around the world to make a concerted effort at determining the extent of the problem and the causes.
As evidenced by the death of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, not all racehorse fatalities are the direct result of injury. It was not the break in Barbaro's leg that necessitated his destruction, but the hoof disease laminitis. Barbaro's team of doctors, led by Dr. Dean Richardson, were able to repair his broken leg, but not the excruciatingly painful laminitis that followed. Support limb laminitis, which is the specific type Barbaro had, is caused by over-stressing the good leg during recovery from an injury in the opposite limb. A 1986 survey done by the Morris Animal Foundation found that laminitis was the fourth leading cause of death among horses. AAEP members ranked laminitis as the most important disease needing further research in 2009.
After the death of Barbaro in 2006, the North American Thoroughbred industry realized that individual studies were not adequate tools for evaluating ongoing efforts in injury prevention. The idea for an equine injury database came from the first Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit in 2006. The database has three objectives: 1) to identify the frequency, type, and outcome of horse racing injuries using a standardized format that will generate valid composite statistics; 2) identify markers for horses at increased risk of injury; and 3) to serve as a data source for research directed at improving safety and preventing injuries. The Equine Injury Database (EID) was launched in 2008 following a one-year pilot project where injury reports were submitted by racetracks in a hard copy form. InCompass Solutions, Inc. and The Jockey Club Technology Services, Inc., subsidiaries of The Jockey Club, underwrote the costs of the database. Since the start of the EID, there has been a downward trend in the rate of fatalities. This trend has been found to be statistically significant.
In 2020, the federal Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020 was passed, establishing the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA). In 2022, the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) was established as the anti-doping and medication control arm of HISA.Pub. L. 116-260 Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, Division FF, Title XII: Horseracing Integrity and Safety
+Overall Equine Injury Database ResultsYearFatal injuriesStarts Fatalities per 1000 starts2009790395,8972.002010727387,6711.882011713379,2851.882012709369,5651.922013643339,1041.902014583308,9231.892015500306,6541.632016483314,3591.542017493305,9291.612018493293,5551.682019441288,5651.532020333254,2001.392021366264,2001.392022328262,7611.252023336253,6401.322024273244,7431.112025251235,6251.07
Classification Racehorse injuries are distinguished in their classification by whether they are considered accidents or injuries. Injuries are considered to follow predictable patterns, and accidents are unpredictable. The science of injury prevention has demonstrated that injuries and the events leading up to injuries are not random. Like disease, they follow a distinct pattern. Studying these patterns has made it possible to learn to predict and prevent injuries from occurring. Injuries, whether unintentional or intentional, can be considered any physical damage or harm caused to the body resulting in impairment or destruction of health. Injuries lead to death, disability, and financial loss.
International Thoroughbred fatality rates Comparing injury and fatality rates among countries can be difficult due to different definitions used in collecting data.
Flat racing +Flat racing fatality rates Country Fatal injury rate Definition Time periodHong Kong0.6Euthanized within 5 days of fracture2004−2011Australia0.6Immediate euthanasia1988−1995New Zealand0.41Failure to finish that resulted in fatality2005−2011North America1.69Fatality within 72 hours of race date2009−2023Great Britain0.76Death or euthanasia on race day2000−2013South America0.62Death or euthanasia following a race2005−2015Brazil0.88Death or euthanasia within 24 hours of a race1996−2006 In Japan from 1985 to 1994, 0.32% of runners died or were euthanized as a direct result of fractures sustained while racing.
In Venezuela, at Hipódromo La Rinconada in 2009, 7% of horses in training died, including 51 (40%) due to limb fractures. +Flat racing injury rates Country Injury rate Definition Time periodHong Kong2.8Fracture incurred during a race2004−2011Australia2.9Euthanasia or failure to race within 6 months1988−1995South Africa0.56Retirement or immediate euthanasia1998−2011New Zealand0.93Failure to finish and associated veterinary event2005−2011South America1.82Musculoskeletal injury incurred during a race2005−2015Brazil2.68Serious injury incurred during a race or death/euthanasia within 24 hours of a race1996−2006 In Japan from 1987 to 2000, 1.83% of runners had an acute bone fracture incurred during a race that resulted in failure to race within three months or permanent retirement, euthanasia, or death.
Jump racing Jumps racing has long been steeped in controversy due to its high mortality rate. This brand of racing requires Thoroughbred horses to leap over a succession of fences and are generally longer distances than non-jump races. There are hurdle races (shorter distances and lower obstacles), and steeplechase races (longer distances and higher obstacles). Animal welfare groups have been campaigning for around 30 years to abolish hurdle and steeplechase events in Australia. Many aspects to the sport pose serious risk to horses, and it harms horses at a higher rate than flat racing. In 1991, an Australian Senate Select Committee address on animal welfare concluded they had serious concerns about the welfare of horses in jumps races and recommended that state governments across the country phase out jumps racing over a three-year period. New South Wales and Tasmania abandoned the sport in 1997 and 2008 respectively, but Victoria and South Australia continued the races. Jumps racing has never been the massive industry in Australia that it is in Britain and Ireland, but even there some tracks have discontinued National Hunt racing. Nottingham was the first to discontinue jumps racing in 1996, followed by Windsor in 1998 (where it is being reinstated for the 2024/25 season) and Wolverhampton in 2002. Lingfield and Kempton have considered discontinuing jumps racing as well. +Jump racing fatality rates Country Type Fatal injury rate Definition Time periodAustraliaHurdle6.3Immediate euthanasia1988−1995Steeplechase14.3New ZealandHurdle5.9Died or euthanized on race day or euthanized within 72 hours of race completion as a result of musculoskeletal injury or sudden death2011−2022Steeplechase5.4Great BritainHurdle4.6Death or euthanasia whilst still at the racecourse subsequent to a race start2000−2009Steeplechase6.2National Hunt Flat2.7
Biological systems and associated injuries Injuries are a consequence of demand exceeding the capacity of the tissues and structures of the biological systems. The musculoskeletal system is by far the most commonly injured system.Fatalities-CHRB Postmortem Examination Program, NFCEI-M. Eugene Ensminger survey . Respiratory NFCEI based on 2011 Race Day Medication Summit data
System Percentage of fatal injuries Percentage of non-fatal career ending injuries (NFCEI)Musculoskeletal97%~81%Respiratory1%~10%Integumentary1%~2%Cardiovascular1%
Musculoskeletal system
The musculoskeletal system consists of the bones, cartilage, muscles, ligaments, and tendons.
Skeletal fractures account for 87% of fatal injuries. When a horse's leg hits the ground at racing speed on a straightaway, it bears a load that is three times its weight (with the exception of harness racing). When negotiating a turn, centrifugal force increases the load to between 5 and 10 times body weight. When a horse hits the ground, the repetitive impact produces microscopic cracks and crevices inside bone so tiny they are undetectable by standard X-rays. If the horse is not given enough time for healthy bone tissue to repair the damage with a process called remodeling, the cumulative stress can progress silently to the point where overload causes bones to break. In a 2009 white paper, the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) recommended a period of rest of at least 10 days between races for all horses to provide an opportunity to refresh and diminish the volume of persistent cyclic loading.