The deaths of four horses in less than a week at Churchill Downs have some wondering about the safety of horse racing. Three died after races this week; another, Wild On Ice, was Derby-bound before it was euthanized after a training injury last week. Dr. Alan Ruggles, a veterinarian with Lexington’s Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, said the Equine Industry Database shows injuries dropped significantly last year.
“It's down 37% over that time, in a great part to regulatory veterinary medicine, you know, increasing their surveillance of horses, improvements in technology to try to identify potential injuries before they occur.”
