The dangers associated with horse racing are not taken for granted

In the past week alone there were 301 horse races run at 44 separate race meetings in Ireland and the UK.

The action comes thick and fast this time of the year. Thousands of horses and jockeys on the move, travelling the length and breadth of these islands to entertain us by competing in races broadcast and streamed live on various platforms to maximise betting turnover.

The horse racing industry is a well-oiled machine. Aside from the odd hiccup, such as the track issues at Chester on Thursday, the racing runs like clockwork, race after race, day after day.

There is barely time to take a breath during these peak periods and it is only in exceptional circumstances that we are forced to stop and think about the dangers the competitors face in order to entertain us.

Every so often a rider gets badly injured or worse and time stands still for a brief while, before the wheels turn again and everything resumes as normal. Injuries and fatalities to the horses are rarely mainstream news and even within the sport’s associated media outlets they seldom receive much focus.

The good news is that while the public may be unaware and often unconcerned about the welfare of the jockeys and horses, the industry itself takes these risks seriously and is constantly working away in the background trying to improve the safety of all participants.

Besides the obligatory medical staff and two ambulances in attendance at every race meeting and the various improvements that have been made to rider’s safety equipment and track layouts, there is a cohort of people connected to the industry that are constantly researching and innovating to improve the safety of all the participants.

Last week Dublin City University (DCU) and the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) published their findings after analysing the results of every fall in races in Ireland between 2016 and 2024 (including point-to-points).

The IHRB medical staff collate data every time a jockey falls. This information relating to the types of injuries sustained by riders is vital in determining if current safety measures are adequate and analysis of this data can help pinpoint areas where further improvements are required.

The recently published data shows that injury rates have fallen for professional jockeys on both the Flat and over jumps over the course of the nine years of data studied. Almost certainly as a direct result of additional safety measures introduced by IHRB.

On the equine front the IHRB are constantly assessing injury statistics for horses and have come up with a shortlist of the types of runners with a higher risk of injury, such as horses aged 7 and over on the Flat and 10 and older over jumps or horses that have raced within the last seven days or haven’t raced in the last year. All these categories are now included in the raceday veterinary inspection programme.

Elsewhere, a French company named Arioneo has developed a new ECG device that is designed to highlight abnormalities in a horse’s heart rate, in real time during exercise or racing.

Exercise-associated sudden death in horses is estimated to account for between 20% - 25% of all fatalities, but is possibly being under-reported as it is rarely identifiable after death.

This device has been tested during Barrier Trials run by the Hong Kong Jockey Club and the system successfully captured interpretable ECG signals at maximum speed and documented rhythm abnormalities occurring during peak effort.

Early indications are that using this type of technology can potentially identify horses at risk of cardiac arrest and the British Horseracing Authority is currently using the system within ongoing work around cardiac monitoring and screening in racing environments.

As this type of technology is further developed we may eventually reach a point where a rider will receive signals in real time if their mount is in distress.

Although all this work is carried out behind the scenes and while most of it goes unnoticed by the racing public, it is important to keep in mind that the risks associated with the sport are never simply taken for granted.