Month: November 2022

Doctor Dino Yearling Sets the Mark at Arqana NH Session

Once again Doctor Dino (Fr) headlined the National Hunt scene, with a trio of yearlings by the sire topping Wednesday's third session of the Arqana Autumn Sale. Consigned by Haras des Pierre Follets, Lot 655 led the day with a record price of €200,000 from Saubouas Bloodstock's Paul Basquin, who was bidding on behalf of Genetique Obstacle. Bred by Ecurie Cerdeval, the April foal is out of Caprika Bella (Fr) (Poliglote {Fr}). He hails from the family of Kapgarde (Fr) and Barney Dwan (Ire).

“We buy horses with the aim of either re-selling them or to make stallions,” explained Basquin. “He will most likely be gelded. He's a beautiful son of Doctor Dino. He's perfect physically with a walk that is out of the ordinary. His dam is by Poliglote and has already produced winners. He has everything that you want to see at a sale.”

Earlier in the session, Basquin also signed the docket for Lot 606, a son of Saint Des Saints (Fr) from Haras du Lieu des Champs.

Also attaining six figures yesterday was Lot 663, who realized a €150,000 final bid from Spincourt Bloodstock. Out of Cue to Cue (GB) (King's Theatre {Ire}), the March foal is a half to recent winner St Donats (Fr) (Saint des Saints). She was offered by Haras de Maulepaire.

At the conclusion of Wednesday, a total of 144 yearlings sold for an aggregate of €3,736,500, up from €3,705,500 one year ago. Average for the session was €25,948, down 6% from 2021, and a median of €15,000, down from €20,000 last year.

The sale continues Thursday with the National Hunt breeding stock session, which begins at 11a.m. (local time).

The post Doctor Dino Yearling Sets the Mark at Arqana NH Session appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Letter to the Editor: Doug Daniels, DVM, National HBPA President

After reading both the Bennet and Parkin article published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association entitled “Fifteen risk factors associated with sudden death in Thoroughbred racehorses in North America (2009-2021)” followed by the TDN analysis of that article, I have become increasingly aggravated over the last three weeks from the implied message portrayed by each.

The dramatic click-bait headline “Horses on Lasix at Increased Risk of Sudden Death” is unwarranted by the facts. When compared to the end of the article, one becomes more frustrated with the headline since the statement “further work is required to determine which, if any, clinical signs are potential indicators and, indeed, whether such a rare outcome could be reliably predicted” provides more realistic information than the sensationalistic title.

The authors of the JAVMA paper claim no conflict of interest, but it is funded by the Grayson Jockey Club Foundation, and “help in interpreting the Equine Injury Database” was provided by two long time employees of The Jockey Club. The Jockey Club has a long history of both funding Lasix research and also pressuring the recipients of this funding to interpret findings in a manner consistent with their long-held goal of the elimination of race-day administration of Lasix in American racing.

My first concern: “Sudden death” as defined in this paper deviates from accepted definitions. Exercise associated sudden death (EASD) is typically defined as acute death in an apparently healthy animal within one hour of exercise. Bennet and Parkin define sudden death as any horse that perished from non-musculoskeletal causes within 72 hours of racing, using five “codes” unique to the Jockey Club's Equine Injury Database (EID). Left undefined are the facts behind how a horse becomes classified into one of these categories.

Even the authors of the paper agree that “it would be reasonable to assume that several of the listed codes would not be accurate.” By the authors' own admission, using the EID with undefined codes that may have very different meanings in different jurisdictions result in conclusions that are not accurate.

More importantly, only 5.6% of the horses in this study started without Lasix. No effort is made on the part of the authors to determine what, if any, other factors are associated with not using Lasix. For example, they have determined that older horses are at higher risk of EASD, and this age group also consists of almost all horses who race on Lasix. The younger age group is the only age group where any number of horses can be found that race without Lasix.

The bigger question–completely ignored by the authors and their study funded by The Jockey Club–is why do horses in North America suffer EASD at a substantially lower rate than their counterparts in other parts of the world? In this paper, EASD (with all the caveats previously mentioned about its definition) occurs at a rate of 0.13/1,000 starts, which is close to 10% of the total deaths of racehorses. In Australia, this rate is more like 25% of the total, with a whopping 37% of these EASD a result of Exercise Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage (EIPH). In a similar study in the United Kingdom, published by the same researchers in 2011, the rate of EASD was 0.3/1,000 starts.

Bennet and Parkin–of all people, being well familiar with the principles of epidemiology–should know full well that correlation does not equal causation. Yet, they offer in the conclusions of their paper that, “The association between furosemide and sudden death prompts further study to understand which biological processes could contribute to this result.”

What we do know however, is the presentation of information can greatly impact the public's reaction, as we have seen in these recent headlines. As presented in the TDN article and others on this topic, the odds ratio was presented as furosemide increases the risk of sudden death in horses by 62%. Yet as noted by James C Meyer DVM MSc in his recent paper, if stated as an increase in the absolute risk, it would be 0.005%. That figure as you can see does not have the sensationalized purposeful negative effect as saying 62%.

I implore the readers of this letter along with the authors of the JAVMA article to consider that the biological process is simply the passage of time. The most obvious association between Lasix and EASD is that the majority of horses not racing on Lasix during the time of their study were 2-year-olds.

We know there is a mountain of evidence demonstrating that Lasix mitigates EIPH. When combined with further evidence that EIPH remains the most common cause of EASD in other countries, it is beyond irresponsible to use this Jockey Club-funded study as the basis for any policy intended to safeguard the health and welfare of our racehorses.

Dr. Doug Daniels is president of the National HBPA and an equine practitioner who owns Virginia Equine. He owns and breeds Thoroughbred racehorses.

The post Letter to the Editor: Doug Daniels, DVM, National HBPA President appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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‘A Small Pharmacy’s Worth of Drugs’: Harness Trainer Allard Gets 27 Months

The former Standardbred trainer Rene Allard, 35, who was third in North America in both wins and purse earnings in the year before he was arrested and indicted in the March 2020 international doping conspiracy investigation, on Tuesday got sentenced to 27 months in a federal prison after having previously pleaded guilty to one felony count of misbranding and altering drugs.

Allard's sentence was handed down Nov. 15, shortly after the same judge in United States District Court (Southern District of New York) sent the racetrack veterinarian Louis Grasso to prison for 50 months for his role in the doping ring.

Prosecutors had been prepared to go to trial with evidence proving that Allard and Grasso conspired in tandem to drug harness horses.

“Allard, for years, trained and raced horses through use of a covert 'doping' scheme intended to corruptly gain a competitive advantage in races through the administration of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs),” the feds wrote in a sentencing submission. “Allard obtained from co-defendant Louis Grasso and others unapproved, untested, novel PEDs that he caused to be administered to his horses, despite the inherent risks of administering unnecessary medications to the animals under his control. Allard was motivated by greed, fraudulently earning tens of millions of dollars in purse winnings through his craven efforts to manipulate races.

“As a reflection of Allard's commitment to his doping regimen, Allard maintained in his barn a small pharmacy's worth of drugs, including the ingredients he used to mix his own 'drenches,' and a 'shockwave' machine, which only licensed veterinarians may own. Many of Allard's drugs were stored in a room that had been misleadingly marked as if it belonged to Grasso, in a calculated effort by Allard to divert scrutiny if Allard's barn was ever inspected, by making it appear that the drugs and veterinary equipment belonged to, and were used by, a licensed veterinarian, rather than by Allard,” the sentencing submission stated.

As part of his plea agreement back on June 2, Allard had agreed to pay a $628,553 money judgment, which represents the value of the forfeited drugs. Grasso, by contrast, was ordered to pay a forfeiture totaling $412,442.62 and restitution in the amount of $47,656,576.

Allard faced up to five years in prison. The government had argued for a sentence of 30 months, based on the term that another Standardbred trainer in the same conspiracy, Richard Banca, received back on Sept. 20. Allard's own attorney had lobbied for an 18-month term.

“For most of his adult life, Mr. Allard has made a living training horses to compete in harness races. Part of his job was to treat horses with vitamins, drugs, or other substances to ensure that they recovered from injuries and remained in good health,” Allard's lawyer wrote in the defendant's sentencing submission.

The defense filing continued: “During the period of time charged in the Superseding Information, in order to maintain a competitive edge, [Allard] did something that was wrong and that he never should have done: he obtained prescription drugs for horses in bulk, rather than on an individually prescribed basis, with the understanding that the way he was obtaining the drugs would mislead regulators.

“Although Mr. Allard always purchased drugs from licensed veterinarians, he knew that what he was doing was wrong, and he was motivated in part by a desire to improve the performance of the horses he was training and thus to win more races. By engaging in this conduct, he compromised the…potential well-being of the animals that he loves and around whom he has lived his entire life. He is deeply sorry for what he has done [and] bears total responsibility,” his lawyer wrote.

During its investigation of Allard prior to the nationwide sweep 2 1/2 years ago, the Federal Bureau of Investigation intercepted a phone conversation in which two other alleged conspirators in the harness industry discussed the deaths of horses trained by Allard after they had been given illegal drugs. One reference caught on wiretap callously described the trainer's operation as the “Allard death camp.”

Allard, a citizen of Canada, may face immigration issues that affect his sentence. His lawyer wrote that Allard could be precluded from serving his sentence at a minimum-security prison, and that he will likely be ineligible for “earned-time credits” that would reduce the practical length of time he must serve.

The post ‘A Small Pharmacy’s Worth of Drugs’: Harness Trainer Allard Gets 27 Months appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Commentary: Be Factual, Avoid Clickbait When Tying Sudden Death In Racehorses To Lasix

After reading both the Bennet and Parkin article published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association entitled “Fifteen risk factors associated with sudden death in Thoroughbred racehorses in North America (2009–2021)” followed by the TDN analysis of that article, I have become increasingly aggravated over the last three weeks from the implied message portrayed by each.

The dramatic click-bait headline “Horses on Lasix at Increased Risk of Sudden Death” is unwarranted by the facts. When compared to the end of the article, one becomes more frustrated with the headline since the statement “Further work is required to determine which, if any, clinical signs are potential indicators and, indeed, whether such a rare outcome could be reliably predicted” provides more realistic information than the sensationalistic title.

The authors of the JAVMA paper claim no conflict of interest, but it is funded by the Grayson Jockey Club Foundation, and “help in interpreting the Equine Injury Database” was provided by two long time employees of The Jockey Club. The Jockey Club has a long history of both funding Lasix research and also pressuring the recipients of this funding to interpret findings in a manner consistent with their long-held goal of the elimination of race-day administration of Lasix in American racing.

My first concern: “Sudden death” as defined in this paper deviates from accepted definitions. Exercise associated sudden death (EASD) is typically defined as acute death in an apparently healthy animal within 1 hour of exercise. Bennet and Parkin define sudden death as any horse that perished from non-musculoskeletal causes within 72 hours of racing, using five “codes” unique to the Jockey Club's Equine Injury Database (EID). Left undefined are the facts behind how a horse becomes classified into one of these categories.

Even the authors of the paper agree that “it would be reasonable to assume that several of the listed codes would not be accurate.” By the authors' own admission, using the EID with undefined codes that may have very different meanings in different jurisdictions result in conclusions that are not accurate.

More importantly, only 5.6% of the horses in this study started without Lasix. No effort is made on the part of the authors to determine what, if any, other factors are associated with not using Lasix. For example, they have determined that older horses are at higher risk of EASD, and this age group also consists of almost all horses who race on Lasix. The younger age group is the only age group where any number of horses can be found that race without Lasix.

The bigger question — completely ignored by the authors and their study funded by the Jockey Club — is why do horses in North America suffer EASD at a substantially lower rate than their counterparts in other parts of the world? In this paper, EASD (with all the caveats previously mentioned about its definition) occurs at a rate of 0.13/1,000 starts, which is close to 10% of the total deaths of racehorses. In Australia, this rate is more like 25% of the total, with a whopping 37% of these EASD a result of Exercise Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage (EIPH). In a similar study in the United Kingdom, published by the same researchers in 2011, the rate of EASD was 0.3/1,000 starts.

Bennet and Parkin — of all people, being well familiar with the principles of epidemiology — should know full well that correlation does not equal causation. Yet, they offer in the conclusions of their paper that “The association between furosemide and sudden death prompts further study to understand which biological processes could contribute to this result.”

What we do know however, is the presentation of information can greatly impact the public's reaction, as we have seen in these recent headlines. As presented in the TDN article and others on this topic, the odds ratio was presented as furosemide increases the risk of sudden death in horses by 62%. Yet as noted by James C Meyer DVM MSc in his recent paper, if stated as an increase in the absolute risk, it would be 0.005%. That figure as you can see does not have the sensationalized purposeful negative effect as saying 62%.

I implore the readers of this op-ed along with the authors of the JAVMA article to consider that the biological process is simply the passage of time. The most obvious association between Lasix and EASD is that the majority of horses not racing on Lasix during the time of their study were two-year-olds.

We know there is a mountain of evidence demonstrating that Lasix mitigates EIPH. When combined with further evidence that EIPH remains the most common cause of EASD in other countries, it is beyond irresponsible to use this Jockey Club-funded study as the basis for any policy intended to safeguard the health and welfare of our racehorses.

Dr. Doug Daniels is president of the National HBPA and an equine practitioner who owns Virginia Equine. He owns and breeds Thoroughbred racehorses.

The post Commentary: Be Factual, Avoid Clickbait When Tying Sudden Death In Racehorses To Lasix appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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