Thanks, Aragorn, for those very interesting insights, especially Renee not having many fallers. I'm concerned about opening up a new topic on the subject, in case it's taken the wrong way and another online squabble occurs, but it would be as useful to potential owners and surely potential punters to take such a statistic into account, no? It isn't whether you have a small, medium, or large string of chasers and hurdlers that matters as much as how many of them are regularly racing, coming in sound, and going out again in a reasonable timeframe. If your animals are prone to falling, then I imagine that once you've taken such (apparently very common) problems such as inefficient eyesight, hidden injuries causing pain, etc., out of the equation, then the question comes round to whether it's inadequate or rushed schooling.
I've no idea if such a statistic exists in some higher arcana of racing's archives, but it would certainly be fascinating to find out which NH trainers have the highest faller rates, and if they're more falling chasers or falling hurdlers. From the very basic trail I keep through the seasons (and it's by no means comprehensive), NH horses suffer the most fatalities, through falling. Within that group, chasers are still outweighing hurdlers and Bumper fallers (the latter often being a case of SU on turns or clipping heels by travelling too close - jockey error), and with that sub-group of falling chasers, is the majority of on-course fatalities.
Thus, it's useful, I feel, to most of us to know if a particular yard produces a higher yield of fallen horses than others, and why some yards have virtually no fallers through their horses' form - or, at worst, falls which are the result of outside influence, like slippery/unsafe ground or being barged in-flight.
