Jockey Club looking into horse safety
The Jockey Club has formed a committee to study equine health, including track safety and the rules of racing, five days after the death of the filly Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby.
Ogden Mills Phipps, chairman of The Jockey Club, said Thursday that the committee would be asked to review every facet of equine health, ranging from breeding practices to medication, and to recommend actions to be taken by the horse industry to improve the health and safety of thoroughbreds.
The Jockey Club, founded in 1894 and dedicated to the improvement of thoroughbred breeding and racing, is the breed registry for North American thoroughbreds. The seven-member commission will use a blueprint some recommendations that came out of two Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse summits.
“The Thoroughbred Safety Committee is a major step that will provide the examination of the horse welfare and safety issues so badly needed in the wake of recent catastrophic injuries,” said NTRA president Alex Waldrop. “Now, more than ever, no practice, policy or tradition is more important than those that best protect and promote the health of the thoroughbred athlete.”
Larry Bramlage, the on-call veterinarian when Eight Belles was euthanized, is among seven people on the Thoroughbred Safety Committee.
