Churchill introduces three new protocols in effort to boost safety

Churchill Downs will prohibit horses that have been beaten 12 or more lengths in five consecutive races from running at the track until its equine medical director approves the horse’s participation, the track announced on Thursday just prior to beginning its live card for the day.

The prohibition on horses with poor records was one of three new protocols that Churchill announced on Thursday that are designed to address a recent spate of injuries and fatalities at the track over the past month. The deaths, a dozen in all since the track opened for training on March 30, have been the focus of considerable attention in the past month, especially considering that seven of the deaths occurred prior to the Kentucky Derby, and two more occurred during races run on the Derby undercard.

In addition to the poor-record protocol, Churchill said it would “pause” payments made to every runner in the race, regardless of finish position. The purse payments will now be limited to the first five finishers in the race.

Churchill will also restrict any horse running at its track to four races within an eight-week period, the track said.

The announcement was made in the midst of reviews conducted by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority of the veterinary and medication histories of the horses that died and a second assessment of Churchill’s racing surfaces. Those reviews were ongoing on Thursday.

HISA officials had said earlier in the week that they had discussed the possibility of Churchill suspending live racing during the review period. Churchill has not raced since Monday, and the track has four consecutive days of live racing scheduled through Sunday.

Earlier in the day, Churchill required all trainers and veterinarians at the track and its nearby training center to attend a seminar conducted by Dr. Ryan Carpenter, an equine surgeon based in California. During the seminar, Carpenter presented “educational information and tools to trainers and practicing veterinarians about advanced interventions that can be considered for certain equine injuries,” the track said.

In 2019, Santa Anita Park in Southern California went through a similar spate of fatalities that also drew national attention. In response, the track’s owner, 1/ST Racing, and the California Horse Racing Board put in place new protocols and procedures to better identify at-risk horses and educate trainers on surgical options. Those new protocols were credited with lowering the fatality rate in California to historic lows, and many states, including Kentucky, adopted several of the protocols for their own racing regulatory programs.

Many musculoskeletal injuries to the lower legs in horses are considered “catastrophic,” in the sense that there are extremely limited options to repair the injuries without the horse developing complications that eventually lead to its death or to subsequent euthanasia.

“We feel a duty to provide the latest information on surgical interventions from an expert who experienced the challenges in California a few years ago that we currently face today,” said Dr. Will Farmer, the equine medical director for Churchill Downs Inc. “Any decision must be made first and foremost with the long-term well-being of the horse in mind. It is imperative that all available, educated and informed options can be efficiently, confidently, and thoroughly relayed to owners.”

The decision to end payouts to all participants in the race echoes several similar moves over the years by regulatory authorities in other states to balance incentives to enter races with disincentives to start a horse that is not 100 percent sound. Horses that enter races are subjected to veterinary exams on the day of the race under HISA’s regulations, though Kentucky had those requirements prior to the advent of HISA’s jurisdictions over safety rules last summer.

Churchill said in a statement that the company “is engaged in ongoing discussions with horsemen to determine ways to reallocate these funds to best serve industry needs.”

Purses at Kentucky tracks, including Churchill, have soared over the last decade as the industry embraced historical horseracing machines, which are devices similar to slot machines that are only legal for racetracks to operate in the state. A portion of the revenue from the machines goes directly into a fund providing rich bonuses for Kentucky-bred horses.

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