New York state horseracing board releases equine injury database

The New York State Racing and Wagering Board earlier this month released two searchable databases to the public. One is a list of every horse that has broken down, died, sustained a serious injury or been involved in an incident at a track in New York state since 2009. The other is a list of fines and suspensions issued by the board during the last three decades.

The board says the release of the databases is designed to bring transparency to New York’s horseracing industry. “The public has every right to know exactly what is happening at racetracks in New York state,” board Chairman John D. Sabini says. “The wealth of information in these two databases leaves no stone unturned regarding incidents at tracks in New York and who is being held accountable for rule infractions by the board. As the adage says: sunlight is the best disinfectant, especially for the state’s horseracing industry.”

The injury database is composed of data gathered from Racing and Wagering Board employees at Thoroughbred and Standardbred tracks in New York. The database includes racing, training and nonracing fatalities and incidents. Individuals can search the database by a variety of parameters and receive the following information:

• Horse’s name
• Incident type (equine death, accident, fall of horse or rider, injury and so on)
• Racing type (Thoroughbred or harness)
• Location (Belmont Park, training track and so on)
• Date
• Trainer
• Jockey or driver
• Weather conditions
• Brief description of the incident (for example, “Jockey fell while breezing on training track.”)

The database of racing board violations is not new, but the Racing and Wagering Board says its structure has been enhanced and reformatted with improved search parameters. Individuals may search for fines, suspensions and other actions against any individual or organization licensed by the board by name, year or date, track, ruling number and racing type. Each result includes:

• Licensee name and type of license (trainer-driver, owner, jockey and so on)
• Notice number and date
• Racing type (Thoroughbred or harness) and track
• Ruling type (suspension, fine, license refusal) and specific rule violated
• Full text of ruling

Both databases will be updated promptly as information is received by Racing and Wagering Board investigative staff. In addition, the board says it will include more statistical information on equine breakdowns in the near future, including variables about the race in which an incident occurred, the horse’s racing history and more detailed descriptions about each incident.

Both databases are also available through the New York State Racing and Wagering Board’s Web site, www.racing.ny.state.us.