A teleconference committee meeting on October 19 of the California Horse Racing Board provided little specific measures related to a discussion about whether horse trainers should be punished for injuries and deaths, but provided well -taken security proposals from Alan Balch, Executive Director of California, from California Gorough's trainers.
On the popular proposals that Balch made in front of the medication committee, security and welfare business, a task force for accident prevention created “each of the constituent constituencies” with racing sports circles. He made the CTT available to head the initiative or to take part.
The suggestions and comments from Balch, which were presented after two complete sessions with the CTT board and a nationwide teleconference of more than 100 licensed coaches in the state, reflected a “distillation of a very broad spectrum of thinking”.
“Since our tracks and our regulatory authority are now carrying out reviews of the most solemn accidents with the experts and connections involved, it is a way to systematize these results,” said Balch in a prepared explanation. “To evaluate them all together and take final measures, where stated, including the possibility of transfers or punishments for licensees, who could possibly be classified as responsible, but also more vital recommendations for improved conditions, security or regulations that can occur.”
He also recommended that the task force be taken into account directly or indirectly to improve the scope, accuracy and detail of the database for the national equine injury. Determine real security statistics of synthetic and dirt and lawn races and rethink whether synthetic routes for training or races should be included. Create a best practice manual for the participants. And consider that all veterinarians who are involved in the regulatory process are national workers who are only responsible for the Chrb.
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Although the discussion about training punishments was a heated topic before the meeting on Tuesday, it belonged among the participants of the call, with only anti-racing forces, a regular presence at CHRB meetings, which expressed their usual displeasure.
Both Balch and Commissioners emphasized the mutual dependence on track operators, riders, veterinarians and Chrb and winnings that were achieved in the state of 2019 in Southern California in horse security in the state of South California.
“We managed to reduce the catastrophic injury rate in half, and unfortunately that is not good enough,” said the Chrb chairman Dr. Greg Ferraro at the beginning of the meeting. “We have to do better if we want to continue to survive in a hearty race environment.”
Greg Ferraro Greg Ferraro in Santa Anita Park California Horse Racing Board
He admitted that a breakdown could happen for everyone anywhere. He said “by far” that the enormous majority of the coaches have one or no breakdowns in a certain year.
“But there is a handful, only a handful of coaches who have several breakdowns year after year,” he noted. “And these handful of people endangers the well -being and health of the industry. Our question, the question we present this morning, is, what are we doing about it? We are looking for solutions.”
In the 2020-21 financial year, which ended this summer, there were 72 deaths in California-regulated institutions, the managing director of Chrb, Scott Chaney, said in his opening declaration. All of this group were all up to 14 “unique events” that left 12 coaches with two deaths, one with three and one with four.
In connection with 31,000 starts and 73,000 workouts, Chaney described death “extremely rarely” as a musculoskeletal racing or training, although the goal is to further reduce these figures.
He admitted that “writing a regulation that coaches for avoidable or predictable catastrophic injuries has a proper procedure, logistical and fairness challenges that may be complex to overcome”.
In view of the improbability of such punishments, the Commissioners and Chrb seemed to support the Task Force of Balch and praised his other suggestions.
Dr. Jeff Blea, Chrb Equine Medical Director, suggested that the Task Force to evaluate and examine the causes of relationships and how preventive measures can be created. He approved an academic compliment for such studies and mentioned a computer -aided predictive model that developed from the University of California, Davis, researchers that aimed at reducing the collapse.
Chaney confirmed the importance of an educational component for reviewing injuries.
“If the board does not consider it suitable to carry out this more stick approach, the carrot approach might make sense,” he said.
“I know that I gave several coaches angina by talking about the punishment of coaches for breakdowns,” Ferraro concluded. “But this kind of discussion and the answer we received from the CTT is exactly what I was looking for. You can see that we have a problem. We have to do it. And I agree that we as a group of everyone involved must address it.
“I hope that we work together from this meeting with Alan and some of the other people involved and get this task force under control and can really try to do something.”
The regular monthly meeting of the full CHRB board is October 20. A report from the medication, security and welfare committee on Tuesday is one of nine topics for discussion.
