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The destinations of Thoroughbred (TB) racehorses exiting the racing industry is a high-profile issue with ethical and welfare implications of interest to both animal welfare groups and racing regulators. This cross-sectional study investigated the reasons that TBs temporarily or permanently exited racing and training in Australia in the 2017–2018 racing season and the outcomes for these horses post-racing. An online questionnaire was sent to the last registered trainers of a representative sample of 2,509 ‘inactive’ TBs. Inactive horses were defined as those horses that were recorded as ‘active’ but had not trialled or raced in the last 6 months of the racing season or had an inactive status recorded in the Racing Australia database. Of the 1,750 responses received, the largest group of inactive TBs had permanently exited the racing industry (45% retired, 5.3% deceased). A relatively large group exited racing temporarily (43%) but participated in the racing industry in the following season. The reasons for retirement were predominantly voluntary, such as poor performance or owner’s request. Almost one third of retirements were due to injuries with tendon or ligament problems the most frequently conditions listed. The median age at retirement was five (Q1 4; Q3 7) years. Extrapolation of the survey results to the population of horses racing or training in Australia in 2017–2018 ( n = 37,750) show that that 17% of the population retire each year and 2.1% die. These estimates provide benchmarks for industry and animal welfare organisations to resource and measure the effectiveness of interventions.

The reasons for Thoroughbred (TB) horses not entering training or exiting the racing industry, are of interest to regulators, welfare groups and the broader community. Speculation about the outcomes of these horses threatens the community acceptance, or social license, of the TB breeding and racing industries. A representative survey of the 2010 Victorian born TB foal crop was used to determine the outcomes and reasons for exit for horses that had not entered training, or had exited training and racing by eight years of age. Horses exported for racing or breeding (4%), or that were still actively racing (7%) at the start of the follow up period were excluded from the study. An online questionnaire was sent to breeders or trainers of 3,176 TB horses eligible for enrolment in the study. Of the 2,005 (63%) responses received, the two most frequent outcomes were that the horse had either been retired or rehomed (65%), or deceased (16%). For the 1,637 TB horses that had entered training, the majority of retirements were voluntary (59%), followed by involuntary retirements due to health disorders (28%). For TBs that did not have an industry record of entering training (n = 368), death (34%), or retirement or being rehomed (27%), were the most frequent barriers to entering training. The median age of retirement for TBs that raced was five (Q1 4; Q3 6) years regardless of sex, or whether their first race start was at two, three or four years of age. Relatively large numbers of horses voluntarily retiring at five-years of age suggests that industry-level, rather than individual horse-level factors are the predominant influences on racing career duration.

Currently, there is a paucity of data on the barriers for Australian Thoroughbred horses transitioning from stud farm to racetrack. This paper reports the reasons why horses failed to enter race training and documents their exit destinations. Biographical records of Australian Thoroughbred horses born in 2014 were investigated to determine the number of horses that had not officially entered race training by the start of the 4-year old racing season (1 August 2018). Of the 13,677 foals born in 2014, 66% had commenced training and 51% had raced before the beginning of their 4-year-old season in Australia. A sampling frame based on the post code of the premises where foals were born and records from Racing Australia were used to select a geographically representative sample of the 2014 Australian Thoroughbred foal crop (n = 4,124). From the population eligible for sampling 1,275 horses that had not entered training were enrolled in the survey and their breeders were sent an online questionnaire with follow-up phone calls for those who had not responded. Of the 633 responses (50% of 1275) the most frequent outcomes for horses were: death (38%, n = 239), participation in the racing industry in their 4-year old racing season (24%, n = 154) and retirement (16%, n = 100) either as Australian Stud Book (ASB) bloodstock (n = 17), or as horses rehomed outside the Thoroughbred industry (n = 83). Illness or injury was the most frequent reason for horses not entering race training that were ASB bloodstock, rehomed or deceased. There was a loss of traceability at the point of sale with most horses sold at 1 year of age. This study provides important information on the reasons, alternative outcomes and gaps in traceability for horses not entering training prior to the 4-year-old racing season.

Racehorse and jockey incidents on race-days frequently occur together, yet risk factors for their occurrence have historically been investigated separately. Consideration of both horses and humans in tandem is required for a One Health approach to risk reduction. Our objectives were to therefore identify modifiable risk factors for adverse outcomes that are common or conflicting to both horses and their jockeys in Thoroughbred racing. Australian Single National System records for the 2004/05 to 2018/19 flat racing season were merged with the corresponding Australian Racing Incident Database records. Incidence rate ratios (IRR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated for the outcomes of racehorse musculoskeletal injury (MSI), racehorse fatality, jockey falls and jockey injury using Poisson regression. Horse-level, race-level, jockey-level and trainer-level factors associated with each adverse outcome during or post-race were identified using multivariable logistic regression. The incidence of MSI was 21.21 (20.84, 21.59), racehorse fatalities 0.55 (0.50, 0.61), jockey falls was 3.01 (2.80, 3.24), and jockey injuries 1.79 (1.63, 1.97) per 1000 flat race starts. There was a decrease in racehorse MSI and jockey falls over the study period but no change in racehorse fatality or jockey injury incidence. In multivariable analysis, longer race distances and higher caliber races were associated with horse (  < 0.01), but not jockey, incidents. Firmer turf surfaces were associated with greater risk of both horse incidents and jockey falls (  < 0.05). Racehorses that were of older age at their first start, and/or had prior race-day injuries had a greater risk of injury and fatality (  < 0.001,  < 0.01, respectively). The most prominent risk factor for jockey fall or injury was a racehorse incident, although overall contributing to a relatively small proportion; 8.6% (  = 42/489) of jockey falls and 15.3% (  = 24/147) of injuries. Jockeys with fewer career starts were at greater risk of falling, and those with a higher percentage of last place finishing positions were at greater risk of injury (  < 0.001). As there were no conflicting risk factors identified between racehorse and jockey injury, policies aimed at reducing horse injury risk are also expected to benefit their riders.