video | Horse Racing Free Tips

Study Shows Machines Can Detect Equine Pain From Daily Behavior

Machines may soon play a role in monitoring pain in horses admitted to veterinary clinics. Currently, it can be difficult to find an unbiased, quick way to determine if a horse is in pain. Drs. Nuray Kil, Katrin Ertelt and Ulrike Auer created a study that used an automated video tracker to detect and record daily equine activities. The end goal was to have the tracker create an algorithm that would be able to objectively assess pain and wellbeing of horses in a clinical setting. This ability would remove the guesswork of veterinarians and technicians determining if a horse was in pain.

Pain causes behavior changes in horses; understanding normal and pain-induced behaviors in horses is critical to properly evaluating pain levels. Though horses may work to mask pain in an unfamiliar surrounding like a clinic, even subtle variations become apparent when behavior is thoroughly analyzed.

Though there are multiple pain assessment scales available, they are all scored manually and can be skewed by multiple things, including inexperience and the amount of time spent viewing the horse.

To test their video tracker theory, researchers used 34 horses at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna's teaching hospital. All the horses were housed in box stalls with water and were fed four times a day. The horses were recorded on an action camera and in time-lapse mode. The videos were then processed to look for an automated prediction of three body parts: the tail, nose and withers.

The technology was able to identify the horse's stance with an accuracy and sensitivity of more than 80 percent, meaning that it could more often than not detect when a horse was exhibiting pain behaviors. The research team concluded that this technology will improve the detection of equine pain and provide insight for equine behavioral research.

Read the study here.

‘An Affront To The Integrity Of Racing’: Gulfstream Held Racing Without Several Vital Camera Angles

“Will this action foster increased participation and confidence from horseplayers and horse owners?”

This should be the question considered by all decision-makers in horse racing.

Strong storms cascaded through the area around Gulfstream Park on Saturday morning. Besides races on grass being shifted to the dirt and that course being downgraded to sloppy, there was another significant change on the day.

The storm knocked-out several camera positions, including head-on views and a remote camera positioned to capture starts deep in the one-mile backstretch chute.

As a result, neither the stewards nor the betting public have any record of the start and first furlong from four races at one mile on the dirt track (click each race link to view the video as it appeared on Saturday Race 1, Race 2, Race 5, Race 10).

The Thoroughbred Idea Foundation (TIF) contacted the Gulfstream Park stewards on Sunday morning regarding this matter. They confirmed that while there was an individual observing the start of the four, one-mile races, the stewards had no video to review in the event of any incident near or soon after the start and do not believe any video was otherwise recorded for their review or public dissemination after the fact.

More than $3.5 million was handled in intra and inter-race bets involving these four races.

“If the basic measures to ensure the integrity of the race are not available to the public or the stewards, the race should not be run. The races should have been cancelled,” said Patrick Cummings, TIF's Executive Director. “Simply put, the public has not gotten a fair run for their money.”

“While a cancellation would be an unfortunate outcome for the dedicated horsepeople who had their horses ready to go on Saturday, we believe it is in the best interests of all racing stakeholders to ensure that the proper integrity infrastructure is in place for all wagering on a horse race.”

The TIF has advocated for an increase in stewards' reporting on matters related to each race, meeting the standard that has been embraced by nearly all foreign jurisdictions.

“This occurrence is akin to an assault on the wagering public perpetrated by an operator of a regulated wagering event. The actual impact, however, is completely unknown, because there is no record of what occurred. Our industry has to be better than this.”

Cummings filed a complaint after Saturday's second race with the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering of Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

“How long would a casino be allowed to get away with just telling customers the results of a dealer's cards in blackjack as opposed to showing them? Basically, that is what happened here.

“Customers of future races will also be impacted, though to what degree is impossible to determine given the actions of the day, as horses from the four, one-mile races on Saturday go forward.”

Chart comments for the four races lacked any remarks regarding the start or opening furlong, in contrast to other races on the card where those could be observed.

No times are available for the one-mile races, either, and hand-timing cannot be conducted due to the lack of video.

Would the actions of Gulfstream Park on Saturday, July 18, 2020 have fostered increased participation and confidence from horseplayers and horse owners?

No.

The post ‘An Affront To The Integrity Of Racing’: Gulfstream Held Racing Without Several Vital Camera Angles appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

KTFMC Focuses On Online Education For Membership

In an effort to keep club membership engaged throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers' Club (KTFMC) sought new ways to educate their members about issues affecting the Thoroughbred industry in the Bluegrass.

Recently, KTFMC President Donnie Snellings interviewed Dr. Luke Fallon of Hagyard Equine Medical Institute. The two discussed the history of rotavirus and research being conducted to help prevent the disease in the future. Rotavirus causes severe diarrhea in foals.

Dr. Fallon noted that the disease has shifted from affecting foals that are about two weeks old to those that are between 60 and 90 days old. Dr. Fallon estimated that about 5 to 10 percent of foals on a farm may be affected by the virus. Though most foals are readily treated at home, some do become so dehydrated that their electrolytes become imbalanced; these foals need to go to an equine hospital for care.

Dr. Fallon discussed the current rotavirus vaccine, which has been in use since the 1980s, and noted that scientists at Gluck Equine Research Center and veterinarians at Hagyard are working with Zoetis, the company that owns the patent on the vaccine, to see if it is possible to update the existing vaccine or create a new one that will protect more horses.

Watch the video below.

The post KTFMC Focuses On Online Education For Membership appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

I Am Horse Racing’s ‘Vet’s Corner’ Video Focuses On Trapped Epiglottis

“Vet's Corner,” I am Horse Racing's newest endeavor, focuses on delving into the most common ailments and issues that horses, sport horses and racehorses often experience. This week, we welcome back Dr. Emma Adam to explain what an entrapped epiglottis is and how it is most often treated. This condition became particularly newsworthy just last year when top 3-year-old Omaha Beach was scratched days before the Kentucky Derby having been diagnosed with it. Learn exactly what a entrapped epiglottis is and how many horses can safely return to racing once treatment is complete, just like Omaha Beach!