British racing sets out five-year welfare strategy
British racing's new 2027–31 welfare strategy prioritises lifetime traceability, injury prevention and better evidence from training yards.
British racing has set out a new five-year horse welfare strategy, placing lifetime traceability, injury prevention and greater scrutiny of training environments at the centre of its plans for 2027 to 2031.
The independently chaired Horse Welfare Board launched the programme at Westminster on Tuesday. It contains 20 priorities under four headings: quality of life, safety, lifetime responsibility and public trust. The strategy follows the industry’s first coordinated welfare plan, A Life Well Lived, published in 2020.
Its most ambitious long-term objective is to establish 100 per cent lifetime traceability for Thoroughbreds bred for racing in Britain. Racing already records horses during their competitive careers, but information becomes less complete when they leave training, change ownership or enter other equestrian activities. The new programme seeks to close those gaps through improved retirement records, data sharing and modernised digital systems.
Retraining of Racehorses, the sport’s official aftercare partner, has published a corresponding five-year plan. Its priorities include better information about former racehorses, stronger support for retraining and rehoming, and a more sustainable framework for funding aftercare.
The strategy also broadens the approach to safety beyond what happens on a racecourse. The board wants more consistent evidence about training surfaces, workloads, medication, injuries and breaks in training, alongside information from breeding and early preparation. The intention is to identify factors that may contribute to injuries before horses reach the racecourse.
Artificial intelligence, wearable devices and gait-analysis technology are among the tools to be explored. They are prospective aids to research and risk assessment rather than established solutions, and the board acknowledges that improvements will depend on the quality and completeness of the underlying data.
Baroness Minette Batters, who chairs the Horse Welfare Board, has emphasised that the sport must be able to demonstrate measurable benefits for horses rather than rely solely on existing standards. The programme also addresses the need for greater transparency around injuries, fatalities, whip use and the lives of horses after racing.
The British Horseracing Authority says the first year’s work is already scoped and funded, with support from the Racing Foundation and Horserace Betting Levy Board. Annual project plans are intended to provide measurable objectives and allow priorities to change as evidence develops.
The significance of the announcement will ultimately be judged by delivery. Comprehensive lifetime records would improve accountability well beyond the racing career, while better information from training yards could materially strengthen injury prevention. Both objectives require sustained cooperation across breeders, trainers, owners, regulators and the wider equestrian sector.
By TP Editorial
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