Edited Press ReleaseNew Zealand is set to lead a world-first effort to turn decades of injury research into an early-warning system for racehorses through the New Zealand Equine Safety Initiative (NZESI), according to a statement released Tuesday.The initiative will build a connected picture of the Thoroughbred across its entire life, from early development through training, racing and retirement. Growth and development information will be combined with training records, clinical history and sensor readings to better understand factors associated with injury risk.The first research projects are already underway in partnership with New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing. Training and clinical records are being collated, growth data is being gathered from young horses and wearable sensors are being tested on horses in training, including 2-year-olds.NZESI was conceived by Professors Wayne McIlwraith, Chris Rogers and Chris Kawcak, whose work spans equine orthopaedics, early development and injury prevention.“Racing has never had a system that connects what happens to a horse from its first months of life through training and racing,” McIlwraith said.“NZESI will build that system, bringing science and real-world information together to make injury more predictable and preventable. New Zealand can lead it, but its potential is global.”New Zealand's connected Thoroughbred population is considered particularly well suited to the project.“New Zealand is big enough to produce robust data and small enough to connect it,” said Rogers, of Massey University. “We can study the horse across its whole life, with breeders, trainers, veterinarians and researchers working across the same population.”Early research includes collating training and clinical records; gathering growth and development data from young horses; testing Equimetrics wearable sensors to collect gait and cardiac data during fast work; and blood biomarker research using metabolomics to identify changes in bone health before clinical signs appear.An earlier Colorado State University study predicted injury risk with 73.8% accuracy up to six months in advance, although the assays were too expensive for routine screening. Current research is examining whether metabolomics could provide a practical monthly screening tool.“Catastrophic injury is rarely as sudden as it appears,” said Kawcak, of Colorado State University. “The final failure may happen in one stride, but the underlying bone damage can develop over many months.“We can detect those changes in a research setting. This program is about making that knowledge practical and affordable enough to use routinely with horses in work.”A new standing CT system is also under development, with a final prototype planned for completion by the end of 2026. It is designed to provide advanced bone imaging while the horse remains weight-bearing and without general anaesthesia.Over time, the technologies are intended to form part of an Equine Safety Centre combining preventative screening, ongoing monitoring and a central research database.NZESI is being established as an independent, board-led non-profit, with early research funded by New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing. Trainers, breeders, veterinarians, owners and researchers are being invited to participate and contribute data to future studies.The steering group consists of McIlwraith, Rogers and Kawcak. Dr. Douglas Black and Dr. Paul Fraser are serving as veterinary advisors, while industry representatives include Nick Johnson, Vicky Leonard and Cameron Roger.The post New Zealand Initiative Aims to Predict and Prevent Racehorse Injuries appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.