Fewer Horse Fatalities on Synthetic Surface Tracks: Study

A veterinarian and epidemiologist has concluded that horse fatalities have been significantly less frequent on synthetic surfaces than dirt tracks.

Tim Parkin of the University of Glasgow conducted the study based on two years of racetrack fatality reports. The data showed 1.55 fatalities per 1,000 starts on synthetic compared to 2.14 on dirt. The data covers 754,932 starts during the period of Nov. 1, 2008, to Oct. 31, 2010.

The Courier-Journal said The Jockey Club, which sponsors the Equine Injury Database of reports from almost 90 racetracks in North America, released the stats.

All nine tracks in North America that have had synthetic surfaces are part of the study.

An analysis released in June of the first year of reports had shown no statistically significant difference in fatality rates between the traditional dirt and synthetics, like Polytrack used at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington and Turfway Park in Florence.

While the fatality rate on dirt held steady with a second year’s worth of data, the figure for synthetic fell from 1.78 per 1,000 starts. The fatality rate for turf races was 1.74 per 1,000 starts.

Overall, the fatality rate on all surfaces fell to 2 fatalities per 1,000 starts in two years, from 2.04 during the first year.

Keeneland President Nick Nicholson, which markets Polytrack in North America and installed it for racing in 2006, said the results were not surprising.

“It is exactly the experience that we’re finding at Keeneland,” Nicholson said.

The track’s Polytrack fatality rate is 1.03 per 1,000 starts from fall 2006 until now. Nicholson has said previously he believes that the fatality rate on Keeneland’s old dirt track would have been above any national rate.

“There are safe dirt tracks,” he said. “I’m not saying that all tracks should be synthetic. I am saying that it was the right decision for us.”

The Jockey Club started the database after 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro broke down in the Preakness Stakes, a collapse that highlighted the lack of reliable fatality statistics in racing. Database organizers don’t disclose the fatality rates at individual tracks to encourage participation.

The first year of data included 73 tracks and the database now has 87, representing about 90 percent of thoroughbred racing days. All four Churchill Downs Inc. tracks are included, with three of those being dirt and Arlington Park, near Chicago, having Polytrack.

“We’re sure there will be useful information as our industry works to provide the safest possible surfaces at U.S. tracks,” Churchill spokesman John Asher said.

While hailed for reducing fatal breakdowns, the synthetic surfaces have come with complaints by some trainers of more soft-tissue injuries, but Nicholson said that those are difficult to quantify.

“One of the benefits, I think, that this database exists is that we now can deal with facts instead of anecdotal information,” Nicholson said.