Breeders' Cup adopts Irish company's horse welfare software

As the new Horseracing Integrity Act passes through the House of Representatives, US racing industry leaders have continued to embrace the sweeping reforms. The most recent of which has seen Kildare-based Equine MediRecord (EMR) provide its revolutionary anti-doping and horse welfare software to the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland next month.

This deal is the latest notch in the belt of a company which launched its system just two years ago but has already amassed an impressive list of clients including the Thoroughbred Owners of California, Irish Veterinary and Welfare Commission, Irish Harness Racing Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Association and the Arabian Racing Organisation.

The company sells and maintains, a revolutionary software platform which allows for the full veterinary history of the horse to be recorded securely, ensuring the best possible horse welfare as well as aiding with crucial anti-doping procedures.

The new system which EMR has developed for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships will automatically inform trainers from across the world of the safety and integrity regulations that need to be followed and what documents need to be submitted through the system to allow horses to run in the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland. The Breeders’ Cup has been a leader in adopting and creating stringent regulations to ensure the welfare and safety of the human and equine athletes competing at its event.

It is the trainer's responsibility to submit these records but a lot of the time it is vets or assistants who record this information as the trainer can only be in one place at a time. The trainer therefore relies on other people to submit the correct information about the medicines given to the horses. However this can be mistakenly forgotten to be recorded or manipulated after the fact. The EMR system notifies the trainer in real time if a medication has been given and once confirmed to be correct, is signed by the trainer.

Once records are entered into the system they cannot be altered, providing integrity and transparency for all concerned. With strict requirements in place for the competition at the Breeders’ Cup, such a tool will ensure the integrity of the records while also allowing them to be digitally submitted to regulators like the Kentucky Racing Commission and Breeders’ Cup officials. This system also eliminates passing around paperwork to various partners who are following COVID-19 protocols.

EMR already boasts a number of endorsements from key stakeholders in the US including the Executive Director of the California Horse Racing Board, Scott Chaney and Dr William Farmer, the Equine Medical Director of Churchill Downs. “The Equine MediRecord system is a major breakthrough in providing the latest and most comprehensive medical and testing records for all participants in this year’s World Championships,” said Dora Delgado, Breeders’ Cup Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Officer, “We are proud to partner with EMR this year.”

Pierce Dargan, CEO of EMR, said: “It is an amazing privilege to work with the Breeders’ Cup. When we started the company four years ago it was one of our dreams to build the technology to help ensure the best possible care is given to the top thoroughbred horses from around the world to compete at the Breeders’ Cup. We believe our system has a role to play in the movement to help ensure that our children will be able to enjoy horse racing the way we have for generations — to be a part of that work is an honour and highly rewarding.”