Equine Fatality Rate Lowest Since Advent Of Injury Database In 2009

[Wandering Eyes]

The rate of fatal injury in equine athletes for 2024 was 1.11 per 1000 starts, the lowest rate since the creation of the Equine Injury Database (EID) back in 2009, according to the initial data analysis from the 16th year of reporting to the EID. Based on the 2024 data, 99.89% of all flat racing stats at racetracks participating in the EID were completed without a fatality.

Analysis of the EID, released Wednesday by The Jockey Club, was provided by Dr. Euan Bennett of the University of Glasgow and Professor Tim Parkin of the University of Bristol, who has been a consultant on the EID since its inception.

“It is remarkable and indeed gratifying to see the sustained improvement in these figures,” Parkin said. “It is a credit to all involved in the industry that such a significant improvement in the risk of fatal injury can be achieved off the back of the establishment of the EID and, of course, alongside lots of hard work from very many parties.”

Since March 2012, racetracks have had the ability to voluntarily publish their statistics from the EID to The Jockey Club website. Tracks that opt to publish those statistics report a rate of 0.88 fatalities per 1000 starts compared to the 1.27 per 1000 for tracks that elect not to publish. Additionally, racetracks not covered under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) had a rate of 1.76 deaths per 1000 starts. As reported by HISA in February, the racing-related fatality rate at tracks subject to HISA rules came in at 0.90 per 1000 starts, aligning with the EID data. HISA reports race-related deaths after regulatory review.

The EID stats are based on injuries that resulted in fatalities within 72 hours from the date of the race. The stats exclude steeplechase races and are subject to some change owing to a number of considerations, including the timeliness of reporting. All data entered into the EID is scrutinized during a multi-level quality control process to ensure the completeness and accuracy of reporting. In 2024, approximately 99% of all Thoroughbred starts were entered into the EID.

The equine fatality rate as recently as 2009 was at 2.00 per 1000 starts and remained largely static through 2014, when the same figure came in at 1.89/1000. Since 2018, when the equine fatality rate was observed at 1.68 per 1000 starts, the rate has declined in each year bar one, where there was a slight uptick (from 1.25 in 2022 to 1.32 in 2023).

Races contested at trips of six furlongs or shorter saw the 'highest' fatality race at 1.20 per 1000 and dropped to 1.12 between six and eight furlongs and 0.98 at longer distances. The fatality race on dirt tracks was 1.18 per 1000, on synthetic tracks 1.02/1000 and 0.88 on turf. The fatality rate for horses four years and older was 1.21 per 1000, dropping to 0.94 for 3-year-olds and 0.90 for 2-year-olds.

The EID, conceived at the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation's first Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit, was launched by The Jockey Club in July 2008 and seeks to identify the frequencies, types, and outcomes of racing injuries using a standardized format that generates valid statistics, identifies markers for horses at increased risk of injury, and serves as a data source for research directed at improving safety and preventing injuries.

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