Wind Surgery Declarations Start Friday

The first wind surgery declarations will appear in British racecards on Friday following a decision by the British Horseracing Authority in November that horses having undergone wind operations since their last start be declared. Four horses entered on Friday have been flagged as having recently undergone wind surgery, routine surgical procedures designed to assist a horse with its breathing.

David Sykes, director of equine health and welfare for the BHA, said, “We have written to trainers to remind them of their responsibility to declare horses who have undergone wind surgery since their last run, and are pleased to see that a number of declarations have already been made since we made our announcement in November. We have been very clear from the start that any assumptions of the effect of wind operations on performance must be made entirely by the betting public. In many cases a wind operation will not bring about any improvement in a horse's form. However, it is clear that, on occasions, it certainly does, and it is for this reason that we felt it was important that this information should be in the public domain. This is about openness, transparency and access to data for the betting customer. The Horseracing Bettors Forum told us that their research said that this is the piece of data that is the most requested by the betting public.”