The Jockey Club has released equine injury figures for the past five years.

Jockey Club releases five year injury statistics

Figures from the Jockey Club show a drop in the number of equine race fatalities last year, compared to the four previous years.

The statistics show that last year, 643 horses died during racing incidents, compared to 709 in the previous year.

The five year figures show a progressive drop in horse fatalities, with 790 deaths in 2009, 727 in 2010 and 713 in 2011.

Part of the explanation for the fall in figures is that there was less races. The number of deaths per 1,000 starts in 2013 was 1.90, against the five year average of 1.91.

Those figures represented an increase in the rate of horse deaths from 2010 and 2011 when the rate was 1.88 deaths per 1,000 starts.

The vast majority of deaths happened on dirt courses. Last year for instance there were 524 horse deaths on dirt surfaces, compared to 71 on turf and 48 on synthetic courses.

There were more deaths on races of six to eight furlongs, than shorter or longer events, while the age of the horse was also a significant factor.

Over the five year period 2,335 of the 3,582 horses killed, were aged four or over, the figures from the Equine Injury Database showed.