Each year, Breeders' Cup officials have ramped up the degree of veterinary and security monitoring for contenders. For the 2022 edition at Keeneland, the event will benefit from a new layer of oversight that will be a permanent part of life at the track.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Keeneland and Breeders' Cup officials discussed a new high-definition camera system that gives veterinarians access to more information about horses than ever before. The track has a new network of 11 articulated cameras which add to the existing network of barn cameras to allow officials to monitor horses in barns, on both tracks, the paddock, and even on horse paths.
“To say it's amazing is probably an understatement,” said Dora Delgado, chief racing officer for Breeders' Cup. “The camera quality and the capture of being able to isolate a particular horse on the racetrack when there could be 200 horses out there is just remarkable. This would be a gold standard that tracks should follow.
“Cameras are literally everywhere.”
The goal of the system is to give the team of examining veterinarians an even greater range of information to work from. Delgado said that for Breeders' Cup's purposes, it's primarily being used to help veterinarians decide whether to put a horse on a watch list for further examination at the barn.
The system is a permanent fixture at Keeneland and Breeders' Cup president and CEO Drew Fleming said while it's certainly not the only factor in determining future host sites, the organization does consider it a major perk.
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Support our journalism while accessing bonus behind-the-scenes content, Q&As, and more. Subscribe to our Patreon stream.It's a complement to the already-extensive layers of veterinary monitoring and testing conducted by Breeders' Cup. The organization requires trot-up examinations of every participating horse before it enters a racing surface to train, in addition to multiple comprehensive veterinary examinations, which for Kentucky-based runners began as early as Oct. 21. Horses' private veterinarians will be required, in accordance with Kentucky regulations, to attest to a horse's soundness prior to participation. Officials also reported they've coordinated the collection of 350 blood and hair samples for out-of-competition from horses in the United States, Canada and four other countries. Additionally, all horses underwent an out-of-competition drug test on Nov. 1.
Eighty-five percent of those test results had come in as of the morning of Nov. 2.
Under the regulations of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, participants were required to submit 30 days of treatment records to Kentucky Horse Racing Commission equine medical director Dr. Bruce Howard. Those treatment records should include prescriptions, even topicals.
All horses have 24-hour surveillance on them in the barn beginning at their check-in on Nov. 1, with records being kept of any interaction the horse has with a person.
The post ‘Cameras Are Literally Everywhere’: Breeders’ Cup Runners Under Watchful Eyes Of New System At Keeneland appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
