Jockey Club Enhances Vet Record Reporting

In an effort to encourage transparency in Thoroughbred racing, The Jockey Club has enhanced and automated the system that enables owners or their agents to upload veterinary medical treatment records for horses in graded stakes races.

"The enhancements streamline the upload of veterinary records so it is fast and convenient via mobile device or computer," said Jockey Club executive director Matt Iuliano in a statement.

The system is available at horseracingreform.org, and it can be accessed starting with the graded stakes races of April 24.

When owners voluntarily pledge to make veterinary records available at horseracingreform.org, their names will immediately be added to the list of those who have decided to make public their horses' veterinary records, and they will be directed to select the racing entities with which they are associated, such as stable names or partnerships.

Each time a horse associated with one of the racing entities is entered into a graded stakes race a series of automated emails will be generated that will notify the owner to upload veterinary records. Owners may also designate an agent to receive the email alerts with instructions to upload the records.

Veterinary records can be uploaded as PDFs or legible photos of the records can be uploaded as JPGs upon entry notification until post time of the graded stakes race. (JPEGs can be attached as a photo from a smartphone.)

The veterinary record transparency initiative grew out of a recommendation centered on the electronic storage of all medication treatment and procedure records issued by The Jockey Club's Thoroughbred Safety Committee in August 2013.