The Murky World of Horse Race Reporting

The most famous race in the world is the Kentucky Derby, where thousands of spectators dress up in their finest and line the crowded infield to watch a few thousand horses run around a one-mile track. But behind the romanticized façade of the sport is a dark reality of injuries, drug abuse, and the slaughter of these majestic creatures.

In recent years, horse racing has seen significant advances in technology and information that are helping to improve its safety and integrity for both horses and humans. This includes new thermal imaging cameras that can detect when a horse is overheating post-race, MRI scanners and X-rays that can diagnose minor or major health issues, and 3D printing that can produce casts, splints, and prosthetics for injured horses.

These technological advancements have also helped to reduce the number of horses that die on the racetrack each year, and they are helping to improve the lives of horses who remain in training and compete in the races. However, despite these advances, there is still much work to be done to protect the welfare of all horses involved in horse racing.

As part of this ongoing effort, BloodHorse recently checked in with HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus to talk about the progress that has been made and opportunity that exists to further improve the sport.

ANNIE AGUIAR: In this week’s Poynter, we’re going to explore the murky world of horse-race journalism. It gets a bad rap for breathless focus on odds and data, but the reporters we spoke to embraced it as a way of exploring the full scope of what they do.

We started by asking them what they think about the phrase “horse-race journalism.” They all agreed that it’s a bit of a do-not-do label, but that it also carries real lessons for reporters covering any kind of beat.

They pointed out the need to have the right context and the importance of not discounting different figures based on popular narratives, and they all highlighted the need for a deeper understanding of the sport itself.

For example, one of the most important aspects of assessing a horse’s performance is understanding how its time and distance measurements are calculated. That means knowing whether a runner ran over short or long distances, whether it was a sprint or a route race and what kind of track conditions were experienced. It’s this type of contextual awareness that enables reporters to provide readers with a clearer picture of a horse’s true merits. And that, in turn, enables bettors to make smarter wagers. A horse whose form is well-rounded and understandable is a horse that will likely win its races. And that’s why horse-race journalism is so valuable.