Equine welfare issues confronted at Asian Racing Conference

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – The various strategies that racing organizations across the globe are enacting in the wake of animal-welfare concerns buffeting nearly every major racing jurisdiction in the world were outlined Friday morning at the Asian Racing Conference, a sobering rundown that illustrated the existential crisis facing racing worldwide.

Speakers on the panel, which lasted 2 ½ hours on the last day of the conference, included two representatives of Australia’s racing industry, which was sent into crisis mode last year by a devastating television report purporting to show the abuse and slaughter of ex-racehorses, as well as two representatives of the U.S., where criticism of the racing industry reached critical mass last year after a spate of racing and training deaths at Santa Anita.

The topics on the panel touched on every aspect of a racehorse’s life, stretching from the potential registration of breeders, to tighter regulation of medication, to the policies that should guide euthanasia or “end-of-life events” for horses, as one panelist, Jamie Stier, the executive general manager of Integrity Services for Australia’s Racing Victoria, put it. But all of the topics were discussed in the context of a singular goal: improving the racing industry’s treatment of its animals.

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“We’re all in the same boat,” said Dr. Dionne Benson, the chief veterinary officer for The Stronach Group, the owner of Santa Anita. “Horse racing is going to always be judged by its lowest common denominator. We have to act now. If we don’t change now we won’t have the opportunity to change because we will be gone.”

In Australia, the backlash from the slaughterhouse report was swift and immediate, according to the Australian officials on the panel. Handle and attendance on the Melbourne Cup, according to Tom Reilly, the chief executive of Thoroughbred Breeders Australia, both dropped double digits last year -- although Reilly said other factors other than the report likely played a significant part in the declines. Stier said that it was his “understanding” that sponsors at the sport’s tracks were insisting on clauses in their contracts allowing them to back out if the industry faced “equine welfare” concerns.

“Sentiment toward the sport has eroded,” Stier said. As a result of the controversy, Racing Victoria, which controls all racing activity in the province, has committed an additional $25 million to its budget for aftercare funding and other animal-welfare concerns over the next three years, Stiers said.

The TBA, Reilly said, has formed a four-person panel to examine the policies the sport must enact to better care for its athletes. The panel includes three veterinarians, including one that is a former premier of Victoria and another who is the chair of Australia’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and none have any financial ties to the racing industry, Reilly said.

“We’re open to new ideas and new thinking,” Reilly said.

One of the ideas under serious consideration in Australia and elsewhere (including the U.S.) is “traceability,” which is the term that racing has begun to use to describe a cradle-to-grave system of determining a horse’s ownership and whereabouts. Racing organizations in many countries have begun to explore putting the systems in place in order to prevent horses from meeting cruel ends, either by holding the last owner of the horse accountable, or by intervening in the horse’s care.

The practice could have dramatic impacts on the willingness of owners to take over horses in their post-racing careers, but Stier said that all options must be on the table.

“We must be clear, there is no room for self-interest protection by any sector of the industry,” Stier said. “The only acceptable approach is one that ensures the welfare of every horse.”

Australia’s government, which is generally supportive of racing – one of the most popular sports in the country – will be watching the sport’s progress, especially as the animal-welfare movements in the country gain momentum. Last year, a party that supports a single cause – ending the use of animals in human society – gained a seat in a state legislature.

“This is going to keep coming back, and every time it does, racing loses skin,” said Martin Pakula, an elected member of Victoria’s legislature who is the state’s Minister of Racing, speaking on a later panel on Friday. “So we have to make sure that the commitments we make in the heat of the moment are followed through on.”

The U.S. representatives on the panel, which, in addition to Benson, included Kristin Werner, senior counsel at The Jockey Club, used their time to list the various ways that their organizations have attempted to address the animal-rights concerns that have stalked the industry for years, even before the Santa Anita crisis.

Werner outlined the number of initiatives that The Jockey Club has either launched or supported to address animal welfare, including its Equine Industry Database and the programs it has designed to increase demand for ex-racehorses in the equestrian event space. Compared to presentations from other countries during the week, the list illustrated that the U.S. is almost certainly on the leading edge of aftercare efforts.

Werner told the audience that there is no backtracking, that there is only one way forward, and that is to continue to work toward the goal of finding a home for every single ex-racehorse in the industry.

“The focus on Santa Anita has begun to dim,” she said. “The focus on what happens to our horses after their racing and breeding horses’ careers come to an end is not going to dim.”

Benson, who was hired by The Stronach Group last April, outlined the dozens of policies devised and enacted for the company’s California tracks last year, including more stringent regulation of some medication and veterinary practices, restrictions on the use of the whip, and the implementation of veterinary review panels that have the ability to scratch horses from races and prevent horses from conducting workouts.

While debate in the U.S. racing industry persists over both the cause of the initial spate of the breakdowns and the effectiveness of the policies put in place at Santa Anita, Benson pointed to a dramatic decline in fatalities in California in the latter half of 2019 and a sharp drop in deaths this year (at least when compared to the outlier number of deaths in the first two months of last year). She called those figures a “powerful” tool to use when addressing criticism of the sport.

“Has it worked?” Benson said. “I don’t know, but we’ve done a lot. And I don’t know what has been more effective, or what has been less effective. But we had half as many fatalities [this year]. That is very powerful. But does this mean we’re happy and this is where we are going to stop? Absolutely not.”