Racing Foundation grants Horse Welfare Board £3m to fund strategy projects

The Horse Welfare Board (HWB) has received a £3 million grant from the Racing Foundation to support its work across the industry for the next three years.

The grant will be used to deliver the projects stemming from the HWB's A Life Well Lived strategy, the five-year plan launched in February 2020 to ensure the highest standards of welfare for all horses bred for British racing.

Funding will be released in stages over the next three years and will cover a number of projects to drive developments in safety,?data, and traceability.

In all 17 HWB projects are now live covering areas including the improvement and development of hurdles and fences, ground and going, stalls and starting processes, analysis of fatalities and injuries occurring off the racecourse and the traceability of racehorses throughout their lives.

The team involved has already been responsible for the implementation of the Orange to White Project, under which the colour of take off boards and markers has been changed following a study on equine vision funded by the Racing Foundation and conducted by the University of Exeter in 2017.

Programme director Helena Flynn described the grant, which is in addition to support given by the Levy Board, as "significant funding". She said: "For people both in and outside the industry it really cements the importance and how imperative equine welfare is.

"What it means for us now, which is the thing I am most excited about, is that we find ourselves in a position where 17 of the 26 strategy projects are now live, which is fantastic."

Racing Foundation chief executive Rob Hezel said it was crucial racehorses received the highest standards of welfare.

He added: "The foundation is delighted to have been able to provide 50 per cent of the costs for delivering the Horse Welfare Board's strategy, A Life Well Lived, amounting to £3m through to 2025, by which time all the projects included in the strategy are due to be completed.

"The Racing Foundation trustees acknowledge that equine welfare will continue to require management beyond 2025 and are committed to working with industry colleagues to help identify sustainable funding sources for the work beyond that point."

HWB chair Barry Johnson said the body was "incredibly grateful" to the Racing Foundation for the grant.

He added: "The Horse Welfare Board’s comprehensive strategy will help move the sport’s already well-established welfare standards to new levels of excellence."

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