By Virginia Furness
LONDON, Nov 10 (Reuters) – British horse racing’s welfare board on Tuesday unveiled a five-year strategy that will use AI, wearable technology and lifetime tracking of horses to prevent injuries, reduce falls and improve horses’ well-being away from the racetrack.
The new strategy sets out 20 priorities to improve welfare and safety of thoroughbred horses throughout their lives, spanning areas including veterinary research, injury prevention, the training environment and aftercare and extending the scope of oversight from foaling through training to life after racing.
Horse racing is Britain’s second most-watched sport but concern for equine welfare remains its biggest reputational challenge, with falls, fatalities and the treatment of horses at key racing festivals like Cheltenham and Aintree under constant public scrutiny.
Fatality rates in jumps racing were largely unchanged at 0.47% in 2025 even after measures to improve the safety of fences like changing the colour of markings in 2022.
The British Horseracing Authority says it extended the scope of its reporting to cover more horses in 2021 and that it would take time for the safety improvements to take full effect.
The rate of fallers dropped below 2% on a five-year average for the first time in 2025, BHA data shows.
Work to improve safety and reduce fatalities is ongoing and a priority for the sport, Minette Batters, independent chair of the Horse Welfare Board, told reporters.
“It’s never going to be a case of accepting fatalities,” she said. “It’s what can we continue to do to make the sport safer that sits front and centre of everything we’re doing.”
Collecting more data on all aspects of a horse’s life will enable trainers, vets and racecourse officials to spot issues like weakness or heart problems before they lead to on-racecourse injuries, racing experts said.
This can start as early as birth by educating breeders on how antibiotic use in foals can impact soundness or in training by using heart monitors and wearable tech to detect equine illness or underperformance.
“We’re standing at the beginnings of a technology revolution in training of horses, in management of horses,” said Fred Barrelet, veterinary surgeon and independent member of the Horse Welfare Board.
“It’s also becoming accepted and part of the young next generation of trainers and breeders’ repertoire and armoury for managing their horses.”
The strategy also includes an ambition to track the full lifetime of all horses bred for racing in Britain through the Retraining of Racehorses programme.
(Reporting by Virginia Furness; Editing by Ken Ferris)
Comments