Horseracing is one of the oldest sports in the world, and as the popularity of the horse grew, so did the ethical allegations. Many people consider horse racing to be cruel to the animals, which sparks a debate.
The actual riding of the horses and racing down the finish line doesn’t do any harm to the horses. In fact, it is an exercise that they love.
However, the preparation process and unethical practices that some trainers use can cause pain, discomfort, and even death to horses, especially when pushed to their limits.
Over the last couple of years, the total death racehorses have gone down a bit, but we still have a lot of work to do in order to make horse racing safer for these majestic creatures.
Thanks to all the technological advancements in recent times, we now have the tools to do predictive analysis. Predictive analysis uses vast data to prevent injuries and death in horses. This is a major step in the horse racing industry since it is way better to predict something rather than heal it once it happens.
We live in an AI-driven world where big data is analyzed by algorithms and can even predict the future based on a horse’s vitals. As you see, many useful AI tools have emerged in many fields. In today’s article, we will talk more about this new technology introduced by HISA that is used to locate horses at risk before they even start racing.
What is HISA?
When the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act became federal law, it tasked the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) with developing and implementing universal safety and integrity requirements in Thoroughbred racing in the United States.
HISA, which is overseen by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), is putting in place for the first time a nationwide, standard set of rules that will apply to every Thoroughbred racing participant and racetrack facility. HISA consists of two programs: the Racetrack Safety Program, which took effect on July 1, 2022, and the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program, which took effect on May 22, 2023.
The Racetrack Safety Program consists of operational safety guidelines and national racetrack certification criteria that aim to improve horse welfare while minimizing equine and rider injuries.
Among other essential measures, the Program increases veterinarian monitoring, enforces surface maintenance and testing standards, improves jockey safety, limits riding crop use, and applies voided claims procedures.
The ADMC Program incorporates a centralized testing and results management approach that swiftly and reliably imposes uniform sanctions for infractions across the United States.
What is this AI Tool?
Following a keynote talk by broadcaster Randy Moss on December 5 at the Global Symposium on Racing, Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority CEO Lisa Lazarus recapped the organization’s year and highlighted the organization’s priority for 2024.
One of its aims for next year is to use technology to solve industrial challenges and reduce administrative constraints.
Lazarus described the creation of a data-driven technology, in collaboration with Palantir Technologies, to help industry stakeholders detect horses at risk of injury before they compete. She stated that they plan to use the technology “by the end of the year or very beginning of next year.”
She claims that the previous screening procedure for vets took five hours for each race card, but that will be possible with a press of a button.
Shortly after her remarks at the Symposium, HISA released a press statement stating that the program will provide a daily report for each racecourse, flagging any horses entered in that day’s races that may offer possible risk factors for injury. This allows for more efficient and accurate identification of at-risk horses, as well as informed pre-race inspections of each runner.
How Does it Work?
The new technology created by HISA and Palantir examines health information and past entry data to identify whether each horse that entered a race is at heightened risk of injury depending on a variety of parameters.
The program takes into account risk variables such as the duration of a horse’s prior layoff (if any), time with the current trainer, history on the vet’s list, and other signs of previous injury or poor performance.
It is like a human handicapper, with the ability to browse through a horse’s vital signs. Who knows, maybe that data will be publicly available, and handicappers can use the state of the horse to predict its performance during the race.
If you want to learn more about horse racing handicapping and how betting works, check the link below: https://www.twinspires.com/betting-guides/beginners-guide-betting-horse-racing/
One thing is for sure: this technology is designed to make horse racing a safer sport.
“Palantir is proud to support HISA in its embrace of technology to reduce equine injuries and fatalities,” said Palantir’s Head of Global Commercial Ted Mabrey. “HISA came to a Bootcamp for Palantir’s Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) this fall and has rapidly scaled its implementation independently. HISA is proving that real-world outcomes, in this case, equine safety, can be achieved in weeks with the acceleration that AIP and boot camps provide.”
What Does This Mean for the Sport?
Well, it depends on the technology and how it works in the real world. This is not the first time predictive technology has been used in the world of horse racing. In fact, AI tools to predict horses’ health have been used at the Kentucky Derby, but despite the technology, 12 horses have died at Churchill Downs.
HISA assigned an expert (Dennis Moore) to find out more about how did this happen. Moore found out many different variables that might lead to injury such as the track conditions. But the main problem was that most of the horses that died had run more races than average in a year.
So, this new AI tool needs some time and data in order to start working as intended. This is a good thing for the horse racing industry, and we hope that horse racing would become a safer sport for both jockeys and horses.
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