How many horses die per year in horse racing?

Jessica G: How many horses die per year in horse racing?
I hate horse racing, like the ones around the really long tracks, i think it is a cruel sport people put there horses through to just get some money and more horses to race. So, just wondering, how many horses die per year during a race? And i don’t care if the horse was trained, i still think it’s cruel. And I HATE it when they use their whips.

Answers and Views:

Answer by $ Billy Ray$ Valentine
Alot less than humans do in earthquakes, I can tell you that much! I know this won’t matter because you are only here to “try” and cause havoc with the horse racing industry, but watch this video anyway! You just may learn something about how “not” cruel this industry is and what goes on behind the scenes and the backside on a daily basis to ensure that the horses are treated right with regards to safety and welfare. I don’t know about your states horse racing board, but in my state of California, they are the nations leader when it comes to safety for horse and rider…… Here is the video. Enjoy! :- )

…Billy Ray

Answer by Garrett
On the average if you go to the track everyday for two weeks you will see a breakdown. Some tracks average 25 per season.

Answer by Starlight 1
This depends to a large extent on the track and on where it’s located, Jessica. There are other mitigating factors too, such as the weather conditions during races, the type of racing surface ( eg, dirt, Polytrack, turf, artificial turf, or a mixed surface of dirt and sand) the number of horses entered in a given race or card of races, the AGES of those horses ( younger horses are FAR MORE likely to break down and suffer catastrophic injuries than older horses are) and their genetic makeup. All of these things play their own roles in determing how many horses actually die from or during races each year. Some tracks have a lot of fatalities, others have almost none, so it’s really hard to give an accurate estimate of how many horses actually die in a given year.

As for the whip use- the whip is perhaps the LEAST offensive thing in the sport, if you ask me. I’ve been following racing since I was a little girl- I watched Ruffian’s ill fated match race when I was just 11 years old- and I can tell you that the whip is something which has never really bothered me. There are WAY TOO MANY other things about the sport which are much more abusive than the whips. I have long been an advocate for a TOTAL BAN on 2 year old racing, because I consider that to be inhumane and cruel to the horses involved. A 2 year old horse is equivalent in its bone development to a 6 year old HUMAN CHILD. We, as a society, would NEVER ASK a 6 year old kid to run distances of up to a mile, sometimes more, with a one hundred pound lead weight strapped to his or her back, because it would KILL THE KID, and the public outcry would be so great that anyone who did this would end up in jail in short order. But we have NO QUALMS whatsoever when it comes to demanding that a young horse do this- and horses CAN’T SAY NO, and they can’t talk back or argue with us. The average racehorse is started under saddle and in training at the age of 15 months, which is LONG BEFORE horses of other breeds and in other sports start their careers. Most of the performance or sport horse industry outside of racing actually HEARTILY CONDEMNS racing because of this practice, in fact, because they are aware that it is cruel and can lead to permanent, lifelong problems. I agree with their viewpoint, because I know they are right. I’ve worked with horses that have come off the track- and they inevitably have all kinds of health and behavior issues which have to be dealt with if the animals are to ever have any chance of starting a different career.

And there’s another issue which bugs me about racing, namely that FAR TOO MANY of today’s horses are being bred for speed and looks instead of soundness or long term health. The advent of Polytrack has only ADDED to this problem and made it worse, because breeders now have an INCENTIVE TO KEEP BREEDING for speed and looks. Polytrack isn’t God’s gift to racehorses, not by a long shot. It drains poorly when it’s wet, and it’s subject to freezing in cold weather. And when it’s frozen, it’s VERY unforgiving to a horse’s legs and joints- witness what happened in January of 2009 at Santa Anita when the main track’s surface froze during an unexpected cold snap. Over the course of a two week period, there were 7 horses that DIED in racing accidents because they ran on the frozen track and broke their legs. That was probably the worst record for a given racetrack during the entire year which followed. Santa Anita has already had massive drainage problems THIS winter- they’ve canceled racing at least 3 seperate times in the last month alone. The fact that this is an El Nino year with lots of rain hasn’t helped either, because it means there are likely to be more cancellations. Santa Anita is owned by Magnum Entertainment, a company which also owns Pimlico racetrack in Baltimore and Laurel in Laurel, Maryland- and which filed for Chapter 11 more than a year ago. Given all the problems, it’s no surprise why. They need to get rid of the Polytrack at SA, and rehab Pimlico and Laurel- but there’s no money for any of that right now with the economy in the sewer. An outright ban on 2 year old racing would solve a LOT of problems- and I think it would eventually bring an end to some of these horrendous tragedies we keep seeing in racing. These accidents are ALL totally preventable- but because the powers that be which run the sport still refuse to see the connection between the accidents and the ages of the horses which break down, we are going to keep seeing more of them in the future. Some lessons have to be repeated MANY, MANY times before they finally sink in, and this appears to be one of them. Like you, I too have wondered what it will take to finally get the racing world to wake up and smell the coffee where the issue of safety is concerned. Perhaps a 9/11 style accident in which not just horses, but PEOPLE DIE- that’s one thought I’ve had. The Kentucky Derby is already one of the most crowded races in existence, and I am just waiting for the inevitable day when there is an accident during that race which so severe that NO ONE can ignore it.

Such a wreck would definitely involve human as well as equine deaths, and because it would be shown on national TV and the internet, the public outcry against racing will be HUGE. It’s at that point that I think we would finally start to see some REAL REFORMS in the sport of racing, reforms which are LONG OVERDUE. The sport would become less of a Little Boys’ Club, I think. We’d probably also see the end of 2 year old racing, and possibly, the end of 3 year old racing as well. There’d be demands to raise the racing ages of the horses, and demands to reform the way these horses are bred and raised. Jockeys would start to be treated as the professionals they are, instead of being treated as cannon fodder, the way they often are now. Trainers would be REQUIRED to show that their horses were healthy and provide proof that the horses were mature enough to race- and this would mean that every horse would have to have his or her own set of X-rays taken at different times prior to being entered in ANY RACE, no matter how long or short it was. Breeders would need to prove that they understood genetics and the science of reproduction, and they would need to be licensed. The practice of match races would be stopped for good in a perfect world, so as to ensure that tragedies like the one we saw with Ruffian thirty years ago would never happen again. Match races are inherently unfair and cruel to the animals involved, no matter how much people pretend otherwise. Finally, there would be limits imposed on the number of races a given horse could be entered in per year, so as to prevent horses from becoming injured because of exhaustion. Tired horses are just like tired PEOPLE, Jessica. They make mistakes- and sometimes, the mistakes are potentially fatal. I think the day when all of this will happen isn’t far off. Time will tell..

Answer by Dragonmistress
Garrett has the average correct. For my own opinion one is one to many. I cannot watch “live” races anymore. When horses run on unsafe tracks bad things happen.