Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics and Public Health Group, Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences, The Royal Veterinary College, University of London, North Mymms, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom.
Research Office, The Royal Veterinary College, University of London, London,United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2018 Mar 21;13(3):e0194299. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194299. eCollection 2018.
A key focus of the racing industry is to reduce the number of race-day events where horses die suddenly or are euthanased due to catastrophic injury. The objective of this study was therefore to determine risk factors for race-day fatalities in Thoroughbred racehorses, using a cohort of all horses participating in flat racing in Great Britain between 2000 and 2013. Horse-, race- and course-level data were collected and combined with all race-day fatalities, recorded by racecourse veterinarians in a central database. Associations between exposure variables and fatality were assessed using logistic regression analyses for (1) all starts in the dataset and (2) starts made on turf surfaces only. There were 806,764 starts in total, of which 548,571 were on turf surfaces. A total of 610 fatalities were recorded; 377 (61.8%) on turf. In both regression models, increased firmness of the going, increasing racing distance, increasing average horse performance, first year of racing and wearing eye cover for the first time all increased the odds of fatality. Generally, the odds of fatality also increased with increasing horse age whereas increasing number of previous starts reduced fatality odds. In the 'all starts' model, horses racing in an auction race were at 1.46 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06-2.01) times the odds of fatality compared with horses not racing in this race type. In the turf starts model, horses racing in Group 1 races were at 3.19 (95% CI 1.71-5.93) times the odds of fatality compared with horses not racing in this race type. Identification of novel risk factors including wearing eye cover and race type will help to inform strategies to further reduce the rate of fatality in flat racing horses, enhancing horse and jockey welfare and safety.
赛马行业的一个重点是减少因灾难性伤害而导致赛马在比赛日突然死亡或被安乐死的比赛日事件数量。因此，本研究的目的是使用 2000 年至 2013 年期间在英国参加平地赛马的所有马匹队列，确定纯种赛马比赛日死亡的危险因素。收集了马、比赛和赛道级别的数据，并与赛道兽医在中央数据库中记录的所有比赛日死亡事件相结合。使用逻辑回归分析评估暴露变量与死亡率之间的关联，（1）在数据集内的所有比赛和（2）仅在草皮表面进行的比赛。总共有 806764 次比赛，其中 548571 次是在草皮表面进行的。共记录了 610 例死亡事件；377 例（61.8%）发生在草皮上。在两个回归模型中，赛道表面硬度增加、比赛距离增加、平均马匹表现增加、首次参赛和首次佩戴眼罩都增加了死亡的几率。一般来说，随着马龄的增加，死亡的几率也会增加，而之前的比赛次数增加会降低死亡的几率。在“所有比赛”模型中，与不参加此比赛类型的马相比，参加拍卖比赛的马的死亡几率是其 1.46 倍（95%置信区间（CI）为 1.06-2.01）。在草皮比赛模型中，与不参加此比赛类型的马相比，参加 1 级比赛的马的死亡几率是其 3.19 倍（95%CI 为 1.71-5.93）。确定包括佩戴眼罩和比赛类型在内的新危险因素将有助于制定进一步降低平地赛马死亡率的策略，提高马和骑师的福利和安全。
