Progress in Safety, Integrity
As racing gears up for spring meets and key races on the road to the 2024 Triple Crown, we continue to see incredible progress and collaboration across the industry on issues of safety and integrity.
For example, earlier this month, the New York Racing Association announced the formation of an All-Weather Surfaces Committee to evaluate the impact of various racing surfaces on equine injury rates. Last year, as part of our strategic response to several clusters of equine fatalities, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority recommended that industry leaders establish a committee to analyze safety metrics from tracks utilizing all-weather racing surfaces and study the feasibility of broader adoption of all-weather surfaces nationally. I'm grateful to NYRA CEO and president David O'Rourke for leading this committee and to all of its members for their efforts in this "all-hands-on-deck" moment.
In the coming weeks, we look forward to furthering our industry engagement with the next HISA Town Hall webinar March 11, as well as the forthcoming announcement of the members of HISA's Next Generation Advisory Group.
The causes of equine injury are multifactorial and often difficult to identify, as evidenced again recently by HISA's review of the cluster of equine fatalities at Saratoga Race Course last summer (story, full report). However, by working together as an industry and pursuing all available means of improvement, we can continue to better protect the equine athletes our sport depends on.
Lisa Lazarus
Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority CEO
From the HISA Newsletter, Feb. 28
