The fatal injury rate in 2022 is 1.25 horses per 1,000 starts, a 10.1% decrease from 2021 when there are 1.39 deaths per 1,000 starts according to the CDC compliance figures. equine injury database (EID) and was published by the Jockey Club on Monday. This is the lowest number since EID began calculating mortality in 2009, when it was 2.00 horses per 1,000 starts.
Professor Tim Parkin of the University of Glasgow, who has been consulting on EID since its inception, said: “The data show that since 2009, the risk of fatal injury in racing has decreased by 37.5%, this is statistically significant. “The overall downtrend is testament to the benefits of an evidence-based safe-haven approach, which is only possible thanks to EID.”
Since 2018, the injury mortality rate has decreased from 1.68 to 1.25, a decrease of 25.6%. The 2022 figure marks the fourth consecutive year that the risk of fatal injury has decreased.
“We can say with confidence that the risk of fatal injury is on a steady downward trend both overall and in many specific areas,” Parkin said. “The six-month period from July 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022, is the safest six-month period on record since the start of EID in 2009. Evidence of progress is cumulative. This pole is very encouraging and everyone should applaud in the North American race.
There are only 12 deaths in synthetic surface races in 2021, with a rate of 0.41 deaths per 1,000 starters, easily the safest surface. This is followed by grass races at 0.99, followed by land races at 1.44. Races over 8 long distances are safest at 0.86. Races that run 6 to 8 stretch are followed by 1.31, followed by races that run under 6 last a 1.38. Races for 2-year-olds are the safest in the age group with a rate of 0.98. The next three-year-old races were at 1.13, followed by the four-year-old races at 1.34. The 3-year-old figure is notable because it shows a decrease of 25.7% compared to 2021 and the number is as high as 2.08 in 2014.
Since March 2012, racetracks have been able to voluntarily publish their statistics from the EID on The Jockey Club website. Racetracks that publish their EID statistics reported a racing fatality rate per 1,000 starts of 0.99 compared to 1.42 for those that don’t.
Some of the most notable gains have come to the Southern California circuit. In Santa Anita, the number for 2022 is 0.63, down from 1.45 in 2021. Even more significantly, the incident rate has dropped significantly since 2019 when it was 3.01, an alarmingly high rate that led to outcry from animal rights activists and politicians. . In Del Mar in 2022, there were 0.56 deaths per 1,000 departures. In 2016, this number was 3.01.
The trend at Keeneland is also a positive one, at 0.33. In 2019, the number in Keeneland was 3.21.
