HISA installs three new protocols at Churchill in response to horse fatalities

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has approved three new protocols that will be implemented at Churchill Downs in response to its recent review of a spate of horse fatalities at the track over the past month, the authority announced late on Thursday.

The new protocols will add an additional layer of screening for horses that have already been entered to race in an effort to potentially spot horses that have an increased risk of injury but slipped through the cracks of an existing screening system. Another will require HISA’s medication-enforcement arm to collect blood and hair samples from horses that die at Churchill, and the final measure will enlist a prominent equine forensic specialist to review the necropsy reports of the 12 horses that have died at the track since it opened for training on March 30.

HISA, which gained jurisdiction over safety rules at most racetracks last summer and took over drug-testing and enforcement in most racing jurisdictions last month, has been conducting several reviews at Churchill Downs over the past three days to attempt to identify commonalities underlying the 12 deaths. In a release, it said the three new measures “would mitigate additional risk to the horses and riders competing at Churchill Downs moving forward.”

Nine of the deaths were related to catastrophic musculoskeletal injuries, while two were sudden deaths. Another was related to an injury suffered when a horse flipped multiple times in the paddock. Seven of the deaths occurred in the lead-up to the Kentucky Derby, including the two sudden deaths and the paddock accident, and two fatalities related to musculoskeletal injuries occurred during races on the Derby undercard. Three have occurred since Derby day, including two last weekend.

In a statement released on Thursday, HISA said that a three-day review of the veterinary and medication records of the horses that died at Churchill did not reveal “obvious or specific” patterns. The review, which was led by Dr. Jennifer Durenberger, HISA’s director of equine safety and welfare, also included interviews with trainers and horsemen.

The spate of deaths at Churchill has generated yet another crisis for racing at a time when public sentiment over the use of animals in entertainment industries continues to rapidly shift, creating urgency for Churchill, HISA, and the racing industry at-large to seek steps to minimize injuries and the fatalities that frequently accompany them. Animal-rights groups began protesting at Churchill on Thursday, and local and national interest in the spate of deaths has been intense.

Earlier on Thursday, Churchill announced a set of new rules that will restrict an extremely narrow set of horses from racing at the track, including those that have finished 12 or more lengths back in five consecutive races and horses that have already raced four times in an eight-week period. Churchill also announced that it would stop paying a portion of the race’s purse to every entrant and return to a policy of paying purse money only to the top five finishers.

HISA’s rules already require an “assessment” of risk for every horse that is entered at tracks under its jurisdictions through a computerized system developed over the past 10 years that generates red flags on horses that fit criteria identifying them as being at additional risk of injury when compared to the general population. That system is based in large part on data collected and analyzed from the Equine Injury Database, a collaborative effort that was launched in 2009.

A red flag calls for regulatory veterinarians to review other pertinent material that can affect a horse’s risk for injury, such as veterinary records and past-performance data, as well as a requirement to conduct additional veterinary inspections before the horse is allowed to race. Under the new protocol, Dr. Durenberger will conduct an “additional review” of that data for horses entered to race at Churchill.

Also under HISA’s rules, all horses that die at a racetrack under its jurisdiction are already required to be necropsied, and those necropsies include toxicology tests looking for regulated or illegal medications. However, there is not currently a requirement for HISA’s drug-enforcement partner, the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit, to collect blood and hair samples in the event of a fatality. HISA said in its release that testing of the samples will provide data for its existing data-analysis projects.

Under the third new protocol, Dr. Alina Vale, who conducts post-mortem examination reviews at the California Horse Racing Board, will perform the same reviews of the necropsy reports of the 12 horses that have died, as well as any reports for any other fatalities at the current meet. Churchill’s current live meet runs through July 3.

p>:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.