Epidemiology of Musculoskeletal Injury during Racing on New Zealand Racetracks 2005–2011

Abstract

Simple SummaryThere is currently limited information on the types, or risk, of injuries occurring for horses racing in flat races in New Zealand. Race reports and records from six racing seasons were used to determine the reasons why horses failed to finish a race. In total, 544 horses failed to complete a race, of which 177 were due to veterinary events. Most of the veterinary events that occurred during a race were classed as musculoskeletal injuries (136/177; 77%). The rate of musculoskeletal injuries during a race, 0.72 per 1000 starts, was lower than the rates reported for other racing jurisdictions. The condition of the track and the distance of the race were associated with the rate of musculoskeletal injury during a race. There may be differences in the training programmes and racing schedules for horses in the southern hemisphere, which may have contributed to the low rates reported in this study.AbstractThe objective of the study was to determine the incidence of veterinary events that resulted in a horse failing to finish a race and identify risk factors for musculoskeletal injury (MSI) during a race. Data were obtained on Thoroughbred flat race starts in New Zealand between 1 August 2005 and 31 July 2011 (six racing seasons). Stipendiary Steward’s reports were key-word searched to identify veterinary events that prevented a horse from finishing a race. Race data were used calculate the incidence of veterinary events per 1000 horse starts and Poisson regression was used to investigate risk factors for MSI. There were 188,616 race starts and 177 reported veterinary events. The incidence of MSI on race day was 0.72 per 1000 starts, whilst the incidence of respiratory events was 0.21 per 1000 starts. The rate of MSI was significantly lower on ‘dead’ and ‘slow’ tracks compared with ‘good’ tracks and significantly greater in longer races (≥1671 m) compared with races of ≤1200 m. The rate of MSI during flat races in New Zealand appears lower than that reported worldwide, which may be due to the management and training of horses in New Zealand or differences in case definitions used in comparable studies.

Relationship Between Historical Lameness, Medication Usage, Surgery, and Exercise With Catastrophic Musculoskeletal Injury in Racehorses

“…Musculoskeletal injuries are the primary cause of death for racehorses ( 1 – 4 ), and in California, there are about two catastrophic musculoskeletal injuries (CMI) for every 1,000 race starts in both Thoroughbred (TB) ( 5 – 7 ), and Quarter Horse (QH) racing ( 3 , 7 ). This incidence of CMI is higher than the incidence reported in other countries such as Australia and New Zealand (0.4/1,000 starts) [( 2 , 8 )], and the United Kingdom (0.7/1,000 starts) ( 4 ). California has seen a reduction in the frequency of fatalities in recent years ( 9 ), with this reduction credited to the implementation of a Racing Safety Program that has included horseshoe restrictions, improvement of track surfaces, restrictions on injection of some medications (e.g., corticosteroids), and continuing education of trainers.…”

Race-Level Reporting of Incidents during Two Seasons (2015/16 to 2016/17) of Harness Racing in New Zealand

“…The incidence of musculoskeletal fracture during both observed seasons was lower than the incidence reported in New Zealand Thoroughbred racing (0.48 per 1000 starts) using a similar reporting framework [ 11 ]. Fractures were recorded in both incident and non-incident reports, and this reflects how an incident and non-incident report was defined.…”

“…To date, most of the publications describing race day events from stipendiary stewards or race day veterinary events have examined the Thoroughbred racing industry. International and domestic data have suggested that potential risk factors for race day injury in Thoroughbred racing include track surface, track condition, race distance, race class, age of horse, training intensity, and number of starters [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Within harness racing, Physick-Sheard, Avison, and Sears [ 4 ] identified that sex, age, track class, performance history, and workload affect the likelihood of horse mortality on race day.…”

Operational temperatures of all-weather thoroughbred racetracks influence surface functional properties

“…Epidemiological work has recognised that firmer racetracks can increase the risk of fatal injury (Henley et al, 2006) and musculoskeletal damage (Bolwell et al, 2017) whilst faster going will raise the chance of distal limb fracture (Rosanowski et al, 2017). Surface material that is not as sensitive to temperature could be developed using additives to produce tracks less prone to temperature-related variation.…”