Driver Death Has Horse Racing Associations Battling Over How to Make Sport Safer 

Hunter Myers, 27, passed away from injuries sustained during a race March 19 at Hollywood Casino at the Meadows in Washington, Pa., according to the U.S. Trotting Association.  His death has sparked renewed calls for improved safety standards for the sport of harness racing.  

Reacting to Myers death and a spate of horse deaths tied to harness racing, Animal Wellness Action and the Center for Human Economy are calling for harness racing leaders to abide by rules set up by the federal Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority {HISA} that the Thoroughbred industry has widely embraced.  

“Harness racing has always had accidents, but the recent crashes, injuries and death of a driver is an ugly and distressing wake up call, ‘’ said Fred Hudson, director of equine welfare for the groups.  

Myers, a top 10 harness racing driver, was thrown from his horse-drawn sulky in a chain-reaction crash involving 5 horses that began when the lead horse made a sudden break. Myers died from injuries the following day.  

“The racing sulkies (carts)  are longer now and drivers lean back too far and can’t really see ahead of them. It is dangerous,’’ said Hudson, a former harness racing driver.   “The handholds on the horse harness lines are also too far back now and that  pushes the drivers further back in their carts,’’ Hudson added.  He said the spate of tragedies is not dissimilar to the run of breakdowns that characterized the 2023 spring races at Churchhill Downs.  

Industry experts warn that a federally deregulated harness racing industry is unsafe at any speed. Animal Wellness Action and its sister organization were key proponents of HISA  - Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority – and helped ensure its enactment in 2020. The law subsequently overcame a constitutional challenge, and its safety regulations were put into action 2022  and doping regulations in 2023.  Both the act and the enforcing authority are known as HISA.  

“Since Thoroughbred tracks began complying with HISA sanctions, there has been a dramatic drop in racing- related deaths,’’ said Hudson.  “We are confident that the same improved outcomes would save horses’ lives if they were applied to standardbreds on harness tracks,’’ Hudson said. There are 30 para-mutial harness racing tracks in the United States 

HISA is making a difference, as reported in HISA’s first quarter 2024 metrics report.  The agency identified a 38 percent decrease in racing-related fatalities year over year.  Racetracks operating under HISA’s rules and running races in the first quarter reported 0.84 racing-related equine fatalities per 1,000 starts, compared to 1.35 racing-related equine fatalities per 1,000 starts in the first quarter of 2023.  

 Not all Thoroughbred tracks are under HISA control, however, with racing commissions in several states refusing to comply. They include Texas, Louisiana, and West Virginia. In those places and other tracks not operating under HISA, deaths continue to occur with greater frequency compared to HISA tracks.  

Hudson said more drivers and trainers should embrace a regulatory regime that more quickly resolves disputes and is creative about improving racing integrity. The U.S. Trotting Association, the governing body for harness racing in the United States, keeps no records on driver or horse deaths or injuries.   

But some harness racing experts argue that HISA is merely a dream come true for groups like P.E.T.A. and the goal will be to severely reduce the therapeutic treatment race horses need and eliminate racing all together.   

Harness racing would prefer passage of the Racehorse Health and Safety Act  to protect the health and welfare of covered horses and improve the integrity and safety of horseracing by authorizing states to enter into an interstate compact to develop and enforce scientific medication control  rules and racetrack safety rules that are  uniform for each equine breed, and for other purposes.  

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