Tag: Bob Baffert

University of MN Researchers to Study Death of Medina Spirit

Researchers at the University of Minnesota will assist in investigating the high-profile death of GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protonico), who collapsed on Monday due to a suspected cardiac event.

While an official necropsy will be conducted at the University of California, Davis, samples of hair, blood, and heart tissue are en route to the university's College of Veterinary Medicine's (CVM) Equine Genetics and Genomics Laboratory, where scientists are already studying cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in racehorses. Researchers are expected to release their findings to the California Horse Racing Board independently of and well after the necropsy report, and “hope to determine whether Medina Spirit had specific genetic factors putting him at risk for sudden cardiac death.”

” The CVM scientists, led by Assistant Professor Sian Durward-Akhurst and Professor Molly McCue, will also incorporate the Medina Spirit samples into an ongoing research project seeking to understand genetic and other risk factors for sudden cardiac death in racehorses,” said a release from UMN. “The researchers' goal is to identify horses at risk for sudden cardiac death–and to put tools into the hands of racetrack veterinarians that will allow them to identify those horses in time to scratch them from a race–in order to prevent future such tragedies. Those tools include an at-rest electrocardiogram (ECG) combined with artificial intelligence to identify horses likely to develop irregular heartbeats during a race–even if their resting ECG looks normal.”

“Medina Spirit's death is devastating, and sadly, such deaths occur all too frequently,” Dr. McCue said. “Our hope is to find ways to pinpoint horses at risk so we can intervene before they lose their lives. In addition to helping equine athletes, this research may also provide answers for sudden cardiac death in young human athletes.”

 

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CHRB: Medina Spirit Samples Will Be Preserved After Necropsy, Per Standard Procedure

After the untimely death of Kentucky Derby first-place finisher Medina Spirit earlier this week, the California Horse Racing Board informed media that the colt's body would undergo a necropsy — the animal form of an autopsy — as per CHRB policy for all equine deaths that happen on sanctioned properties. According to Dr. Jeff Blea, equine medical director for the CHRB, that procedure will include toxicology, forensics and tissue sampling. Blood and hair samples were removed from the colt's body and in the minutes after the colt's death, Blea said veterinarians on-site were planning to try to obtain a urine sample from the body as well.

Some readers have since wondered whether any of the samples taken as part of the procedure may be preserved for future testing. According to a statement from the CHRB made to the Paulick Report Dec. 8, that is part of standard protocols for all equine necropsies in the state.

“The CHRB has a post-race retention policy for official post-race samples,” said CHRB spokesman Mike Marten. “Under Rule 1859, samples are frozen and retained for possible retrospective analysis. The samples from Medina Spirit have been retained.

“Additionally, regarding separate necropsy samples, fresh/frozen tissues are usually kept for three months, Formalin fixed tissues for five years, and paraffin blocks and slides forever.”

The final report on the horse's death will be made public.

Medina Spirit had just completed a five-furlong workout Monday morning when rider Juan Ochoa felt a change in the Bob Baffert trainee just past the wire and began pulling the horse up. Blea said the colt, owned by Zedan Stables, had already fallen and died when attending veterinarians got to him. Ochoa was uninjured.

Roughly 15 percent of on-track deaths in California are these so-called “sudden deaths” which are not connected to an musculoskeletal injury or illness and happen with no outward signs of anything amiss. Experts suspect many of them are attributable to cardiac problems, but the exact cause can be elusive. Necropsies in these cases can sometimes identify a physical abnormality in a horse's heart, but sometimes the veterinary pathologist is unable to find anything unusual.

Read more about what the goals of a necropsy program in this 2017 Paulick Report feature.

It remains unclear whether The Stronach Group will conduct an independent investigation apart from the CHRB's fact-finding surrounding the horse's death.

“We are awaiting the results of the CHRB investigation and we will wait until the conclusion of that process,” said Dr. Dionne Benson, chief veterinary officer for 1/ST Racing. “We are, however, providing any and all information we have to the CHRB.”

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Writers’ Room Tackles Medina Spirit News, Baffert, Ortiz Suspension

It was a busy news week, headlined by the unfortunate sudden death of GI Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (Protonico) and the 30-day suspension handed down to leading rider Irad Ortiz, Jr. Wednesday morning, Joe Bianca, Bill Finley and Jon Green of the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland discussed and reacted to all of it, rekindled the debate over whether trainer Bob Baffert is good for the sport, and welcomed the director of the upcoming film “Jockey” as the Green Group Guest of the Week.

“A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a story about two state legislators in New York looking to take all the slot money away from NYRA, and last year it was the governor of Pennsylvania,” Finley said. “Every time something like [Medina Spirit's death] happens, it makes their case stronger. And you know what? I bet you there are some politicians in California right now that are thinking, maybe it's time to introduce a bill to ban horse racing in the state. I think a lot of people don't think this will ever happen. It's not going to happen tomorrow or the next day, and it may not ever happen, but you have to be very scared of this. It is a realistic threat. Fifteen years ago, if I suggested that the circus would no longer exist, it would have been laughable to think about something like that.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, West Point Thoroughbreds, XBTV and Legacy Bloodstock, the hosts asked whether Ortiz will become a more careful rider after his suspension and the outcry that followed two incidents he was involved in over the weekend, and reacted to the news of the police arresting members of the Rossi family in France in an alleged doping and race-fixing conspiracy. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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