Playing it Safe

While reading the minutes from the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission's meeting on July 20, 2010, the most recent available on its web site, we came across this information provided by Delaware Park to the Commission concerning breakdowns and fatalities (scroll down to the last page of the document):

Delaware Park Breakdown Statistics

What struck us was the detailed information contained in this report, and also that the track seems to be a very safe place to race.  Although only two months of information are shown, for May and June, 2010, you can see there were no racing fatalities in May from 1,332 starters, and two in June, from 1,386 starters.  That translates to 0.74 fatal M-S racing injuries per 1,000 starters, an excellent number.  Looking back over the years, in 2006 Delaware Park only had 12 racing fatalities from 9,318 starters, or 0.97 fatal M-S racing injuries per 1,000 starters. In 2007, it had 11 fatalities from 8,536 starters, or 1.17 fatal injuries; in 2008, it had 16 fatalities from 8,460, or 1.77, and in 2009, it had 14 from 8,188, or 1.59.

What makes Delaware's numbers so good is that the national injury incidence rate is much higher.  In March, The Jockey Club announced data on racing fatalities in North America.  Based upon a year’s worth of data beginning November 1, 2008 to October 31, 2009, from 378,864 total starts in Thoroughbred flat races at 73 racetracks participating in the Equine Injury Database, 2.04 fatal injuries were recorded per 1,000 starts.

Here is The Jockey Club's data sheet:

http://www.jockeyclub.com/resources/SDA_062310.pdf

It would be a welcome change if all racetracks followed Delaware Park's lead and let the "sunshine in," providing detailed information about breakdowns and safety.