LEXINGTON, Ky. — With 37 horse deaths at Santa Anita Park since December and four at Del Mar in less than two weeks, the highly publicized safety problems in thoroughbred racing are hard to ignore.
"It became apparent earlier this year we needed to be doing more and that's why we're all here," Drew Fleming, the CEO and president of Breeders' Cup Limited, said.
Leaders in the thoroughbred racing industry know there is a problem, which is why several groups announced Tuesday at Keeneland the formation of the Thoroughbred Safety Coalition. The founders include Churchill Downs Inc., Keeneland Association Inc., Breeders' Cup Limited, the New York Racing Association Inc. Del Mar Thoroughbred Club and The Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita Park. According to Fleming, those six organizations represent 85 percent of all graded stakes races in the United States.
"We are confident that the power of us working together will have a ripple effect," Fleming said. "And we know we need to get this right."
The coalition hopes to increase safety in thoroughbred racing by setting industry standards, which includes limiting what medications horses can take and when they can be taken, mandating daily reporting by vets and performing random testing on horses outside of competitions.
According to Bill Thomason, the president and CEO of Keeneland Association Inc., everything is on the table when it comes to safety, which includes looking at synthetic tracks, which some argue are safer for horses and jockeys. Thomason said the group is also working with the University of Kentucky, which is studying safety in horse racing.
Other organizational standards being pushed by the coalition include creating an electronic veterinary reporting system with a centralized database and collecting and sharing information on racing surface data.
"This is not just a commitment on paper," Churchill Downs Racetrack President Kevin Flanery said. "These are real reforms that can be and will be implemented."
The coalition said it will work on implementing these rules and regulations with individual tracks, which have their own house rules, along with regulatory authorities and other partners to get everyone on the same page.
"This is going to help provide a central position for all of us to share ideas, share ways that we can work together to try to make sure that we are providing as much uniformity in our sport as we possibly can," Thomason said.
"Transparency, accountability, honesty - we came forward for everybody here so that you can hold us accountable," Fleming said. "What we're saying is we're going to do everything we can to make the sport safer and we mean it."
All the members of the coalition present at Tuesday's announcement reiterated multiple times this was only the beginning of the process. They said they are welcoming new ideas and new members to help advance safety in thoroughbred racing.
More information, including details about their reforms, can be found at their website: thoroughbredsafetycoalition.com.
Contact reporter Dennis Ting at dting@whas11.com. Follow him on Twitter (@DennisJTing) and Facebook.
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