The position will require shared time between clinical work as a treating physician at St Vincent's University Hospital–the national surgical centre for pancreatic cancer–and research work at University College Dublin (UCD). Candidates from Ireland and abroad are expected to apply.

The role is named in memory of Pat Smullen, who passed away from pancreatic cancer in September 2020. Through his efforts, the Irish horse racing and breeding industry over Irish Champions Weekend in September 2019 raised €2.6 million for Cancer Trials Ireland's pancreatic cancer trials and awareness.

“The Pat Smullen Pancreatic Cancer Fund arises from various fundraising endeavours undertaken by champion jockey, Pat Smullen, his family, and the horse racing community, following his diagnosis with pancreatic cancer in March 2018. The inaugural fundraising event raised €2.6 million with further fundraising events having raised an additional €367,000 to date,” said Eibhlin Mulroe, CEO of Cancer Trials Ireland. “Sadly, Pat died in September 2020, but his legacy lives on and the fund he created has now provided new treatment options for 174 patients with pancreatic cancer, at no cost to themselves, or to the State.”

For more information on the Pat Smullen Pancreatic Cancer Fund, visit Cancer Trials Ireland.

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“The Grayson Foundation is dedicated to tackling a variety of equine health challenges, which is clearly reflected in our selected projects for this year,” said Jamie Haydon, president of Grayson. “Our research projects and career development awards wouldn't be possible without the kindness of our donors, and we thank them for their understanding of the significance of equine veterinary research.”

Details on the new projects are available here.

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“This was the tenth edition of the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit,” said Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation's President Jamie Haydon following the event. “It's really astounding to think that we couldn't measure how many horses had died on the racetrack when we started this, and now not only are we presenting risk factors nationally, but we heard veterinarians also giving local risk factors. Since the first summit until now, the safety and welfare of our human and equine athletes is the guiding principal and stays the guiding principle. To see over a 30% decrease in fatality rate tells me that we've come together and we've done a lot of work.”

The full video of the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit will be available to watch on the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation's website on Thursday, June 23.

Equine Injury Database Update, 2-Year-Old Fatality Spike in 2020

Dr. Tim Parkin, the Head of Bristol Veterinary School and a member of the Equine Injury Database Scientific Advisory Committee, provided the most recent findings from the Equine Injury Database.

Parkin reported that since the database was launched over a decade ago, annual fatality figures on all racing surfaces have reduced by 30.5% from a high of 2.1 per thousand starts in 2009 to less than 1.5 in 2021. In addition, fatality risk has reduced by 35.6% since 2009 for dirt racing specifically.

Parkin also presented findings on data collected in 2020, when there was a 43% increase in fatal injuries in 2-year-old compared to 2019. With the increase in fatalities, there was a decrease in the overall number of workouts by 2-year-olds due to the impacts of COVID and an altered racing schedule.

“It is interesting to see that while we saw a similar, less pronounced training disruption in older-aged horses, we didn't see an impact on their risk of fatal injuries,” Parkin noted.

Along with the conjecture that the disruption in training may help explain the increase in fatal injuries, Parkin said they found that later in the year as racing resumed to a more normal schedule, 2-year-olds workouts suddenly increased–presumably in an attempt to compensate for a lack of training earlier in the year. He noted that this could have been another contributing factor leading toward the spike in fatalities.

Parkin also discussed recent findings on sudden deaths in racehorses. Since 2009, the database has recorded a 30.6% drop in the risk of musculoskeletal fatal injury, but only an 18% drop in risk of sudden death in the same period.

“A decrease in breakdowns suggests that risk factors have been identified and people are starting to develop interventions for musculoskeletal injuries, but those same risk factors haven't had the same impact on sudden death,” he explained.

While the percentage of overall fatalities due to sudden death was between 5 and 6% in 2009, in several recent years, sudden death has accounted for over 10% of overall fatalities.

“Probably the reason why people are talking more about sudden death, apart from potential high-profile cases, is that because of the reduction in the overall contribution of musculoskeletal injuries to the total number of fatal injuries, the proportion of horses that are dying due to sudden death is rising,” Parkin said.

One potential risk factor for sudden death, according to Parkin, could be the use of Lasix. Their data has shown that use of race-day Lasix increases the risk of fatality by 62%, with a 0.08% incident of sudden death per thousand starts with horses raced without Lasix and a 0.13% incident per thousand starts with horses treated with Lasix.

“The reason why this has not been identified before is purely due to statistical power,” he said. “When you have more than 95% of starts being made on Lasix, it is very difficult to identify a difference between those racing on Lasix and the very few that are not. We now have a sufficient number of years of data related to sudden deaths in the database to enable us to draw these conclusions.”

Dr. Bramlage Examines Advantage of 2-Year-Old Racing

Internationally-recognized equine surgeon Dr. Larry Bramlage of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital spoke on recent findings relating to the racing and training 2-year-olds. Bramlage is a strong advocate of training horses as juveniles.

“2-year-olds are right at the end of their growth period,” Bramlage explained. “During their growth period, their skeleton is replete with the blood supply and cell population to build bone. It doesn't make any sense to let that totally atrophy until this horse is a 4-year-old, because then you have to build it all back. You want to pick up that support system and convert it from growth to adaptation to training.”

Bramlage evaluated findings examining the most effective methods for building up bone in racehorses. He said that one important aspect of equine physiology is that while bone trains to the level of work, the cardiovascular system trains to the amount of work. He used the example of interval training. While the high-intensity exercise benefits humans, whose limiting factor is the cardiovascular system, he said the same form of training is not as effective for horses.

“Horses can't take that amount of training,” he said. “Their heart and lungs are so good that they just pass the skeleton. The limiting system is always the skeleton in the horse. The best training episode will have a furlong in it that's a little faster than the other furlongs. That shows the horse where they're going to go next week when they breeze.”

Bramlage connected this idea to what may have caused the increased 2-year-olds fatality rate in 2020. During the first half of the year, with few race dates on the horizon, most trainers were only galloping their 2-year-olds. Bramlage said that once racing started up again, trainers may have squeezed breezes together in a tighter time period with a higher intensity.

“What that does is we've now wound up the engine at a much higher level than we've wound up the undercarriage,” he said. “Since the heart, muscle and lungs train to the amount of training, not to the level, if you're just galloping at the same speed, the bone is not making much adaptation. When you ask it to adapt in a short period of time, you compound the problem of the faster breezing schedule with the fact that the heart, lungs and muscle are more mature than the skeleton is. The horses could go faster, but the skeleton wasn't as prepared.”

Regulatory Veterinarians' Perspectives and Looking Toward Racing's Future

In a session focused on equine safety and welfare from a California perspective, Dr. Dionne Benson, the Chief Veterinary Officer of 1/ST Racing, and Equine Medical Center surgeon Dr. Ryan Carpenter discussed the many changes California racing has made since the publicized series of breakdowns at Santa Anita in the spring of 2019.

Medication reform, private veterinary exams, additional race day monitoring and risk assessments prior to races and works were among the major implementation that Benson said has bettered their program and improved the safety and welfare of their horses. Since September of 2019 at Santa Anita, 7,400 unique horses have been examined and over 21,000 pre-work exams have been conducted.

“We just finished a six-month meet at Santa Anita and had three fatalities in racing,” Benson said. “I think it's working. It's certainly a team effort. It's not just the veterinarians. It's the trainers, the owners and the private veterinarians. The one thing that impresses me the most is that we really have changed to a culture of safety out there. Very few people will take that one last shot and enter that horse to get one last race whereas at other tracks, we tend to see that more aggressive attitude. I think there is a conscious effort to put the horse first there.”

Later in the day, a regulatory veterinarian panel was moderated by Dr. Mary Scollay-Ward, the Executive Director and COO of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium. Participants included Prairie Meadows' Dr. Jaclyn Bradley, Churchill Downs Equine Medical Director Dr. Will Farmer, and the Minnesota Racing Commission's Chief Commission Veterinarian Dr. Lynn Hovda.

Scollay asked the three veterinarians a series of prompts centered around how their jobs have evolved since they first started out in the industry.

“One of the unique aspects of my role is that I deal with multiple racing jurisdictions,” Farmer said when asked of the most challenging aspect of his position. “For me to really be in the weeds in each of those jurisdictions, that's why I see the usefulness of HISA to be able to bring some of that together. I have four racing jurisdictions and every one of them is different. As regulatory veterinarians, our biggest challenge is communication.”

Later in the day, KEEP Foundation's Equine Education Coordinator and Amplify Horse Racing President Annise Montplaisir, who served as MC for the summit, moderated a panel on the importance of welfare and safety to youth entering the Thoroughbred industry. Participants discussed why the younger generation places a greater emphasis safety and welfare and shared their thoughts on practical tactics individuals in the industry can use to promote racing to young people.

Also during the summit, a panel was held on the latest updates with equine wearable technology. TDN's Dan Ross recaps the segment here. Other topics throughout the day included jockey wellbeing and fitness, positron emission tomography, an update on racing surfaces testing, and Keeneland and The Thoroughbred Training Center's use of InCompass Solutions.

Biographies of participants, agendas and additional material from the summit can be found here.

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The new round of PHBA funding will bolster three key research initiatives focused on improving the health and safety of equine athletes and enhancing integrity in racing. One area of research seeks to identify novel mRNA biomarkers that can help proactively predict if a horse is at risk for injury, even for injuries that are difficult or impossible to detect using conventional methods. Ultimately, researchers hope to develop a rapid stall-side blood test that could be administered prior to a race, helping racing officials accurately detect horses that may be at an elevated risk.

The funding will also support Penn Vet's sample collection for continued development of an Equine Biological Passport through the expansion of the Equine Pharmacology Laboratory's BioBank. Samples from the BioBank are analyzed to determine baseline levels of blood-based biomarkers found in racehorses.  Once established, these baseline levels can be used to determine if blood samples taken from a horse pre- or post-race show any variations from baseline indicative of illness, injury or prohibited substances.

“The PHBA is very proud to continue its partnership with Penn Vet by providing an additional grant of $150,000 to fund this incredibly important and timely research program,” said Deanna Manfredi, PhD, a member of the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association's Board of Directors. “This research program has the potential to have a very positive impact on the sport we all love and ensure its continued success through advances in preventing breakdowns, promoting equine health, and enhancing racing integrity.”

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UC Davis alumnus Bornino-Miller and her late husband William J. Miller opened Templeton Farms for business in 2011 as a world-class sport horse training, sales, and breeding facility near Paso Robles. Templeton Farms has been home to generations of carefully and lovingly bred performance horses, as well as a thriving boarding program.

“I am thrilled to donate Templeton Farms to my alma mater,” said Bornino-Miller. “It was our dream to build a world-class facility and I look forward to seeing it develop further to advance equine health and veterinary education for years to come.”

This generous donation will support the Center for Equine Health's mission to advance the health, welfare, performance and veterinary care of horses through research, education and public service. The additional location will provide new opportunities to bring veterinary students, residents, researchers, and veterinarians together to tackle important problems affecting horse health.

“We are incredibly grateful to Gina for this extraordinary donation that supports the future of equine veterinary medicine,” said Dr. Carrie Finno, director of the Center for Equine Health. “Templeton Farms is a spectacular property with a reputation for excellence and we are committed to providing top-quality care to boarders while enhancing our research and educational efforts to improve horse health and performance.”

The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine serves the people of California by providing educational, research, clinical service, and public service programs of the highest quality to advance the health and care of animals, the health of the environment, and public health, and to contribute to the economy.

“UC Davis is known as a leader in equine health,” said Dr. Mark Stetter, dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine. “Gina's trust in us with the farm that she and William founded will give us new opportunities to fulfill our mission to California and to serve the equine community.”

Read more here.

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The Foundation for the Horse's mission is to improve the health and welfare of the horse, to further the professional development of its members, and to provide resources and leadership for the benefit of the equine industry. These principles have guided the AAEP for more than six decades in the activities and services it provides.

In alignment with their mission to support and promote equine education through inclusion and engagement, TERF continues to offer their financial assistance in 2021.

TERF's grants reflect the values set forth by founders Herb and Ellen Moelis. TERF's current Board includes Co-Chairs Kathleen Anderson DVM and James Orsini DVM, Margaret H. Duprey, Gretchen and Roy Jackson, Ellen and Herb Moelis, Wendy Moon, Anita Motion, Toni Orsini, Scott Palmer VMD, Josh Pons, Lucy Zungailia, Katelyn Jackson, and Lynn Cassimeris, Ph.D.

To learn more about TERF, please visit www.terfusa.org.

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Horse owners usually dread hearing the diagnosis of “Laminitis.” The disease plagues horses of many backgrounds, ages and disciplines. Using genetics, UF/IFAS and University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine scientists have made a breakthrough in the disease thanks to funding from The Foundation for the Horse.

A horse's hoof has a tough job. It must support a heavy animal which can move faster than 40 mph. Laminitis occurs when inflammation and damage of the tissue takes place between the hoof and coffin bone. It causes lameness, a diminished quality of life and often results in euthanasia.

“Laminitis is a tough problem for the horse and its owner,” said Dr. Samantha Brooks, UF/IFAS associate professor of equine physiology. “We have very few tools in our arsenal to manage the disease itself. We treat symptoms, pain and mechanical instability but do not have anything to target the cause just yet.”

Laminitis studies have previously been hindered by the scarcity of genetic information specific to hoof tissues. Scientists tapped into the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center Laminitis Discovery Database, an archive of data and sample sets from naturally occurring laminitis cases collected since 2008. Using that database, researchers examined 36 archived tissues of 20 Thoroughbred horses treated for laminitis.

There are three types of laminitis, and all impair the structure and function of the horse's foot. This research provided a snapshot of the active pathways and functions of the hoof, with a focus on supporting limb laminitis – the laminitis to which famous racehorse Barbaro succumbed.

“We understand the situations that trigger an episode of laminitis, but we do not have a good understanding of what is happening in the hoof,” said Brooks. “This study took a very comprehensive view of the processes early in the development of laminitis.”

Using gene expression analysis, researchers catalogued the changes in gene transcription across the 20 horses. Some had healthy feet, some were early in the disease process and others were more severe. Researchers identified trends in the disease process.

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Treating diarrhea medicinally may resolve the condition, but some medications have unwelcome side effects: inappetence, skin reactions (wheals, swelling), and kidney toxicity. The benefits of administering probiotics for treating or preventing diarrhea remain largely theoretical despite the widespread availability of the products.

To shed light on the actual, rather than perceived, benefits of probiotics in horses, Australian researchers conducted a thorough review of the available scientific literature. After combing through many relevant research papers, they selected 18 that examined the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of probiotics in horses and foals. Some of the key findings of this study were:

• Probiotics appeared well tolerated in adult horses with few safety concerns;
• Substantial concerns were noted in foals. High doses of multistrain probiotics appeared to aggravate diarrhea, particularly when products similar to those designed for humans were used. When the probiotic contained organisms more closely related to the microbes normally found in the equine microbiome, the incidence of foal diarrhea nearly halved; and
• Single probiotic interventions appear less effective than multispecies probiotics.

In addition to managing diarrhea, owners sometimes give probiotics to horses whose diets contain large grain meals.

“High-grain diets can disturb intestinal function, leading to hindgut acidosis, a condition characterized by unusually low pH in the cecum and colon. This drop in pH can change the microbiome, reducing digestibility of feed. Hindgut acidosis may result in loose manure, decreased appetite, behavior changes, colic, and laminitis,” explained Peter Huntington, B.V.Sc., M.A.C.V.Sc., director of nutrition at Kentucky Equine Research.

To combat plummeting pH in the hindgut, researchers looked at offering a probiotic to improve the microbiome and increase digestive function. However, two separate studies failed to identify any benefit in feeding a probiotic to horses given high-grain diets.

“This finding leaves room for more research and alternate approaches to controlling pH in the hindgut. Using hindgut buffers such as the research-proven hindgut supplements created by Kentucky Equine Research are potentially better than using probiotics for this purpose,” Huntington recommended.

While the role of probiotics for intestinal conditions remains unclear, researchers found beneficial effects of probiotics in exercising Standardbred horses. Specifically, those researchers stated that “administration of multistrain bacterial formulations to increase stamina in exercising horses shows promise.”

Huntington added, “Supplemented horses had lower blood lactate levels, which may delay fatigue in exercising horses. At this time, though, researchers are unclear as to how probiotics lower blood lactate levels.”

Also noteworthy, the number of studies examining probiotics in horses was extremely small compared to those for humans. As such, much of the information used to support probiotics intended for horses is actually extrapolated from human studies.

“The anatomy and physiology of the equine digestive tract are very different from that of the human, which makes data extrapolation inappropriate. Using human data for horses may at least partly explain the lack of reported efficacy of probiotics in horses,” Huntington said.

Instead of extrapolating from human medicine, scientists should consider equine-specific research, as many questions remain unanswered. For example, what species of bacteria and yeast should be included in probiotic supplements, and what multistrain products will have the most benefit? How much should be given? How long should horses be given the supplements?

Quality concerns also persist. Do commercial over-the-counter probiotics contain the type or amount of ingredient they claim? The live bacteria that went into the package or syringe may not be viable when actually fed, which negates its usefulness.

“While probiotics may exert positive gastrointestinal and extraintestinal effects, using poor-quality products or administering probiotics incorrectly may delay more appropriate treatments or interventions and are economically draining for horse owners,” summarized Huntington.

*Cooke, C.G., Z. Gibb, and J.E. Harnett. The safety, tolerability and efficacy of probiotic bacteria for equine use. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 99:103407.

Article reprinted courtesy of Kentucky Equine Research (KER). Visit equinews.com for the latest in equine nutrition and management, and subscribe to The Weekly Feed to receive these articles directly (equinews.com/newsletters).   

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Organized by Equestrian Events Inc. (EEI), the event returns to the Kentucky Horse Park, April 28-May 1. Known as the “Best Weekend All Year,” the event hosts the prestigious Five Star three-day event, the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian, plus a spectacular show jumping Grand Prix, the $225,000 Kentucky CSI3* Invitational Grand Prix presented by Hagyard Equine Medical Institute.

“We are deeply honored to be selected as the official charity of the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event,” said Dell Hancock, chairman of Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation. “EEI's commitment to helping non-profit organizations should be commended, especially given the financial challenges of the past year. Their generosity will help improve the lives of all horses, from three-day eventers to horses in your backyard.”

Since 1983, the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation has provided more than $27.5 million to fund 366 projects at 44 universities in North America and overseas. Through the years, research funded by Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and its predecessor (the Grayson Foundation) has uncovered solutions to critical problems affecting horse health as well as clues to numerous other solutions of equine health issues. For more information, visit Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, Inc.

“Over the years, EEI has maintained a strong commitment to supporting charities that serve the local community and support the equine industry,” said EEI president Mike Cooper. “This year, after so many individuals and organizations stood by us during the challenges presented by COVID-19, we are redoubling our commitment to giving back and we are thrilled to partner with the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation as our official charity.”

As the official charity, Grayson-Jockey Club Research will receive a portion of the proceeds from a special farm-to-table fundraising charity dinner on Thursday, April 28, in the Big Barn at the Kentucky Horse Park. Ticket and other information is available at https://kentuckythreedayevent.com/fundraisingdinner/.

The LRK3DE is a thrilling multi-day competition featuring Olympic-level riders and horses in what can best be described as an equestrian triathlon. Horses and riders compete for $400,000 in prize money in three phases of competition – Dressage, Cross-Country and Show Jumping. LRK3DE is one of only seven annual Five Star three-day events in the world and is the first and longest-running Five Star in the Americas. As the United States' premier event, it also serves as the Land Rover/USEF CCI-5*-L Eventing National Championship presented by MARS Equestrian.

As part of the action-packed weekend, the third annual $225,000 Kentucky CSI3* Invitational Grand Prix presented by Hagyard Equine Medical Institute will take place on Saturday afternoon, April 30, after the cross-country portion of the LRK3DE. Stadium seat tickets for the Grand Prix are just $10 and are available here. There will also be a $36,500 Welcome Speed Cup Ranking Class on Friday in Rolex Stadium, after the day's LRK3DE dressage competition. No stadium seat ticket is required for Friday's Ranking Class. Further information is available at Kentucky CSI3* Invitational Grand Prix.

Tickets for the 2022 Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian and the $225,000 Kentucky CSI3* Invitational Grand Prix presented by Hagyard Equine Medical Institute are now on sale! Single-Day and Multi-Day tickets are available. All grounds admission tickets to the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event include general parking and admission to the Kentucky Horse Park and International Trade Fair, but do not include access to the competition in Rolex Stadium on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Reserved grandstand seating is sold separately from grounds admission and traditionally the best seats sell out, so everyone is encouraged to place orders as early as possible. Grounds admission is free for children 12 years and under with adult ticket purchases.

For a unique world-class Kentucky experience, exclusive Ringside Hospitality Packages are also available, including Patron Plus, Patron Club, and Kentucky Club (Saturday only). Tickets can be ordered online at https://kentuckythreedayevent.com/tickets/ or over the phone (859-254-8123). Further information on the Land Rover Kentucky is available here.

Read more here.

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