The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has been conducting an “expanded” review of the records of horses that have died at Saratoga Racecourse this year and will share the results of the review publicly, the organization said Thursday.
HISA released the statement at a time when concern is beginning to mount over the number of deaths that have occurred at Saratoga this year. On Wednesday, Burning Bright became the sixth racing fatality at the meet when he suffered an apparent cardiovascular incident and crashed through the rail, unseating and injuring his jockey, Luis Saez. There also have been four training fatalities since the meet started in mid-July.
The statement said that HISA is reviewing “necropsy results, veterinary records, racing and training histories, surface maintenance logs, and weather records” as part of its review, which began Aug. 5.
“HISA is collaborating with officials from the New York Racing Association and the New York State Gaming Commission in its review, and sharing findings in real time as these reviews are ongoing,” the statement said. “The final findings of HISA’s review will be made public and be used to inform potential interventions moving forward.”
All horses who die at New York racetracks are required to be necropsied, under a long-standing regulation.
In a statement, NYRA said that it was “strongly supportive of the work HISA is doing” and that the association was “actively investigating the circumstances around these incidents to ensure we are providing the safest possible environment for racing and training at Saratoga Race Course” in cooperation with HISA and the gaming commission.
HISA, which was created by federal legislation passed late in 2020, began enforcing safety protocols in July of last year. Those protocols were largely based on standards under an existing accreditation program and policies thought to represent the “best practices” of some leading racing jurisdictions, especially California, Kentucky, and New York.
This is the second time this year that HISA has conducted a special review at a major Thoroughbred racetrack because of a rash of deaths. Beginning in May, HISA launched a review at Churchill Downs in collaboration with officials of that track and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission after 12 horses died in the span of four weeks. Churchill eventually elected to cease racing at the track and move the remainder of its live meet to Ellis Park, a track it owns in western Kentucky.
The Churchill review did not uncover any deficiencies in Churchill’s racing surfaces or find any significant commonalities between the deaths that had occurred. Two of the 12 incidents were sudden deaths that occurred on the racetrack.
Several of the deaths at Saratoga have occurred in full view of the public in high-profile races, including the catastrophic breakdown of Maple Leaf Mel, an undefeated filly, just short of the wire in the Grade 1 Test Stakes three weeks ago.
On Wednesday, NYRA announced that it was implementing a new policy beginning next week in which attending veterinarians would be required to sign off on a horse’s fitness and soundness 72 hours prior to a race. Horses at all NYRA tracks – and all HISA-regulated tracks – are already required to be inspected by regulatory veterinarians on the day of a race.
