Some good news: Fatality rate drops to lowest level since 2009
 

2009 was when they started collecting data on a mass scale:

https://www.drf.com/news/fatality-ra...-ben-collected

Really good news. Whether you are in this sport for the gambling, the horses, or both, you want that number as low as possible.

Didn't even need synth tracks! :)

A new one was built last year, and there are probably more to come. :)

Per the article, the synthetic tracks have only about half the fatality rate of dirt.

“By surface, the fatality rate on artificial surfaces, such as those in use at Golden Gate Fields, Presque Isle Downs, and Turfway Park, were the lowest, at 0.73 fatalities per 1,000 starts. The rate for dirt races in 2021 was 1.51, while the rate for turf races was 1.25.”

Although the decline is certainly good news, the overall rate still strikes me as ridiculously high.

To put it in perspective:

An NFL team has 11 players, so 22 players per game.

There are 544 games per year. 544 X 22 =11,968 starts per year.

At rate of 1.39 deaths per 1000 starts, we’d have 16.6 dead NFL players per year.

I realize, of course, that horses aren’t people, but still…

Very good analogy and very spot on. The rate IS still ridiculously high. You don’t need to dig too deep to see any other type of horse activity doesn’t come close to the percentage of fatalities. The race accidents that cause death are more understandable and less preventable but half of the fatalities come while not racing. There is still a lot of work to do.

It's fantastic that the numbers are going down. Last couple years extraordinary measures are being taken with injured horses to make sure they don't fall into the racing death category.

But, in order to get it down a lot more horses who are sore or have manageable injuries have to have time off instead of injecting the hell out of them so they can make it through one or two more races. Field size is all important so the Industry has to act to make sure to get rid of the Trainers who burn them out to the point where they never race again. Especially young horses.

Tough to ignore the obvious that this a horrendous analogy for more than a few reason. Here's one....CTE. Years later, seemingly healthy ex-players are dying, committing suicide, and/or harming others.

But that's just assuming it makes any sense to compare the two in the first place. It doesn't.

Oh yes, definitely a great analogy because we all know that when NFL players break an ankle or leg they often die from it, just like horses. And of course injuries to humans wearing pads and helmets in a sport they choose to participate in are very similar to an unsound horse that can't speak racing and breaking down.

It's good that horse fatalities are down. We have a ways to go, but at least an effort is being made and it appears to be working. Let's not make idiotic comparisons with no logic or common sense to obscure the facts.

You beat me by three minutes. And yes, there's the CTE angle as well with the long-term damage football, boxing, etc. do to the body, but we'd be here all day if we listed everything dumb about the comparison.

I think we may be celebrating the improvement too soon.

To the most extreme animal rights advocates, 1 death is too many. That's who we are dealing with. So while we are working on reducing deaths further, we may need a better strategy for dealing with people that want to cancel racing either way.

Down = GOOD.

Less fatalities, and more charitable events, and aftercare is a great formula for the game.

I ask you to avoid killing the messenger:
Human nature prevents people from stopping the abuse of thoroughbreds.
There is too much financial pressure to horsemen with purses being so low that many owners are subsidizing their hobby to the tune of 10k/horse/year.
Thoroughbreds race an average of 6 times per year. And it appears that is too often. Standardbreds don't have this issue.
Stating the problem doesn't solve the problem. It does help to define what the f*k is going on here? I'm not sure it is solvable.

Does anyone know the breakdown rate for standardbreds?

I used to go to Yonkers and Roosevelt every week when I was young. I don't recall ever seeing a horse break down.