Round Table to address safety

The ongoing effort by the Jockey Club to examine health and safety issues for racehorses will be the dominant subject at the organization's Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing on Aug. 17 in Saratoga Springs, the Jockey Club said on Wednesday.

Members of the Jockey Club's Thoroughbred Safety Committee are expected to present data on racehorse injuries and also issue recommendations for new racing rules designed to improve safety conditions. The committee was formed early this summer after the death of Eight Belles in the Kentucky Derby brought widespread scrutiny to the sport.

The committee has already issued recommendations that all states ban toe-grab horseshoes, adopt rules that regulate the administration of anabolic steroids, and implement a number of whip-related reforms.

Speakers at the Round Table will include Stuart Janney III, the chairman of the committee; Dr. Rick Arthur, the equine medical director of the California Horse Racing Board; Dr. Larry Bramlage, the co-owner of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Kentucky; Bill Casner, the owner of WinStar Farm; Alan Foreman, the chief executive of the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association; Jim Gagliano, the chief administrative officer of the Jockey Club; David Haydon, the president of InCompass Solutions, a company owned by the Jockey Club; James Hickey, the president of the American Horse Council; Matt Iuliano, vice president of registration services for the Jockey Club; and Dr. Mary Scollay, the equine medical director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.