The Thoroughbred Safety Coalition has added eight medical and operational reforms to its platform. The group’s Steering Committee, made up of executives from the Breeders’ Cup, Churchill Downs Incorporated, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, Keeneland Association Inc., the New York Racing Association (NYRA) and The Stronach Group, voted unanimously to adopt the reforms with the ultimate goal of uniform implementation across racing jurisdictions.
The following reforms have been added to the Coalition’s platform:
Strengthen race entry and eligibility requirements;
Work with state racing commissions to apply racing regulations surrounding prohibited substances and restrict selected therapeutic substances in proximity to high-speed works;
Prohibit the administration of external treatments, therapies and musculoskeletal manipulation within at least 24 hours of a race;
Work with state racing commissions to implement a clenbuterol prohibition in racing and training along with reporting/procedural requirements as outlined by the RMTC;
Strengthen requirements for removing horses from the Veterinarians’ List;
Adopt a waiver claiming option for horses coming off an extended layoff;
Require implementation of an emergency track warning system; and
Modify racetrack on and off gaps to increase horse and rider safety.
“As today’s announcement and recent progress make clear, the Coalition’s important work to ensure the well-being of our athletes has continued despite the challenging circumstances our industry and our nation have faced this year. The new reforms will go a long way toward increasing our collective ability to identify at-risk horses before they set foot on a track and protect the integrity of our sport,” said Coalition Strategic Advisor Donna Brothers.
As the quest continues for a better way to identify racehorses at risk for fatal injury, a study from the University of Kentucky's Gluck Equine Research Center may provide scientists and veterinarians a roadmap of where to look. At a regularly scheduled meeting Oct. 22, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission received initial results from a study by Gluck researchers Dr. Allen Page and David Horohov looking at inflammatory biomarkers. Biomarkers are proteins, which can be produced at different levels in the body depending on changes and normal processes like inflammation.
Researchers have looked at biomarkers before to try finding some that would signal inflammation that may still be subclinical, or not producing recognizable symptoms yet in the horse. Previous efforts have yielded mixed results, in part because the body undergoes some amount of normal inflammation in response to exercise even when the horse isn't battling an underlying injury. Other biomarkers don't show up until the injury occurs, which makes them useless from a predictive standpoint.
Thanks to funding provided by the Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council (KEDRC), Page and Horohov are in the midst of a two-phase research project — the first looking at a new set of biomarkers and the second looking at messenger RNA, which signals the production of proteins like biomarkers. The second phase is still in progress, and Tuesday's meeting focused on the results from the first phase.
Page and Horohov gathered data from racetracks in four racing jurisdictions, testing blood taken pre-race for TCO2 testing and comparing results between horses who suffered fatal musculoskeletal injuries and competitors from the same races who did not. They examined 21 markers and found three — IGF-1, MMP-2, and IL1RN — which were present in different levels in injured horses versus non-injured horses.
These results made sense to the researchers. IGF-1 is known to play a role in bone development and repair, and it was increased in injured horses, suggesting chronic inflammation was present. Matrix metalloproteinase-2, or MMP-2, is thought to assist with tissue repair and fracture remodeling and was also elevated in injured horses. Interestingly, IL1RN is more commonly known as IRAP–a anti-inflammatory material derived from a horse's own blood and given therapeutically by veterinarians to reduce inflammation and aid in healing an injured horse. IRAP was decreased in fatally injured horses, suggesting the body's natural anti-inflammatory process had been disrupted for some reason. Horses with higher levels of IRAP were actually seven times less likely to suffer fatal injuries.
While those results are encouraging, Page cautioned that it will still be challenging to practically apply the new information. The three biomarkers weren't perfect predictors of impending injury; 24 percent of the time, a horse would not appear to be at risk based on its biomarker levels when in fact it did suffer a fatal injury and 12 percent of the time, tests suggested the horse was at risk of a fatal injury but the horse finished the race without a catastrophic breakdown.
Overall, the three biomarkers provided about 88 percent accuracy at identifying horses at risk.
The test is also expensive and in a research setting the tests took around 48 hours to complete. Page pointed out that those estimates are based on his team's study, where samples had to be tested for 21 different biomarkers. Reducing the number of markers tested would shorten that time, but it would still likely take 24 hours to get results.
Then there's the question of what to do with horses whose blood indicates they may be at risk. It remains unclear whether the commission legally can or should mandate imaging, particularly if the horse doesn't appear lame and no one is sure where the problem might be. Then there's the question of false positive tests — if a horse's entry was contingent upon a biomarker test, horses could be pulled from races who weren't actually at elevated risk, and it would be hard to know which were which.
Commission members acknowledged it will be a challenge to determine how biomarker data could be practically applied to a time sensitive screening process.
Page said he's hopeful the second phase of the study, which looks “upstream” at mRNA responsible for the production of proteins like biomarkers, may provide more specific guidance.
The new Turf Course at Fair Hill was used for the first time yesterday since improvements to the track were completed this year. Fair Hill-based trainer, Graham Motion galloped his three 2020 Breeders' Cup contenders, Mean Mary, Alda, and Invincible Gal, along with last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner, Sharing, giving the course its first run.
Construction on the historic track began in 2019 and took just over a year to finish. The one-mile course was realigned for consistent width and the turns were widened. An advanced irrigation system was installed for efficient drainage and the surface was replaced with a Kentucky Bluegrass Mix. New distance poles, finish pole and running rails were also erected to give it a fresh look.
“There would not be a better turf course in the country right now without exception,” said Motion. “Everyone was very pleased with how it handled, particularly the grade down the backside and up the front side. The turf is in beautiful shape.”
The Turf Course at Fair Hill is part of the newly constructed Special Event Zone at Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area in Cecil County. Owned by the State of Maryland, the venue also features a new Ian Stark-designed cross-country course, updated timber course and new competition arenas built within the turf track's infield. The enhanced turf track will offer more opportunities for training, as well as the potential to host more racing days at Fair Hill in the future.
The investment in the facility by the State of Maryland addressed Fair Hill's aged equestrian infrastructure and ensures the opportunity to sustain Fair Hill's future as one of the premier equine sports venues in the world. The Fair Hill Foundation is currently leading Proud Past – Infinite Future, The Campaign for Fair Hill, to raise private funding to leverage and match state funds for the $20 million project.
Initially designed by William du Pont, Jr. in the late-1920s, The Turf Course at Fair Hill was modeled after the original design of Aintree Racecourse in England. Completed in the 1930s, the track hosted its first race in 1934. It has held many notable Steeplechase events throughout its history including four of the six runnings of the Breeders' Cup Steeplechase (1986-1988, 1991) and the American Grand National in the 1970s.
Clenbuterol that is detectable in any amount on race day could be on its way out in 2021 for Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds in Maryland.
Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) voted unanimously Oct. 22 to propose a new rule that would eliminate the allowable race-day threshold for clenbuterol, citing concerns that the bronchodilator medication has the potential for abuse as a substance that delivers similar results as anabolic steroids, like promoting an increase in lean muscle mass.
Currently, Maryland horses are allowed to trigger up to 140 picograms/milliliter in blood serum on race day without incurring a violation.
“The proposal is to eliminate the threshold altogether and make clenbuterol not permissive at all on race day in horses competing in Maryland,” said J. Michael Hopkins, the MRC’s executive director.
Citing a veterinary study, Hopkins added that “if it’s used long enough in small doses, it does have the ability to have a steroidal effect for the horses that receive it on a regular basis.”
Under Maryland’s proposed new plan, clenbuterol would still be allowed as a therapeutic medication to treat obstructive airways disease. But a horse’s veterinarian would have to submit a specific diagnosis and prescription plan to the MRC’s equine medical director prior to treatment. Trainers would have the responsibility of submitting this notification, Hopkins said, and any horse on clenbuterol will remain on the veterinary no-race list until a negative urine or blood test is provided to document clearance of the drug from the horse’s system.
Hopkins said the MRC would have the right to perform out-of-competition (OOC) testing on horses to check for unauthorized clenbuterol use. But he explained that the commission does not currently have the right to test horses stabled on private property without consent. In cases where the property owner or the horse’s owner or trainer refused to grant access, Hopkins said the commission would have to arrange with the owner or trainer to bring the horse elsewhere to conduct the testing.
Commissioner R. Thomas Bowman took umbrage with that aspect of the OOC protocol. He said that, “I don’t really follow the logic in that, because by the time that you were to arrange for a meeting, I assume that the drug would probably have cleared from the animal’s system…. So I think it’s a little bit of a tiger without teeth.”
But because the rule is just at its proposal stage, there is time for the MRC to re-examine how it handles OOC testing. Hopkins said that following Thursday’s approval of the proposal, it will take about three months for the rule to pass through the regulatory process and public commentary period before the MRC takes a final vote on the matter.
Hopkins said other racing jurisdictions in the region could soon follow Maryland’s lead on barring clenbuterol on race day.
“This regulation has also been discussed in the mid-Atlantic area as recently as last week,” Hopkins said.
