Equine fatalities in California held steady during the 2008-09 fiscal year, although Thoroughbred deaths at the state’s racetracks decreased by more than 10% over the preceding year, data released during the week of Feb. 22 revealed. According to figures provided by Rick Arthur, DVM, the California Horse Racing Board’s equine medical director, Thoroughbred deaths at state racetrack enclosures dropped from 259 in 2008 to 232 this past year, based on the full calendar year’s reporting, rather than the fiscal year. Thoroughbred fatalities were down by nearly 15% from its peak number of 272 in 2005, Arthur reported, prior to the CHRB requiring mandatory installation of synthetic tracks at its major tracks. That mandate, issued in 2006, took effect at the beginning of 2007.

Overall, the number of deaths reported for all breeds in fiscal year 2008-09 was 320, a decline of five compared to the preceding year, according to the CHRB annual report. However, last year’s total for all breeds was 8.8% higher than in fiscal year 2006-07 and "substantially greater" than when the necropsy evaluation program began in 1990, the postmortem report states.

Charts and information on racehorse deaths in 2009 are included in the CHRB’s annual report and its Postmortem Examination Program report. (Both are available on the regulatory agency’s Web site.)

Arthur’s data, separate from the other two reports, shows a decline each year in Thoroughbred deaths since 2005. He also reports figures, based on fatalities per 1,000 starts from 2004 through 2009, which reflect a slower rate of catastrophic injuries to horses racing on synthetic tracks as compared to dirt at Del Mar, Golden Gate Fields, Hollywood Park, and Santa Anita