Equine Racing Fatalities Increase in California in 2023

After six consecutive years of equine fatality decline in California, the total number of equine racing and training deaths—all breeds—increased to 82 (76 Thoroughbreds) in 2023, according to a report presented at the California Horse Racing Board meeting Jan. 18.

Still, when compared with 2016, California has enjoyed a downward trend in such incidents. 

California race tracks recorded 209 fatalities in 2016. This number had trended down and was reduced to 64 fatalities in 2022 before this year's increase. Of the 82 deaths in 2023, 52 (46 Thoroughbreds) were related to racing or training.

"Any increase is concerning," said CHRB executive director Scott Chaney, "but also a reminder that our work is not complete."

Chaney is looking forward to a return of stricter restrictions on injections.

Under Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's rules, one injection regulation is more permissive than California previously had. HISA currently requires a 14-day stand-down period for horses who receive intra-articular corticosteroid injections in the fetlock. Before HISA's rules taking priority, California had an existing rule prohibiting steroid fetlock injections within 30 days of a race.

In October, HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus announced that a change to California's desired 30-day period is among the revised rules that HISA has sent to the Federal Trade Commission for consideration. Chaney believes that change will help put California back on the downward trend for fatalities.

EHALT: FTC Reviewing HISA's 30-Day Fetlock Injection Rule

"It is important to note that HISA's intra-articular injection rule," Chaney said, "which rolled back our rule and we think is one of the cornerstones of the good work we've done, will return to our standard when approved by the FTC in the coming months."

Chaney mentioned several regulations to help reduce fatalities are in the process of approval in California, but the areas of safety that the state can regulate "have narrowed."

"Several states praised HISA for their efforts and reducing the fatalities in their state," said CHRB equine medical director Jeff Blea. "However, that did not hold true in California."

Many of HISA's regulations appear to be modeled after California and other states with improving equine safety numbers.

As they did previously, the CHRB entered into a voluntary agreement with HISA for 2024. By negotiating certain tasks with HISA, such as sample collection on race days, out-of-competition sample collection, testing, research, investigations, and more, California received credits reducing its assessments from $7.6 million to $1.7 million. That amount will be paid via revenues generated from advance deposit wagering percentages that would have otherwise gone toward purses.

Blea finished his report by revealing musculoskeletal injuries accounted for 44 (38 Thoroughbred) of the deaths, 53.7%. Sudden deaths accounted for 11, but the number could increase as grade 1 winner Practical Move , who died of a cardiac event after training for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at Santa Anita Park Oct. 31, is still classified with a "pending" cause of death on the CHRB website.

The sudden deaths accounted for 13.4% of equine fatalities in California. According to Blea, sudden deaths can usually represent anywhere between 6%-23% of fatalities, depending on the year.

"Not only are we looking at that in-depth," Blea stated about sudden deaths, "but the industry is looking at that."

*Editor's Note: In an email that followed BloodHorse's initial reporting, which has since been updated, Chaney wrote that he felt his comments were mischaracterized as blaming HISA. He praised HISA for their pending injection rule related to the fetlock.

"The CHRB and HISA have been strong partners since the passage of the Act and that relationship continues today," he continued. "HISA has created national, uniform safety and medication rules—and have done so in a difficult environment. Many of their rules have been a very heavy lift for the rest of the country. To HISA's credit, and the strength of our relationship, over the summer they proposed an IA injection rule that frankly, is not popular with most stakeholders, but did so because we both believe that such a rule is critical to the protection of horses. I applaud that decision.

"Regarding the increase in fatalities in California this past year, I believe the cause is multi-factorial, which mirrors the reasons for our success over the last few years. I believe the most critical factor is the fact that our numbers have become so low (52 related to training and racing in 2023 in a state with approximately 8,000 horses, 30,000 starts and 100,000 workouts in any given year) that decreasing them even further will become increasing difficult. The CHRB is nevertheless committed to that endeavor and will continue to work with HISA to keep horses safe in California and the rest of the country."