Keeneland, Churchill announce new safety measures that will begin this spring

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Keeneland and Churchill Downs will require veterinarians to sign off on the racing soundness of horses prior to workouts and races beginning with the meets the two tracks will stage this year, the tracks announced on Thursday.

The two tracks also reiterated that they plan to ban the race day administration of furosemide, commonly known as Lasix, for all 2-year-olds during their meets, in accordance with a regulation recently approved by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission that is still going through an official regulatory review. That regulation extends the ban to all stakes races held in the state beginning in 2021.

The new policies are similar to protocols already in place at Santa Anita Park in Southern California, where a spate of deaths early last year led to sweeping changes in the monitoring of the track’s horse population. Keeneland and Churchill are also founding members of the Thoroughbred Safety Coalition, a group of tracks and racing companies who pledged last year to implement policies designed to reduce racehorse injuries and fatalities.

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Under the new policies, a horse’s attending veterinarian must certify that the horse “has been found fit to race” during the three days prior to entering a race. In addition, the attending veterinarian must make the same assertion within five days prior to a horse working out.

Similar policies enacted at Santa Anita have been put in place in order to ensure that veterinarians conduct pre-race or pre-exercise examinations of horses. In both California and Kentucky, and most other major racing states, all horses entered to race are examined on race day by regulatory veterinarians.

The tracks also said that trainers and veterinarians would be “obligated” to inform the tracks’ equine medical director and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission “of any changes in a horse’s fitness after an examination has been conducted.”

The tracks said that the policies would be written into the conditions of racing that owners and trainers are required to acknowledge prior to stabling and entering their horses in races. The policies will cover all horses at Keeneland, Churchill, the Keeneland-owned Thoroughbred Center outside of Lexington, and the Churchill Downs Training Center in Louisville.

“These meaningful reforms further advance our commitment to create the safest possible environment for racing and training,” said Keeneland chief executive officer Bill Thomason and Churchill president Kevin Flanery, in a joint statement. “Racetracks, horsemen, and the veterinary community share a responsibility for the welfare of our human and equine athletes and to promote the sport for generations of fans to come.”

The changes will become effective with the opening of the stable areas at Keeneland and Churchill later this year. Keeneland’s spring meet begins on April 2, and Churchill’s spring meet begins on April 25.