The 3-year-old filly Decorated My Life sustained a fatal injury during Saturday's running of the $100,000 Sweet Life Stakes on the downhill turf course at Santa Anita Park. Jockey Joe Bravo was unseated and wound up taking off his Sunday mounts; the filly was vanned off and euthanized.
After the race, a video clip of the horse during the pre-race warm up was widely circulated on social media.
California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) equine medical director, Jeff Blea, told the Thoroughbred Daily News that the video appeared to have been taken while the filly was negotiating a portion of the uphill course that regulatory vets are only able to see on video screens.
“What I saw is visual right front inconsistency or lameness,” Blea told the TDN. “It's a short window. It's there. You can't argue that. You can't deny that. Those are the facts.”
However, Blea also stated that the filly did not show any lameness during the multiple pre-race exams undergone by all horses racing at Santa Anita, nor did she show any lameness when arriving at the starting gate.
According to the TDN, Blea referenced a study which shows how slight slopes can affect lameness exams in horses.
The most recently published study on slopes and equine lameness is found in The Journal of Veterinary Medical Science, titled “An objective study into the effects of an incline on naturally occurring lameness in horses.”
“Horses with forelimb lameness showed no significant difference in asymmetry” when comparing lameness on a flat surface versus on an incline/decline of 2.4 percent, the study abstract explains. “However, there were considerable changes in poll asymmetry (>20 mm) among conditions in individual horses. Two horses with hindlimb lameness and two horses with forelimb lameness switched asymmetry between left and right by changing incline.”
After the incident with Decorated My Life, Blea said he and the track veterinarian are planning to implement a couple modifications to the pre-race warmup routine of the regulatory vets.
“I spoke with the track vet and we're thinking of making a couple modifications, especially for horses that are warming up on the turf course—and the downhill turf course in particular—so maybe we can get an eye on these horses as they're going up the hill, not just on a flat surface,” Blea told TDN.
Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.
The post California Vets Considering ‘Modifications’ To Pre-Race Procedures After Downhill Turf Fatality appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
