Defra is keen that the welfare needs of racehorses are well met, both during their racing lives and afterwards and any race horse fatality is one too many.<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
In their report, Cheltenham Festival Review 2018, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), who are responsible for the safety of racehorses at race tracks, made seventeen recommendations to make horseracing safer. The recommendations included that the industry must support a major research project to develop a predictive model for identifying risk factors for all jump racing and that rules relating to pulling up fatigued runners must be appropriately scrutinised and enforced, to encourage positive and responsible behaviour.<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
The Government considers that whilst the BHA have made improvements to the welfare of racehorses, there is still more work to be done. That is why I am keeping in regular contact with the BHA to see what further measures can be taken to reduce the number of racehorse fatalities.<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
Percentage of racehorse fatalities (as provided by the British Horseracing Authority)<\/strong><\/p> <\/p> <\/strong><\/p> <\/p> Year<\/p><\/td> Fatal injuries<\/p><\/td> % of horses<\/p> as fatalities<\/p><\/td> Runners<\/p><\/td> % of runners<\/p> as fatalities<\/p><\/td> 5-year average<\/p><\/td><\/tr> 2014<\/p><\/td> 189<\/p><\/td> 0.98%<\/p><\/td> 86,456<\/p><\/td> 0.22%<\/p><\/td> 0.22%<\/p><\/td><\/tr> 2015<\/p><\/td> 156<\/p><\/td> 0.79%<\/p><\/td> 88,377<\/p><\/td> 0.18%<\/p><\/td> 0.21%<\/p><\/td><\/tr> 2016<\/p><\/td> 171<\/p><\/td> 0.86%<\/p><\/td> 89,975<\/p><\/td> 0.19%<\/p><\/td> 0.21%<\/p><\/td><\/tr> 2017<\/p><\/td> 167<\/p><\/td> 0.82%<\/p><\/td> 91,360<\/p><\/td> 0.18%<\/p><\/td> 0.20%<\/p><\/td><\/tr> 2018<\/p><\/td> 201<\/p><\/td> 0.96%<\/p><\/td> 94,439<\/p><\/td> 0.21%<\/p><\/td> 0.20%<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table> <\/p>"}
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, "date" : {"_value" : "2019-03-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
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], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the number of race horses that have (a) died during races and (b) died due to racing-related injuries in each of the last five years.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
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