AP Report: Racetrack Horse Deaths Down Slightly

The rush to improve safety since Eight Belles was euthanized at last year’s Kentucky Derby did little to curb the number of horses dying at American racetracks in 2008, The Associated Press found in a national count.

Although many tracks were already implementing safety reforms when the popular filly pulled up lame with two broken legs after finishing second at the Derby in May 2008, her

Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

The rush to improve safety since Eight Belles was euthanized at last year’s Kentucky Derby did little to curb the number of horses dying at American racetracks in 2008, The Associated Press found in a national count.

Although many tracks were already implementing safety reforms when the popular filly pulled up lame with two broken legs after finishing second at the Derby in May 2008, her death on racing’s biggest stage gave the effort a national face and new momentum.

However, the AP’s count found only a slight change in the number of fatalities in 2008 (1,217) compared with 2007 (1,247). That’s around 3% fewer deaths.

“If it were that easy to change, we would have flipped that switch a long time ago,” said Mary Scollay, DVM, Kentucky’s equine medical director, who is assembling an industrywide database on horse breakdowns, the findings of which haven’t been released. “We’ve learned injuries are very complex in their causes, and there are a number of things that need to be critically evaluated

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
300 votes · 300 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!