Data, Decisions And Duty Of Care
Racing Has The Tools. IFAR Has The Framework
The most advanced biometric capture systems in Thoroughbred racing are now collecting over 7,000 spatial data points per second. Moving from human observation to devices with this level of resolution is like shifting from a backyard telescope to the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. Instead of a general impression, you get thousands of precise measurements that reveal what the eye cannot.
At that level of sensitivity, minute abnormalities in a horse’s gait can be detected well before mechanical failure, opening the door to predictive analytics that could dramatically reduce catastrophic breakdowns, save lives and reshape the sport’s social license. Meanwhile, modern data infrastructure can transform fragmented veterinary, integrity and commercial records into real-time systems that build a comprehensive picture of a horse’s career across multiple dimensions.
The technology exists. The question is whether the global racing industry can deploy it fast enough, and equitably enough, to matter.
That was the challenge laid bare at the 41st Asian Racing Conference in Riyadh in February, where Dr Eliot Forbes, Chief Executive of New Zealand’s Racing Integrity Board and newly appointed Chair of the International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses (IFAR), made the case that racing’s social licence now depends on closing the gap between what technology makes possible and what the industry actually delivers. In his view, the adoption of technology and AI-readiness is not merely a commercial imperative. It is a welfare one.
From Legacy Systems To Real Insight
“Racing has a narrow window to become genuinely AI-ready,” Forbes says, “not as a novelty, but as a core capability that shapes how we market, tell our stories and create more immersive experiences for fans.” But the implications run far deeper than fan engagement. In welfare and integrity, the priority is maturing data management arrangements, so the sector is genuinely prepared to apply AI. When information is captured consistently, governed properly and made fit for analysis, AI can move beyond automation and start unlocking the kind of insight that was aspirational just a few years ago.
“Too often we are still relying on legacy systems that are fragmented, creating business risk and limiting what we can see across integrity, commercial and veterinary dimensions,” he says. “When we collect, manage and mine that data properly, we move from isolated reports to real insight and better insight drives better decision-making.”
Forbes speaks from a career spent at the intersection of veterinary science, racing administration and technology — from his years as Chief Veterinary Officer for six Dubai World Cups to pioneering StrideMASTER biometric and sectional timing in Tasmania, leading RACELAB Global, serving on the IFHA Council on Anti-Illegal Betting and Related Crime and now driving the Racing Integrity Board’s digital transformation programme. It is a perspective that fuses the clinical with the commercial, and it informs every dimension of his current agenda.
An Existential Threat
In integrity, Forbes argues, machine learning can identify suspicious betting patterns across much larger data sets and develop more nuanced insight into corrupt networks and anomalous market movements that would be almost impossible to detect manually.
The threat is real and growing. “The most pressing integrity threat internationally is the rapid growth of illegal and unregulated betting, now increasingly fuelled by crypto and the anonymity and speed it enables,” Forbes warns. “When that is paired with light-touch regulation, white- label platform providers and the cannibalisation of legal markets, the threat becomes existential. These operators are ubiquitous, they sit outside traditional oversight, and it is often unclear who the ultimate beneficial owner is, or who is really behind the platform. In some cases, they may facilitate organised crime. They also free ride on racing’s product, create new integrity risks, and offer little or no consumer protection.”
His response is characteristically direct: the industry must assume that bad actors will relentlessly exploit any technological advantage they can and invest accordingly. The IFHA Council’s anti-illegal betting work provides a focal point for members to stay aligned on emerging threats and advocate for the regulatory settings racing needs.
At the Racing Integrity Board in New Zealand, Forbes has focused on strengthening analytic capability, enhancing data exchange with regulatory partners and building closer partnerships with agencies across government and sport. “This is a problem racing cannot solve on its own,” he says. “We also need closer partnerships with financial intelligence units, law enforcement, regulators and payment providers to disrupt the flow of funds, not just respond to individual cases.”
Intentions Must Become Systems
It is on the welfare front that Forbes’ dual role — straddling integrity enforcement and global aftercare leadership — yields its most compelling argument. As IFAR Chair, succeeding founding Chair Di Arbuthnot, he inherits a platform that has grown from a niche forum into a genuine force for international advocacy. And his message to the 29 member organisations of the Asian Racing Federation is unequivocal.
“Aftercare is not optional,” he says. “It is central to racing’s long-term sustainability and credibility. Intentions must become actions. Narratives must become systems. Systems must have scale.”
Central to that ambition is the IFAR Aftercare Toolkit, a practical framework designed to help jurisdictions translate good intent into consistent programmes that clarify obligations, normalise transparency and support credible reporting on outcomes over time. “The greatest opportunity for ARF member countries is to learn from each other through forums like IFAR,” he explains. “Everyone is working through the same core challenges, and there are real pockets of excellence around the world that can be emulated to lift standards and fast-track progress.”
With the ARF spanning 29 member organisations across vastly different Thoroughbred racing cultures — from the highly resourced programmes of Hong Kong and Japan to the rapidly developing jurisdictions of the Middle East — the challenge of bridging that gap is formidable.
Forbes is careful to note that IFAR’s role is not to prescribe a single model or tell jurisdictions what they must do. “We highlight best practice, provide practical tools and a shared language, then encourage each member to determine what works in its own unique operating and cultural context,” he says. “Bridging the gap is about creating a rising tide that lifts the baseline everywhere through collaboration and transfer of know-how.”
The more mature programmes, he argues, can accelerate global progress by sharing what works in practice — governance, funding settings, partnerships and the lessons learned along the way. Developing jurisdictions can then adopt proven approaches and scale them in stages. Traceability and international cooperation sit underneath all of it, making responsibility visible beyond racing and reducing the chances of horses slipping through the cracks as they transition out of competitive careers.
Where Welfare Meets Technology
This is where the technology narrative and the welfare narrative converge and where Forbes’ argument becomes most powerful. The biometric systems capturing thousands of data points per second are not a novelty, nor a fascination with measurement simply because it is possible; they can prevent the breakdowns that threaten the sport's very existence.
The data infrastructure that enables AI-driven bet monitoring also powers the information systems that integrate veterinary, racing and welfare records into a single, connected view. The investment in modern systems serves both mandates simultaneously. For Forbes, the two objectives are inseparable. Welfare is integrity. Data is duty of care.
“We are entering a new reality where the sensitivity available to us can detect minute abnormalities in gait well before mechanical failure,” Forbes says. “This opens the door to risk-based predictive analytics that can dramatically reduce catastrophic events, save lives and ultimately strengthen racing’s social licence.”
A Mandate From Riyadh
The 41st ARC, the first held in Saudi Arabia, and a powerful demonstration of how far Gulf racing has come since Forbes led the organising team for the landmark 31st ARC in Dubai in 2007, delivered a sharper agenda focused on execution.
Forbes returned to a region he knows well, having lived in the Gulf for many years. “It has been a long time since we last brought the ARC to the Gulf in Dubai in 2007, and it was pleasing to see the advances racing has made right across the region since then,” he says. “Delegates spoke highly of the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia’s ambition and the pace of progress in Thoroughbred racing, with the Saudi Cup now firmly established as the Kingdom’s flagship event and holding an important place on the global racing calendar. Riyadh gave the week real energy and you could feel the pride in hosting the ARC for the first time.”
Beyond the hospitality, the conference produced a mandate for coordinated action — on illegal betting, smarter use of technology and renewed emphasis on welfare and fan growth. The Gulf Horseracing Council session showed regional cooperation translating into practical outcomes around harmonised integrity, smoother movement of horses and a stronger racing programme.
As the federation’s member nations return to their respective jurisdictions with that mandate, Forbes’ central argument stands as both challenge and invitation. Racing has the tools. IFAR has the framework. The challenge is execution across jurisdictions at very different stages of maturity. “Racing is a traditional industry,” he acknowledges, “but our future depends on us becoming more agile and more willing to adopt new technology quickly.”
The window, he believes, is narrowing. The question is whether the industry will move through it in time.