In the wake of the fatal breakdown of the filly Eight Belles in the May 3 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), The Jockey Club has commissioned a seven-member Thoroughbred Safety Committee, and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association board of directors has scheduled a special meeting May 9 to discuss a course of action.
Jockey Club chairman Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps said May 8 the new committee would be asked to review every facet of equine health, including breeding practices, medication, the rules of racing and track surfaces, and to recommend actions to be taken by the industry to improve the health and safety of Thoroughbreds.
NTRA CEO Alex Waldrop has this blog post about safety in racing:
Today, we as an industry find ourselves at another important crossroads. The easy path might be to hunker down and let these issues dissipate over time. My personal view, at least as of today, is that the industry needs to take drastic action to reverse a very disturbing trend toward open criticism of horse racing for our perceived cruelty to our equine athletes. At the same time, we need to collectively take a deep breath and resist the temptation to rush to judgment or reach hasty conclusions until the facts are better known. We might never know what caused Eight Belle’s injury, but I believe that the facts will eventually conclude that this was a tragic accident and one different from any I’ve ever seen before.
