New Injury Prevention Study To Begin Using Horses In Southern California

Southern California will participate in a groundbreaking study aimed at identifying and avoiding potential injuries in racehorses by analyzing messenger RNA (mRNA) markers in blood samples. The research project is being conducted by the University of Kentucky's Gluck Equine Research Center.

The goal is to develop mRNA technology into a reliable, non-invasive tool that will empower owners and trainers by providing an additional method for improving the welfare and longevity of their racehorses. Participation in this study is a means by which owners and trainers can contribute towards this important goal.

The project involves the collection of an additional blood sample at the time of TCO2 testing. These samples will then be used to validate previously compiled data to identify specific markers for horses at risk for a catastrophic injury. The study will be overseen by Dr. Tim Grande at Santa Anita. Sample collection is expected to begin in mid-February.

Since samples are collected quickly (5 seconds) and during a time when the horse is already being stuck with a needle, participation in this study entails minimal disruption for the trainer and minimal risk to the horse. If you do not want your horse to participate in this study, please make that known at the time of TCO2 sample collection.

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New SoCal MRI Study Aims to Bring Clarity to its Diagnostic Role

Seeking a full stop to the spate of high-profile fatalities in the race that stops Australia, Racing Victoria this year tightened the veterinary screws. The practical rollout of these efforts can hardly be described as an unadulterated success, however.

One of these new measures was a precautionary CT scan of all runners in the days leading up to the G1 Melbourne Cup–a target that hit the skids when Racing Victoria's new $1.27-million CT unit suffered a malfunction with the Cup field only half scanned, leaving the rest to be X-rayed (with a machine that was also temporarily incapacitated).

But other, less-mechanical incidents highlight some of the more nuanced problems that come with using sophisticated–and still yet relatively new–imaging technologies to diagnose lameness in equine athletes.

Despite the results of a mandatory CT scan that gave French import Gold Trip (Fr) (Outstrip {GB}) the all-clear to train up toward the G1 Cox Plate, Racing Victoria's veterinary team scratched him on the eve of the race–a diagnosis that jarred with the horse's connections, who declared him sound.

In a further twist, Gold Trip was given the all-clear to run in Sydney in the Rosehill Gold Cup just a week later–only to be scratched once more due to the prevailing firm going.

In short, as more and more regulatory veterinarians turn to imaging modalities like MRI, PET, and CT to help diagnose lameness, they're left to wrestle with slippery conundrums.

What clear connection exists between the image before them and an increased chance of injury in the horse, for example? And without an extensive historic medical record at their fingertips, how can they be sure that any possible abnormality that appears on the image is significant?

A new standing MRI-focused study set to launch in Southern California seeks to provide some much-needed answers.

“Lameness is a precursor to fetlock failure, and maybe we find bone changes that help us identify lameness. But we should never get to the point where the fetlock fails–we want to do better than that. And that's the goal of the study,” said Florida-based John Peloso, the lead researcher on the study.

“We need to figure out when they're helping us,” Peloso added, of imaging modalities like the standing MRI. “We need to learn more.”

Standing MRI | UC Davis photo

Participants in the study–which is funded by the Dolly Green Research Foundation and the Southern California Equine Foundation–will be split into two.

There will be 23 case horses whose lameness has been narrowed to the fetlock region, and 23 control horses who exhibit no visible sign of lameness.

The 23 case horses will be selected by Dr. Tim Grande, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB)'s chief official veterinarian, from a variety of scenarios where regulatory veterinarians commonly have to intercede in a horse's training or racing program.

These include a morning or race-day scratch, a voided claim, and lameness in the test barn or following a scheduled work or race.

The control horses–those with no visible lameness–will be selected as a comparative match in terms of things like sex, age, and class.

If a case horse is picked from a race, then the winner–if sound–will make an obvious control match. If a case horse is selected after a workout, then a suitable match will be selected using PPs.

And what exactly will the researchers be looking for? The answer encompasses four specific areas of concern within the fetlock joint, the primary site of musculoskeletal injury in racehorses.

Researchers will be looking for density within the proximal sesamoid bones and distal cannon bone, bone marrow edema–or swelling–in the cannon bone, and palmer osteochondral disease, a type of bone bruising commonly referred to as just “POD.”

To elaborate on these points, Peloso pointed to a couple of relatively recent papers he had co-authored connecting important diagnostic dots.

Two issues associated with fetlock failure are high density–noticeable bone development that predisposes a horse to a greater risk of fracture–in the sesamoid bone and palmer osteochondral disease, while condylar fractures are linked to bone marrow edema and high density in the distal cannon bone.

“It's because of those two papers that we've dialed in on those bone changes,” said Peloso. “Maybe the study will teach us something new, and so, there'll be something that gets added to it.”

The standing MRI unit has been part of the Southern California backstretch furniture since the start of last year. Since then, the unit has been used to scan hundreds of fetlocks.

Nevertheless, as a relatively newfangled diagnostic tool, the MRI is still looked upon with a touch of skepticism by some corners of the backstretch community, including attending veterinarians, admitted Peloso.

As such, this study is seen as an opportunity to increase the volume of MRI equine traffic. “It needs to be a real relationship so we can do best by the horse and best by the owner,” Peloso explained, before looking at the broader implications from this and other such studies.

“It'll be interesting to see to what degree some of these imaging modalities–PET, CT if it makes it, MRI–what role they play to help the regulatory veterinarian identify who's safe and who's not safe.”

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CHRB Notes Substantial Drop In California Equine Deaths

The California Horse Racing Board conducted a meeting by teleconference on Wednesday, July 21. The public participated by dialing into the teleconference and/or listening through the audio webcast link on the CHRB website. Chairman Gregory Ferraro chaired the meeting, joined by vice chair Oscar Gonzales and commissioners Dennis Alfieri, Damascus Castellanos, Brenda Washington Davis, Wendy Mitchell, and Alex Solis.

The audio of this entire Board meeting is available on the CHRB Website (www.chrb.ca.gov) under the Webcast link. In brief:

  • The Board approved three license applications for race meets, beginning with the Sonoma County Fair (SCF) meet, which will be run at Golden Gate Fields (GGF) on August 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, and 15. SCF will be required to run Arabian races during the meet in compliance with statutes. In a related matter, the Board approved an agreement between SCF and the Thoroughbred Owners of California authorizing the racing secretary to establish conditions on races limiting the administrations of certain medications.
  • The Board approved the license application for the Pacific Racing Association (PRA) to conduct a thoroughbred meet at Golden Gate Fields with racing commencing August 26 and running through October 3. As one condition, Golden Gate must provide its race signals and access to its wagering pools to all simulcast outlets in California. Additionally, Golden Gate and the California Thoroughbred Trainers must enter into a race-meet agreement before the August 18 Board meeting.
  • The Board approved the license application for the Humboldt County Fair to operate a fair meet in Ferndale on August 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, and 29.
  • The Board set a January 31, 2022, date for San Luis Rey Downs (SLRD) to complete installation of its sprinkler system, though management expects work to completed by late December. SLRD has a fire clearance and complies with all local fire regulations.
  • Executive director Scott Chaney reported a full 50 percent reduction in the number of total training, racing, and other fatalities over the last two fiscal years. In furtherance of the CHRB's safety efforts, he pointed out that Dr. Jeff Blea assumed the role of equine medical director and Dr. Tim Grande assumed the role of chief official veterinarian on July 1, and noted, “Both Drs. Blea and Grande are accomplished veterinarians and have a specific understanding regarding veterinary medicine's intersection with the regulatory arena and the promotion of animal welfare.  In the three weeks they have been on the job, I have found both to be engaged, enthusiastic and committed.”
  • Dr. Blea reported that California will be well represented in industry oversight under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA). Dr. Sue Stover, director of the J.D. Wheat Veterinary Orthopedic Research Laboratory at the University of California, Davis, sits on HISA's governing board and also chairs its Racetrack Safety Standing Committee, while Dr. Blea is a member of HISA's Anti-Doping and Medication Control Standing Committee. Dr. Blea also reported that entry review panels, first established in 2019 at Santa Anita Park at the direction of Gov. Gavin Newsom to ensure that entered horses are fit to compete, now are in place at all tracks and that he and Dr. Grande are reviewing their processes to make them more efficient and standardized in the future.
  • The Board approved a regulation establishing rules for public participation at meetings, which largely reflect the procedures that have been in place, including limiting each unsolicited speaker to two minutes on each agenda item.
  • The Board approved an agreement with horse-racing-industry stakeholders modifying the distribution of Advance Deposit Wagering market access fees to supplement funding for CHRB support. The Board then approved the Fiscal Year 2021-22 agreement providing funding support for the CHRB.
  • The Board approved the change of ownership for the mini-satellite California Horse Racing & Sports, LLC, doing business as The Derby Room.
  • Public comments made during the meeting can be accessed through the meeting audio archive on the CHRB website.

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California Veterinarian: Looking Back, Voided Claim Rule Was First Step In Right Direction

As the dust has (somewhat) settled from the high-profile spate of horse fatalities at Santa Anita Park in 2018-19, one California veterinarian said that the culture around injury prevention in the state has completely changed. Dr. Ryan Carpenter led a virtual panel discussion earlier this month as part of the 2020 American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) Convention, gathering veterinarians from different disciplines to speak about how safety efforts have evolved in their sport in recent years.

Carpenter, who is a racetrack practitioner and orthopedic surgeon in Southern California, has spoken before about the shift from skepticism of new medication and veterinary regulation by horsemen and private veterinarians to a comfortable acceptance.

“I think we all agree that from a racetrack perspective, safety begins and ends in the shedrow,” said Carpenter. “The cultural shift that we took here in Southern California was [to become] very risk averse. We can't afford to have fatalities. The media is very critical of us and every horse that is euthanized is a significant impact to our industry.”

Looking back, Carpenter said that one of the first important steps the state's racing industry took towards safety reform was its voided claim rule. The voided claim rule will void a claim if a horse comes out of a race with an injury or epistaxis.

“What that did was it took away this perception of passing off a problem to another trainer,” said Carpenter. “It made trainers take a little more responsibility for their horse at that time, and started the first step of this process of becoming more risk averse.”

Veterinarians from other equine sports echoed Carpenter's observations that participants and the public have demonstrated an increased interest in safety from them, too. The focus on steeplechase racing injuries can be a challenge for organizers, as many steeplechase meets are not parimutuel but are part of a charity fundraising effort. As such, the budget for certain types of improvements to fences and course is tighter than it might be at a conventional track.

“Nobody is feeling good about where we're at, but we know we're going in the right direction,” said Dr. R.R. Cowles, founder and past president of Blue Ridge Equine.

Cowles pointed out that American steeplechase racing began collecting injury data some 15 years ago and that national data shows that fatalities have decreased each year for the past decade, with the only exception being this year.

In eventing, Dr. Erin Contino, assistant professor of equine sports medicine and rehabilitation at Colorado State University, said that information gathering has been a critical first step. On a cross country course, some fences are not visible to anyone besides jump judges, who may have varying levels of experience or recall when it comes to documenting why a rider or horse fell. Now, at least at the international level, cross country runs are being videoed so that if an accident happens, the potential causes can be analyzed later. Data shows that corner jumps, downhill jumps, and water jumps are all associated with higher rates of accidents. That information is being provided to course designers, along with funding and encouragement to utilize frangible pin technology, which allows a fence to collapse if hit hard enough, in an effort to reduce rotational falls.

U.S. Equestrian Federation (USEF) medication restrictions have evolved significantly in recent years, according to Dr. Richard Mitchell, co-owner of Fairfield Equine Associates. He recalled a hunter years ago who was found to have three non-steroidal anti-inflammatories in its system — which were only discovered because the horse also tested positive for cocaine. That was a wake-up call, Mitchell said. Now, hunter/jumpers and equitation horses under USEF rules can no longer stack NSAIDs. There are also thresholds and withdrawal times just as there are at the racetrack.

“We've come a long way there with these horses,” said Mitchell of medication restrictions. “Granted they're not running at speed but yet we do have our jumpers that do have a speed element to their competition and accidents can occur. Ensuring these horses are fit to compete is really important.”

In the world of professional rodeo, Dr. Douglas Corey said changes have been slow.

“I think they've sometimes seemed very slow but I think they've come as a result of continually educating the membership,” said Corey. “I think communication is a very big part of it.”

Rodeos began requiring veterinarians on-site at competitions relatively recently, has allowed the beginnings of data gathering on accidents or injuries. Corey suggested that continuing education for participants, event organizers and fans of rodeo is the biggest hurdle for the sport to continue advancing. Many of the sport's participants come in with generational knowledge — but it's not always accurate.

“I think that's a challenge we've all had to overcome and I've really seen it in rodeo,” said Corey. “It's like my dad did it this way, my granddad did it this way, I'm going to do it this way. That's not always the best case. Changes had to happen.”

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