Dr. Lynn Hillyer:

I will take that question and perhaps Mr. Osborne can then join in. We have a relentless focus on the safety and welfare of our participants, both equine and human. I am a vet and Mr. Osborne is a vet and it is very dear to both of us personally and professionally. Every day there is horse racing, we have independent regulatory veterinarians on track and we follow up the horses off track.

This year, in particular, we have implemented a suitability to race programme. Although we started this in earnest last year, we are really gathering momentum this year. We are working with trainers and vets at home to really understand the condition and status of our horses before they get to the track. It is extremely important to ensure they arrive at the track in the best condition possible and suitable to race. Every single fatality on track is investigated fully by our experienced senior team. This would include video review, talking to jockeys, talking to the vets on track and talking to the Blue Cross. All these people have experience and understanding of how these injuries happen. That is very much the operational side.

In parallel with that, in 2022, we formally put together what is called the Equine Injury in Irish Racing Risk Reduction Project. It was actually a continuation of previous work but we formalised it in 2022. This programme is led by two world-leading epidemiologists and experts in this field, Professor Tim Parkin and Dr. Sarah Rosanowski, working with individuals in and beyond our industry. In a nutshell, this project is all about recognising that, as in many sports, horse racing carries a risk. We must and do recognise this fact. What we must do, however, every day and not just in flurries, fits or bursts, is to do what we can to reduce that risk. This project is about identifying risk factors and then doing something about them.

To give the committee a real example, this project yielded several risk factors towards the end of 2022 and into the last year, which we integrated into our practices on the racetrack as soon as we possibly could. We now target the inspections I was talking about, concerning the suitability to race, at the horses we know from the science may be at increased risk of injury. This was a bit of a gallop through the area but there is a lot more I could talk about.