catastrophic | Horse Racing Free Tips

California Horse Racing Board Accepts Trainers’ Plan For Accident Prevention Task Force

During the California Horse Racing Board's regularly scheduled meeting on Oct. 20, the board accepted a plan to handle catastrophic breakdowns without the implementation of mandatory trainer penalties, reports bloodhorse.com. The plan, which includes an accident prevention task force, was presented by the California Thoroughbred Trainers during yesterday's teleconference committee meeting.

“Since our tracks and regulator now conduct reviews of the most serious accidents with those professionals and connections involved, what may be missing is a way to systemize these findings,” CTT executive director Alan Balch said in the committee meeting. “To evaluate them all together, and take definitive action where indicated, including not only the possibility of referrals or penalties for any licensees who might be found to be responsible, but more important, recommendations for improved conditions, safety, or regulation that may arise.”

CHRB commissioner Wendy Mitchell expressed her gratitude for the CTT's proposal.

“I just want to say that I'm really appreciative that the trainers came forward with constructive ideas and suggestions instead of bringing lawyers and trying to counter the work that we're doing,” Mitchell said. “So I'm really impressed and excited about that and other folks should take a lesson from that.”

Preparing For Catastrophic Flooding As Horse Owners

Seventeen inches of rain in 24 hours were recorded in McEwen, a small town in West-Central Tennessee over the weekend of Aug. 21. And no, 17 is not a typo.

While not yet official, this would break the all-time 24-hour rainfall record in Tennessee by more than three inches. McEwen was one of many locations across this area that saw 8-plus inches of rain.

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As you can imagine, this resulted in catastrophic flooding across this region causing 21 deaths with many others still missing. Property damage has also been immense, with homes lost and vehicles totaled. As the Tennessee Crop Progress and Condition Report summarizes, flooding left row crops and hay fields under water, tore down fences and damaged other infrastructure.

Like Tennessee, Kentucky has experienced its own share of catastrophic flooding this year and in the past. A few weeks ago, Governor Beshear issued a state of emergency following severe flooding across Nicholas County. While not as bad as the flooding in Tennessee, impacts included one death and severe property damage after some locations recorded 3 to more than 4 inches of rainfall.

Kentucky also experienced historic flooding at the end of February when excessive rain fell across a stalled frontal boundary, leading to accumulations of 4 to more than 6 inches across portions of South Central and Eastern Kentucky. Soils were already saturated from melting snow/ice and vegetation was dormant, leading to excessive runoff into streams and rivers. Some rivers broke all-time record crests. Below is one image showing the town of Beattyville under water.

All of these examples demonstrate one thing: We need to be prepared.

I always remind students in my meteorology class that they have probably seen multiple tornado warnings in their lifetimes but have never seen an actual tornado. You still need to take shelter. You can't predict when the warning might turn into a tornado passing over your house. The same goes for flooding. You never know when a disaster like the flooding events in McEwen, Tennessee; Nicholas County, Kentucky; or Eastern Kentucky could occur in your neighborhood.

The best thing to do is prepare. I've talked about flood safety in previous columns, but being prepared for inclement weather, especially on a farm, is critical. There isn't much we can do about row crops, but safe passage through severe weather for families, animals and buildings takes planning. Think about all the scenarios that could happen and prepare for each, making a plan for both family and farm.

I've put together a list of recommendations and questions to consider when thinking about emergency preparedness in relation to flooding, but many apply to other disasters.

Examine the landscape and determine safe areas during a flood event (higher elevations) and potential evacuation strategies. Be sure to prevent livestock from accessing flood-prone areas. Take into account the possibility of washed-out roads. Do you have a means for transporting animals? What if you have downed fence line, which happened in Tennessee? Will you have people (family, neighbors, employees,) you can count on to help?

Identify how you will receive warning information. This could include television, weather apps, radio or local outdoor warning systems. How will you get news if there is a loss of electricity? I recommend everyone have a NOAA Weather Radio. NOAA weather radios alert you to any warnings or watches across the area from your local National Weather Service office. They can be picked up for as little as $20-30 and can save your life. These devices also run on batteries. Of all the suggestions mentioned, I would make this one of the top priorities. Another thing you will need to consider is how will you send a warning in the case of communication failure. Do you have two-way radios available?

Make an emergency contact list. This may include neighbors, utility companies, local Cooperative Extension, veterinarians and emergency medical contacts. These contacts may be obvious to you, but what if you're not there? Consider creating a wallet-sized card (the size of a business card) with the farm's emergency contact information and distribute it to everyone on the farm.

Keep an up-to-date list of on-farm inventory. This can include farm machinery, livestock, acreage, electrical shutoff points and hazardous materials. Be sure that all animals can be clearly identified as your own.

You may already have a disaster supply kit for you home, but what about the farm? It's always good to have some extra supplies on-hand for the unknown. I suggest planning for a week at a minimum, longer for drought scenarios. Your disaster kit might include alternative power supplies, extra fuel, dry bedding, additional feed for livestock, fence supplies and alternative sources of clean water. Also, fire extinguishers are a must for every building.

Review your emergency plan periodically. Things change and it's best to account for all those changes before the next disaster. Replenish supplies, update contact information and learn from the past.

In the end, my advice is plan and prepare so you stay safe. While we've had our fair share of localized flooding disasters over the past several years, we can't rule out even worse flooding in the years to come. Tennessee's disastrous flooding is an eye-opener.

To drive home the danger of flooding, I want to take you back to 1937, arguably the worst flood in recorded history for the state of Kentucky. The National Weather Service in Louisville has a great writeup on the event, with eye-popping statistics. Overall, Louisville saw 15 inches of rain in 12 days (which shows how severe the Tennessee flood was) during the middle of January. Seventy percent of the city was underwater, and the flooding caused an estimated $3.3 billion in damage in today's dollars. The flood crested 30 feet higher than flood stage.

The post Preparing For Catastrophic Flooding As Horse Owners appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Promising Developments In Quest To Prevent Catastrophic Racehorse Injuries

Catastrophic injuries in Thoroughbred racehorses is a top-of-mind concern for the racing industry and for its fans. That sentiment is shared by researchers at the University of Kentucky, who are working to learn more about the changes happening at a cellular level that might indicate an injury is present before it becomes career or life ending.

Might it be possible to identify an early marker or signal for horses at risk of catastrophic injury, allowing for intervention before those injuries happen? And, if yes, might this type of detection system be one that could be implemented cost effectively on a large scale?

According to Allen Page, DVM, PhD, staff scientist and veterinarian at UK's Gluck Equine Research Center, the short answer to both questions is that it looks promising.

For the past three years, Page, along with UK colleagues, has been analyzing blood samples from more than 1,000 Thoroughbred racehorses. The samples, collected by participating racing jurisdictions from across the country, have come from both catastrophically injured and non-injured horses in a quest to better understand changes that might be happening at the cellular level during racing and if there are any molecular red flags which consistently differentiate horses that suffer a catastrophic injury.

An abstract of this research will be presented at the American Association of Equine Practitioners' annual meeting in December and more information about the study's findings will be shared this fall.

“We are definitely encouraged by our findings,” Page said. “The ultimate hope is, of course, to develop a screening tool that can be used pre-race to identify horses at increased risk for injury. The results of this study suggest that analysis of messenger RNA expression could be an economical, effective and non-invasive way to identify individual racehorses at risk for catastrophic injury.”

This study, as well as a follow up study beginning this month, has been entirely funded by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission's Equine Drug Research Council.

“It is hard to overstate how much we appreciate the continued support of the KHRC and the Equine Drug Research Council. Their willingness to fund these projects is really a testament to their interest in supporting innovative ideas geared towards improving the safety and wellbeing of horses and riders,” Page said.

David Horohov, PhD, chair of the Department of Veterinary Science, director of the Gluck Center and Jes E. and Clementine M. Schlaikjer Endowed Chair, echoed those sentiments, “I am pleased that the EDRC is able to continue to provide support for this important study and that Dr. Page is able to continue his work on finding ways to protect our equine athletes.”

Joining Page in the research from UK's Gluck Center are Emma Adam, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DACVS, assistant professor, research and industry liaison, Horohov, James MacLeod, VMD, PhD, John S. and Elizabeth A. Knight chair, director of UK Ag Equine Programs and professor of veterinary science and Ted Kalbfleisch, PhD, associate professor.

Previous research has shown that many catastrophic injuries occur in limbs with underlying and pre-existing damage, leading to the theory that these injuries occur when damage accumulation exceeds the healing capacity of the affected bones over time. Since many of these injuries have underlying damage, it is likely that there are molecular markers of this that can be detected prior to an injury.

The identification of protein biomarkers for these types of injuries had been explored in previous research, albeit with limited success. The focus of this project, measuring messenger RNA, had not yet been explored, however. The overall objective was to determine if horses that had suffered a catastrophic injury during racing would show increased inflammatory mRNA expression at the time of their injury when compared to similar horses who were not injured. It turns out that this theory might be on to something.

Messenger RNA (mRNA) is a single-stranded RNA molecule that is generated from DNA through the process of transcription. This mRNA carries the genetic information specifying a particular amino acid sequence, which can then be used to create a protein through the process of translation. While work looking at inflammation often involves measuring proteins, Page and his collaborators opted to focus on mRNA due to the limited availability of reagents available to measure horse proteins and concerns about how limited the scope of that research focus would be. Focusing on mRNA expression, however, is not without issues.

According to Page, mRNA can be extremely difficult to work with. “A normal blood sample from a horse requires a collection tube that every veterinarian has with them. Unfortunately, we can't use those tubes because mRNA is rapidly broken down once cells in tubes begin to die. Luckily, there are commercially-available blood tubes that are designed solely for the collection of mRNA,” he said.

“One of the early concerns people had about this project when we talked with them was whether we were going to try to link catastrophic injuries to the presence or absence of certain genes and familial lines. Not only was that not a goal of the study, the samples we obtain make that impossible” Page said. “Likewise for testing study samples for drugs. The tubes do an excellent job of stabilizing mRNA at the expense of everything else in the blood sample.”

Horses eligible for inclusion in this study were Thoroughbreds entered into any race in one of five participating jurisdictions from September 2017 to June 2020. To look at the mRNA, these jurisdictions collected specific blood samples either pre-race or post-race from a selection of non-injured horses or immediately from a horse after a catastrophic injury. Once collected, samples were sent in batches to the Gluck Center where they were analyzed using quantitative PCR (qPCR). The names and category (injured, pre-race or post-race) of sampled horses were kept from the researchers by participating jurisdictions until the samples had been fully analyzed.

Once the names and dates of samples were revealed, public records were used to learn more about each horse. Information examined included the horse's sex, age, race type and whether non-injured horses raced again within three months of the sampled race. For horses who had been injured, more information about the race itself was gathered to determine if there were other factors related to the injury. Additionally, necropsy results, when available, were used to categorize the type of musculoskeletal injury that occurred.

“As of right now, there are four mRNA markers, out of the 23 we have measured with qPCR, that show some significant promise as markers for identifying horses at risk of a catastrophic injury. Obviously, there has been an impact of COVID-19 on our research, so there are still a few more samples to process and add to our data analysis. Once we do that, we plan to submit the findings for publication. Currently, we're targeting the end of the year to be able to share exactly what we have found so far” Page said.