Federal Regulation’s Impact on Equine Safety in U.S. Thoroughbred Racing
In the world of U.S. thoroughbred racing, federal regulation is making waves, and not just the kind that ripple through the industry. The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) has been at the forefront of this change, and their efforts are starting to show measurable impacts on equine safety. However, the sport still faces challenges, including horse fatalities and regional disparities that continue to cast a shadow over the tracks.
According to HISA’s 2024 Annual Metrics Report, the fatality rate at tracks under its jurisdiction fell to 0.90 per 1,000 starts last year. This represents a significant 27 percent drop from 2023, marking the lowest fatality rate since the industry began tracking such data in 2009, when it stood at 2.0 per 1,000 starts. This is a promising development, but it also highlights the ongoing risks inherent in the sport.
Chelsea Perez, senior program manager for equine protection at Humane World for Animals, a global non-profit focusing on animal welfare, commented on the progress, saying, “HISA has done a lot of work in bringing everybody along and creating a proof of concept that federal regulations can be effective, that they can be good for the participants in the industry, not only the horses, but the people as well.”
Progress and Challenges
The data from HISA offers both progress and perspective. While the decline in fatalities suggests that federal oversight may be helping reduce deaths on the track, the sport still carries inherent risk. The broader national picture remains bifurcated, with tracks in states not regulated by HISA recording nearly double the number of fatalities: 1.76 per 1,000 starts. This disparity points to a fractured industry, where HISA’s uniform safety standards apply only to 47 venues in 19 states, while others operate under a patchwork of state laws and varying protocols. The states with significant thoroughbred racing operations outside HISA jurisdiction include Louisiana, Texas, West Virginia, and Nebraska.
For the first time, the report includes data on training-related equine deaths, which had never been compiled on a national level. In 2024, horses at HISA-regulated tracks died at a rate of 0.50 per 1,000 timed workouts. HISA counted any horse that died or was euthanized within 72 hours of a race or timed workout due to injuries sustained on the track.
HISA’s Role and Legal Challenges
HISA’s jurisdiction includes many of the sport’s highest-profile venues, such as Churchill Downs, Pimlico, and Saratoga, which are the hosts of this year’s Triple Crown races. The authority was created by an act of Congress and operates under the supervision of the Federal Trade Commission. Launched in July 2022, HISA introduced new standards for track surfaces, limits on crop use by jockeys, enhanced training requirements, uniform protocols governing how drugs are administered to horses, and a national drug-testing policy.
Despite these efforts, several states and some horse breeders have resisted federal regulation. Texas, for instance, has prohibited interstate simulcasting of its races to stay out of the reach of the federal government. Lawsuits challenging HISA’s authority are making their way through the courts, with conflicting results. The legal battle could eventually be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against the federal racing authority, while judges in the Sixth Circuit have ruled in favor of the authority.
HISA’s regulatory reach will remain limited until the legal dispute is resolved. “One of our largest concerns is that now this resistance that exists is creating a two-tiered system where the people who adhere to HISA protocols are saving horse lives, and the people who don’t are creating dangerous situations,” Perez said.
Public Perception and Future Prospects
HISA’s latest report arrived amid lingering concern over horse racing’s public image and commitment to reform. For decades, the sport has been losing fans due to the proliferation of betting opportunities elsewhere and growing concern about the lethal damage the sport inflicts on horses. In 2023, Churchill Downs saw 12 horse deaths over just five weeks, including two on the Kentucky Derby undercard. Saratoga also suffered 13 racing-related fatalities, along with another in the barn area, episodes that reignited scrutiny and criticism from animal welfare groups and fans alike.
Horseracing Wrongs, a non-profit that tracks horse deaths and aims to abolish the sport, documented 850 racehorse deaths at tracks around the country in 2024. That number does not include horses euthanized off-site, those that die at the nation’s 200 private training facilities, and those in states that share only limited information. Overall, the organization estimates that as many as 2,000 racehorses perish each year. “Death, or at least a certain level of it, is built into the horse racing system. Killing is inevitable,” said Patrick Battuello, founder and president of the organization. “So, my take on HISA is, are things getting marginally better? Perhaps.”
Insights from HISA’s CEO
To understand more about what these numbers mean and how HISA sees its role evolving, we spoke with the organization’s CEO, Lisa Lazarus. Below is our conversation, edited for clarity and length.
- Your latest report shows a record-low fatality rate at HISA tracks. What do you attribute this improvement to most directly?
- Probably the most important factor is the buy-in we’ve gotten from the vast majority of stakeholders. Owners, trainers, jockeys, veterinarians, coming together and really prioritizing an ethos of safety. We have a number of rules that were implemented when we launched our racetrack safety program and then our anti-doping program. Those rules and regulations certainly help to diminish the risk of horses having a fatality. The other piece that I think is important is that we are leveraging a ton of data that is supplied to us on a daily basis. We get over 5,000 veterinary records into our system daily. That allows us to see what some of the patterns are and where some of the problem areas are.
What are the biggest factors that put race horses at risk?
The No. 1 factor is horses with preexisting injuries, that should never get to the starting gate but somehow are missed. No. 2 is an inconsistent surface. It’s about wanting the track to feel the same at the start of the race as at the end of the race, because it’s when you have inconsistency that horses struggle. Turf and artificial surfaces are safer than dirt, but dirt can be very safe. The main issue is consistency of the surface. The third thing is the anti-doping program.
HISA’s new training fatality data is the first of its kind. Why was it important to begin tracking and reporting these figures?
It doesn’t matter if the horse is racing or the horse is training. That horse is our responsibility. We felt if we were going to genuinely and sincerely address horse injuries and horse fatalities, we had to look at all of the activities that could potentially put a horse at risk.
Despite the progress at HISA-regulated tracks, the fatality rate at non-HISA tracks remains much higher. What can be done to bring those venues under your regulatory regime?
It’s really a legal question. Two of the main states that are not under our jurisdiction, succeeded in getting an injunction to avoid HISA’s regulation. That case has gone through the appeals courts and is now heading to the Supreme Court. So ultimately, the Supreme Court will make a decision on whether or not HISA is constitutional. And if it is, as I presume it will be, then those states will need to come under HISA’s authority.
Public confidence in the sport remains shaken. Do you believe HISA can help rebuild trust with fans?
I believe we’ve already started to. And we’re starting to see some encouraging signs. For example, a racing consortium just launched with (music artists) Lil Wayne and Little Yachty and a few other entertainers and they reached out to us and said, you know, one of the reasons why we’re going to enter the sport now is that we feel good about its regulatory structure and we felt confident that there isn’t a lot of cheating happening and that horses are being taken care of. That’s just one obvious example. Any number of people have reached out to me to say they had left the sport for a period, but they’ve come back now because they’re seeing HISA’s progress.
Looking ahead to the Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown season, what measures are in place to ensure horse safety on racing’s biggest stage?
We have something called our big event protocol. It’s not only because these horse races get a lot of media attention. It’s also because they tend to have a whole lot of people and a whole lot of runners and, and a whole lot of activity. So we need to be especially focused on them and we do an additional surface review. We also work very closely with the local veterinary team to make sure they have all of the horse histories going into the Derby and they have everything they need from us because we really are the repository for all of the records. We do a very significant amount of competition testing of horses that are likely to be in the Derby. We are also in charge of human safety. We also do simulations with how to respond to a medical emergency if they should happen to a jockey.
Originally Written by: Michael A. Fletcher
