We've shown the public we truly care about racehorses - now we must do the same for ex-racehorses

National Racehorse Week gave us the chance to celebrate the racehorse. We have to show people the importance of the animal at the heart of this sport, but the public needs to trust that racing does the right thing throughout the lifetime of all horses bred for the sport. And the key to helping racing to achieve this is robust traceability.

It’s well documented racing has some data gaps, especially when horses are officially retired from the track, but as programme director for the Horse Welfare Board I can tell you there are multiple projects well under way to plug these gaps, including Britain’s first ever thoroughbred census.

This is an important initiative to improve the data we have on horses after they leave the sport. We estimate there’s a total population of around 70-75,000 thoroughbreds in Britain at any one time, which is around eight per cent of all horses in the country. Of these, the retired group is estimated to be 30-35,000. We have good data on the 12,000 who have signed up for Retraining of Racehorses membership but want to increase this intelligence significantly.

The census runs for the rest of 2023 and it is getting good traction. But we need more involvement and promotion across the racing fraternity. Close to 4,000 censuses have been completed, which is great, but we really want closer to 15,000 to ensure the best result. The equine research experts at Hartpury College who have been tasked with carrying out the project by the HWB will be able to extract so many benefits from the data.

We have three requests of owners of former racehorses: to complete the census, to check passports are up to date, and to sign up with RoR, whose free membership gives people access to a fantastic set of resources and helps racing with its ongoing work on support for this population. This is part of what responsible ownership of former racehorses looks like.

One of the barriers to more members of the public becoming interested in our wonderful sport is concerns about life after racing. The data collected from the census will allow us to address those concerns with confidence.

The census is part of the Horse Welfare Board’s ‘A Life Well Lived’ strategy. We’ve got 22 live projects so it’s a busy time for us, but that’s a good thing for the welfare of every racehorse and, in this case, ex-racehorse.

Helena Flynn is programme director for the Horse Welfare Board. The thoroughbred census can be completed here.

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