Summary: Background: To date, no large scale studies have reported race‐day events requiring veterinary attention in British Thoroughbreds racing on the flat. Quantifying and describing common injuries and health conditions affecting racehorses will enable targeted risk factor analysis aimed at reducing their occurrence. Objective: To describe the type and incidence of race‐day veterinary events experienced by Thoroughbred racehorses participating in flat racing in the UK . Study design: Retrospective cohort study (2000 to 2013). Methods: Veterinary events recorded by race‐day veterinarians were retrieved and linked to race start data. Race‐day veterinary events were described by type, location and anatomical structure(s) affected and whether the outcome was fatal or not. Incidence per 1000 starts was calculated, both overall and by year. Stratified incidence rates were calculated for selected event categories by specific course‐ and horse‐level variables. Results: There were 7993 events experienced by 6727 horses, with an incidence of 9.37 events per 1000 starts. Soft tissue injuries other than tendon and ligament injuries were the most commonly occurring veterinary events (24.1%), followed by gait observations (21.2%) and respiratory conditions (21.2%). In total, 13.8% of events were bone injuries. The incidence of fatality (n = 628) was 0.76 per 1000 starts. Most (485/628, 77.2%) fatal events were bone injuries, 64 were due to cardiac conditions and 54 due to tendon and ligament injuries. All‐weather tracks had a higher incidence of veterinary events and fatalities than turf tracks. Firmer (turf) or faster (all‐weather) going were associated with a higher incidence of all veterinary events. Main limitations: Events were based on presumptive, rather than definitive, veterinary diagnosis. Conclusion: The most common events experienced by racehorses on race‐day were relatively minor and not career‐ending. Although more severe bone, joint, tendon and ligament injuries were less common, they had a greater impact on whether the outcome of the event was fatal.

A key focus of the racing industry is to reduce the number of race-day events where horses die suddenly or are euthanased due to catastrophic injury. The objective of this study was therefore to determine risk factors for race-day fatalities in Thoroughbred racehorses, using a cohort of all horses participating in flat racing in Great Britain between 2000 and 2013. Horse-, race- and course-level data were collected and combined with all race-day fatalities, recorded by racecourse veterinarians in a central database. Associations between exposure variables and fatality were assessed using logistic regression analyses for (1) all starts in the dataset and (2) starts made on turf surfaces only. There were 806,764 starts in total, of which 548,571 were on turf surfaces. A total of 610 fatalities were recorded; 377 (61.8%) on turf. In both regression models, increased firmness of the going, increasing racing distance, increasing average horse performance, first year of racing and wearing eye cover for the first time all increased the odds of fatality. Generally, the odds of fatality also increased with increasing horse age whereas increasing number of previous starts reduced fatality odds. In the ‘all starts’ model, horses racing in an auction race were at 1.46 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06–2.01) times the odds of fatality compared with horses not racing in this race type. In the turf starts model, horses racing in Group 1 races were at 3.19 (95% CI 1.71–5.93) times the odds of fatality compared with horses not racing in this race type. Identification of novel risk factors including wearing eye cover and race type will help to inform strategies to further reduce the rate of fatality in flat racing horses, enhancing horse and jockey welfare and safety.

The aim of the present study was to describe the pattern of flat and jump races and starts, including temporal trends, in Thoroughbred racing in New Zealand. Data on all race starts between 1 August 2005 and 31 July 2011 were supplied by New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the data at both race and start level, stratified by flat and jumps races. In total, 96% of races run were flat races and most races and starts occurred in the Northern region. There was an even distribution of flat races across season of the year, whereas most (60%; 514/863) jumps races were run in winter followed by autumn (21%; 183/863), with no races run in summer. Irrespective of region or season, most flat races were run on Good (37%; 7505/20 091) tracks and most (45%; 384/863) jumps races were run on Heavy tracks. There was no change in the number of horses per race or starts per horse across the years studied, and the median number of starts per trainer was 14 (interquartile range 6–38) for flat races and 3 (interquartile range 2–6) for jumps races. The results showed there is a relatively consistent product offered for Thoroughbred racing in New Zealand, which is primarily focussed on flat racing. The study provided baseline data on the pattern of Thoroughbred racing in New Zealand, which can be used as background for future industry-related studies.