How many racehorses in the U.S. are euthanized because of racing injuries?

Question

How many racehorses in the U.S. are euthanized because of racing injuries?

Answer 1

This is a number that those in the racing industry are grappling with.  

Until recently, the collection of data regarding breakdowns was something that no central or "umbrella" organization kept track of.  Individual racetracks kept data, some informally, some more formally, but data was spotty at best.  While it's fairly easy to keep tabs on catastrophic breakdowns that occur during races, it's a lot less easy to keep track of catastrophic breakdowns that occur in early morning training hours, and practically impossible to keep track of injuries occurring at private training centers (like Fair Hill in Maryland).

Also true, a horse may be euthanized hours or even days after an on-track injury occurs, and the euthanasia may take place at a vet center or a lay-up farm and not be reported.  This is particularly likely to happen if the injury is one that is not necessarily catastrophic, but which may require expensive vet care for some degree of recovery to be possible.  In cases like that, the vet frequently has to await the decision of the owner and/or insurer of the horse to determine if it is economically feasible to try to save the horse.  We don't like to think that economics makes a difference, but it does.  A cheap claiming horse racing at a third-rate track might be euthanized for an injury that a stakes horse racing at a major track would not be euthanized for.

The Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation is starting to collect data about racetrack injuries.  This is the web page for their effort:  http://www.grayson-jockeyclub.org/summit...

If you want to get an idea of the difficulty of collecting data to answer your question, you should check out some of the links and presentations on this page.

I think that in the wake of Barbaro's death, we're starting to see the racing industry become more interested and responsible in the collection of data.  Somewhat belatedly, the industry (which is highly fragmented and very hard to get unified on any issue) is starting to understand that high-profile breakdowns like Barbaro's present a real problem for the racing industry, and they're starting to do something about it.

Answer 2

Not as many but enough.