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British Racing is one of the world’s best regulated animal activities, with more than 6,000 people employed to look after the 14,000 horses in training, providing them with a level of care and a quality of life that is virtually unsurpassed by any other domesticated animal.
At The Jockey Club we continue to invest in our facilities to make sure that we offer our equine participants the best possible experience.
From our investments in safe racing surfaces and cushioned horsewalks to state-of-the-art misting fans and washdown areas, every aspect of care is considered.
Racing is usually only part of the full life of a Thoroughbred racehorse. There are currently more than 10,000 horses registered with Retraining of Racehorses (British horseracing’s official charity for the welfare of former racehorses) as active in other equine disciplines outside of racing, including Polo, Showing, Dressage and Eventing, as well as those horses happily engaged in hacking and exercising.
The Jockey Club is proud to support Retraining of Racehorses.
The British Horseracing Authority is the Government-recognised body responsible for the independent regulation of horseracing and welfare of participants is an important part of its work. None of the fixtures held annually in Britain could take place unless key BHA welfare criteria have been satisfied.
You can find out more about British Racing’s commitment to horse welfare by visiting their website.
Improving equine welfare standards and outcomes has always been at the centre of The Jockey Club’s focus. There are two cross-functional working groups whose sole task is to define and oversee JCR’s provisions and strategy in areas pertaining to equine welfare, to ensure these areas continue to remain at the forefront of the organisation’s thinking.
This outlines The Jockey Club’s equine welfare efforts over the past decade, including tens of millions of pounds invested in over 200 projects aligned with its Equine Welfare Strategy.
The core objectives include:
- Provide industry-leading facilities at JCR racecourses
- Continually improve equine safety during our races
- Enhance understanding from a comprehensive evidence base, and evolve/discover new insight
- Educate and communicate
- Contribute to, influence and support Racing’s industry-wide strategy for equine welfare.
The Jockey Club Equine Welfare Group continues to manage and deliver the strategy under the leadership of Group Racing Director Richard Norris, with input from Clerks of the Course, Heads of Racing, independent veterinary expertise and other departments from across the organisation.
A non-executive group comprised of members of the Board of Stewards and The Jockey Club itself sets the wider strategic direction for equine welfare and considers Jockey Club Estates and The National Stud alongside the 15 Jockey Club racecourses.The Jockey Club remains totally committed to leaving no stone unturned in its pursuit of the best possible equine welfare facilities and outcomes.
From 2016 onwards, the Jockey Club began to develop and create its own minimum standards for equine facilities, which went above and beyond already stringent industry guidelines, to ensure that all 15 sites could provide a high-level experience for racehorses wherever and whenever they were on our courses.
Specific areas of focus included:
- Ensuring course crossings were optimised for equine safety
- Improving wash down areas and saddling boxes
- Upgrading cooling facilities
- Improving irrigation facilities for consistent watering when required
- Upgrading service roads for veterinary vehicles and equine ambulances
- Ensuring every piece of running rail was consistent and the highest quality
- Provision of non-slip surfaces in equine areas
- Investing into research and development in areas such as equine ambulance provision and technology.
Other areas of focus included evolving our data and insight capabilities and working closely with industry stakeholders, to ensure any advances or best practice can be shared to benefit the whole sport.
More recent areas of focus include continued investment to provide industry leading facilities, evolving data and analytics capability and communications resources whilst expanding the supporting role we play in the industry’s ongoing advancements and progress in the space of equine welfare.
Here are some of the projects:
- Data and obstacle-level research
- Groundstaff support including specific welfare training as part of ongoing professional development.
- Communications enhancements including the “CARE” content series and Equi-Ed racing staff education partnership.
The Jockey Club Welfare groups have also been central in standalone welfare-related projects, such as the changes to the Randox Grand National following the 2023 running and several racing-related reviews of the Cheltenham Festival.
The next review of the Jockey Club Equine Welfare Strategy for the period 2026-2028 is due to begin later in the year.
As The Jockey Club and the wider industry’s approach to this crucial area continues to advance, the principles which have underpinned the last decade of activity and investment will continue.
The Jockey Club remains totally committed to close and constant scrutiny of equine welfare standards on our racecourses and ensuring we continue to make strong progress on our welfare-related objectives.
SAFETY AND WELFARE IN HORSERACING
Anyone who works in racing knows that the horses come first. It's why we do what we do HorsePWR.
Great to be able to share all the facts about welfare in racing.
Every single horse matters to racing. That’s why we’ll never be done in making our sport the safest and best it can be for them.
