The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority announced May 29 it will hold an emergency veterinary summit May 30 at Churchill Downs to review all veterinary information available and conduct additional analyses to better understand the 12 fatalities that have occurred at the Louisville racetrack since the last week in April.
The meeting will involve veterinary teams working for Churchill Downs, Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, and HISA.
"We remain deeply concerned by the unusually high number of equine fatalities at Churchill Downs over the last several weeks. We continue to seek answers, and we are working diligently with Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to mitigate any additional risk," read a HISA statement.
In addition to the veterinary summit, HISA has called renowned track superintendent Dennis Moore to provide a second and independent analysis of Churchill Downs' racing and training surfaces. During the course of this review, which will begin May 31, HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus and racetrack safety director Ann McGovern will also travel to Churchill Downs to receive the results of the analysis and any suggested follow-up. Dr. Jennifer Durenberger, HISA's director of equine safety and welfare, also will be at Churchill Downs to provide additional veterinary expertise and observation on site to ensure optimal veterinary oversight of the horses.
Churchill Downs, in a May 27 update, said it had commissioned Dr. Mick Peterson, executive director of Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory and Professor of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering at the University of Kentucky, "to perform additional diagnostics on our racetrack. The report indicated that the measurements from retesting do not raise any concerns and that none of the data is inconsistent with prior measurements from Churchill Downs or other tracks.
"Additionally, we have worked to uncover ways to invest in research and resources that may be made available to trainers, so that together we can better detect pre-existing injuries and work to avoid catastrophic injuries in racing," Churchill Downs said in its update. "We have made promising progress in determining ways to increase the use of technology to better inform and intervene when abnormalities in horses present and are eager to share these announcements with horsemen and the public in the coming days. This is in addition to mining and enhancing our already comprehensive safety protocols and policies, all developed over the years to improve upon every opportunity we have to advocate in the best interest of our equine and human athletes."
