A Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority report released May 20 that covers the first quarter of 2025 suggests horse racing is seeing consistently better safety numbers under its oversight.
HISA announced the publication of its 2025 First Quarter Metrics Report, which provides a detailed analysis of key performance indicators related to the safety and integrity of Thoroughbred racing in the United States.
According to the report, during the first quarter of 2025 (Jan. 1-March 31), racetracks operating under HISA's rules reported 0.85 racing-related equine fatalities per 1,000 starts, consistent with the 0.84 racing-related equine fatalities per 1,000 starts reported for the same period last year and representing a 37% decrease as compared to 1.35 racing-related equine fatalities per 1,000 starts in the first quarter of 2023, the first year HISA collected such data.
This rate also is 5.6% lower than the aggregate racing-related fatality rate of 0.90 per 1,000 starts for the 2024 period.
Added Detail
For the first time HISA is publishing data on fatalities' subclassifications: musculoskeletal injury, sudden death, and other causes (i.e., traumatic injury not related to musculoskeletal injury). Of note, 94% of the racing-related fatalities recorded in the first quarter of 2025 were attributable to musculoskeletal causes, 3% to sudden death, and 3% to other causes. As HISA continues to expand its use of veterinary treatment records to identify injury risk patterns, it has begun issuing advisories based on those insights.
HISA recently released its first-ever equine health advisory focused on risk factors for fatal proximal forelimb fractures, using data drawn from the HISA Portal.
Training-Related Fatalities
During the first quarter of 2025, racetracks reported 0.73 training-related fatalities per 1,000 workouts. Of the training-related fatalities recorded this quarter, 76% were attributed to musculoskeletal causes, 20% to sudden death, and 4% to other causes.
"We're proud of the progress we've made as an industry and of the hard work being done every day to make Thoroughbred racing safer, but we also recognize that the work is far from finished, especially in training environments," said HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus. "We must continue pushing forward with the same sense of urgency and commitment when it comes to workouts, as well as races.
"Our responsibility to protect the welfare of horses and riders must be upheld every day, in every barn and on every track."
HISA also determined that 23,167 unique covered horses either recorded a published workout or made a start in a covered race in the first quarter of 2025, meaning that the total racing- and training-related fatality rate for the Covered Horse population in the first quarter was 0.35%.
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
