On Wednesday, The Jockey Club released an updated North American fatality
rate for Thoroughbreds that includes two years’ worth of data in the Equine
Injury Database, the North American database for racing injuries. The Jockey
Club launched the database during the summer of 2008.
Based on an analysis of 754,932 starts collected during the two-year period
November 1, 2008, through October 31, 2010, the prevalence of fatal injury
declined to 2.00 per 1,000 starts, as compared to the 2.04 rate reported in
March for the one-year period November 1, 2008, through October 31, 2009.
The analysis was performed by Dr. Tim Parkin, a veterinarian and
epidemiologist from the University of Glasgow, who serves as a consultant on the
Equine Injury Database.
Parkin noted that the change in the overall fatality rate stemmed from
cumulative two-year data that revealed a statistically significant difference in
the prevalence of fatality on both turf and synthetic surfaces versus dirt. The
difference in the prevalence of fatality between synthetic and turf surfaces was
not statistically significant.
“The addition of 376,000 starts to the database in year two enabled us to
statistically validate certain trends seen in the data,” Parkin explained.
“Trends will continue to emerge and evolve as additional data becomes available
for study and as more complex statistical analyses are performed. This will
allow us to understand how different variables, alone and in concert, may impact
the risk of fatality.”
Among other trends gleaned from Parkin’s analysis of the cumulative two-year
data:
significantly lower than older horses racing on dirt surfaces. However, on
synthetic or turf surfaces, there was no statistically significant
difference in the prevalence of fatality between two-year-olds and older
horses.
weight carried and movement of races off the turf.
sexes were not at an increased risk of fatality compared to those competing
in races restricted to fillies and mares.
The following table presents the comparable fatality rates by surface type
for the one-year and cumulative two-year periods beginning November 1, 2008.
Thoroughbred Fatality Rate per
1,000 Starts by Surface
and Reporting Period
| Surface Type | November 1, 2008- October 31, 2009 |
November 1, 2008- October 31, 2010 |
||
| All | 2.04 | 2.00 | ||
| Dirt | 2.14 | 2.14 | ||
| Synthetic | 1.78 | 1.55 | ||
| Turf | 1.78 | 1.74 |
“We will continue to publish these national benchmarks on an annual basis to
provide the necessary statistical foundation participating racetracks need for
monitoring and comparing their individual results,” said Matt Iuliano, The
Jockey Club’s executive vice president and executive director.
“Racetracks participating in the Equine Injury Database have an extensive
menu of reporting tools and other resources available through the InCompass RTO
system designed to assist management in developing safety initiatives aimed at
reducing injuries to our equine athletes,” he added. “As the database continues
to grow, we look forward to the additional information and statistical power it
will yield to improve the health and safety of the racehorse.”
The Jockey Club, through two of its for-profit subsidiary companies,
InCompass and The Jockey Club Technology Services Inc., has underwritten the
cost to develop and operate the Equine Injury Database as a service to the
industry. By agreement with the participating racetracks, from time to time The
Jockey Club may publish certain summary statistics from the Equine Injury
Database, but will not provide statistics that identify specific participants,
including racetracks, horses or persons. The Equine Injury Database contains a
suite of reports for racetracks to analyze data collected at their respective
facilities.
A list of racetracks that have signed up to participate in the Equine Injury
Database may be found at
www.jockeyclub.com/initiatives.asp.
Please refer to the Analysis of the Equine Injury Database accompanying this
press release for additional detail.