*2.6. Use of Pre-Surface Condition Data to See If They Correlate with Injuries*

The first step to analyse whether sand moisture content and firmness data correlate with the injury, for those race events with catastrophic incidents, the range for moisture content and the range for sand firmness were checked to see if they all fall within the recommended range. It is hypothesised that sand moisture and firmness range should not fall within the recommended range.

The second step to analyse whether sand moisture content and firmness data correlate with the injury, the fluctuation between the inside and middle track data (both moisture content and firmness values) should be calculated and compared with the overall fluctuation between the inside and middle track readings. It is hypothesised that any noticeable fluctuation between the inside and middle track readings contribute to injuries. To test this hypothesis, the injury location of the catastrophic incidents, determined using the injury heat-map given in Figure 8, were compared with high fluctuation arenas and the results are provided below.

A de-identified track heat map is presented in Figure 8. This heat map was generated using race videos, the Steward's reports and the injury data recorded by on-track veterinarians. The red circles on heat map represent the number of injuries at each specific injury location around the track. The larger the radius on the heat map, the higher the injury rate. It should be noted that only catastrophic incidents resulting in death were used to generate the injury heat-map.

**Figure 8.** The de-identified greyhound track injury location *heat map* for the 425 m start. The magnitude of the normalised injury rate is depicted by the relative radius of the red circles.

The injury location, the sand surface moisture content range, the sand firmness value range, and the high fluctuation vicinity on the track are given in below Table 3.

Comparing the injury heat-map with Table 3 the injury heat-map correlates with the high fluctuation areas. The fluctuation between inside and middle track moisture of approximately 80% of the catastrophic injuries had the highest percentage at the injury vicinity among other locations of the track; The sand moisture content of approximately 80% of the races with catastrophic injuries fell within the recommended range. The sand firmness data of all (those that were available) of the races with catastrophic injuries fell within the recommended range.

Having high fluctuation between the inside and the middle track surface properties would expose trailing greyhounds to a running surface with different properties as they tend to jostle and change direction to avoid bumping and checking. Any sudden change in the surface condition will contribute to injuries.


**Table 3.** Injury location, surface condition range and the zones on the track with of high fluctuation.

The main maintenance practice which can assist in having a homogeneous surface condition is called harrowing. The depth and frequency of the harrowing practice is subjective to the sport arena, frequency of races and trials, season of the year, weather condition and rain fall, and more importantly, should be accompanied with an appropriate irrigation management. As discussed above, the sand moisture content and density are two important factors affecting the dynamic of the race track. It is also seen that, a relatively wet (20% for the under-studied sand in the laboratory condition) sand with low-traffic condition (3 cm raked top layer) was ideal in terms of both performance and safety. Accordingly, it is recommended that the harrowing should be conducted on a regular basis and with sufficient depth on a surface which is consistently irrigated through an appropriate irrigation system.
