Eight Belles, who broke down and was euthanized on the track after finished second in the 2008 Kentucky Derby, was a catalyst behind the Kentucky Horse Racing Necropsy Program. | Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt/The Horse

At the Feb. 2 University of Kentucky (UK) Equine Showcase, Laura Kennedy, DVM, Dipl. ACVP, assistant professor and veterinary pathologist at the UK Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, shared what researchers are learning about catastrophic breakdowns in racehorses. She discussed how the Kentucky Horse Racing Necropsy Program began as well as what the group studies and some of its findings.

Kennedy said the Necropsy Program was started in 2009 following two high-profile cases of catastrophic breakdowns: 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, who sustained serious injuries in that year’s Preakness Stakes and eventually succumbed to related issues in 2007, and Eight Belles, who broke down and was euthanized on the track after finished second in the 2008 Kentucky Derby. Since its founding, the program has documented injuries and, over time, has expanded its research. From 2009 to 2012, racing fatalities were examined; beginning in 2012, all fatalities (racing, training, and medical) that occurred at sanctioned racetracks in Kentucky were examined.

Just like in human athletes, Kennedy said, horses’ bodies experience repetitive use wear as they train and compete over their lifetime, and more than 85% of catastrophic injuries result from preexisting conditions when it is a musculoskeletal-related fatality