The Louisville Courier Journal's Tim Sullivan reported this week that an injectable vitamin treatment given to the stallion Laoban could be to blame for the stallion's death at the age of eight last year. Cypress Creek Equine LLC filed a civil suit in Fayette County Circuit Court in Kentucky in March against four insurance companies that allegedly denied a payout of mortality insurance on the horse.
Sullivan gained access to documents prepared by an attorney hired by North American Specialty Insurance Company last year to investigate the horse's death. According to those reports, Laoban died minutes after getting an intravenous shot of a vitamin cocktail called “Black Shot.” A document authored by attorney Harvey Feintuch in August noted that expired B12 was given at five times the recommended dosage, and that iron dextran, one of the vitamin components, had expired in 2012. One or more of the vitamins were supposed to be given intramuscularly but instead were given intravenously.
According to Sullivan's reading of Feintuch's report, Laoban's death was captured on video and the horse could be seen going into distress 58 seconds after receiving the shot from veterinarian Dr. Heather Wharton. (It is not unusual for larger breeding operations to have cameras in stallion barns.) Wharton returned to the stall and attempted to treat the stallion but was unsuccessful. A necropsy report later revealed a “presumptive diagnosis of anaphylactic shock can be made with a reasonable degree of medico-legal certainty.”
Laoban had shown a decreased interest in breeding at the time of his death, and the shot was supposed to boost his energy and breeding interest.
Sullivan also reported at the Kentucky Board of Veterinary Examiners has “declined to investigate in the absence of a filed complaint.”
Principal owners in Laoban, along with WinStar Farm, declined to be interviewed for the reporting. WinStar CEO Elliott Walden released a prepared statement to the Courier Journal that read, “WinStar has been in the thoroughbred business for over 20 years,” Walden said. “Laoban's passing was a traumatic experience and felt by everyone at the farm. As we stated at the time, insurance companies in general have a self-serving interest in denying claims and blaming others. We resolved by mutual agreement any concerns that were brought to us and closed the chapter of this tragic loss a long time ago.”
Read more at the Louisville Courier Journal
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