The 11th Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation’s Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit, which is scheduled for June 25 in the Longship Room at Kroger Field and will be livestreamed at bit.ly/wsslivestream and facebook.com/USJockeyClub, will feature information gleaned from the Equine Injury Database and recent reforms which can be predictive as to future safety initiatives.
The entire agenda was released Tuesday morning by Grayson and The Jockey Club.
The summit is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register, visit bit.ly/wss2024reg.
“This agenda exemplifies what the industry is doing to further increase the safety of its athletes, which has been the goal of the Welfare and Safety Summit since its inception,” said Jamie Haydon, president of Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and deputy executive director of The Jockey Club. “We encourage everyone interested in improving our sport to attend or watch the livestream.”
The agenda is as follows:
8:20 – Introduction
• Jamie Haydon, President, Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation
• Annise Montplaisir, Executive Director, Amplify Horse Racing
8:30 – 9:15 Equine Injury Database update on risk, risk factors, and prediction
• Dr. Tim Parkin, Head of Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol
9:15 – 10:00 The Jockey Club report on further reducing fatalities
• Jamie Haydon
• Dan Singer, Partner, McKinsey & Company
• Ben Vonwiller, Partner, McKinsey & Company
10:00 – 10:15 Break
10:15 – 11:00 5 years later – an update on Santa Anita safety reforms
• Dr. Dionne Benson, Chief Veterinary Officer, 1/ST RACING
• Tim Yakteen, Trainer
11:00 – 12:00 Panel discussion on sudden deaths in racing: Where are we today?
• Dr. Stuart Brown, Vice President of Equine Safety, Keeneland (Moderator)
• Dr. Sian Durward-Akhurst, Professor & Researcher, University of Minnesota
• Dr. Sue Stover, Distinguished Professor Emerita, University of California – Davis
• Dr. Laura Kennedy, Veterinarian Pathologist, University of Kentucky
• Dr. Lynn Hovda, Chief Commission Veterinarian, Minnesota Racing Commission
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch
1:00 – 2:00 The regulatory veterinarian and attending veterinarian in the HISA environment
• Dr. Will Farmer, Equine Medical Director, Churchill Downs (Moderator)
• Dr. Sarah Hinchliffe, Regulatory Veterinarian, New York Racing Association
• Dr. Lyndsay Hagemeyer, Veterinarian, Ohio Regulatory Veterinarian
• Dr. Chip L. Johnson, Veterinarian, Private Practice, Central Kentucky
2:00 – 2:45 A strategy to expand and accelerate surface safety programs for improved racing surface consistency
• Dr. Mick Peterson, Executive Director, Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory Professor, Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering, University of Kentucky
2:45 – 3:00 Break
3:00 – 3:30 Equine wearable biometric sensors: The next phase in early injury detection
• Dr. Sara Langsam, Partner, Teigland, Franklin and Brokken
3:30 – 4:00 Use of a standardized veterinary form for evaluation of racehorses entering a second career
• Dr. Jeff Berk, Veterinarian, Associate Equine Medical Associates
4:00 – 4:30 Light Up Racing update
• Price Headley Bell, Jr., Manager, Mill Ridge Farm and Board of Directors, Light Up Racing
The Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit is underwritten and coordinated by the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and co-hosted by the University of Kentucky Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment and The Jockey Club.
Previous editions of the summit can be viewed on Grayson’s YouTube page and have received nearly 16,000 views. Among the major accomplishments that have evolved from the previous 10 summits are the Equine Injury Database; the Jockey Injury Database; the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory; a uniform trainer test and study guide; the racing surfaces white paper and the publication of educational bulletins for track maintenance; the publication of stallion durability statistics; the Hoof: Inside and Out DVD, available in English and Spanish; protocols for horses working off of the veterinarian’s list; recommended regulations that void the claim of horses suffering injuries during a race; and inclement weather protocols.
Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation is traditionally the nation’s leading source of private funding for equine medical research that benefits all breeds of horses. Since 1940, Grayson has provided nearly $42.3 million to underwrite more than 437 projects at 48 universities. Additional information about the foundation is available at grayson-jockeyclub.org.
