September, 2022 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Equine Amniotic Membranes May Have Use In Human Surgery

Amniotic membranes in both horses and cattle may provide the strong scaffolding materials needed during human surgery, reports HorseTalk. The amnion is a membrane that contains trophoblasts, mesenchymal cells, and collagen; it makes up the innermost part of the placenta and is commonly called the birth sac or fetal membrane.

This strong, flexible membrane surrounds and supports the fetus during development. It also delivers nutrients and removes excretion.

Dr. Hannah Wells, of Massey University in New Zealand, assessed the strength and structure of the amnion by collecting the equine amniotic membrane once the mare had given birth. The tissue contained crimped collagen fibers that provided elasticity.

Study results showed that equine amnions were strong, thin, and elastic, with a higher tensile strength than human amniotic membrane.

The research team concludes that equine amniotic membranes may be able to be used in human surgery as an alternative to amniotic membranes from human donors.

Read the study here.

Pletcher-Trained Saranac Winner Annapolis Aimed For Keeneland’s Turf Mile; JCGC Quartet Pointed To Breeders’ Cup

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said Bass Racing's homebred Annapolis is eyeing the $1 million Coolmore Turf Mile (G1) against older runners October 8 at Keeneland after posting an easy victory in Saratoga's Saranac (G3) at 1 1/16 miles on turf for sophomores Saturday.

Annapolis, a dual graded stakes winner, registered a 96 Beyer Speed Figure with Saturday's commanding gate-to-wire effort under the meet's leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr.

By War Front and out of graded stakes winner My Miss Sophia, Annapolis added a third stakes victory and second at graded level to his resume, having never finished worse than second in six lifetime starts.

A first-out maiden winner over the Spa's inner turf last September, Annapolis captured the Grade 2 Pilgrim one month later at Belmont Park. He returned to action in the Grade 2 Penn Mile in June where he was second as the favorite over extremely soft turf before winning the Manila on July 4 at Belmont and finishing second in the Grade 1 Caesars Saratoga Derby Invitational on August 6 at the Spa.

Pletcher said he had initially considered training Annapolis up to the Coolmore Turf Mile, a Breeders' Cup “Win And You're In” event for the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile on November 5 at Keeneland.

“He's a colt that carries his condition really well and takes his races in good order. We just felt like our best chance at the Coolmore Mile was with another race under his belt,” said Pletcher, who won the 2005 Turf Mile with Eugene Melnyk's Host. “It seemed to work out nicely. He got a pretty easy race yesterday and I didn't think it would be taxing race on him so hopefully it moves him forward to his best effort in the Coolmore Mile.”

Although Annapolis' Saranac victory was a front-running score, Pletcher said he runs better with a target.

“He's talented enough that in a race like yesterday where there was no pace, he could go ahead and take charge. I think ideally, he wants to be covered up a little bit,” Pletcher said.

While Grade 1 Whitney winner Life Is Good appears to be Pletcher's heaviest hitter for the Grade 1, $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic, he still has under consideration his four contenders from Saturday's Grade 1, Jockey Club Gold Cup, including runner-up Americanrevolution, who finished two lengths behind Olympiad in his 10-furlong debut.

“I thought he ran well. It was a tricky race where there was no pace, and it makes it difficult for horses trying to close ground against very soft fractions,” Pletcher said. “That's where you saw a difference in the Jockey Club and the Whitney. Life Is Good turned up the backside and throws down a :23 opening quarter and changes things a lot. For our horses yesterday, the pace scenario didn't play to their strengths, but I thought Americanrevolution kept fighting hard to the wire.”

Americanrevolution, the 2021 New York-bred horse of the year, captured the Grade 1 Cigar Mile on December 4 at Aqueduct Racetrack and entered the Jockey Club Gold Cup off a runner-up effort to Olympiad in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster on July 2 at Churchill Downs.

Pletcher also saddled Untreated [fourth], Keepmeinmind [fifth] and Dynamic One [sixth] in Saturday's race. The latter, who won the Grade 2 Suburban on July 9 going 10 furlongs at Belmont, was compromised by a slow pace and was left with too much to do from last-of-8 into the first turn.

“He was last turning up the backside and when they're going that slow it's hard to make much of an impact from there,” Pletcher said. “Keepmeinmind was kind of in the same boat as Dynamic One, just had too much to do from where he was at the three-quarter pole.”

Untreated, owned by Team Valor, finished three-quarters of a length behind third-place finisher First Captain. The son of Nyquist entered off a string of third-place finishes in the Suburban and the Grade 3 Pimlico Special on May 20, which was won by First Captain.

“He ran hard and it was unfortunate that he missed third but it was a good effort and I was happy with it,” Pletcher said.

Pletcher mentioned both the Grade 1, $500,000 Woodward on October 1 at the Belmont at the Big A fall meet and the Grade 2, $500,000 Lukas Classic on the same day at Churchill Downs as possible targets for all four horses. He also mentioned the possibility of training up to the Classic as well.

Pletcher said he was “making headway” with Grade 3 Dwyer winner Charge It, who missed last Saturday's Grade 1 Runhappy Travers due to a foot abscess.

Pletcher added that Repole Stable's second out maiden winner Chocolate Gelato, who worked a half-mile in :49.22 on Sunday morning, is targeting the Grade 1, $400,000 Frizette on October 2 at the Belmont at the Big A fall meet. The one-turn mile race is a Breeders' Cup “Win And You're In” qualifier for the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies on November 4 at Keeneland and has been won by Pletcher with Adieu [2005], Devil May Care [2009] and Dreaming of Julia [2012].

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Was Flightline’s Pacific Classic the Best Performance Since Secretariat’s Belmont?

The Week in Review, by Bill Finley

Some more thoughts on Flightline (Tapit) while trying to come up with the right superlative to describe his win in the GI TVG Pacific Classic. Words like spectacular, stunning, sensational just don't seem good enough.

(*) It's tempting to try to compare him to Secretariat. The thing is, that's simply impossible. One has run just five times, the other ran 21 times, won the Triple Crown, was a two-time Horse of the Year and had his picture on the covers of Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated. They're not going to make a movie about Flightline. They are different horses from different eras, equine apples and oranges. Is Flightline as good as Secretariat, or the best horse since Secretariat? There's no answer to that question.

But there is a way to look at the two under the same microscope by comparing what were the two best performances of their respective careers. Secretariat's 31-length win in the 1973 GI Belmont S. was not just the greatest performance of his career, it was the best race ever run by any horse at any time in the history of horse racing. No one will ever top what he did that afternoon 49 years ago at Belmont Park.

But you can easily make the argument that Flightline's Pacific Classic was the best performance anyone in the U.S. has seen since. This was no easy assignment. Country Grammer (Tonalist), Royal Ship (Brz) (Midshipman), Express Train (Union Rags) are solid older horses, all Grade I-level horses. And Flightline thrashed them, winning by 19 1/4 lengths despite being eased up in the final sixteenth by jockey Flavien Prat. He ran a 126 Beyer, second best ever given out by the Beyer team and two points behind the 128 given to Ghostzapper (Awesome Again) when he won the GIII Philip H. Iselin H. in 2004.

As announcer Trevor Denman said in his call, “Take a good look at this because this is something you're not going to see too often. Maybe never again.”

It's worth noting that the two races unfolded is nearly identical fashion. Secretariat's rivals were still within striking distance midway down the backstretch as Sham stayed close. Then he spurted away from Sham and, from there, kept widening his margin over his competitors. Flightline did much the same thing. With a half-mile to go in the race, Extra Hope (Shanghai Bobby) was just a length behind Flightline while the main rivals were all within five or six lengths. Then Flightline hit another gear, took off and left some good horses looking like they belonged in the seventh at Finger Lakes.

Then there was the look back. Prat looked over his right shoulder in the stretch as if he couldn't believe he was so far in front. Ron Turcotte did the same, only looking over his left shoulder.

“These races were very similar,” said Dave Johnson, who called the 1973 Belmont for NYRA. “His Pacific Classic was breathtaking and that explosion of speed coming into the far turn was very similar to what Secretariat did. Almost 50 years later, I've never been so impressed by a horse or saw something that sent me back to the Secretariat days.”

(*) There's one thing we have yet to see from Flightline, which is what would he do if ever asked. Prat has never allowed this horse to fire on all cylinders in the stretch. There has been no need to do so. Why not save something for another day?
But could Flightline have won the Pacific Classic by even more than 19 1/4 lengths if Prat hadn't wrapped up on him? It stands to reason that he could have, maybe even by five or six more lengths.

Since the GI Breeders' Cup Classic will likely be his last start this year and maybe in his career, why not just let him roll? Wouldn't it be great to see what Flightline could do if his jockey called on everything he had. Maybe he wins by 31 lengths. What do they have to lose?

(*) The only negative to the Flightline story is that he has only run five times. Part of the reason why is that he had some bad luck (like crashing into a fence and suffering a nasty gash while he was being broken as a yearling) and other minor setbacks along the way. But his light schedule is more about the way top horses are campaigned in the modern era and how what really matters is not what they do on the racetrack but how much they are worth as stallions. You can't blame trainer John Sadler, who mapped out the schedule. His job was to create a very valuable stallion and in that regard he did everything right.

We also don't know how much of a challenge it may be to get Flightline prepared for races. He could be one of those too-fast-for-his-own-good horses, ones that need a lot of time off between races.

But, as racing fans, we should all feel cheated that we have seen so little of this horse. The good news is maybe this story isn't over. Yes, he is worth more as a stallion than as a racehorse, but after the Pacific Classic, Sadler told reporters that the connections have an open mind when it comes to racing him next year as a 5-year-old.

Go for it. Sometimes there's more to the story than the bottom line and owners should feel they have at least some obligation to do what's best for the sport.

(*) Will the Pacific Classic affect the Breeders' Cup plans among some of the other top horses in the older male dirt division? The question is: no matter how good your horse might be, do you really want to take on Flightline in the Classic in what may be an exercise in futility, especially when there is the option of the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile? If I were the connections of Life Is Good (Into Mischief), I'd already have the pre-entry slip filled out for the Dirt Mile.

(*) Remember when there was some concern that Flightline might not get a mile and a quarter? In hindsight, he's obviously better at 10 furlongs than he is in shorter races. No surprise since he is by Tapit.

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Blea to Return As California Equine Medical Director Sept. 21

Jeff Blea, on administrative leave from his post as California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) equine medical director since early January after the California Veterinary Medical Board (VMB) successfully petitioned to have his license temporarily suspended, is set to officially return to the position Sept. 21 having reached a settlement with the VMB, according to Michael Casey, Blea's attorney.

As a condition of the settlement, Blea is required to undergo continuing education classes in record keeping, Casey said. Blea will also be on a three-year probationary period.
“If you look at the disciplinary guidelines, probationary periods are required for record keeping or really any violation, so, it shouldn't be a surprise to anybody that there is a probationary period,” said Casey.

Casey was unable to offer any further information when pressed about the circumstances surrounding Blea's suspension.

In pushing for the interim suspension, the veterinary medical board had charged Blea with various alleged violations, including prescribing, dispensing, and administering medications without performing a proper examination and diagnosis.

The TDN conducted an investigation into the accusations against Blea and found a consensus among several prominent equine veterinarians around the country that the case amounted largely to relatively minor record keeping violations, those typically resulting in fines.

The settlement order has not yet been posted on the VMB's website. The TDN reached out to the California Department of Consumer Affairs for comment but didn't receive a response before deadline.

The CHRB also had no comment prior to publication, but it had hitherto thrown its support behind Blea, and had asked the VMB to withdraw its petition for the interim suspension.

The genesis of this story ostensibly traces back to February of 2021, when the veterinary medical board allegedly received an anonymous complaint concerning the “unsafe treatment of equine patients” by multiple Californian racetrack veterinarians.

On Dec. 17, the veterinary board lodged formal accusations against Blea, accusing him of several violations, including allegedly prescribing, dispensing, and administering medications to racehorses without establishing a veterinarian-client-patient relationship, without performing an examination, and without forming a diagnosis.

At an emergency hearing on Christmas Eve, the veterinary board successfully petitioned an interim suspension of Blea's veterinary license.

The medical board's action to temporarily suspend Blea's license was a rare move, typically reserved for veterinarians charged with some of the more egregious veterinary and professional offenses, and those deemed an imminent danger to the animals in their care.

Blea had not actively practiced veterinary medicine since July of 2021, when he assumed the role of equine medical director.

In arguing the suspension, the medical board also referenced the recent sudden death of the Bob Baffert-trained Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit on Dec. 6, and the horse's ongoing postmortem examination, arguing that Blea presented a danger to “public health, safety and welfare” were he to continue in his role as equine medical director.

The TDN conducted an investigation earlier this year into the board's accusations against Blea, asking whether other events that had occurred around that time–including Medina Spirit's sudden death–rendered the veterinary board's actions more political theater than medical necessity.

The investigation found a consensus among eight veterinary medical experts who described the accusations largely as matters that rarely, if ever, rise to the level of a suspended license, and that the board had misrepresented the unique nature of veterinary practice on the backstretch where veterinarians with multiple barns under their care can build the sort of daily relationship with their animals typically absent from traditional small animal practice.

“We might not even fine him for this,” said Eric Peterson, former member of the Kentucky Veterinary Medical Board, at the time.

Since Jan. 12 when UC Davis–which contracts out to the medical director position to the CHRB–officially placed Blea on administrative leave pending a formal review of his license, his professional status has essentially remained in limbo, having had to temporarily step away from his other professional affiliations, including his post on the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act's committee on Anti-Doping and Medication Control.

Come Sept. 21, there will be “no restrictions on his involvement with any veterinary organization and I fully anticipate Jeff will be back serving the equine community in all capacities where his knowledge and skill will continue to focus on equine safety and welfare,” wrote Casey, in a follow-up text.

The settlement does not put an end to the veterinary medical board's scrutiny of veterinary practices across racetrack backstretches in California.

The VMB is involved in ongoing cases against veterinarians Kim Kuhlmann, Steven Boyer and Kenneth Allison in Northern California, and against veterinarians Sarah Graybill Jones and Vince Baker in Southern California.

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