The Jockey Club released comparative fatality statistics for 2013 and 2014 and a six-year statistical summary from its Equine Injury Database yesterday. A release read:
The incidence of fatal injury for 2014, 1.89 per 1,000 starts, was slightly less than it was in 2013. In 2013, it was 1.90 per 1,000 starts.
Dr. Tim Parkin, a veterinarian and epidemiologist from the University of Glasgow, who serves as a consultant on the Equine Injury Database, performed the analysis.
“In 2014, the incidence of fatal injury on turf increased 27% after showing a 20% decrease in the prior year; however, the incidence of fatal injury decreased 3.8% on dirt and 1.6% on synthetic over 2013,” Parkin said.
The prevalence of race-related fatal injury for the six-year timeframe from January 1, 2009, through December 31, 2014, was 1.91 per 1,000 starts. The data was based on analysis of 2,180,443 starts.
Click here for the six-year summary of statistics from the Equine Injury Database by surface, distance and age.
When comparing race distance, shorter races (less than 6f) saw a slightly higher injury rate versus middle (6f to 8f) and long (more than 8f) races. This is consistent each year over the six-year span.
Similar to prior years, 2-year-olds continued the trend of the lowest rate of catastrophic injuries. However, unlike four of the previous five years, in 2014, 3-year-olds had a higher rate of catastrophic injuries than horses four years old and older.
The statistics include only injuries that resulted in fatalities within 72 hours from the date of the race. Summary statistics are subject to change due to a number of considerations.
A list of racetracks participating in the Equine Injury Database and detailed statistics from those tracks that voluntarily publish their results can be found here.
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