Musculoskeletal

A hearing officer assigned by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) has cleared the way for that regulatory body to provisionally suspend New York-based trainer Rudy Rodriguez while a final adjudication plays out stemming from a series of alleged rule violations related to "cruelty, mistreatment, neglect or abuse" of Thoroughbreds. The decision, dated Monday, Dec. 15, and made public Tuesday, Dec. 16, was written up following a Friday, Dec. 12, hearing at which Rodriguez testified that "all [of his] horses were well cared for." His legal team also presented...

The 2025 First Quarter Metrics Report, released Tuesday by HISA, shows racing-related fatalities largely on par with previous averages. The first quarter, which runs from Jan. 1-March 31, saw racetracks operating under HISA's umbrella report 0.85 racing-related fatalities per 1,000 starts, consistent with the 0.84 fatalities reported through the same period last year. Additionally, this first quarter's 0.85 represents a 37% decrease compared to the 1.35 fatalities per 1,000 starts from two years ago through the same time frame. This also is 5.6% lower than the aggregate racing-related fatality rate...