HISA investigation finds no ‘singular explanation’ for Churchill Downs deaths
In a report issued Tuesday, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) said it could not find a single issue responsible for the equine fatalities suffered during the Spring Meet at Churchill Downs.
“Despite extensive investigation and analysis, HISA did not identify any singular explanation for the fatalities at Churchill Downs,” the report said. “The absence of a singular explanation underscores the urgent need for further action and analysis to mitigate risk stemming from several factors potentially contributing to equine fatalities.”
After suffering 12 equine fatalities, including four during Kentucky Derby week, Churchill Downs ceased racing on June 7 and moved the remainder of its Spring Meet to Ellis Park in Henderson.
CEO Lisa Lazarus said that as a result of the investigation, HISA is making several recommendations and mandates.
“We must create a culture of safety and an ecosystem of care that takes into account all factors contributing to equine fatalities,” Lazarus said in a press release. “And it is the responsibility of all racing participants to do their part. That is why HISA is making ambitious recommendations and further mandates to ensure everyone involved in the sport acts, first and foremost, in the best interest of the horse. Racing can and must do better.”
Among the recommendations:
▪ A robust data analysis effort in which HISA will work with top data analytics companies to explore critical questions facing the sport. The application of sophisticated data analysis, made possible by uniform reporting requirements under HISA, will yield new, actionable insights into factors contributing to equine fatalities.
▪ The creation of a Blue-Ribbon Committee to work toward the study and ultimate introduction of more synthetic surface options in thoroughbred racing.
▪ Improved veterinary screening and diagnostic procedures including:
Making PET scans more accessible to racetracks across the country.
Conducting a research study to examine the causes of exercise-associated sudden deaths.
Further use of wearable technology as an injury detection tool.
An examination of whether there are any other equine fitness tools worthy of investment and deployment.
In a press conference held after the report was issued, Lazarus said HISA has no issues with racing resuming at Churchill Downs on Thursday, the start of its September Meet.
“Churchill Downs was responsive and addressed the issues that were raised with them, and given that and given the additional investigation, there was no reason for us not to recommend that racing not be resumed at Churchill Downs,” Lazarus said.
Both Lazarus and HISA Racetrack Safety Committee Chair Dr. Susan Stover were asked about tests conducted on the racing and training surface at Churchill Downs which found no abnormalities.
“We recognize that the training surface is an important risk factor,” Dr. Stover said, “but we also recognize that these are injuries that are a result of fatigue, meaning they develop over time and ultimately can become a catastrophic injury. So with that knowledge, we have an opportunity to look at other factors related to the horse.”
So are trainers training and racing their horses too often?
“I think it’s one of the things that we’ll be examining,” Stover said. “I don’t think we know that at the moment, but certainly the data from the Churchill review indicates that that needs to be examined further.”
Asked if she would preferred that the HISA investigation had found a single answer to the problems at Churchill, Lazarus said that the report -- which she referred to as “our bible” -- gives the organization a path forward.
“Obviously if you have one smoking gun, one pure answer, that’s simpler,” Lazarus said. “You can put all of your resources into dealing with that one issue. That being said, I think the fact that it is multifactoral gives us an opportunity, and now with a national regulator, to say we can’t just kick the can down the road.”
Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy praised HISA’s report on Tuesday it praises HISA’s report, but said additional investigations are needed.
“While the analysis was exhaustive, the reports sidestep some key risk factors in American racing — notably breeding practices that make the horse more vulnerable to breakdowns and early-age racing,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action, in a press release. “We concur that there is no single explanation for such a rash of deaths, but we suspect that there is something structural at work in terms of soundness of the horses when so many of them are dying at major tracks throughout the United States. These questions, as difficult as they are to probe, must be examined. Orthodoxies within racing must be challenged.”
Lazarus said that a similar investigation into the one at Churchill Downs is now taking place at Saratoga Race Course in New York, where 12 equine fatalities occurred during its meet that began July 13 and ended on Labor Day.
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