Describe the Issue
Mandate Continuous Backstretch and Equine Area Video Surveillance, Explicitly Requiring In-Stall Coverage.
What specific problems or concerns are involved in this issue?
Unmonitored backstretch areas leave horses vulnerable to unauthorized handling, medication tampering, and undetected medical distress. (This critical vulnerability was starkly highlighted by the recent security failures and tragic outcome involving the racehorse Scarlet’s Flower in Winnipeg.)
Who does the issue affect?
This issue directly impacts licensed trainers, owners, caretakers, and veterinarians who rely on secure facilities to protect their animals and livelihoods. Implementing this proactive safety measure is a necessary step to restore and protect public and business trust in the integrity of Alberta's racing industry while fundamentally guaranteeing the physical welfare of the animals.
What existing HRA rules relate to this issue?
Rule 10.1g Rule 108 g (Adequate Facilities for Racing Officials) Rule 11 g: authorizes designated racing officials to exercise inspection and investigation powers under the Horse Racing Alberta Act. Rule 287 g(3): prohibits licensees from subjecting horses to cruelty, mistreatment, neglect or abuse, or permitting others to do so. It also provides for sanctions where a racing participant has failed to meet horses’ health and welfare needs. Rule 293 g: allows complaints about rule violations to be submitted to and investigated by the judges/stewards board. Rule 14 g: provides inspection, search and seizure authority for the Official Veterinarian.
What solution does this proposal provide?
This amendment directly closes a critical enforcement gap by transitioning backstretch surveillance from voluntary to a mandatory licensing requirement. It guarantees 24/7, high-definition video monitoring over individual horse stalls, veterinary blocks, and receiving sheds—the exact areas where equine athletes are most vulnerable to unauthorized handling, illegal medication tampering, and undetected medical emergencies.
How will the solution fix the problem?
Ensures that horse stalls—where animals are most vulnerable to unauthorized handling and undetected medical distress—are no longer left completely unmonitored. Dedicated monitoring stations and staff ensure that suspicious activity or equine medical emergencies are identified and addressed in real time, rather than just reviewed after an incident has already occurred. Eliminates backstretch blind spots, effectively preventing medication tampering and tragic safety failures like the Scarlet’s Flower incident. Demonstrates to the public, owners, and fans that the racing industry treats animal protection as a core prerequisite of doing business.
How will the change affect any entities or stakeholders?
Track Operators: Incur infrastructure and staffing costs, which represent a necessary requirement for safe, modern business operations. Horsemen & Owners: Gain an equitable racing environment that actively safeguards their horses from unauthorized handling and health crises. HRA Officials: Receive instant, unhindered remote video access, drastically improving backstretch oversight and rule enforcement.
What are the benefits of the proposed change?
Actively staffed monitoring stations ensure emergencies are handled in real time, while strict penalty structures provide the accountability necessary to protect equine athletes and restore public trust.
What are the possible drawbacks of the proposed change?
The primary drawback is the initial capital expenditure and ongoing operational costs incurred by Track Operators for hardware, cloud storage, and dedicated monitoring personnel.
For those stakeholder groups that have expressed an opinion, please list the points on which they agree or disagree, and the arguments they have expressed.
Alexandra Pester, Senior Staff Lawyer (Animal Justice)
Are there any affected stakeholder groups that have not been consulted on this proposal?
Yes
Please attach any formal letters of support or opposition by stakeholder groups. Files must be .pdf, .doc, .docx, rtf or .txt format and under 1024k for the system to accept the submission. You can add a maximum of 3 attachments.
2026 10 14 Letter re CCTV Horse Racing Alberta.pdf
Please show new language in a new paragraph below the current wording. If you are proposing that current rule language be eliminated, please indicate the text to be deleted with [DELETE: copy to be deleted in square brackets]
Every licensed racetrack operator in the Province of Alberta shall install, operate, and maintain a continuous, twenty-four (24) hour, seven (7) day a week video surveillance system. Financial or facility constraints shall not exempt an operator from maintaining these minimum welfare infrastructure standards. This infrastructure must explicitly include: High-definition, tamper-proof, network-connected cameras capable of clear night-vision recording; A centralized monitoring station equipped with dedicated computers, multi-screen display monitors, and high-speed network routing hardware capable of processing simultaneous live feeds; and Secure local or cloud-based server infrastructure capable of handling high-bandwidth video traffic without interruption.
Dedicated Monitoring Personnel: Racetrack operators shall employ or assign trained, dedicated security or technical staff whose primary duty during active racing meets and training hours is to monitor the live surveillance feeds, manage system integrity, and ensure all hardware components remain fully operational.
Mandatory Coverage Areas*: Surveillance cameras must be positioned to provide complete, unobstructed, and continuous visual coverage of the following areas: All individual stabling stalls, interior barns, and shedrows housing racehorses; All receiving sheds and shipping-in/out areas; All designated veterinary treatment stalls and detention barns; and All secure testing barns and sample collection areas. Data Retention and Security: All video footage captured by the surveillance system must be securely archived via an automated digital or cloud-based storage solution for a minimum retention period of sixty (60) calendar days. In the event of an active investigation, regulatory inquiry, or reported equine health incident, relevant footage must be flagged and securely preserved for a minimum of one hundred and twenty (120) calendar days from the date of the incident. Racetrack operators must implement strict cybersecurity measures to prevent data deletion, altering, or unauthorized tampering by any facility personnel or third party. Regulatory Access and Oversight: The racetrack operator shall provide Horse Racing Alberta (HRA) Stewards, Judges, and official Investigators with unrestricted, real-time, remote digital viewing access to all active backstretch and stall cameras, and immediate access to download archived footage upon demand. Failure to maintain operational camera coverage, dedicated monitoring staff, or provide immediate access to archived footage shall constitute a material breach of racetrack licensing conditions. *Cameras must be positioned to maximize equine visibility while respecting the reasonable privacy of caretakers in common barn walkways
If yes, please attach copies of those rules. Files must be pdf, jpg, jpeg, png or gif format and under 1024k. You can upload a maximum of 3 documents.
Submit proposed amendments to those rules to comply with changes that would be made by this proposal.
This amendment updates and strengthens the Track Operator Licensing requirements by defining 24/7 video surveillance as a mandatory facility standard for stabling areas, etc. Furthermore, it directly enhances HRA’s existing Inspection and Search Authorities (as listed in section B). By mandating recorded video archives, HRA officials will no longer have to rely solely on physical, real-time walkthroughs to exercise their oversight authority, allowing them to retroactively investigate animal welfare and security breaches effectively.
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