Ontario Racehorse Death Registry, 2003–2015: Descriptive analysis and rates of mortality

Physick‐Sheard, P. W.; Avison, Amanda; Chappell, Elizabeth; MacIver, Melissa

doi:10.1111/evj.12955

Cited by 21 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…The rate of fatalities due to all causes (0.16 per 1000 starts) was comparable with the reported fatality rate of 0.07 per 1000 starters for approximately 1,800,000 Standardbred starts in the USA in 2003–2007 and 0.197 per 1000 starts in Ontario in 2003–2015 . The fatality rate is lower than the rate of 0.33–0.44 per 1000 starts reported in Australian Thoroughbred racing and 1.4–1.7 per 1000 starts in Thoroughbreds racing in the USA…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

“…In the period 2003–2007, 129 Standardbred race fatalities were reported from approximately 1,800,000 starts in the USA; a rate of approximately 0.07 fatalities per 1000 starts . A total of 299 fatalities were reported from 1,519,205 race starts by Standardbreds in Ontario in the period 2003–2015, giving a fatality rate of 0.197 deaths per 1000 starts . No fatalities were reported in the 36‐month period of the previous Australian study …”

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confidence: 99%

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Results of racetrack examinations of Standardbred horses at race meetings in New South Wales

Knight

2019

Aust Veterinary J

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The findings of all prerace and postrace examinations were analysed, and the frequency of observations was recorded. Chi-square testing was used to determine whether the incidence of abnormalities differed between age groups and tracks. A total of 542 meetings were conducted during the period of the study, with veterinary examinations conducted at 395 of these meetings. A total of 520 veterinary examinations (60 prerace and 460 postrace) were conducted. During the period of the study, 3685 horses started 31,393 times. Injuries occurring during the warm-up or start were the most common finding on prerace examination (11 reports) followed by lameness (6 reports). Lameness was the most common problem identified during postrace examinations, occurring at a rate of 2.10 cases per 1000 starts. Other problems identified at a rate of more than 1 per 1000 starts were poor postrace recovery/heat stress (2.04) and lacerations (1.75). Falls occurred at a rate of 1.72 cases per 1000 starts. Twoyear-old horses were less likely to be lame than 3, 5 and 6-yearold horses. There was no difference in the rate of falls or lameness between tracks. This study provides a benchmark against which ongoing improvements in welfare can be assessed.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

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confidence: 99%

Results of racetrack examinations of Standardbred horses at race meetings in New South Wales

Knight

2019

Aust Veterinary J

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“…In this analysis of mortality records for Ontario racehorses, dying suddenly did not seem to be a remote or infrequent problem, in fact it was the second most frequent problem associated with death, after musculoskeletal disease 14 . An adequate explanation for horses dying suddenly is often not found, even in racehorses which are usually subjected to intense post‐mortem scrutiny, 15 and such was the case in this population 16 .…”

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confidence: 76%

Irregular hearts and performance horses

Physick‐Sheard

Slack

2020

Equine Veterinary Journal

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“…A principal issue is the serious injury and/or death of horses [4][5][6][7] and riders [8,9]. Musculoskeletal injuries are the most common cause of death, comprising over 70% of TB racehorse fatalities [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Previous studies report between 7% and 49% of race-day MSI resulting in death of the horse [4,7,13,[19][20][21][22][23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, there are no prospective studies that provide a detailed description of all injury types with most studies adopting a more broad outcome classification [11,42,43], or restricting their analysis to particular types of injury [11,26,[44][45][46][47]. Similar reporting applies to studies of MSI in Thoroughbred horses racing over jumps [19,22,48] and Quarter Horse racing [14,15,45,49].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Appraising the Welfare of Thoroughbred Racehorses in Training in Queensland, Australia: The Incidence and Type of Musculoskeletal Injuries Vary between Two-Year-Old and Older Thoroughbred Racehorses

Crawford

Finnane

Greer

et al. 2020

Animals

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Musculoskeletal injuries (MSI) remain a concerning cause of racehorse morbidity and mortality with important ethical and welfare consequences. Previous research examining risk factors for MSI report inconsistent findings. Age is thought to affect MSI risk, but, to date, there have been no prospective studies comparing MSI in two-year-old versus older horses. This study aimed to: (1) determine the incidence of MSI for two-year-old and older horses, and whether this was affected by training track, season, or rainfall, and (2) determine the types of MSI affecting two-year-old and older horses, and whether horses trialled or raced after injury. A prospective survey was conducted with data collected through personal structured weekly interviews with participating trainers over a 13-month period. Data were analysed using Poisson regression. The incidence of MSI in the current study was low (0.6%). The incidence of MSI in two-year-old horses was higher than older horses (p < 0.001). Types of MSI varied between two-year-old and older horses (p < 0.001) and affected whether horses subsequently trailed or raced from 11 to 23 months after injury (p < 0.001). A larger proportion of two-year-old horses had dorsal metacarpal disease and traumatic lacerations. A smaller proportion of two-year-old horses had suspensory ligament desmitis, superficial digital flexor tendonitis, proximal sesamoid bone fractures, and fetlock joint injuries than older horses. Training track and rainfall did not affect MSI. The season affected MSI in two-year-old horses (p < 0.001) but not older horses. The major limitation was that trainers in this study were metropolitan (city) and our findings may not be generalisable to racehorses in regional (country) areas. Another significant limitation was the assumption that MSI was the reason for failure to trial or race after injury. In conclusion, the incidence of MSI was low in the current study and the types and the risk factors for MSI are different for two-year-old and older horses.

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Ontario Racehorse Death Registry, 2003–2015: Descriptive analysis and rates of mortality

Cited by 21 publications

References 43 publications

Results of racetrack examinations of Standardbred horses at race meetings in New South Wales

Results of racetrack examinations of Standardbred horses at race meetings in New South Wales

Irregular hearts and performance horses

Appraising the Welfare of Thoroughbred Racehorses in Training in Queensland, Australia: The Incidence and Type of Musculoskeletal Injuries Vary between Two-Year-Old and Older Thoroughbred Racehorses

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