Although the fatality rate in U.S. Thoroughbred racing has declined nearly 40 percent in the past 14 years, the general public believes that the fatality race is going up, according to panelists at the Global Symposium on Racing on Wednesday.
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The suicides of two U.S. jockeys earlier this year has led riders to begin speaking out about the stresses of their jobs and the mental-health issues they are facing, leading racing jurisdictions worldwide to seek therapeutic options for jockeys, panelists at the Global Symposium on Racing said on Wednesday.
The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority will focus some of its immediate data-analysis efforts on finding markers that would reduce the “attrition” of horses from the racing population, officials of HISA said on Wednesday during the final panel of the Global Symposium on Racing.
The public perception of horse racing has been battered and beaten over the past five years due to spates of horse deaths that would likely have not garnered much attention generations ago, and that has made lobbying on behalf of racing far more difficult in the present age, according to officials who spoke on a panel on Wednesday at the Global Symposium on Racing.
Computerized account-wagering companies that pour billions of dollars a year into U.S. racing pools aren’t going away, but they may face guardrails on their play in the future, according to officials who spoke at the closing Tuesday session at the Global Symposium on Racing.
The chairman of an international horse-racing rules committee on Tuesday urged North American racing jurisdictions to abandon their current protocols for deciding disqualifications of horses for racing infractions, saying that an acceptance of rules in place in most major racing countries world-wide would benefit bettors, owners, and the public perception of the sport.
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Lisa Lazarus, the chief executive officer of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, told a packed conference room of racing officials on Tuesday that the organization she leads remains focused and committed to its missions of improving the regulation of racing and the safety of the sport.
Average wagering per race on U.S. Thoroughbred races held in November was up 7.5 percent over the same figure in November of last year, according to figures released by Equibase on Tuesday, though total wagering was down slightly.
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Mike Luzzi, the Eclipse Award winning apprentice jockey of 1989 and a winner of more than 3,500 races, announced his retirement from riding Saturday. Luzzi will become the agent for his son Lane, who has based at Aqueduct since October.
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The deadline for the release of a state-sanctioned report examining the long-term options for Maryland’s racing industry has been extended until Jan. 5, according to officials with knowledge of the decision.
