Jockey Club Calls for Safety Risk Study on Kentucky Derby Field

August 19, 2008

A Jockey Club panel will be studying whether the number of horses allowed into the Kentucky Derby poses a safety risk.

The annual Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. regularly draws 20 horses to the race. Typically, other races are limited to just more than a dozen.

Stuart Janney, head of the Jockey Club’s Thoroughbred Safety Committee, says the panel will be looking at the race’s size.

The panel was created after the death of Eight Belles in this year’s Kentucky Derby.

The panel has also recommended, among other things, a standard nationwide system for drug testing race horses.
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Information from: The Courier-Journal,
http://www.courier-journal.com