Results of racetrack examinations of Standardbred horses at race meetings in New South Wales

Race-Level Reporting of Incidents Using the New Online System During Two Seasons (2019/2020-2020/2021) of Harness Racing in New Zealand

After establishing a baseline of stipendiary stewards' reporting using the paper-based system in the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons of harness racing, it is important to examine if the implementation of an online system has altered frequency and descriptors used for clinical outcomes. The objective of this study was to describe the race level injury and reporting outcomes, and horse- and race-level variables associated with the rate of the reporting of these outcomes during the 2019/20 and2020/21 harness racing seasons in New Zealand. The introduction of the online system was associated with few (0.01%) miscoding events associated with horse identification. There was a shift in the frequency of reporting non-incident examinations, possibly due to better definition and prompts within the online system. The coding category, no observable abnormalities detected (NOAD) had the greatest number of entries, reflecting that the majority of examinations were associated with general screening rather than adverse events occurring during warm-up or the race. The frequency of recordings for most clinical findings was consistent between the old paper-based system and the new online system. The incidence of musculoskeletal fractures remained low (0.12 per 1,000 starts, 95%CI = 0.05-0.28). The online system has the potential to provide a useful tool to prospectively monitor the reporting of injuries and conditions associated with harness racing in New Zealand.

Race-Level Reporting of Incidents during Two Seasons (2015/16 to 2016/17) of Harness Racing in New Zealand

The objective of this study was to describe the incident and non-incident reporting of harness racing in New Zealand, the primary injury and reporting outcomes, and to examine horse- and race-level variables associated with the odds of these outcomes. Retrospective stipendiary stewards’ reports of race day events during the 2015/16 to 2016/17 racing seasons were examined. The number of incident and non-incident events and binomial exact 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated per 1000 horse starts. Most reports were for non-incidents and an examination was requested for poor performance (11.06 per 1000 starts (95% CI = 10.23–11.89). Races with more than eight participants were 1.9 (95% CI = 1.13–3.4) times more likely to have an incident than races with eight or less participants. The low incidence of significant injuries such as fractures (0.13 per 1000 starts (95% CI = 0.03–0.23) reflects the lower risk of injury in harness racing compared to Thoroughbred racing. The high incidence of poor performance reports highlights the steward’s role in maintaining animal welfare to a high standard.