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Italy Hit Hardest As EPC Cuts 25 Black-Type Races From Flat Programme

Italy's major races will see the most significant downgrades among European countries after the European Pattern Committee announced alterations to the 2023 Flat programme Wednesday, as a host of that country's major races are set to be demoted in status.

There will be 827 black-type races run in Europe this year, compared to the 852 in 2022, while group races have been cut by 13 to 412 and listed races drop to 415 from 427.

One of the most significant changes to the Irish programme comes in the case of the seven-furlong 2000 Guineas Trial, run at Leopardstown in April, being upgraded to a Group 3 from listed status. Ireland will also stage a new listed race for fillies and mares aged three years and older over eight furlongs at Navan in June.

Germany will stage two new listed races in 2023, both with a view to strengthening the stayers' black-type programme in that country. The first will be a race for 3-year-olds and older over 3000m at Hannover in July and the other will be a race for 2-year-olds over a distance of 2000m, also at Hannover, and scheduled for October.

However, the Italian racing programme has largely been downgraded, with the G2 Milano and G2 Federico Tesio, changed to Group 3s while the G3 Tudini, G3 Umbria and G3 Sergio Cumani all demoted to listed events.

Speaking about the changes, Jason Morris, the Chairman of the European Pattern Committee, said, “2023 will see a significant reduction in the number of Flat group and listed races staged within Europe, with 25 less black-type races to be staged overall. This reflects the voluntary downgrades that Britain has already announced for this year to aid the competitiveness of their Pattern race programme as part of an ongoing strategic review.

“Downgrades were also applied by the European Pattern Committee to a number of Group 2, Group 3 and listed races under ground rules which strictly enforce the highest standards of international quality control with underperforming races facing automatic demotion.

“At the same time the committee remains keen to encourage the development of the sport in the smaller racing jurisdictions throughout Europe, and Poland will now become the 11th country with a black-type race in 2023 (Britain, France, Germany and Ireland are full EPC members; Italy, Scandinavia (representing Denmark, Norway and Sweden) and Turkey are associate members; while Spain and Poland are emerging nations with one listed race each).”

Boost for Polish and Swedish Programme

While the Italian fixture list has been hit with a number of downgrades, the Eastern European programme in Poland and the Scandinavian division in Sweden has been boosted by a number of upgrades.

Sweden will stage a new black-type race in 2023, with the Challenge S. at Bro Park over seven furlongs for 3-year-olds and older being upgraded to listed status.

The EPC also agreed to upgrade Poland's flagship race, the Wielka Warszawska, to listed status as part of the committee's support of the emerging racing nations in the European and Mediterranean Horseracing Federation. The race will be run at Sluzewiec in Warsaw on the first Sunday of October, over a distance of 2600m for 3-year-olds and older.

Other changes were some alterations in dates for notable Pattern races in Europe in 2023. In France, the G1 Prix Saint-Alary at ParisLongchamp will move from late May to the Poule d'Essai fixture on May 14. The G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud will move back by a week to Saint Cloud's evening fixture on July 8.

In Ireland, the G2 Curragh Cup will move from the Irish Derby weekend in late June to the Irish Oaks weekend on 22 July.

Across Europe, a total of 11 Pattern races have been downgraded in 2023, with a further eight listed races losing that status.

Meanwhile, as previously announced earlier this year, Britain took the decision to voluntarily downgrade 11 black-type (three Pattern races and eight listed races) for 2023, as part of a wider–and ongoing–strategic review of the Pattern and listed programme. A total of 48 Pattern and listed races will be at risk of potential downgrade in 2024 depending on their performance this year.

The full list of changes made to the European programme are as follows:

France

G2 Greffulhe downgraded to Group 3
G2 Hocquart downgraded to Group 3

Germany

G2 Badener Meile downgraded to Group 3
G3 Von Lotto Hamburg downgraded to listed
Listed Grosser Preis Von Meravis loses listed status
Listed Grosser Preis der Sparkasse Hannover loses listed status
Listed Sparkassenpreis loses listed status
Listed Dusseldorfer Stutenpreis loses listed status

Ireland

G2 Kilboy Estate downgraded to Group 3
G3 Concorde downgraded to listed

Italy

G2 Milano downgraded to Group 3
G2 Federico Tesio downgraded to Group 3
G3 Tudini downgraded to listed
G3 Sergio Cumani downgraded to listed
G3 Umbria downgraded to listed
Listed Criterium Nazionale loses listed status
Listed Gardone loses listed status
Listed Bersaglio loses listed status
Listed Unire loses listed status

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Non-Uniform Saddle Sweat Patterns May Indicate An Issue

The way a horse sweats under his saddle can indicate if he's wearing well-fitting or ill-fitting tack. If the horse has his saddle and pad removed after exercising and his coat has odd-shaped sweat patterns, something may be amiss.

A horse wearing a saddle that has too-tight tree points will often have less sweat or dry spots over his withers where the saddle is pinching him. Sweat glands are unable to function normally if too much pressure is placed on then.

A horse wearing a saddle that has a too-narrow gullet may experience significant saddle shifting, causing it to wobble from side to side. When the saddle wiggles or slips, the gullet can sit too close to the back and spine, increasing the pressure on a horse's back. This pressure can cause edema or transient, fibrous nodules around thoracic vertebrae 13 and 14.

To determine if a saddle fits, it can be helpful to watch a tacked horse move both with and without a rider. A saddle may slip because of the way a horse's back is shaped or because the saddle has uneven flocking. Another common reason for saddle slipping is hind-end lameness that affects how the horse's axial skeleton moves, reports Dr. Sue Dyson.

Dyson estimates that 87 percent of horses with hind-end lameness also experience saddle slippage, often to the side of the lame leg. Once the lameness is addressed, saddle slippage significantly decreases.

It's easier to see if a saddle is slipping if the horse is working on a circle, rather than a straight line. Saddle slipping is not always caused by a crooked rider, but a rider often becomes crooked when riding an uneven horse.

Disturbance In Sleep Patterns May Indicate Equine Ill Health

Researchers in England are monitoring the nightly sleeping patterns of horses to try to determine if rest patterns may indicate that a horse is feeling unwell. The scientists, based at Nottingham Trent University, will take into account other factors like temperature, age, personality and exercise, which may influence rest. They hope that if they can discover what is “normal” for a particular horse, that deviation from this normal pattern will alert owners that something may be wrong.

Horses have two sleep phases: slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Horses that are sleeping while standing experience only slow-wave sleep; to enter REM sleep, the horse must lie down. REM sleep is very important for equine physical and mental well being.

Horses that can't lie down, whether because of illness, injury or environmental stress, will become sleep deprived. As owners generally don't see their horses sleep, sleep deprivation may go unnoticed until it become extreme.

To help them in their research, scientists will analyze videos of equine actions over multiple nights, recording the behavior of each horse. The horses will also be fit with an accelerometer that will record the horse's movement. The researchers plan to use two different populations of horses: riding school horses and racehorses to help them understand the different sleeping patterns.

Equine Recurrent Uveitis And Appaloosas: What’s The Correlation?

Every Appaloosa over the age of 12 should have an eye exam to ensure the horse isn't suffering from equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) or moon blindness, a disease that disproportionately affects the breed. As the disease progresses, it can lead to blindness.

A study by Drs. Sandmeyer, Nicole Kingsley, Cheryl Walder, Sheila Archer, Marina Leis, Rebecca Bellone and Bianca Bauer completed a retrospective study using horses that were referred to the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Canada.The research team found that ERU occurred 13 percent more often in Apps than in other breeds; of all horses at the hospital who had ERU, Appaloosas made up 62.5 percent of the ERU cases.

The study team then had board-certified ophthalmologists examine 145 Appaloosas on 11 farms in Western Canada to determine what risk factors Appaloosas have that may be relevant to ERU development. They sought to study if coat pattern correlated at all with ERU risk: Specifically, if Appaloosas that had extensive white were more at risk to develop ERU.

Horses were categorized as having no signs or mild, moderate or severe signs of ERU. Of the 145 horses examined, 20 (14%) were confirmed with ERU. The research team determined that:

ERU occurred 11 percent of the time in horses with few spots; 29 percent of the time in Apps with white blankets and no spots (called snowcap); 15 percent in leopard apps, which are white with spots all over; 11 percent on Apps with a white rump that has spots and 13 percent of the time in Apps with no patterning over the topline
There was no association between gender or base coat color and ERU
Age is a significant risk factor; 12.3 years old being the mean age of affected horses. For each year older, the odds of ERU increased 1.15 times
The study did not find ERU in horses that had white-flecked coats, lace blankets or solid coloration that does not roan with age
Apps with leopard spotting are at increased risk for ERU
A common ancestor was identified in 83 percent of affected horses within eight generations, and five were inbred to that ancestor

The scientists determined that many horses have chronic, low-grade clinical signs of ERU that go undetected until the condition worsens. Because of this, it's imperative that owners of Appaloosas have their eyes checked yearly, specifically after 12 years old.