May, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Campbell: Future Talk — Digital Horse Racing With ZED Run?

This commentary originally appeared on HorseRacing.net on April 6 and is reprinted here with permission.

Could I possibly be the first professional turfwriter to pen a piece that postulates “virtual” digital horse racing will someday eclipse “live” Thoroughbred racing in the real world? And for that matter, in the future could I see myself applying for a position as a digital public handicapper, selecting horses that have names like MileyCyrus2040 and TheHammerSickle17?

Instead of bloodstock editors, in this world I am questioning, we would need code writers who could study how algorithms are constructed when reading a digital horse's pedigree. No more racetracks, a smiling face at the betting window, or physical camaraderie shortly before the call to the post? Everything continues to move online, and those days of the ubiquitous torn-up tickets scattered on empty communal tables go the way of the dodo.

Where is all this Darkseid-esque dreaming emanating from, you ask? Well, I did recently spend a portion of life watching Justice League, The Snyder Cut. . . but, that's not it.

Last Friday, the impetus actually came from an event that was scheduled specifically for the afternoon. No, it was decidedly not Opening Day at my favorite racetrack in all the world, Keeneland. In fact, it wasn't even held in a tangible place in the “real world.” In actuality it was online, in the virtual world, on a website called ZED Run. ZED Run is platform. It is what we call an e-sport. Specifically, it is a virtual horse racing site where you can buy, race, and even breed digital racehorses.

Created a couple years ago by an Australian-based company, it is part of a movement that is sweeping across the internet that directly deals with the creation of assets called NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. In case you do not know, an NFT is something unique that has a specific value in the marketplace that cannot be replicated. They can range from a digital piece of artwork to currency, like bitcoin or ethereum, which can fit on a flash drive or slide virtually into an online wallet. Next-gen stuff indeed. The history of the blockchain, that serves as a ledger constructed of bytes, is relatively youthful. Make no mistake about it, the phenomenon is blazing new trails that defy boundaries, economics, and anything else you could classify as traditional. And that includes an age-old sport like horse racing.

Starting in the mid-afternoon last Friday, some 2,000 digital horses went into the imaginary sales ring on ZED's website. As they have before, all went like hotcakes. See, there are only 38,000 of these computer-generated “Genesis” animals that exist in the world. There will not be any more after that, except if owners choose to breed a male and a female (and yes, there are colts/fillies/mares/stallions in the platform). It is part of this e-sport, and the creators are banking on NFT self-supporting sustainability.

Once you create an account, which is free, you are able to “fund” it using ethereum (if, your state supports the two mechanisms for deposit), the second most powerful cryptocurrency on the planet. Currently, 1 ETH equates to roughly $3,000.00 plus, and this allows you to enter the auction and pursue the horses that are available for sale.

Watching this event, which occurred in four distinct waves, was like observing a crowd on Black Friday or a scene from The Matrix — frenzied and surging powerfully. In real time, the digital auction block, which included some 2,000 online members spread across the globe, lapped up these NFTs as if their lives depended on it. Days before the auction, after some background research, I was amazed at how seriously members of the ZED Community of owners take this business, and it is just that — a community. There are You Tube videos, several DIY blogs, and a slew of tips on how to maximize the “maintenance” of your digital horse.

Currently, most of the site and the sport is geared towards racing. It is mesmerizing. Go to the main page, and you will see what I am talking about. Designed around a “straight racecourse,” events give the viewer the chance to watch a series of 24/7 races of varying distances, “grades,” and purses. If you own a horse you can pay a fee to “enter” you horse in one of these races and win money. Large fields of runners assemble, and the design reminds one of something futuristic out of the movie The Tron. That is probably because Atari, who is still around, assisted with the overall design.

Speaking of classes, the platform has four major bloodlines that run through the original horses that make up the game. Like Darley, Godolphin, and Byerly Turk, the original three Thoroughbreds, likewise ZED Run has original bloodlines too. Named for famous “crypto” legends, their numbers run from rare to more common, and include: Nakamodo, Szabo, Finney, and Buterin. Breeding fees exist, and with dams able to produce two foals per month, sires have the ability to yield seven in the same time. Thus, a Nakamoto is more difficult to obtain since there are not many of them out of the 38,000, and conversely, a Buterin is pretty much standard.

If you do not want to wait for the next “drop” on the website, then you can go over to a place called OpenSea and look at their stock. This is a popular NFT “eBay” type of place, that has received attention from investors like Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who has sung its praises. This is where you can buy almost anything — including ZED digital racehorses. Just like the Saratoga and Keeneland Sales, anything goes with these auctions, and you will see some exorbitant prices.

I am both flabbergasted and slightly unnerved by ZED Run, and the power which it commands. There is also something very exhilarating about watching complexity unfold. Years ago, at places like Dave and Busters and in other old school arcades, you probably saw or even played “horse racing video games.” If you owned a PlayStation or Xbox, you might have enjoyed building a stable, and racing horses within the confines of your own home. But these experiences pale in comparison to what ZED Run is attempting to harness. This feels like something decidedly different. The fact that “money,” whether it is the all-mighty dollar is involved, begs the question of where this all ends up. How does Thoroughbred racing in the real world compete with digital horse racing in the virtual?

We might think this e-sport business is on the fringe, that it could not touch something as expansive and centrally located as international horse racing. But there is a part of that reasoning that is specious, and rather short-sighted. After all, as we speak, gaming companies and their divisions are capitalizing and are in the process of collecting new subscribers. Those lists, like streaming services, have blossomed over this past year. Their ascendancy is not to be taken for granted. If you don't believe me, look no further than ZED Run. In just minutes, their digital products flew off the shelves because not only are you courting gaming, but the skill of ownership can lead to earning money. Even Thoroughbred racetracks continue to set records when it comes to their handles. They are still plagued with issues that are being massively underestimated by the “industry.” Namely, how do you seize the attention of the next generation of horse owners, players, and workers? Blockchains and NFTs, and their derivatives, appear to have a future, and how the sport responds to their rise will be a central question of the greatest importance.

I am agog by watching the mechanisms built into ZED Run. We saw some “national” digital horse racing events last year under COVID-19, like the “all-time” Kentucky Derby in the U.S., and the Grand National in the U.K. Yet, the look and feel of the ZED website evokes a powerful warning to those who make a living in this business. I shudder to think what this will become in the future. Are we ready to combat its growth, as animal rights, centralization, drug usage, takeouts, and attendance continue to be pressing issues? I am issuing a ZED Run warning — Own? Race? Earn? Sounds pretty inviting to Millennials, who might not be interested in learning to read the latest PPs because their complexity and payoffs are an utter mystery. Don't say I didn't warn you, Thoroughbred world.

Still, there is an utter sadness in this commentary; I hope I am woefully wrong. The sights and sounds of the racetrack can never be truly replaced by a digital horse racing game. Living virtually does not sound like much of a future to me.

J.N. Campbell is a turfwriter based in Houston.

The post Campbell: Future Talk — Digital Horse Racing With ZED Run? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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John Hall, Longtime Taylor Made Yearling Manager, Dies After Cancer Battle

John A. Hall, the longtime yearling manager at Taylor Made Farm and a member of one of New England's most prominent Thoroughbred racing families, died May 22 after fighting cancer for several years.

Frank Taylor, the vice president of boarding operations at Taylor Made, who worked closely with Hall, confirmed the death to TDN Monday. He said Hall died at his Delaware home in the presence of his wife and family members after receiving hospice care.

Hall's age was unavailable and funeral information was not yet complete.

“John was just the best–a great human being. He was so 'other-person' centered,” Taylor said. “He was a tremendous mentor who was always guiding and helping other people, and he became like a second dad to a lot of people. He was a super-good horseman, full of wisdom, and a very spiritual and faithful guy. He passed that along to a lot of people. He was just a godsend to Taylor Made.”

Hall was raised in Massachusetts, where his father, Norman, was a professional show horse rider, a huntsman for the Norfolk Hunt Club, and later a judge at the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden. Norman switched the focus of his family's horse business to Thoroughbreds in the 1940s, becoming a noted regional breeder just as racing was expanding throughout New England. For decades after his death in 1989, the Norman Hall S. for Massachusetts-breds was run annually in his honor at Suffolk Downs.

John and his three siblings grew up surrounded by horses and immersed in the racing business. His late sister Carol was the first female to receive a license as an exercise rider on New England tracks in the early 1950s. His brother Pete was a veterinarian based at Monmouth Park for over 25 years before joining the Keeneland selections team. Another brother, Bill, became a geophysicist.

John Hall was a fixture himself in Massachusetts horse racing. But 25 years ago he took a chance at venturing to Kentucky when presented with a job offer from Taylor Made, with whom he had a long-standing relationship as a client.

Taylor said Hall initially accepted the position for a year to see if he'd like it. He ended up staying, getting promoted to various positions, and becoming a part of the Taylor Made family for the rest of his life.

As yearling manager, Hall helped raise numerous prominent horses at Taylor Made, including 2015 Triple Crown champ American Pharoah.

In 2016, Hall was named as a finalist in the Farm Leadership Award category of the United States Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards. He was a finalist again in 2018, in the Breeding Leadership Award category.

“In 1996, I had a chance to go to Kentucky and work for Taylor Made, and it was a dream come true for me,” Hall said in a video profile for the first of those award nominations. “To deal with those kinds of horses, it was a great opportunity. What I enjoyed the most about being in Kentucky was the horse comes first. No matter what else is going on, that's the most important thing in your life.”

Taylor said Hall had semi-retired several years ago, moving from Kentucky to Delaware, but remaining active for Taylor Made in bloodstock investments, picking out weanlings to sell as yearlings.

Taylor noted that the bloodstock investments team that Hall was a part of ended up having four horses it selected run in the last five GI Kentucky Derbies.

The post John Hall, Longtime Taylor Made Yearling Manager, Dies After Cancer Battle appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Ask Your Veterinarian Presented By Kentucky Performance Products: Seeing The Light With LASER Therapy

Veterinarians at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital answer your questions about sales and healthcare of Thoroughbred auction yearlings, weanlings, 2-year-olds and breeding stock.

Question: What is LASER therapy?

Dr. Daniel Devis, Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital: The word LASER is actually an acronym of the expression “light amplification by stimulated emissions of radiation.” In other words, a LASER is a machine capable of producing a high and focused energy beam from a light or energy source. When talking about LASER therapy, we talk about the use of light energy that will focus in a specific area of the body to promote healing, repairs soft tissue injuries, and can even have some level of analgesia and anti-inflammatory response.

You should know that laser therapy is controversial and its results can be inconsistent, and of course it does not work instantly. On the contrary, the results from LASER therapy can take time to be noticed. You should always consult your veterinarian before deciding to use this type of treatment in your horse.

Dr. Daniel Devis

There are four different types of LASER levels, also known as “classes.” Each class represents a different amount of energy strength, and each class will tell you how harmful they can be to the naked eye.

LASER Class I can be found within your typical household and office equipment, such as laser printers, CD players, DVD players, etc. They produce a low level of energy that can cause very little damage to the eye.

LASER Class II are also widely used in daily life, and you can find them inside the bar code scanners at the grocery store and are commonly used during presentations as “laser pointers.” This type of laser represents a low risk of damage but it can be harmful if pointed to the eye for prolonged periods of time.

LASER Class III and IV are the ones used within human medicine and veterinary medicine, and the only difference between the two is the amount of power they produce. While Class III will go up to 500 milliwatts, Class IV lasers will go from 500 to thousands of milliwatts. Direct exposure to the eye with one of these lasers can be very dangerous and cause severe damage to the retina.

In veterinary medicine we encourage our clients to use regenerative laser therapies, like a Class IV type LASER, to help with non-healing or chronic wounds, as well as soft tissue injuries like ruptured tendons and ligament tears. LASER therapy can also be used post-surgery to speed up the healing process from the incision. It can also be used to repair fiber pattern and break scar tissue from old chronic injuries. LASER therapy can even be used in horses with joint damage (arthritis) by stimulating collagen regeneration.

What does LASER therapy do?

LASER therapy helps three important mechanisms that aid with tissue healing:

Increases blood circulation by interacting with water within the body, creating pressure gradients that will stimulate the capillary blood flow to increase and enhance the perfusion of red blood cells into the tissue treated.
Promotes oxygenation by increasing the blood circulation. It also increases the amount of red blood cells within the area, which will then interact directly with the hemoglobin to increase the amount of localized oxygenation brought to the tissue.
Produces metabolic stimulation by interacting with the cellular mitochondria to enhance and promote the efficiency at which cells create and utilize adenosine triphosphate ATP, also known as “chemical energy.”

If you remember your high school biology classes, you will notice that there is no difference between LASER therapy and the natural healing process of the cells — so why use it? The answer is time. Regenerative laser treatments will basically mimic the healing response of the body, but will accomplish it faster and more efficiently, thus reducing the amount and time of rehabilitation a horse will need to return to normal exercise.

Who can perform LASER therapy?

The LASER beam produced by the device is not only harmful to the eye, but because the main source is light and thus heat, it can also burn the skin of the animal. This is why it is important to be properly trained while doing therapy with a LASER machine. It is, after all, a source of radiation that can cause a lot of damage to the user as well as to the patient receiving it.

Regenerative LASER therapy can be performed by a veterinarian or by a trained veterinary technician. The LASER technology has advanced significantly, and now we have mobile LASER units. This means that your animal can be treated not only at the hospital, but also at your farm. Contact your personal veterinarian for more information.

Dr. Daniel Devis was born and raised in Bogota, Colombia. He acquired an interest in horses at a young age at his parents' farm, where his dad taught him everything about the traditional Colombian cowboy style riding, herding cattle and roping. He attended San Martin University in Bogotá, and received his veterinary medicine and animal husbandry degree in 2012. Daniel completed a year and a half rotating internship in surgery and anesthesia, followed by a two-year fellowship in equine lameness and diagnostic imaging, both at Lexington Equine Surgery & Sports Medicine. Devis obtained his American veterinary license in 2017. His areas of interest are show horses, pre-purchase exams, and basic ambulatory work.

The post Ask Your Veterinarian Presented By Kentucky Performance Products: Seeing The Light With LASER Therapy appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Bacterial Infection Linked To Abortions In Japanese Mares

Mycobacterial infections, which are generally uncommon in horses, have been linked to ten abortions in Japanese mares. The mares were housed on seven Thoroughbred farms in the Hidaka district of Hokkaido. There were no reports of direct contact between the horses.

Dr. Yuta Kinoshita studied the abortions, which took place from 2018 to 2019. Most of the placentas had a yellowish-white exudate on them and included considerable lesions. Lesions aren't common with pathogenic bacteria like Streptococcus zooepidemicus and Escherichia coli.

Researchers located Mycobacterial granulomas on the placenta and the fetal organs. Bacterial samples were taken from both of these areas, with the greatest number of bacteria found in the necrotic placental lesions. The bacteria were genetically tested and identified as Mycobacterium avium subsp. hominissuis. The strains were all identical, suggesting that the horses had been infected by the same unknown contagious source.

Read the case report here.