The California Horse Racing Board is seeking to automate a process that will allow the board to quickly determine whether trainers are in compliance with a rule requiring written confirmations that a horse has been examined by a veterinarian prior to a workout, the board announced on Wednesday. The CHRB said that it would work with InCompass Solutions, a racing software and data management company owned by The Jockey Club, to “streamline” the process by which the veterinary reports are submitted to the board. The board said that the end result will “ensure greater compliance” with the rule requiring the pre-workout veterinary examinations. The decision by the board comes in the wake of an announcement last week that trainer Dan Blacker had been cited for 527 violations of the rule over the course of an 18-month period, from early 2022 to the summer of 2023. The CHRB began an investigation into whether Blacker’s horses had been in compliance with the rule after a horse he trained, Animae, suffered a fatal injury after a workout on July 1 at Santa Anita. Blacker said in a statement issued earlier this week that he was unaware of the rule prior to Animae suffering the fatal breakdown. He said in the statement that all of his horses “are thoroughly evaluated by myself, my team, and my veterinarian on a daily basis” and that he immediately made sure to file the reports after learning about the rule. “I take full responsibility for this matter and the consequences it will bring forth,” he said in the statement. "I stand firm in saying that all the horses in my program have always received the highest level of care.” Blacker said that Animae was the first horse he had trained to break down in an 11-year career. The CHRB said that daily workout reports of horses and the veterinary submissions are currently contained in two databases and that “CHRB personnel must go through those databases manually to determine whether a horse had been examined prior to exercising.” The work with InCompass will seek a way to integrate the two databases to generate red flags when a horse is out of compliance with the rule. InCompass is currently used by racing offices for a variety of purposes, including flagging horses for additional examinations prior to entry in a race based on risk factors for injuries. Those risk factors have been identified by recurring epidemiological analyses of a database in place since 2009 tracking horse fatalities. Horsemen and veterinarians have been given a broad number of new requirements over the past four years after a rash of breakdowns in California led to an extensive re-working of the rulebook in that state and elsewhere. In addition, the advent of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority’s safety rules last year and its medication-control program this year has also increased the workload. HISA does not have a specific rule requiring a veterinary examination prior to a workout. However, states are allowed to adopt and enforce their own specific safety rules provided those rules do not conflict with HISA regulations. “Like many of our regulations, this particular one is trailblazing,” said Scott Chaney, the executive director of the CHRB, referencing the workout rule. “As we endeavor to perfect the process, we encourage other regulatory bodies to consider adopting similar protections.”  :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.