Welfare & Safety Summit: Big Data Driving Tangible Results

If The Jockey Club's Equine Injury Database (EID) can be considered the backbone of the “big data” movement that is now starting to yield tangible results and practical improvements for the North American racing industry, then Tuesday's seventh Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit at Keeneland Race Course has to be thought of as “the best worldwide knowledge exchange for the racing industry with respect to the welfare of the Thoroughbred.”

At least that's the way Dr. Tim Parkin, a senior lecturer in Equine Clinical Sciences at the University of Glasgow, phrased it. Parkin, who is a regularly featured speaker at the annual event hosted by the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and The Jockey Club, works closely with the EID, and he reported that the most recent culling of more than 2.5 million races worth of statistical information shows “quite a dramatic drop in the rate of fatal injuries in 2015 compared to previous years.”

According to the EID, the overall (across all surfaces, ages, and distances) fatality rate dropped from 1.89 deaths per 1,000 starts in 2014 to 1.62 per 1,000 starts in 2015, the lowest annual rate since the EID started publishing statistics in 2009.

“I wouldn't really be standing here talking about this drop in the rate of fatal injury if I didn't believe that it was actually something that was significant,” Parkin said. “This is a far greater drop in the rate of fatal injury in 2015 than we would expect by a statistical blip, in my opinion.”

According to a separate press release issued by The Jockey Club, the fatality rates on various surfaces were as follows:

• On turf, there were 1.22 fatalities per 1,000 starts in 2015, compared to 1.75 in 2014.

• On dirt, there were 1.78 fatalities per 1,000 starts in 2015, compared to 2.02 in 2014.

• On synthetics, there were 1.18 fatalities per 1,000 starts in 2015, compared to 1.20 in 2014.

“So there's clearly a very significant difference in the risk of fatal injury on the different surfaces in use in North America,” Parkin said.

Parkin has incorporated over 20 different risk factors in his statistical modeling, and now that the EID is entering its eighth year of compilation, he said the “data really is driving our ability now to have impact on equine welfare” in North America.

“I do honestly believe that the collective efforts of everyone in this industry on this side of the world are starting to bear fruit,” Parkin said. “It is critical that we continue to contribute complete data recording. The more data that we have, the better.”

He said that in 2015, more than 96% of starts in North America got entered into the ever-growing database, “which is a remarkable statistic; it's almost a complete census.”

While taking a generally enthusiastic and optimistic tone about the topic of data contribution and collection, Parkin did encourage the industry to step up its efforts in two specific areas that he believes could lead to fewer fatal injuries: The sharing of restricted state vets' lists and the harmonization of medication protocols across jurisdictions.

“And for us, being able to include medical records in models would be a real boon,” Parkin said. “I don't think that's going to be something that we would take to national models, but it's the sort of thing that we might be able to do with individual tracks, or groups of tracks where we get the agreement from individual trainers or veterinarians to include those medical records in models, to actually identify whether they significantly improve the predictive ability of the models we produce.”

Parkin said that achieving future reductions in on-track fatalities should be thought of as do-able through incremental gains. He said if the industry strives to make even only a half-percent or 1% positive change across 10 risk categories, it adds up to a significant five or 10% overall improvement.

“I think there is a greater awareness of the importance of Thoroughbred welfare, and I'm sure that it's more close to the front of people's minds to ensure that we make continual marginal gains,” Parkin said. “And it's those little things, that's how we're going to be dealing with this in the next few years. It's going to be making marginal gains that are going to contribute to a reduction in risk.”

Practical Ways to Improve Airway Health

A presentation on equine respiratory and airway health that featured both academic and hands-on perspectives on “clean barn” protocols was one of the more practical agenda items at Tuesday's Welfare and Safety Summit.

Dr. Susan Holcombe, a professor of Large Animal Clinical Sciences at Michigan State University, discussed research she's done on that subject. Longtime horseman Bill Casner, who co-founded WinStar Farm and now operates individually as Casner Racing, talked about the feasibility of incorporating those standards into stable routines on a day-to-day basis.

“What we're really here to talk about today are the environmental factors that can cause inflammation in the airway. These are things allergens, particulates, dust, heavy metals [and] basic pollutants,” Holcombe said.

“If you'll walk down a number of shed rows at the racetrack, you will probably hear horses coughing,” Casner said. “Inflammatory Airway Disease (IAD) is similar to asthma in humans, and the occurrence is estimated to be as high as 50% by some researchers.” Although not clinically defined as such, Casner said there appears to be anecdotal veterinary evidence that IAD also contributes to airway bleeding in horses.

“This is the problem: Horses at the track and at many training facilities live in stalls that have accumulated decades of pathogens and allergens, including bacteria, viruses, biofilms, fungi and mold,” Casner said. “One thing I've learned over the years is that there are two things that prevent the addition of protocols to the daily routine in training barns: Cost and time pressure.”

Although not every owner or trainer has the luxury of building barns specifically designed to improve air hygiene, like Casner did at his training facilities in Texas and at WinStar Farm, he did list a number of practical, mostly low-cost steps horse caretakers can implement to cut down the risk of IAD. His ideas, based on the four key points of ventilation, bedding and forage choices, and contamination control, included:

• Eliminating the use of box fans, which blow too much dust. An alternative would also be to turn the fans outward, so that air laden with particulates is directed away from horses.

• Choosing shavings or wood pellets as bedding rather than straw, which tends to be more dusty.

• Swapping out hay net racks in favor of feeding hay on the ground (to eliminate unhealthy air pockets as horses burrow into the racks to eat; feeding on the ground also encourages the gravitational downward drip of any existing airway mucous).

• Considering investing about $2,500 in a hay steamer, which kills off pathogens in dry hay (watering hay with a hose is a lower-cost, but not as effective, alternative).

• A day or two before horses ship to new barns, sending a worker to power-wash each stall.

•”Fogging” stalls routinely with a non-toxic, anti-microbial misted solution.

Holcombe added that even minor changes in routine, like keeping doorways open in barns and not having staffers raise dust by raking the shed row so vigorously, can improve the air quality of stables.

“Above all, just being aware of how filthy a stall environment really is should motivate a trainer,” Casner said.

He added that “in truth, [stall washing and disinfecting] is something that should be done at every racetrack by their own management as a service to the health and welfare of our horses.” But to his knowledge, Casner said Kentucky Downs is the only track he is aware of that does so.

Perception or Reality in Regulating the Riding Crop?

Is the relatively modern movement toward regulating the use of the whip in North American racing driven more by perception or reality? That was the crux of a three-way conversation among a trio of retired jockeys–two of whom are Hall-of-Famers and one who is a current racing official–at Tuesday's Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit.

The answer is that the impetus toward more restraint with the riding crop is guided by a hazy coalescence of overlapping factors. And although former riders Chris McCarron, Ramon Dominguez and Gunnar Lindberg did not agree on every aspect of this topic, there was a general consensus toward a clear need to treat race horses in the most humane way possible while still allowing jockeys to use a whip for safety purposes and (this part was open to subjective debate) properly executed encouragement.

“I don't think we'd be better off with whipless racing, but I'm looking for some reform with regard to how the crop is used and how often it's used,” said McCarron.

“Without question the racing industry has been moving in the right direction when it comes to the riding crop,” said Dominguez. “However, why it that there is so much negative attention on this topic?” he asked rhetorically. “As long as we continue to please the perception, we will never move forward.”

Lindberg, a senior racing official in Ontario, which has enforced restrictions on whip use for several years, said “even though we have this set of rules in Ontario that seem to have worked, and we have limited the amount of strikes, people still don't like it. And so, where do you go from there? How do you make it any better?”

Lindberg continued: “We've got to look at the big picture. We're looking to increase our fan base. And if people think that the horses are being abused, then we're not going to increase that fan base. It's the way of the world now… People don't want to see animals abused, and if that's their perception, then we have to change that.”

But perception cuts both ways, McCarron explained. While some racegoers don't want to see any use of the whip at all, some segments of the backstretch population (and some bettors), cling to the age-old belief that jockeys who don't hit a horse all-out with the whip aren't giving their best effort.

Admitting that he had some chagrin about the way he used to ride, McCarron related several stories detailing how early in his career he was known for aggressive use of the crop, and how when some trainers openly instructed him to flail away vigorously with the stick, he willingly complied.

“But my style and my attitude toward the use of the crop evolved, and I used it a lot more judiciously later in my career than I did early in my career,” McCarron said.

Dominguez said the whip is an “overrated piece of equipment,” but that for safety's sake, such as in controlling a horse that is about to bolt, a jockey needs it.

Still, Dominguez admitted to making similar overly aggressive mistakes as McCarron did in his formative years, based on “lack of knowledge” and the then-prevalent mindset among jockeys that “that's the way it needed to be.”

McCarron explained that is much more strenuous–and takes quite a bit more natural talent–to hand-ride a horse so it produces speed rather than striking it with a whip. And, he pointed out, there is a proper time and place in the horse's stride to effectively use the crop. He instructs young riders not to employ the whip when their mount is fully extended, and thus vulnerably exposed on the softer flank area.

“Education–it's going to be difficult to educate the trainers, it's going to be difficult to educate the owners, and it's going to be even more difficult educate the general public,” McCarron said. “Because John Q. Public, who's a player, a gambler, wants to see that. They want to see that you're making every possible effort to get the best placing you can. So we've got a lot of work to do as far as changing, first of all, the reality, and then causing a whole new perception in the eyes of our patrons.”

Lindberg explained that in Ontario, “we don't really have a limit on the amount of times you can hit a horse; it's more of a succession thing. We don't want to see you hit a horse more than three times quickly [so the horse has a chance to respond].”

California instituted a similar rule last year, but McCarron said he was “totally disappointed and quite shocked” to learn that the California Horse Racing Board is in the midst of considering increasing the amount of times a rider could whip a horse in succession before it responds, upping the current number from three to four.

How about whipless races, like they have in some European racing jurisdictions? McCarron seemed to struggle to find the right phrasing, then said he was just going to say what's on his mind about why he was skeptical that would work in North America.

“The number of true horsemen in our business has declined a great deal over the past 30 years,” McCarron said. “And, quite frankly, there's only going to be a certain percentage of the trainers to have the skill and ability to get horses to train in such a way that they'll give you everything they have in the afternoon. And on those horses, you do need a stick to encourage them to go.”

Dominguez didn't quite agree, bringing up some advice he got early in his riding career that he remembers to this day.

“The best jockey is the one that the horse notices the least,” Dominguez said. “I'm all for not getting in the way of the horses, but [industry-wide whip reform] needs to be a learning curve that will require some effort from different aspects…The fans are a priority here. We all depend on our fan base. But if we continue to put band-aids on top of the beliefs or perceptions, we're not going anywhere.”

As for what could be done to further the reform, McCarron said, “We're here. We're talking about it. We're trying to move things forward, trying to make it a better environment for the horses. And I think we need to continue to do more work like this, and have the lines of communication remain open.”

Physical Inspections: a Different Tool for Different Types of Vets

A panel discussion titled “Lameness Diagnosis–The Importance of the Physical Inspection” featured juxtaposed insights on the importance of hands-on veterinary examinations in various contexts.

Dr. Mary Scollay, the equine medical director for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, quite likely performs the most physical inspections of the three vets that were on the panel, but in the context of her job as a race-day regulatory vet, she probably spends the least amount of time with each Thoroughbred.

“Rarely do we make a diagnosis,” Scollay explained. “We have identified a gait abnormality, an unsoundness, that's not acceptable to us. In some cases, we may be able to narrow it down–there's heat in the tendon, there's resistance to palpation. We can say 'This needs to be looked at.' I think it's almost important that we don't render a diagnosis, because what we've done is identify a horse that needs to have a condition diagnosed, and that's where [private vets] come in. I think we're overstepping if we try to come up with a diagnosis with our limited exam and the resources that we have at hand to examine a horse on race day.”

Scollay said verbal finesse is a part of her job in dealing with trainers whose horses have physical issues. But in the end, she said, scratching a horse for safety reasons can come down to her having to bluntly tell a trainer who disagrees with her assessment that “we're not running [an] experiment during a race.”

“More often, it is a conversation,” Scollay acknowledged, underscoring that she appreciates it when trainers approach her well in advance of race day to point out potentially harmless quirks in individual horses who have a gait abnormality. In such cases, she will agree to stop by the barn a few days ahead of time to watch a horse train and cool out before otherwise having to make an on-the-spot scratch decision on the day of the race.

“I think the relationship has grown,” Scollay said of communicating with trainers. But, she added, “I view a scratch, to a certain extent, as a failure. Either we failed to communicate where our line is in the sand with regard to a horse's condition, or something has happened to the horse that the trainer was not aware of, and that's where we have to intervene.”

What Scollay will not tolerate, she explained, is a trainer who gives her a line of reasoning that agrees with her assessment that the horse is lame, but since the trainer's private vet has not yet discovered the underlying reason why the animal is “off,” the trainer seems to think that the absence of a formal diagnosis somehow erases the lameness issue.

Dr. Kevin Dunlavy, a private-practice racetrack vet with Kentucky Equine Medical Associates, agreed with Scollay, both on her points about pre-race exams and how they are viewed by his trainer clients on the backstretch.

“If a horse is scratched on the day of a race, something's gone wrong,” Dunlavy said. “Obviously the trainer's entered the horse, the expectation is to be able to run. [The trainer thought] the horse was healthy and ready for a good performance, so it typically comes as a surprise.” In his work as a private vet, that “starts the whole investigation process to see what is wrong, what's amiss.”

Dunlavy continued: “The trainers know that the horses are going to be subject to [pre-race inspections]. I look at it as a 'win-win.' We're all after the same common goal, the overall health of the horse. So, really, the relationship between myself and the state vets is one more of collaboration. It's definitely not one of animosity….I think people realize [pre-race exams] are part of the industry now, and they're welcomed.

“I think most trainers adhere to the philosophy that if you don't train well, then you're probably not going to perform well,” Dunlavy said. “So along that line, as far as lameness is concerned, I think people try to identify it and address it beforehand. You want to have the horse doing as well as it possibly can, and that's where a lot of the diagnostics have come along.”

The advent of “instant imaging,” Dunlavy said, has served to “educate the trainer much more today, when a trainer can literally watch part of the workup.”

If a horse's illness or injury is severe enough that it has been sent to Dr. Larry Bramlage at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, more advanced forms of diagnostic imaging than are available at the track are utilized to help with the proper diagnosis. But Bramlage said a tool like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has to be used judiciously, because it can take up to two hours, for example, to properly image a horse's fetlocks.

“With those horses, we do use scintigraphy, we do use radiography, we do use, occasionally, the MRI,” Bramlage said. “But [if you image] every hot spot in the horse…you're going to spend a lot of money needlessly, and you'll be X-raying a lot of sites where there's no pain. So the physical part is still a good part of the exam.”

Bramlage said the entire concept of pre-race exams and the role of commission vets have both changed radically in the decades since he started practicing.

“If you could boil it down to one sentence, the regulatory veterinarian is now a profession,” Bramlage said. “[Back when] I graduated from veterinary school, the odds are [a commission vet] was a retired small-animal veterinarian who was spending his afternoon at the races. It's changed a lot.”

Other Summit Presentations

• Dr. Nathaniel White II, professor emeritus of equine surgery at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, spoke about the communications protocols at the Equine Disease Communication Center, which uses website, email, Facebook, and Twitter alerts (plus a call center starting later this week) to alert the public to horse health emergencies related to disease outbreaks.

“We do work closely with state animal health officials,” White said. “Many of them are sending this information to us now before it hits the media. That allows us to get it up, and we use the website to do that. It really is similar to the American Association of Equine Practitioners 'on call' program, where you've got to confirm facts right away, and have an informant that's going to give the right information to an audience that's very concerned. If you don't say something about it, the rumors spread about what's happening.”

• Dr. Michael “Mick” Peterson Jr., the executive director of the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory, spoke about the correlation between the Equine Injury Database and the “maintenance quality system” that he has helped to implement at tracks across North America.

“At this point, the data is in its early stages and still developing, but it's important as we go through this to we begin to tie the pieces together and use them for action to protect the health and safety of the horses.”

With reference to the lower catastrophic injury rates on turf and synthetic surfaces, Peterson said, “We know there's a difference between dirt, turf, and synthetic. But our goal has to be to make dirt consistently safe.”

• Dr. Christopher Kawcak, an associate professor of clinical sciences at Colorado State University, discussed the role of using biomarkers to help prevent catastrophic injuries

“When you look at the Thoroughbred racehorse, they're unique in the sense that most of the injuries are from repetitive stress” that will result in a fatigue-type of injury that has built up over time, Kawcak said. “We know that a lot of these disease processes that occur in the joints actually start in the bone below the joints.”

• Other panels covered “nutraceutical” oral joint supplementation, balanced feed programs, compounded medications, and “return to ride protocols” as they pertain to the Jockey Injury Database. The American Association of Equine Practitioners also provided an update on that organization's “10-point prescription for racing.”