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AQHA Declines To Support National Bill, Raises Questions About Whether Quarter Horses More Vulnerable To EIPH

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020 is proposed national legislation that outlines a uniform anti-doping and medication control program to be developed and enforced by an independent horse racing anti-doping and medication control authority.

While the American Quarter Horse Association is strongly committed to the welfare of the racehorse and supports industry reform to improve horse safety, the Association cannot support the current version of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act until key questions are adequately addressed.

The bill lacks details about the funding sources that would sustain the proposed authority. Protecting animal welfare is paramount but the funding for this central authority will need to be attainable, affordable and sustainable for all jurisdictions.
While the bill in its current form allows jurisdictions an opportunity to include Quarter Horses upon their own choosing, the Association is concerned about our breed if they choose to do so. Of particular concern to AQHA is the proposed elimination of race-day use of the medication furosemide, commonly known as Lasix, which is used to mitigate the occurrence of exercised-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) in racehorses.
AQHA is currently pursuing funding for a study to investigate the vulnerabilities that Quarter Horses in particular have to EIPH. Numerous industry studies provide evidence that the administration of Lasix improves the welfare of racehorses and indicate there is no link between the use of Lasix and musculoskeletal issues that may be a contributing cause in catastrophic breakdowns.

AQHA works closely with the Association of Racing Commissioners International and Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, which work to create uniformity in medication rules, as well as with state jurisdictions. Among the work on which AQHA has assisted is out-of-competition testing efforts and the use of hair as a testing mechanism and beta-2 antagonist bans. In the five years since many of these rules have gone into effect in the majority of Quarter Horse racing jurisdictions, reported injuries in American Quarter Horses have declined 16 percent.

AQHA is dedicated to industry reform and works closely with international, national and state racing organizations and commissions to evaluate protocols that allow for uniform medication rules and strengthened deterrents to performance-enhancing drugs, and looks forward to continuing this collaborative effort.

AQHA is a strong supporter of reform and uniformity in racing, but for these reasons has concerns regarding the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020 in its current form.

The post AQHA Declines To Support National Bill, Raises Questions About Whether Quarter Horses More Vulnerable To EIPH appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Kevin Attard Joins TDN Writers’ Room

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more successful claim in the past decade than Blue Heaven Farm’s Starship Jubilee (Indy Wind). Plucked for $16,000 from Jorge Navarro of all people in February of 2017 at Gulfstream, the now 7-year-old mare has taken trainer Kevin Attard on the ride of a lifetime, and scored her greatest triumph yet with a victory in Saturday’s GI Woodbine Mile S., becoming a multimillionaire in the process. Wednesday, Attard joined the TDN Writers’ Room podcast presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to tell he and Starship Jubilee’s rags-to-riches story.

“We were just looking for horses to bring back to Woodbine at the time,” Attard recalled of he and dad Tino Attard’s thought process back in 2017. “At Gulfstream, it’s really tough to claim, you’re always kind of shaking for horses that look legit on paper and have good form to them. So we had gotten out-shook a lot of times with a couple of claims we had put in. She had come across on form like she had some potential, had run some decent enough races, seemed like she was appreciating stretching out a bit. So we took a chance and we were lucky enough to win the shake that day. And the rest is history.”

Now with 19 wins in 38 starts and hardly any duds in her past performances, it’s clear that Starship Jubilee has something special about her. Attard tried to pinpoint what it is that makes the mare so consistent.

“She’s just a very competitive horse,” he said. “Even in the morning, she’s not an easy filly to train in the sense that when she wants to go, you have to have a good exercise rider on her. And Ricardo Pilgrim, who’s been galloping her, has done a great job with her here at Woodbine. So we’ve been fortunate with that. She’s very feisty, has a lot of sass and attitude about her, and is not a typical mare that you can just hug or cuddle up to. She’s got some fire and if you’re not on your toes, she’ll bite you. She could kick you. She’s really a handful when she wants to be, and I think that translates onto the racetrack. She just brings that attitude with her to the track. Whether it’s competing against the fillies and mares or the boys, she’s just ready to lay it down and give her best.”

Elsewhere on the show, the writers reacted to the development of the first guilty pleas stemming from March’s FBI indictments and debated the wisdom of restrictive new whip rules. Then, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, they discussed Tiz the Law (Constitution) skipping the GI Preakness S. to train up to the GI Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

The post Kevin Attard Joins TDN Writers’ Room appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Santa Anita, CARMA & PDJF Partner for Charity

Beginning with opening day of Santa Anita’s 16-day Autumn Meeting Friday, Sept. 25 and running through the final day Oct. 25, fans can have their personalized cut out images appear in Santa Anita’s Runhappy Winner’s Circle for a donation of $200, with 100% of proceeds going to support the California Retirement Management Account (CARMA) and the Permanently Disable Jockeys Fund (PDJF). Santa Anita will submit individual pictures within 48 hours of receipt.

For more information on CARMA visit https://www.carma4horses.org/ and for additional information on the PDJF, visit https://pdjf.org/

For more information on how to participate in Santa Anita’s Virtual Winner’s Circle Fan Cut Out, visit www.santaanita.com.

The post Santa Anita, CARMA & PDJF Partner for Charity appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Santa Anita Release Revised Autumn Stakes Schedule

With its original start date delayed due to air quality concerns related to the Bobcat Fire, Santa Anita Park announced a revised Autumn Meet Stakes Schedule, which kicks off Sept. 25 and offering a total of 12 stakes–11 graded–and seven of them Breeders’ Cup “Win & You’re In” Challenge Race qualifiers. Santa Anita’s complete Autumn Meet Stakes Schedule is available at www.santaanita.com/stakes-schedule/.

Among Saturday’s races are the GI Awesome Again S., GI Rodeo Drive S., GI American Pharoah S. and the GII Chandelier S. and the Speakeasy S., all of which will provide the winners of each race a fees-paid berth into their respective Breeders’ Cup races at Keeneland Nov. 6 and 7. The following afternoon, two additional ‘Win and You’re In’ Challenge races will be offered–the GII Zenyatta S. and GII Santa Anita Sprint Championship.

For more information, visit www.santaanita.com.

The post Santa Anita Release Revised Autumn Stakes Schedule appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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