Coming to a farm near you – Microchipped foals

The 63rd Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing was held on Sunday in Saratoga Springs, New York, and the biggest news to come out of that annual meeting is that, starting in 2017, microchips will be required for foal registration.

The Jockey Club’s Board of Stewards voted on Saturday to make the change, which is already required in several countries including Great Britain, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

The microchips will be used along with official markings to identify Thoroughbreds from 2017 on.

Owners may actually begin requesting free microchips with registration and genetic sampling kits beginning in 2016, but the next year everyone will receive microchips.

The two-hour long Round Table Conference, which may be viewed in its entirety on The Jockey Club’s website, also included a discussion concerning federal legislation on medication reform and a recommendation from The Jockey Club for a centralized database for data collected during post-mortem examination of racing-related injuries.