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UC Davis Standing Equine PET Scanner Now In Use At Golden Gate Fields

The UC Davis standing equine positron emission tomography (PET) scanner is officially in use at Golden Gate Fields racetrack in Berkeley, CA, providing imaging at the molecular level to monitor racehorse health and guide training and medical care. The scanner (the MILEPET from LONGMILE Veterinary Imaging) allows for imaging of a horse's leg while under mild sedation, eliminating the time, cost, and health risks associated with general anesthesia. In use at the UC Davis veterinary hospital since March, the instrument has been transported by a team of UC Davis veterinarians and technicians to the equine hospital at Golden Gate Fields once a week for the past month.

Dr. Mathieu Spriet, the equine radiologist who pioneered equine PET, is very enthusiastic about this new development. “Running the PET scanner at Golden Gate Fields brings multiple benefits,” said Spriet. “First, it provides Northern California horseracing with the same technology that has helped improve racehorse health and safety in Southern California. Second, it demonstrates that the equine PET scanner can be efficiently transported and shared between multiple sites, reducing costs and increasing availability. And finally, it opens the door to more research opportunities with performing multicenter studies.”

This achievement was made possible thanks to support from the UC Davis Center for Equine Health and the Stronach Group, owners of the Golden Gate Fields racetrack. Both parties have been intimately involved with the development of equine PET. The Center for Equine Health was at the origin of the very first equine PET performed in Davis in 2015 and has since supported the development of the modality by funding several research projects as well as a clinical program. The Stronach Group has had a key role in the last two years by providing partial support to develop the first scanner allowing imaging of standing horses in an effort to prevent catastrophic breakdown in racehorses.

The original MILEPET, owned by the Southern California Equine Foundation with support from the Stronach Group, has been in use at Santa Anita Park since December 2019. In a year and a half, over 200 horses have been imaged with the scanner, several on multiple occasions. Research projects supported by the Grayson Jockey Club and the Dolly Green Research Foundations have helped characterize the value of PET scanning in racehorses. The PET scanner is ideal for imaging the fetlock (the horse's ankle), which is the most common site for catastrophic injuries in racehorses. The first research study performed at Santa Anita demonstrated that PET was far superior to bone scan, another imaging technique in use at the racetrack, for identifying injuries in the sesamoid bones (the small bones at the back of the ankle). Two subsequent studies demonstrated the value of PET to monitor injuries while healing and joint health as horses go back into training.

The use of PET at Santa Anita, in combination with the use of MRI and medication rule changes, is one of several factors that have led to a marked decrease in the number of fatalities between 2019 and 2020. Based on this success, the Stronach Group was eager to offer the same technology at Golden Gate Fields. The proximity to UC Davis offered a unique opportunity to utilize the scanner at both sites. It is currently available at the UC Davis veterinary hospital four days a week and one day a week at Golden Gate Fields. The relative small size (4 x 5 feet, 300 lbs) and mobility of the scanner make it possible to load in a trailer, drive the hour from Davis to Berkeley, and start scanning about 30 minutes after arriving at the racetrack.

To date, 36 horses have been scanned in the first six weeks of operation at Golden Gate Fields. All scans are performed by a UC Davis team led by Dr. Mathieu Spriet and a Golden Gate Fields team, led by Dr. Casille Batten, veterinarian for the Stronach Group. All four fetlocks of a horse can be imaged in 15 to 30 minutes. A new barn was built at the Golden Gate Fields equine hospital specifically for the PET horses, making it possible to scan six horses in one imaging session. Up to 12 horses can be imaged in one day. Two projects, one evaluating horses with injuries and the other assessing horses with no signs of injuries, are ongoing with the support of the Oak Tree and Dolly Green Research Foundations. Both studies aim at comparing findings from horses imaged at Golden Gate Fields with those imaged at Santa Anita. As the two sites use different types of race surfaces, (i.e. synthetic at Golden Gate Fields and dirt at Santa Anita), these studies will help document and compare the effect of the different surfaces on the horses' bones.

No Detailed Update From Laurel on Massive Track Repair Project

Thursday's Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) meeting figured to provide an update on the massive main track base and cushion repair project that has kept Laurel Park dark since Apr. 10 and caused the entire backstretch community to relocate to either Pimlico Race Course, the Timonium fairgrounds, or private stabling.

But beyond noting that all horses had been moved out of the Laurel backstretch as of May 26 and thanking horsemen for their cooperation, Sal Sinatra, the president of the Maryland Jockey Club (MJC), which owns Laurel and Pimlico, only reported to the commission when asked to give an update that “I'm anxious and hopeful that by July 1 it does get done.”

Sinatra then added, “Weather permitting.”

The brevity of that update stands in stark contrast to the extensive grilling that executives from the MJC-and its parent company, The Stronach Group (TSG)-faced at last month's MRC meeting, when commissioners told track management it should have had the foresight to identify and remedy the difficulties earlier, and that the spiraling multi-million-dollar project represented “an accumulation of bad decisions over time.”

Sinatra mentioned several times during the May 27 meeting that that he is not directly involved in the track reconstruction project. But no other MJC or TSG executives were made available to explain the work in detail to commissioners.

Thursday's meeting was held at Pimlico, which has been given commission approval to host the Laurel race dates through June 30.

One commissioner (it was unclear who on the audio stream because he did not identify himself) took umbrage with the MJC providing such a sparse report. He asked Sinatra about details such as a firm timeline for moving forward with the work, or contingency plans for what might happen if the project falls behind.

“I hear you. I'm hopeful,” Sinatra replied. “Again, I'm kind of removed from that project.”

The commissioner shot back: “I understand. That's why I'm asking that you go back to your organization [to find out] some kind of timeline, a critical path of what's got to happen by certain days for the next thing to happen [to] get this thing done in 30 days. I understand you're not involved. But I was hoping that we would get an update on [a project that is] so critical to Maryland racing.”

Sinatra said he would relay the message to his fellow MJC and TSG executives and get back to the commission. He agreed that the project was crucial to everyone involved, noting that agreements for Timonium stabling and putting up backstretch workers in hotels are “predicated on like June 30 to July 5. I mean, we're going to be up against it if we go past” what is already a tight timeline, he said.

Commissioner Michael Algeo then stepped in and suggested that someone from Sinatra's team get in touch with the commission on the Tuesday after this upcoming holiday weekend to set up a time when the MJC and TSG can provide a more detailed update to the board.

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Massive Laurel Horse Move-Out Preakness Week

Difficulties with the dirt track base repair and cushion resurfacing project at Laurel Park continue to mount, with the loose-ended timetable for the work now expected to extend at least until the start of July.

Executives with The Stronach Group (TSG), which owns both Laurel and Pimlico Race Course, said during a Friday tele-meeting that they now need to pause work on the problematic and expensive project at Laurel until management can relocate of all horses stabled at Laurel to other facilities in Maryland.

This news was delivered two weeks after TSG came under fire at a Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) meeting for an alleged “accumulation of bad decisions over time” that led to Laurel's main track safety concerns not being addressed sooner by track management.

At that Apr. 22 meeting, TSG's senior vice president of racing, Steve Koch, told commissioners that Laurel would tentatively be back up and running by the start of June, with limited training allowed at the facility and horses vanned to Pimlico for timed workouts. That plan changed last week when TSG announced all horses would instead have to vacate the property.

The cumbersome logistics of orchestrating such a large horse and worker migration on short notice couldn't come at a worse time for TSG and Maryland horse outfits, with the GI Preakness S. week on the cusp of getting underway at Pimlico.

During the May 7 meeting, Koch projected a new, albeit hazy, timeline for the completion of repairs.

“At the moment, we've requested of the racing commission that the race meet remain at Pimlico through the end of June, so returning early July to be back at Laurel,” Koch said. “There's a lot of unknowns as we get into this racetrack [project and] we'll know more as this thing unfolds.”

Aidan Butler, TSG's chief operating officer, likened the moving-target time frame as a “cat and mouse” game.

Although Butler's words were meant to be figurative, as Friday's meeting evolved, it became clear that felines and rodents were literally involved in the ever-widening scope of the project.

That's because TSG will use the opportunity of having a vacant barn area to launch its most thorough rat extermination attempt to date.

Back in January, TSG executives confirmed to the racing commission that spending $20,000 monthly to try and eradicate rodents while horses remained stabled on the grounds wasn't working, largely because of the abundance of unsecured or spilled horse feed kept the rats well satiated.

Dionne Benson, TSG's chief veterinary officer, said during Friday's meeting that in addition to everything else, that means backstretch outfits will have to attempt herd their barn cats and bring them along once they get stall reassignments at either Pimlico or the Timonium fairgrounds. This is because of concerns that the cats could be poisoned by eating either the rodenticide or a rat that has consumed it.

Then MRC commissioner David Hayden suggested that all hay and straw should also be removed from the backstretch to eliminate another readily available food source for the rats.

David Richardson, the executive director of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, said that hay and straw removal would be done if the exterminators recommended it.

Richardson asked trainers to expediate getting their requests in to the Laurel racing office about their preference–either Pimlico or Timonium–for being relocated, and to note if their stable help will need living accommodations at either venue.

TSG will provide a shuttle service to those tracks for employees who wish to remain in their Laurel living quarters, and trainers can still keep tack and other personal property secured at Laurel, so long as nothing gets stored in stalls.

To date there have been 789 stall requests: 502 for Pimlico and 287 for Timonium, meaning the majority of outfits will not make the cut for the preferred stabling at Pimlico.

Richardson said that the day after the Preakness, construction will begin on three new 40-stall barns at Pimlico, and that temporary stabling there will also be made available.

As for the housing of backstretch workers, those who opt to live on the grounds at Timonium could end up relegated to either the jockeys' quarters or some other areas that have access to bathrooms and showers, because there are currently no dorm facilities there that meet fire code requirements.

“There are still a lot of items that are outstanding,” Richardson said, underscoring the difficult nature of the transition.

TSG executives also addressed the implications of turf racing in Maryland because of the extended meet at Pimlico.

Koch said the grass course at Pimlico–which is only half as wide as the one at Laurel–will, per usual, get used “very, very heavily” on the Friday and Saturday of Preakness week.

“So yeah, there are [future] constraints on that course in the sense that, you know, how much [use] can 70 feet sustain compared to the 140 feet that we have at Laurel?” Koch asked rhetorically.

Butler then picked up the topic: “If it's usable we will use it. Once it's through the big weekend…we're going to use it as often as we can.”

Even before Laurel's main track woes arose this winter and spring, TSG executives were on record as contemplating the addition of a synthetic racing surface there.

Butler said on Friday that with the base now exposed, TSG has the opportunity to assess what the scope of that project might look like. But he added that the synthetic option won't be contemplated until a later date–which will eventually mean more logistical headaches.

“Because there is a very high likelihood of us putting in a tunnel at Laurel, there is no way to drill under the track,” Butler said. “That will have to be a section…cut completely down through the substructure. That means later, when we come to replacing and putting in tunnels and replacing surfaces, or having new surfaces, I should say, there is unfortunately going to be some more disruption.”

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Standing Equine PET Now In Use At UC Davis

UC Davis has welcomed the latest standing equine PET scanner, the MILEPET, into clinical use, less than six years after performing the world's first PET scan on a horse.

Thanks to funding support from the UC Davis Center for Equine Health and the Stronach Group, the UC Davis veterinary hospital recently installed the most recent MILEPET. After the installation of the first scanner at Santa Anita Park racetrack, a second scanner was set up on the East Coast at the University of Pennsylvania. This newest instrument at UC Davis will provide the most innovative equine imaging technique using only standing sedation to the Northern California horse population.

Since the first equine PET scan was performed at UC Davis in 2015, there have been many other “firsts” as the team, led by Dr. Mathieu Spriet, worked to develop the use of the technique to improve detection of injuries in equine limbs. The s were performed two years ago, removing the need for horses to undergo general anesthesia during imaging. Subsequently, our group validated the first scanner designed specifically to image horses prior to its installation at Santa Anita in Southern California. This scanner has now been used for over 200 studies at the racetrack, contributing to reducing the number of catastrophic injuries in racehorses.

For the past five years, the UC Davis veterinary hospital's robust equine clinical program has imaged over 100 horses, but until recently, all of these scans were performed with the piPET, a scanner originally developed to image the human brain. This program accomplished several milestones in the development of equine PET, establishing applications not only for racehorse safety, but also for diagnosis of bone and soft tissue injuries in sport horses and improved understanding of laminitis. The clinical use of the technique was limited due to the requirement to anesthetize horses, which increases costs and risks associated with the procedure.

The initial clinical case utilizing the new scanner at the UC Davis veterinary hospital was another first, a mule named Jool. She was the first patient included in a clinical trial aimed at combining standing PET with standing MRI to provide the most advanced imaging for foot lameness in horses (or mules).

In addition, a second standing PET study is underway, aimed at assessing the progression of laminitis. Laminitis is an extremely debilitating disease that can unfortunately be fatal. Laminitic patients require long-term, careful hoof care performed by an experienced farrier. UC Davis veterinary hospital farrier Shane Westman has a long list of these challenging patients. In order to manage the trimming and shoeing optimally, Westman relies on imaging techniques. In a pilot study performed on laminitic cases at UC Davis, PET demonstrated its value in precisely assessing the involvement of the soft tissues of the foot with laminitis. As PET now becomes available using simple sedation, it simplifies the use of the technique and allows for repeated scans every time a patient comes for shoeing and trimming.

In addition to these two specific clinical research studies, standing PET is now available to any equine patient in Northern California. Standing PET can image any area of the limb from the foot to the carpus (knee) or tarsus (hock).

The racehorse population of Golden Gate Fields racetrack will also benefit from the new PET scanner. As the technique has quickly gained in popularity at Santa Anita Park, a few Northern California racehorses have traveled south to be imaged with PET. Now these horses won't need to travel so far. In addition to being in operation at UC Davis, the MILEPET scanner will soon be transported on a weekly basis to image horses at the equine hospital at Golden Gate Fields.

Dr. Spriet was very enthusiastic about these latest developments in the UC Davis equine PET program, “The standing PET scanner will allow us to offer this cutting-edge modality to more cases than we could before. Repeating scans on the same patient will help us optimize treatment and rehabilitation for better outcomes.”

“Through support from our donors and endowments, we have been able to support the equine PET program at UC Davis since 2016 by providing both research and equipment support,” said Dr. Carrie Finno, director of the UC Davis Center for Equine Health. “It is incredibly rewarding to see this technology now being used to prevent catastrophic injuries in racehorses across California.”

More horses, and mules, will be scanned in the near future!