HISA reports drop in fatality rate for first quarter of 2024

The racing fatality rate at racetracks under the jurisdiction of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority was 0.83 per thousand starts during the first three months of the year, HISA reported on Wednesday.

The 0.83 rate was a 38 percent decline compared to the fatality rate during the first three months of 2023, HISA said. With the exception of Rillito Park in Tucson, Ariz., the same number of tracks were operating in the first quarter of this year as the first quarter of last year, HISA said.

The total number of racing fatalities during the first quarter was 31 from 36,923 starts, according to the HISA report. HISA said in its report that it included all fatalities that occurred within 72 hours of a horse suffering an injury during a race. The number does not include fatalities that occurred outside of a race.

Racing fatalities are rare events, and the rate can fluctuate significantly over the short-term. They continue to be one of the most pressing concerns in racing. Last year, spates of fatalities at Churchill Downs and Saratoga Racecourse drew widespread attention from the media and led HISA to conduct investigations surrounding the possible causes for the deaths.

The publication of the quarterly fatality rate was a first for HISA, which has enforced safety rules at tracks throughout most of the U.S. since 2022. For the past 15 years, the administrators of the Equine Injury Database, an industry-run project that collects data on racing fatalities, have published the rates on an annual basis.

Since 2009, the annual fatality rate has dropped from 2.00 per thousand starts to 1.32, a 34 percent decline, according to EID data. Many regulators have credited tightened medication rules, increased veterinary scrutiny, and advances in technology for the decline.

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