equine safety | Horse Racing Free Tips

Los Al Quarter Horse Racing License On Probation For Ten Days Due To Concerns About Equine Deaths

Los Alamitos escaped a shutdown but did see its racing license placed on probation for 10 days during an emergency meeting of the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) on July 10. The CHRB notified commissioners and the public of an emergency meeting roughly 24 hours earlier in response to what executive director Scott Chaney described as a spike in equine fatalities.

Los Alamitos just concluded its daytime Thoroughbred meet this week but is scheduled to continue night cards for Quarter Horses until late December.

Discussion amongst commissioners and representatives of Los Alamitos seemed to suggest that an interpretation of whether or not fatality numbers are above average probably varies depending upon the timeframe examined. Chaney pointed out that between Jan. 1 and July 5 of this year there had been 14 racing deaths and five training deaths, compared with five racing deaths and four training deaths during the same period in 2019 — demonstrating nearly a three-fold increase in racing deaths.

When the statistics are examined by the fiscal year however, which in California runs July 1 to June 30, the track seemed more consistent. The calendar year of 2019 had been a good one for Los Alamitos, according to track veterinarian Dr. Rebecca Fitzgerald, but a cluster in the calendar year 2020 brought the fiscal year's figures even with 2018-19.

Chaney also drew attention to what he considered a high number of non-racing/training deaths, which totaled 21 for this year. These “other” causes of death can include colic, respiratory illness, neurologic illness, and musculoskeletal injuries that happen in the barn area.

Drew Couto, Los Alamitos Quarter Horse Racing Association General Counsel, said that fiscal year over fiscal year, combined racing/training deaths have been going down for some time.

“We've seen a prolonged history at Los Alamitos, since 2008 of decreasing racing and training fatalities,” said Couto.

Couto was also asked by commissioners what the track had in mind to improve its numbers. Couto pointed to the fatality review program performed by officials but said Los Alamitos officials had not come up with a plan of action for how to reduce non-racing/training deaths, given the short notice of the meeting.

For most commissioners, that answer seemed to be inadequate. They turned to Fitzgerald and CHRB equine medical director Dr. Rick Arthur for more details on what could be causing the issue.

For his part, Arthur did not support Chaney's statement that action should be taken against the track's license status; in the course of studying racing and training fatalities, Arthur said it's not uncommon to see numbers “ebb and flow”; in some cases, the reasons for that are clear, while in others they aren't. CHRB officials surveyed by Arthur expressed confidence in the safety of the racing surface and in Fitzgerald's work, although she is the lone veterinarian responsible for performing pre-race examinations for the 50 to 60 horses entered each day.

Fitzgerald said she actually believes being the only one to see the runners based at Los Alamitos before each race is a good thing. Having a larger team might mean she would see a horse before one race, and not again for a few more starts, so she would be less likely to notice small changes that can be so crucial to catching underlying injury.

She also said she gets good support from the racing office, which flags horses for additional scrutiny based on changes in class, time off a lay-off and other factors.

Arthur said he didn't believe there was a clear pattern of any one risk factor in any of the fatalities, except that veterinarians and trainers at Los Alamitos seemed to be more likely to rely on greater numbers of intra-articular corticosteroid injections, particularly of cortisone. Arthur is hopeful that a “long overdue” rule to require continuing education for trainers could alleviate some of the “questionable training and horse management” decisions he has seen, though he pointed out those issues are not limited to Los Alamitos.

Commissioners agreed they wanted to see a report from track officials outlining areas of equine health and welfare concerns and planned actions for resolution. They discussed whether to stop racing at the track while such a report could be prepared or whether to simply put the track's license on probation. According to CHRB chairman Dr. Greg Ferraro, this would mean at the end of the ten-day period the commissioners could suspend racing if they aren't satisfied with the report.

Ultimately, most commissioners stated they were hesitant to halt racing without further information about the problem. The final vote was 5-1 for a 10-day probationary period and report (the lone 'no' vote coming from commissioner Wendy Mitchell. The CHRB will hold another emergency meeting July 20 to hear the track's report.

The post Los Al Quarter Horse Racing License On Probation For Ten Days Due To Concerns About Equine Deaths appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Samantha Randazzo Ready To Begin Her Role As Safety Compliance Officer At Colonial Downs

When the stable area at Colonial Downs Racetrack opens July 13, Samantha Randazzo will begin her first stint as a Safety Compliance Officer, a job that is part of the new Mid-Atlantic Strategic Plan to reduce equine fatalities. Her “Best Practices” position focuses on 23 different responsibilities to ensure all activities and practices that involve the training and racing of horses at the track meet required safety standards and regulatory guidelines.

Among her duties, she will monitor daily activities in the barn area, conduct random inspections of safety equipment like helmets and vests, serve as a member of the Mortality Review Board and conduct random checks of ship-in health papers at the stable gate, along with many others.

Randazzo brings a wealth of experience to the table. She has been a Thoroughbred trainer for 27 years and most recently, has spent six years in regulatory roles. After college, she went to work full time for trainer Linda Rice and ended up having her own division of Rice's stable in Florida for 17 years, at Monmouth for 10 years and at Saratoga for seven.

“Linda and I have a symbiotic relationship with training,” she said. “I worked for her brother Brian one summer while in college because he had younger horses and got the chance to see how they were developed and trained. When I joined Linda right after graduating, she was just starting out on her own. I'd travel with her horses when they raced at Parx or River Downs just to get more experience. I love training. It's a passion.”

Randazzo was born and raised outside of Reading, Pennsylvania, and grew up around horses at their family farm. Her father was a mushroom farmer and her mother was a bookkeeper and tax collector. “My mother was interested in breeding and racing so we did have a small breeding operation at the farm,” she recalled. “She did layups and rehabilitation along with breeding and foaling horses then in the late '60's, she got a racehorse that competed at Pocono.”

When Randazzo thought about pursuing a career as a Thoroughbred horse trainer, her parents insisted she have a backup plan in case that didn't work. “They didn't think it was a great career choice for women at the time,” she said.

At 16, she learned how to shoe horses at a blacksmith school in Martinsville, Virginia, so she could help at the family farm. After high school, she studied animal husbandry for two years at the Delaware Valley College of Science & Agriculture before switching majors and schools. At Albright College in Reading, Randazzo earned degrees in Political Science and History. And keeping her parents' wishes in mind, she attended the University of Toledo College of Law afterwards and earned a law degree.

Six years ago at the age of 50, Randazzo decided to switch gears in her career — not to practice law, which she has never done — but to move into the regulatory aspect of racing.

“When I turned 50, I realized I wasn't 30 anymore,” she said. “The industry had changed a lot — some good and some not so good. I found it more difficult to get things done. Help wasn't the way it was 30 years ago either. So, I decided to make the move. I may be a little Pollyanna, but I believe one person can be a force for change and make a difference given the right circumstances,” she continued. “I feel like I can contribute more at the regulatory level at this stage of my career because I have seen so much. I know the difference between things that are illegal versus things that are morally wrong. Sometimes they are the same and sometimes they are not. I have passion for both the horses and people in the sport. We don't want anyone — horse or human — getting hurt. The interest of gamblers needs to be protected as well.”

In 2014, Randazzo enrolled at the University of Louisville's Racing Officials Accreditation Program and got her certification in Thoroughbreds. She became cross accredited by completing coursework in Standardbred racing three years later.

Since then, she has held positions as a sitting steward at Canterbury Park and Fairmount Park, as an alternate state steward and as a Florida-based vet technician at Tampa Bay Downs, and as a race office team member and placing judge at Colonial Downs, among others.

“Looking back at all these experiences I've had, the industry is changing, and I believe it's for the better,” she said. “There is a litany of issues that are being addressed now between the HBPA, Jockeys Guild and various associations. They are seeing the importance of backstretch workers and helping them with health and family care needs. The progression of horse welfare and finding ways to repurpose them after their racing days are over has taken great importance now,” she added. “People didn't retire or re-home horses before or seek alternative careers for them, but today owners, trainers, grooms, and anyone else associated with the horse is involved. There is more of an awareness that avenues like New Vocations (Racehorse Adoption Program), retirement programs and even individuals are available to accept those horses and often repurpose them.”

Randazzo has first-hand experience with a retired racehorse — she owns one that is based at a farm in upstate New York. “I have to walk the walk too,” she said. “That horse competed in my division from the age of two until he was claimed from me at the age of eight. When he was racing in the bottom level at Penn National afterwards, I contacted the owner and had planned to fill out paperwork to claim him back. But the owner instead graciously just gave him to me. He's a special child,” she added. “I thought I could repurpose him for myself to be a racetrack pony horse, but he is a little too high strung. Horses are like people. Not all are actually fit for another career. Now, I just ride him when I get up that way after the Colonial meet. I spend a month or two up there visiting friends and family.”

Recently, Randazzo was working the final days of June at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale for 2-year-olds in training. She clocks and grades the horses as they are breezing. She also helps with stable release paperwork. She doublechecks the bill of sale and bill of lading then releases each horse so the sales company knows the destination of where each horse is going and how he is getting there.

“I like to stay busy and always enjoy doing different things,” she said. “There's not a lot that I couldn't do.”

Her next stop is Colonial Downs and she is looking forward to the new challenge. “I've performed most of the Safety Compliance tasks before,” she said. “At Fairmount and Canterbury, I'd walk the backside every morning. I checked every single stall to make sure the horses were properly bedded, had water and had hay. I watched breezes regularly. If a horse or rider went down, I'd speak to the outrider. They control the track in the morning but wanted them to know I was another set of eyes. I was there to back them up. I helped make sure everyone had their helmets snapped up. The outriders get tired of telling people to wear helmets securely but it is for everyone's safety. I wanted to make sure horses and people were taken care of.”

When speaking of Colonial specifically, Randazzo hopes her summer is unexciting. “Reflecting on the constitution of the backside last year, I expect to be bored this summer,” she said half joking. “I walked the barn every morning last year. People came there to race. They wanted to win, they wanted to make money, then they wanted to leave. Colonial wants a set of boots on the ground — someone who knows what should happen on the backstretch. That's what I'll be there to do this year. I'll be walking around and observing to make sure horses are being taken care of. Hopefully, I'll be pretty good at it. I believe I'm doing this job for the right reason and that I have the right attitude going into it.”

“We are very fortunate to have 'Sam' for this important role,” said Jill Byrne, Colonial's Vice President of Racing Operations. “Her extensive background and knowledge from a horse person's perspective has earned her immense respect from horsemen. Combine that with her experience as a racing official and her passion for the industry, and she is the perfect representative to ensure the safety and welfare of horses, riders, and all stable help, as well as the integrity of racing.”

Colonial Downs' summer season begins July 27 and continues thru September 2. Racing will take place every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 5:30 PM (EDT). Virginia Derby Night is slated for Tuesday September 1. For more information and to see a copy of the Mid-Atlantic Strategic Plan, visit colonialdowns.com.

The post Samantha Randazzo Ready To Begin Her Role As Safety Compliance Officer At Colonial Downs appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Even With Screening, Equine Cardiac Problems Prove Difficult To Catch

Regulatory veterinarians say it's not as easy as you'd think to pick up on heart problems in racehorses.

That was one of the takeaways from this year's Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit, held this year through a series of online webinars due to COVID-19. In the conclusion of the series, veterinary epidemiologist Dr. Tim Parkin noted that while equine fatalities due to musculoskeletal injury have gone down in the decade he has tracked injuries, fatalities due to other causes have not improved. Musculoskeletal injuries make up 93 percent of fatal injuries, but on-track deaths can sometimes have other causes, like cardiac problems. Parkin said he believed the reason musculoskeletal injuries had gone down was because most of the health and welfare reforms initiated around the country thus far were focused on limbs and lameness.

The trouble is, cardiac problems aren't that easily detected in horses.

In 2016, we spoke to Dr. Sophy Jesty of the Charleston Veterinary Referral Center who is board certified in large animal internal medicine and cardiology. Jesty explained that horses do not have “heart attacks” the way humans do. A human heart attack is the result of a blocked artery which kills part of the heart muscle. Horses do not experience this, but they can experience things that look like heart attacks — including a ruptured aorta, which may be undetectable until the horse bleeds out internally and collapses, or an arrhythmia (abnormal beat).

At the time of that interview, regulatory veterinarians were growing more curious about the best way to screen horses for arrhythmias. In a separate session of the Welfare and Safety Summit this year, New York's equine medical director revealed he had done some informal screenings with an inexpensive handheld ECG device, but he didn't find much.

“One of the problems I encountered in our necropsy program we had a number of horses had experienced exercise-induced sudden death on our racetracks and nearly 70 percent of those horses were necropsy negative, meaning there was no obvious answer for what had happened,” said Dr. Scott Palmer. “This backs us in to the conclusion that cardiac arrhythmias could be the cause of death, and I thought, 'Gee, we probably ought to look at that a little bit.'

“Interestingly, I've examined more than 200 horses so far with this thing and have never found a cardiac arrhythmia where I'd say this horse can't race.”

In Maryland, veterinarians listen to horses with a stethoscope as part of the standard pre-race exam and have done so for the past four to five years, according to Mike Hopkins, executive director of the Maryland Racing Commission. Hopkins said the team of veterinarians estimate they have discovered fewer than ten cases of arrhythmias in that time. There were 3,883 starters in the state of Maryland last year.

Those familiar with arrhythmias in horses probably wouldn't find that surprising. Although the scientific community is still learning about cardiac problems in horses, many experts believe that some equine arrhythmias probably show up only when the horse is in work, and may be induced by the adrenaline rush a horse experiences in a race.

Palmer said that although he didn't find any rhythms of concern, that wouldn't discourage him from continuing to look.

“With that said, I believe that we should at least be looking at these horses for arrhythmias,” he continued. “I know horses have normal murmurs and I know they can have normal arrhythmias that disappear at exercise. I also know that horses do die of exercise-induced arrhythmias. I think the presence of atrial fibrillation or other significant arrhythmias, I think those horses should be scratched. And to be honest, if we don't look for it, we certainly never will find it.”

The post Even With Screening, Equine Cardiac Problems Prove Difficult To Catch appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Violations Show New Medication Rules In California Require A Learning Curve

California now has some of the strictest rules regarding medication in racehorses of any jurisdiction in the United States, and a report on medication violations for April and May show that horsemen and veterinarians are still working to understand newer regulations.

At a meeting of the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) conducted via teleconference last week, CHRB equine medical director Dr. Rick Arthur reported that April saw nine medication violations, only one of which was in a post-race sample, while there were six medication violations in May, two of which were in post-race samples.

Three of April's nine violations were from horses working before the state veterinarian, and the other five were out-of-competition samples taken on horses recording workouts.

“Of the nine violations in April, six would not have been violations in other states,” said Arthur. “I suspect two others would not be violations in most states.”

Four of May's six positives were horses working for the official veterinarian. Arthur guessed only one of the six would be a violation outside of California.

In mid-March, new regulations placed restrictions on the use of “local anesthetics, narcotic analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories” on horses within 24 hours of a timed workout, and prohibiting more than one NSAID in a post-work sample. In late February, regulations went into effect prohibiting NSAIDs within 24 hours of post time.

“To my knowledge, California is the only state currently regulating these medications during training,” said Arthur. “I'm usually not sympathetic to trainers and veterinarians not paying attention to our rule changes, but we have made numerous regulatory changes recently and from discussions with trainers and veterinarians, the new rule is not as clear to licensees as I would have hoped or expected. Trainers and veterinarians appear confused between house rules and CHRB regulations.

“The most difficult change has been the new medication regulations during training. Keep in mind, regulating medication during training is a new concept in racing.”

Arthur said he is working with California Thoroughbred Trainers to guide a series of webinars aimed at educating trainers and veterinarians on the new rules. And not a moment too soon — as he pointed out, several more veterinary regulations are set to go into effect July 1, including the transfer of a health record for claimed horses and a prohibition on bisphosphonates.

The post Violations Show New Medication Rules In California Require A Learning Curve appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post