Danger Out of the Gate

Feb. 8, 2007 — -- Championship horse Barbaro was recently euthanized after complications that followed his fall in May's Preakness Stakes.

Although his owners and trainers have always remained utterly beyond suspicion for Barbaro's death, his unexpected collapse has brought some issues to light about the horse-racing industry in the United States.

Every year hundreds of horses collapse on American racing tracks after leaving the starting gate, and many die.

There were, on average, 1.5 deaths for every 1,000 starts in American racing, according to various studies conducted at around 10 American racecourses over the last few seasons.

One Illinois racetrack recorded 21 fatalities last season, and California's Del Mar summer season ended with the loss of 16 horses.

While no exact figures exist for 2006, data from the U.S. Jockey Club in New York suggest about 600 horses died racing-related deaths on U.S. racetracks in 2006.

That's a staggering figure when compared with the death rates at famous racing spots around the world.

Over the last five years, Hong Kong's renowned Jockey Club recorded a significantly lower 0.58 deaths per 1,000 race starts -- or just 26 fatalities.

So what's behind the higher death rate among U.S. racehorses? The widespread use of medicinal drugs in American racing may be to blame, according to some experts.

"Are we a little bit more permissive than Europe and Asia?" asked Dr. Scott Waterman of the Racing Medication Testing Consortium. "Yes. For example, it's legal to administer a drug called Salix to horses on race day, which is used to control 'bleeding,' an exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage, in which a horse's capillaries burst in the lungs."

According to Waterman, the use of drugs like Salix can improve a horse's performance. "You're trying to let the horse compete -- blood in the lungs will mean that oxygenation does not proceed as before."

And that's not all. Some trainers use drugs that are illegal in some states, outlawed in horse racing outside the United States, and in some cases designed for humans, not horses.