Broken Legs and Heart Attacks: Unavoidable in Horse Racing?

Fifty-four horses have died at Santa Anita racetrack since 2015

For the past few weeks, we've learned that numerous horses have died at the Santa Anita racetrack in Arcadia, California. All in all, 22 horses have died while racing or training at Santa Anita since December 26, 2018. Live racing was suspended on March 6, 2019, however, training has continued. The track was also closed to live racing in February after the 19th death, but then it was reopened, after which three more horses died. To summarize the tragic deaths at Santa Anita, 10 occurred during workouts on the main dirt track, seven happened during racing on the same track, five occurred on the turf track, and none occurred on the training track.

We also know, "In comparison, during the same period of 2017-18, only 10 horses died at the track. Only eight died in 2016-17 and 14 in 2015-16." (my emphases) Only? That's 32 horses dying at the same track from 2015-2018 and 54 horses dying from 2015-early 2019. That's not a trivial number of horses who died training to run or while running, and it points to the fact that horse racing is a dangerous profession for horses who have no say about the risks involved. Furthermore, as of now, it's not clear what's causing all these avoidable deaths, including the possibility of soot and ash fallout from nearby fires.

I'm surely not alone in seeing what's happening at Santa Anita to be utterly reprehensible. When reading articles about Santa Anita and fatalities to racehorses at other venues, two quotations, one from a person associated with Santa Anita, caught my eye. The first, from David Bernstein, an owner of one of the horses, Princess Lili B who broke her ankles, is quoted as saying, “She was just breezing and as she got close to the seven-eighths pole to pull up, she must have taken a funny step, and when she did, why, the ankle kind of broke a little bit, and the other ankle broke because they changed leads again." Mr. Bernstein also defends the track. He's quoted as saying, “The track’s excellent, I don’t have any problem with it, didn’t have any problem when they raced on it...We were just careful when the weather was really bad, we jogged on the training track. We didn’t go out on the main track because it was closed. No, the track was fine.”

Are broken legs and heart attacks really unavoidable in horse racing?

The second quotation that caught my eye was in an essay called "Are races getting safer for horses?" that focused on one of the UK's biggest sporting events called The Cheltenham Festival. At last year's festival, seven horses died and this year three died. In this essay, we read, "According to the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), the number of horse deaths per 1,000 race starts fell from 2.8 in 1994 to 2.2 in 2018. The lowest rate was 1.8 in 2017." These are a significant number of deaths.

What attracted my attention in this essay is the position of David Muir, the RSPCA's racing consultant. He's quoted as saying, "Unavoidable injuries...include a horse breaking a leg or suffering heart problems while running." (my emphasis) We also read, "But he adds that the danger of these can be reduced by better monitoring of horses' welfare, including improving the detection of existing health problems." The danger of these injuries also could be reduced--eliminated--by not using horses to entertain and to make money for humans.

Dying to race: Why do so many racehorses die?

"Hundreds of racehorses die at the track each year. Their deaths may be preventable."

"The pathology of fatal fractures is simple. Without rest, horses develop arthritis, which causes bone bruises, which cause microfractures. As horses gallop 40 mph, each leg takes a turn to hold the 1,200-pound athlete in the air. “People always say ‘the horse just took a bad step’ and that’s just not true...Any horse that dies is an absolute failure of the veterinary system that was looking after the athlete." (Shelia Lyons, American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation)

The use of the word "unavoidable" reminded me of the use of the word "only" to refer to the number of horses who have died at Santa Anita during the past four years. These injuries and deaths are avoidable by paying close attention to the well-being of each and every individual and by not using horses to race for human entertainment and money.

A shocking number of racehorses die globally due to bone fractures, drugs, and for other reasons. Some people are fooled because when they read that the rate of fatalities is around 1.5-3.0 per 1000 starts it seems relatively infrequent. However, when one considers the actual numbers, rather than the percentages, it's not. You can see some of the gory statistics here. Here are some data. The number of horses killed in 2017 on American tracks numbers around 1000, but does not include the "catastrophically injured" horses who were euthanized at the owner's farm or at a rescue facility nor does it include those killed at private training facilities. The number 1000 could easily be doubled. In Australia, from August 1, 2017, to July 31, 2018, 119 horses were killed on track most commonly for a catastrophic front leg injury and one horse dies on their racetracks every three days. It's also been documented that intense exercise can be fatal to racehorses.

On the website for The Horse Fund, we read, "Racehorses in America are the victims of a multi-billion dollar industry that is rife with drug abuse, injuries, and death." We also read, "Numbers from the Jockey Club's equine injury database covering a one-year period show that one of every 500 Thoroughbred starts at North American racetracks results in a fatal injury. This represents about 800 deaths. Reporting is voluntary with 85% of race tracks participating...In a separate count by The Associated Press, state racing jurisdictions reported more than 1,200 horse deaths at Thoroughbred racetracks in 2008—some involving breeds other than Thoroughbreds. There were similar totals for the five years before that." In addition, "Many racehorses become addicted to drugs when their trainers and veterinarians give them drugs to keep them on the track when they shouldn’t be racing. 'There are trainers pumping horses full of illegal drugs every day,' says a former Churchill Downs public relations director. 'With so much money on the line, people will do anything to make their horses run faster.'" And, there also are injuries and deaths after a horse stops racing, and horses called "wastages" are killed when they're no longer profitable.

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It's clear that many more racehorses die than most people are aware of, and that serious injuries can be avoided if the horses weren't abused and trained or raced to death. I had no idea about the sheer number of racehorses who were injured and died each year.

Let's hope that the tragic deaths at Santa Anita are used to put an end to these avoidable incidents. As the late Gretchen Wyler aptly said, "Cruelty can't stand the spotlight." Let's keep the spotlight on the plight of racehorses. In this way, the avoidable deaths of these amazing beings will not have been in vain.