The European gambling scene – which way for horseracing?
The war is over: so said France Galop director general Louis Romanet a year ago, after he had put his name to a groundbreaking deal with British bookmakers Ladbrokes. For the first time, live pictures of all French races – Flat, jumps and trotting – were being made available to show in UK betting shops, via a new broadcasting service known as Ladbrokes Xtra.
Howard Wright (Trainer Magazine - issue 16 - Winter 2006)
The war is over: so said France Galop director general Louis Romanet a year ago, after he had put his name to a ground-breaking deal with British bookmakers Ladbrokes. For the first time, live pictures of all French races – Flat, jumps and trotting – were being made available to show in UK betting shops, via a new broadcasting service known as Ladbrokes Xtra. A unique, dedicated channel, Xtra is now in all Ladbrokes’ 2,140 shops in Britain and Ireland, and is there to provide extra – hence the name – opportunities for punters, over and above the traditional daily mix of horse and greyhound racing, virtual reality racing and numbers’ betting. Xtra needed product to make up its programme, and French racing was an obvious target, provided the old enmity between the parties could be overcome. The French racing and betting authorities have generally abhorred fixed-odds bookmakers for a century, ever since their like were driven out of the country by legislation that strengthened the national pool-betting monopoly. For their turn, Ladbrokes, which has a well established business in neighbouring Belgium, had engaged in court battles against the French for at least the past 20 years, seeking to break the mould so that it could take its product into fresh areas. Suddenly, peace had broken out between the two old adversaries. More specifically, pragmatism had prevailed. Ladbrokes needed betting opportunities to fill the gaps in its new service, and the French had them in abundance, even if the idea of putting money on the outcome of a trotting race still seemed slightly alien to UK viewers. On the other side of the counter, the French could see an opportunity to enhance its betting take, because as well as allowing for the delivery of live pictures, the deal enabled Ladbrokes to put bets straight into the PMU pools, for a fee, of course, which generally works out at three per cent of turnover to the host provider. One year on, the two sides are more than happy with the arrangement. Ladbrokes has a guaranteed product to put before its customers, and the French PMU has another source of income, as well as a useful driver for increased pools. Romanet says: “The arrangement is progressing well, better than we expected, and we have very good relations with Ladbrokes, which will grow. The more people that are part of the pool, the more interesting it becomes. “French racing is benefiting, and it is good for Ladbrokes, because with pool betting the bookmaker doesn’t mind which horse wins.This is a proper deal, worked out between the racing authority and the bookmaker on proper terms, which is very different from what other betting operators, such as the exchanges, have suggested. They came to us and said they would give us 0.25 per cent of turnover. We said No. We are not beggars.” So there we have it; the new enemy is revealed. The betting exchanges, with their low-margin operation that cuts into the traditional market, have taken the place of the British bookmaker as the bad guys. But the exchanges are not the only target, and nor is France – the Ladbrokes deal aside – the only European country taking a stand, though its policy towards private betting and gambling operators is considered among the most restrictive in Europe. The real storm has been whipped up by the pervasive phenomenon of the internet, which has turned the European gambling scene into a maelstrom. On one side are the state-controlled monopolies, generally making their money from lotteries and hanging on to their status for dear life under national law. On the other is the European Commission, steeling itself to intervene under EU legislation. And in the middle are the private betting operators, prodding governments into short-term legal action with the long-term aim of getting to the European Court of Justice, where they anticipate a wider, more liberal ruling. For betting operators, it may prove to be a case of taking two or more steps back before they can make a half-step forward, but if the mood among European Commissioners is any guide, they will get there, some day. In September, the internal market minister Charlie McCreevy took to nine – Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy and Sweden - the number of national governments against which the EC is opening infringement proceedings for restricting the provision of sports betting (including horseracing) and gambling services. The EC is following the line that under EU law countries can curb private gambling operators but only on grounds that are “non-discriminatory, proportionate and consistent”. A country cannot justify restrictions simply to protect its gambling or lottery monopoly, it says. Fellow commissioner Malcolm Harbour, who represents Britain, adds: “Member states cannot, on the one hand, incite and encourage people to participate in national lotteries, while at the same time invoking customer protection as a reason to suppress sports (and horserace) betting.” The testing ground for these views is being laid out even as some national governments continue to bear down on unwelcome betting operators, and as is the way with such issues, the workings of the law will grind away slowly, and expensively. Meanwhile, and perhaps ironically, two countries on McCreevy’s hit list – Germany and Italy – are moving towards deregulating their betting landscape from inside. Spain, too, is gently opening its arms to fresh possibilities, and emerging areas of eastern Europe will not be far behind. Major British-based bookmakers have worked out the angles, and, inevitably in view of their vast experience at putting on a fixed-odds show for their customers, they have made strategic alliances or are looking for individual representation. Stanley International, based in Liverpool, has been operating through agents in Italy for around five years. Its legal challenges have been an irritant for much of that time, but they have produced important legal decisions. Now Stanley is looking to advance through being awarded some of the 17,000 licences – 7,000 for sports betting shops and 10,000 for horserace betting – that are being opened up to commercial competition in Italy. In September, Ladbrokes paid €1.3m for a joint venture with local betting company Pianeta Scommesse and is promising to spend €100m over the next five years on a betting-shop project. “There is clearly unsatisfied demand in Italy,” says Ladbrokes chief executive Chris Bell. Gala Coral already operates in Italy through Eurobet and is bidding to expand, while William Hill can hardly afford to be left out, though its main thrust into Europe will be through Spain, which is moving towards a degree of sports-betting deregulation, and then Greece once it treads softly into liberalisation. Spain, which has new legislation on the stocks in three of the country’s 17 autonomous regions, is also the target for Betbull, a polyglot of an organisation, since it grew out of Austria, is based in Gibraltar and run by Simon Bold, who first made his name as a bookmaker in Liverpool. Bold says: “The Spanish retail market is immense, and will embrace the concept of sports betting in comfortable outlets that combine high-level technology with leisure and catering facilities”. So, where does all this to-and-fro activity leave horseracing? That’s the million-euro question for authorities running the business and individuals practicising within the pursuit, who see their rewards diminishing and wonder if, or how, they can hang on to the tail feathers of the golden goose of betting. Steve Fisher, British co-founder and director of Stan James Bookmakers, is as close as anyone to the central attractions. He was among the first to spot the potential of online betting, and has known days when his firm will offer nearly 400 separate markets on a multitude of sports, but he also supports horseracing to the hilt, including sponsoring both the Guineas on the Flat and the King George VI Chase over jumps. “Aside from lotteries, the gambling market in Europe is dominated by gaming – casinos and slot machines – and fixed odds can never compete for profitably per square metre,” he explains. “Britain, Ireland, France, Germany and Italy may be the dominant horseracing countries, but betting has to compete strongly with other sports, and horseracing is a minority activity even in such as Germany and Italy. Spain is a worry for any operator because it does not have a history of betting. Its gambling is based on lotteries, numbers, bingo and slot machines, so expansion will not happen overnight. In central and eastern Europe they predominantly bet on football and other sports, from basketball and cycling to darts and ice hockey, so these are also markets that do not instantly lend themselves to horserace betting. The point about sports betting is that most European countries bet on events in other countries, as well as their own. Taking horseracing into another country is not easy. It would be no good the UK, or anyone else for that matter, simply saying, ‘Here is our wonderful horseracing, you must have it.’ To betting people in most other countries it’s just another horserace, and there is a huge barrier if the commentary is in a foreign language and the odds are not up to date.” Gloomy for horseracing, or what? Fisher sees the picture as it is. “I have a betting shop in Moscow, using the latest Finsoft software to provide a Russian translation, and we show virtual horse and greyhound racing every five minutes,” he says. “No live racing, because I cannot get the pictures. But even if I could get live racing, I’m not sure how much interest there would be. If I was marketing a betting product to eastern Europe, for example, I would have more success with a virtual greyhound race than a live horse race. It’s easier for customers to understand. Of course, I want to be enterprising, and am keen to promote horseracing. But you would need a lot of co-operation from everybody, and that includes pricing. Horseracing should not think there is lots of money to be made out of its product, because that is not the case. And that’s not pessimism. It’s realism.”
Nutritional Support for bone - maintaining a strong skeleton
The expression ‘no foot no horse’ should perhaps be extended to cover all the bones of the skeleton, for as far as racehorses are concerned, without strength and durability in this area a trainer’s job is fraught with difficulties.
Dr Catherine Dunnett (European Trainer - issue 16 - Winter 2006)
The expression ‘no foot no horse’ should perhaps be extended to cover all the bones of the skeleton, for as far as racehorses are concerned, without strength and durability in this area a trainer’s job is fraught with difficulties. The number of training days lost to lameness in a season is testament to this. A racehorse’s diet should help to maintain the skeletal system during rigorous training. This task is no doubt easier when the skeletal foundations have been firmly laid in utero and during the rapid growing phase.
The formation of cartilage and its subsequent conversion to bone ‘proper’ is one of the key processes to highlight. Long bones develop in the foetus from early bone templates that are composed entirely of cartilage. Conversion of cartilage to bone occurs initially within a central area of ossification (bone formation) within the long bones, known as the diaphysis and then also at each end of the bone (epiphysis). There are various abnormalities that can occur during the development of bones and joints that may involve problems during the localised conversion of cartilage to bone, or with bone lengthening, or changes within the bone after it has formed, once a horse has commenced training. Nutrition is only one of many factors involved in DOD Osteochondrosis (OCD) involves disruption to the normal conversion of cartilage to bone within the areas of ossification. For many years, researchers viewed nutrition as the key to OCD, however, it is now recognised that genetic predisposition, body size and mechanical stress, as well as trauma are all additional factors that must be considered.
Whilst diets that simply oversupply energy have been demonstrated to increase the incidence of OCD, the previously hypothesised causal link with excessive protein intake has not been proven. This suggests that the source of the energy in feed is an important issue. Recent research supports this, as it has been reported that diets with a high glycemic nature, i.e. those with a high starch and sugar content (typical of the more traditional stud and youngstock rations), appear to be more likely to trigger OCD. However, one would suspect that this would be more apparent in genetically susceptible animals. Many mineral imbalances in the diet have also been implicated as causative factors in OCD, but few have any strong evidence to support their role. For example, OCD lesions have been reproduced experimentally in foals maintained on a very high phosphorus intake.
This type of diet could arise inadvertently by feeding straight cereals such as oats, without a suitable balancer or complementary feed such as alfalfa to redress the low calcium to phosphorus ratio in the grain. Less extreme versions of this diet could occur through excessive top dressing of ‘balanced’ coarse mix or cubes with additional cereals such as oats or barley, as is common practice in many yards. A low copper intake, especially during the last trimester of pregnancy, has also been implicated in OCD. Copper has received particular focus due to its functional role in the activity of a key enzyme involved in formation of the collagen cross-links. However, other trace minerals including manganese and zinc may be equally important during this key stage in a foal’s development in utero, as they are necessary co-factors for important enzymes involved in regulating cartilage metabolism. Blood tests that challenge the premise that horses are unaffected by molybdenum levels in grazing In grazing youngsters, a secondary copper deficiency can be caused by excessive molybdenum levels in pasture. In cattle, bacteria in the rumen form complexes between molybdenum and sulphur.
These thiomolybdate complexes will bind copper within the gut and when absorbed will then search out further copper to bind, either circulating in the blood or in association with copper dependent enzymes. This can severely impair the activity of some key enzymes involved in growth processes and cartilage turnover. However, as a horses gut is somewhat different from a cow’s, in that the hindgut (the equivalent of the rumen) is positioned after the small intestine and not before, there is theoretically less opportunity for these thiomolybdates to be absorbed and ‘cause trouble’. At least this is what has been largely accepted from previous studies in horses that focussed on plasma copper levels and copper absorption. However, new blood tests that can be used to measure the activities of key copper dependent enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), in conjunction with traditional measurements of plasma copper status and the presence of thiomolybdate complexes suggest that this may not always be the case.
Dr Stewart Telfer of Telsol Ltd, routinely carries out such tests in cattle and has to date analysed about 100 samples in horses suspected of having an issue with molybdenum interactions. He says, “From our work, it is clear that horses do suffer from molybdenum (thiomolybdate) toxicity. The interactions between copper, iron, molybdenum and sulphur will take place in the horse’s gut and in certain situations, not always linked to a high molybdenum intake, will result in the horse suffering from molybdenum (thiomolybdate) toxicity. Dr Telfer however, acknowledges that only relatively small numbers of samples in horses have been tested and the laboratory does not currently have a definitive reference range for horses. Calcium and phosphorus may be mobilized from bone to compensate for ‘acidic diets’ When yearlings first move into training yards, they usually experience a significant change in their diet that has consequences for bone metabolism during this period in their lives when some continued growth occurs and the skeletal system is put under considerable strain. In general terms, a ‘stud diet’ has what’s called a high dietary anion to cation ratio (DCAB).
This is largely due to the high inclusion of ingredients like soya and forages. A ‘full race training diet’ on the other hand tends to have a much lower DCAB (is more acidic) due to the reduction in forage intake and higher inclusion of cereals such as oats. The significance of a low DCAB is that it reduces the efficiency of calcium absorption and retention within the body and may contribute to the reduction in bone density seen in horses in early training. This surely is an argument for limiting the intake of cereals and maximising forage intake during the early stages of training when a high cereal intake is largely unnecessary. Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the horse's body, with the majority being present in the skeletal system. Phosphorus is also found in large amounts in bone in close association with calcium.
A racehorse’s diet should provide an adequate intake of both minerals but also needs to provide a balanced calcium to phosphorus ratio of near to 2:1. Although exercise demands a slight increase in calcium intake above the requirements for maintenance, this is usually satisfied by the generalised increase in feed intake. However, the efficiency with which individual horses absorb calcium varies and should certainly be investigated when a calcium-related issue arises. This can be achieved by examining an individual horse’s calcium and phosphorus status, by looking at the diet and also within the body using a creatinine clearance test. Topdressing – a national pastime When using straight feeds, or when topdressing ‘straights’ onto a ‘balanced’ racing mix or cubes, be aware that certain types of feed are much higher in calcium relative to phosphorus and vice versa (see table). Alfalfa, with its high calcium to phosphorus ratio, makes an ideal partner for cereals, which are low in calcium relative to phosphorus. Conversely, the traditional combination of oats and bran is not ideal, as it combines two feeds, which are low in calcium.
Remember that you can use a supplement or feed balancer to carefully correct any deficiencies or imbalances when feeding straights. Equally excessive addition of oats to a balanced mix or cube can decrease the calcium to phosphorus ratio sufficiently to cause problems. Most commercial mixes or cubes have sufficiently high calcium to phosphorus ratios to practically be able to withstand the addition of 1-2kg of oats daily, however any increase beyond this is unwise without further corrective measures. Feeds High in Calcium &Low in Phosphorus Feeds Low in Calcium & High Phosphorus Alfalfa Oats Sugar Beet Barley Seaweed Maize Wheat Bran Horses have a complex regulatory system, involving certain hormones, for ensuring that the proportion of calcium in the body, relative to that of phosphorus, remains stable and that the level of active or ‘ionised’ calcium in the blood remains within tight limits. If for one reason or another the level of calcium relative to phosphorus in the blood drops, a number of safety systems will be triggered to redress the balance. Bone acts as a reservoir of both calcium and phosphorus, which can be drawn on when necessary. The body's balance of calcium and phosphorus is continually 'corrected' by either conservation or loss of calcium or phosphorus in the urine, via the kidneys or through the skeletal system. Sustained calcium and phosphorus imbalance can, however, contribute to developmental orthopaedic diseases (DOD) in young horses, or lameness and sometimes bone fractures in mature horses. Research shows silicon is a trace mineral worth a second look.
Moving on to a less well-recognised trace mineral as far as bone is concerned, there has been some interesting research carried out into the effects of supplemental silicon in the racehorse’s diet. Silicon is a natural constituent of plants and provides structure and rigidity to some of their cell walls. It therefore forms a natural part of the horse’s diet, however, the availability in horse feed is apparently limited. Silicon plays a role in the development of new bone and is also important for the calcification process. It is therefore a relevant micronutrient for horses in training, as bone is dynamic and is constantly undergoing change, in response to forces placed upon it during the training process.
Research carried out by Dr Brian Nielsen at Michigan State University in the early nineties reported a dramatic decrease in injury rates in quarter horses fed a bioavaiable form of silicon as sodium zeolite A. This program of research has also established that the silicon is available to foals via the milk of supplemented mares. However, thus far the group have not uncovered the mechanism by which the beneficial effects of silicon are brought about. However, the form in which sodium zeolite A is fed (a chalk like powder) and the level of intake used in these studies (about 200g per day for a 500kg horse) makes it impractical to use as a feed supplement unless it can be incorporated within a feed pellet. In conclusion, attention to those factors within the diet that support bone turnover is likely to contribute to a reduction in injuries observed, however, the implementation of appropriate training techniques and use of suitable training surfaces also has a huge impact on the durability of horses in training in comparative terms.
Johnny Jones - we profile the legendary Kentucky horseman
When John T.L. Jones Jr. props his cowboy boots up on his desk, he leaves behind the mud accumulated from 72 years of being the Jones to keep up with. Unlike the speedy Quarter Horses that jump-started his livelihood by making a mad dash to the finish line, Jones’ ascent in the racing industry has taken him several circuits around the racecourse.
Frances Karon (European Trainer - issue 16 - Winter 2006)
When John T.L. Jones Jr. props his cowboy boots up on his desk, he leaves behind the mud accumulated from 72 years of being the Jones to keep up with. Unlike the speedy Quarter Horses that jump-started his livelihood by making a mad dash to the finish line, Jones’ ascent in the racing industry has taken him several circuits around the racecourse.
Jones spent nearly 30 years at the helm of Walmac International, presiding over the successful stallion careers of dual Arc winner Alleged and the great sire Nureyev before selling the farm to his son Johnny III and business partner Bobby Trussell. Retirement was short-lived as Jones soon fell back on his roots to train a small string of horses. In between running a couple of two-year-olds at the fall meet at Keeneland, he took some time to sit down and think back on his years in the business.
When you sold Walmac in 2004, you could have chosen to do anything, or nothing for that matter. What influenced your decision to train again?
My good friend R.D. Hubbard said to go buy some yearlings and I wanted to supervise them through at least their first year to know kind of what I got. I haven’t really supervised that kind of thing for 35 years. But I enjoy it. I guess I just have an addiction to horses. I like them! To be honest with you I don’t know how long I’m going to train.
Your father was in the insurance business. Did he want you to follow in his footsteps?
Not particularly. We’d had horses since I was a boy, I mean, as far back as I can remember. He got interested in Quarter Horses and registered his first horse in 1945, so I just grew up with it. He was a businessman, but still we always had a farm and had horses and so I had an interest. Then when I went to college, I played golf and got away a little bit from the horses because I was gone all the time. When my dad passed away in 1958 he had probably 25 or 30 head of Quarter Horses. So basically I started devoting all my time to horses right after my father died.
So how does one begin the journey from humble origins with Quarter Horses in Quanah, Texas to syndicate manager for some of the world’s most valuable Thoroughbred stallions?
I ended up joint venturing a deal on my farm in 1965 and when my partner got into a financial bind that carried me with him I lost everything I had. When you wake up one day with four children and no money, you’d better get your ass to work. I went to the track and started training for Walter Merrick in 1966.
Had you had any introduction, formal or otherwise, to training?
No.
So from the first day you started training horses you just went on instinct?
Well, Mr. Merrick was a legendary horseman but he never had much input. What he basically told me is that little things win races. In other words, that everybody knows to feed them, everybody knows to gallop them, everybody knows to work them, the details are what make the difference between the people that win and the others. Most of what I learned was trial and error. So I won races all the time, everywhere I went. First started off with match racing, and we won most of them.
Where was that, at bush league tracks?
You’d pull up in a trailer and a guy would say, what have you got and how far do you want to go? You’d bet $500 or $1000. I started doing that every weekend instead of playing golf.
I got into it because a cowboy was badgering me one time so I went down by the wheat field and grated off about 3/8’s of a mile, just turned around and let the horse run. We got to hauling down there to those little old straightaway tracks. Most of them were bred to run; well the horse I started out with was out of a half-Thoroughbred mare. Originally he was meant to be a parade horse for a friend of mine’s boy. That was in 1962 or ’63, first time that he’d ever been on an official – by that I mean pari-mutuel – track. His name was Gold Nugget Sims. The first time I’d ever been to an official track and he ran second and I was thrilled. I went and got them to give me a picture of him being second.
It was about a $300 purse. I was in the paddock that night and it was hotter than Hades up in Oklahoma, 240 miles from where I lived. So I was in the paddock and I was nervous and I’d never been in a paddock before like that. The paddock judge came out and said, “Rain’s over!” I said, huh? It was so hot and not a cloud in the sky... He said, “Reins over!” and I went oh! and threw the reins over the horse’s head.
I think you’ve learned a lot since then!
I’ve learned most of it by trial and error. Still making errors!
At this point your main focus was on Quarter Horses. Did you win any major races?
The biggest Quarter Horse race I won was the Kansas Futurity in 1967 with Jet Smooth for Mr. Merrick. I did train some cheaper, New Mexico Thoroughbreds for him, too.
How and when did you transition to Thoroughbreds?
I went to work for a fellow named Marvin Warner in Cincinnati. He gave me the freedom and the financial backing to do what I thought was the best in the horse business. In 10 years he never bought a horse and he never sold a horse. Now, had I not been producing, had I not been making money, I’d have been back in Texas chopping cotton. But he enabled me to accomplish something or use my knowledge to accomplish something where 99% of owners like that that don’t know anything about the business start thinking they know and it’s all an odds game anyway. He enjoyed the game, he enjoyed going to the races and never injected what he thought about the horses. I had pretty much a free rein and we were fortunate enough to do well. It just gives you an edge, it just gives you the advantage of over a period of time being right more times than you’re wrong. ‘Cause in the horse business you’re going to be wrong a lot of times. So, that’s really where I was lucky with Mr. Warner because he just gave me a free rein. He looked at the balance sheet and as long as that was good he allowed me to go to Europe, he allowed me to go anywhere I wanted to go. Not many people have that opportunity.
Training horses at River Downs in Ohio in the late 1970’s, you were in a good spot to observe the fledgling career of Steve Cauthen.
[Steve’s father] Tex was our horseshoer. I wasn’t paying much attention and I’d already made a deal with a jock at River Downs to ride our horses when Steve started riding and I couldn’t really get out of that commitment because I wanted to do what I’d said I’d do. I rode Steve some when he first started out. But then when he went to New York we’d sent horses to Chuck Taliaferro [for Marvin Warner] and since his family knew Chuck – we were all kind of family – well Steve went up and stayed with Chuck when he got really rolling.
Why did you leave training?
I figured out if I was ever going to be a factor in the industry it was going to be through stallions but I didn’t have any money; I had to get into something where I could use other people’s money. A man told me a long time ago that in the stallion business, people are calling you – you’re not having to call them. In other words, you can gather a lot of information in all facets of the industry by just picking people’s brain when they call asking about a stallion or something. I knew where I wanted to be but I didn’t know exactly how to get there. I thought with some of the older, established farms, I thought at that time there was a little spot for a younger farm. Brereton Jones had just got started and most of the other farms around here had just one stallion, except for Claiborne, Spendthrift and Gainesway. In all honesty, I’ve known a lot of people in my life that worked very hard and were good horsemen but never did have the break.
What is the most difficult part of being a trainer?
Training horses is somewhat of a mundane life. In other words, as Walter Merrick taught me, the little things win races. For example, there will be a few seconds, a few minutes of highs…the majority of what a trainer goes through are negatives. He’s got a horse that’s coming up a little off, or not doing what he expects of him, or enters it in a race but only one horse can win.
That’s probably less true of trainers at the top level with a barn full of stakes-quality horses. There is quite a dichotomy between the Todd Pletchers and everyone else.
For some of these fellows it’s somewhat of a system to run a business rather than training and teaching the individual horse. The horse adapts to a system and if he doesn’t they really don’t have time for him, especially when they’ve got horses at five different locations. That’s also different from the way I came up. Thirty, forty horses was the most anybody had. Most owners had their own personal trainer; the Whitneys had their trainer, Spendthrift had their trainer, Claiborne had their trainer. Very few have that now; they’ve either got their horses scattered or they’ve got them in a huge stable with somebody.
We’re talking about a very small minority of the trainers. But even in Europe, I think, most of the bigger stables are still geared towards the personal aspect and trainers are able to feel their horses’ legs every night and know about every little niggling problem as it happens.
With major trainers in America today, probably a lot of them know exactly what is going on but they have to hear it from somebody else. Their system is excellent, but the owners don’t have the personal touch. It used to be a much more social atmosphere, a personal atmosphere rather than all business. They have a very, very good system but they can’t possibly be as involved like the trainers of the old days. You used to see pictures of old Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons sitting on a stool running cold water on a horse’s legs. You don’t see much of that with your high-profile trainers anymore.
Sure you do, right after their horse has won the Kentucky Derby! But that makes for a great photo op.
That’s it.
What differences have you noticed between the horse of today and his ancestors?
The horses are much more fragile than they were 30 years ago. Horses that had stamina were more acceptable in American racing until the advent of the two-year-old sales. A huge part of our market is to pinhook into the two-year-old sales so that requires speed. With so many buyers looking for speed people are breeding for it. The faster horses run the more liable they are to break down so I think that probably we’re breeding less sound horses. Not many people want to buy a horse and wait for him to make his first start at three; they want it now.
Of course I have to ask, what do you think of the Polytrack?
Polytrack, well, nobody knows for sure but I do know one thing, it’s much easier on horses. I think it will probably in a number of years have an effect on how we breed horses. They say that grass horses like the Polytrack. I think to a certain extent – obviously there’s no absolute to this business – I do think it will give horses with stamina more opportunities and it’s safer for the horses. Everybody likes it. I give Rogers Beasley a lot of credit for pushing them [to install the Polytrack at Keeneland]. First of all, it’s safer. It’s just safer. Plus, you don’t have the days when your racetrack’s a soupy mess.
Is there anything you don’t like about artificial surfaces?
One thing I do think is that all the tracks going to that surface should use the same material. Not with any prejudices to any manufacturer but just to make everything the same. I haven’t experienced any of the others so I can’t say accurately but I would say it would have been better if they had been all the same. And they may be all so similar that it doesn’t make any difference.
And its overall effect?
It’s much easier on a horse. A horse has got to be a little fitter, there’s going to be a little more emphasis on recognizing stamina in pedigrees. Five furlong horses that could go 6 furlongs or even a mile and a sixteenth are not going to do that on these surfaces. I think you’ll see horses lasting longer, I think you’ll see fuller fields. Fuller fields mean more pari-mutuel wagering so I think it’s all positive. If horses last longer owners have more chances to recoup money and to make money and it’s positive all the way down the line.
Another positive of the artificial surfaces is that horses are getting a hold of it leaving the gate. I think a lot of horses hurt themselves when they stumble or the ground breaks out from under them leaving the gate, bam! and they’re hitting it wrong and then they run around there and break down. I just think a lot of injuries are caused at the starting gate and with the new surfaces they get a hold of it, they don’t slip, and they go.
The recent Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit held at Keeneland included a presentation made by Wayne McIlwraith, D.V.M., in which he said that most breakdowns are due to pre-existing stress fractures or other such conditions. Would you like to see routine MRIs, CT scans and ultrasounds become mandatory?
I guess you could regulate yourself clear out of business.
But if you’re saving your horse you’re keeping yourself in business.
Well but it’s going to come down to an opinion. It’s just like the vets vetting these horses that have a little chip here or a stress fracture or something that they’re not particularly sore on, but it’s there. One vet says don’t run it, the next vet says it’s okay to run. If you want to just have a nightmare, try to do something like that.
What is your stance on the ever-controversial drug and medication policy in the U.S.?
Overall I think racing is good. I think we’ve gone overboard in not allowing some analgesic-type drugs to be used on horses. I imagine the people who are saying that horses should run on oats and hay are taking eight pills a day for themselves to get through the day. I don’t think it’s fair; analgesics are just comfort-type drugs. They’re athletes, just like baseball players or football players, and narcotics and steroids are not good but I think drugs like Lasix and Banamine and stuff like that are fine. It’s like someone getting up in the morning and taking an Advil for their headache. I don’t think they’ll ever solve the problem. We’ve got too many jurisdictions and everybody wants to be the hero. By the time they figure out what one guy’s using he’s going to come up with another [drug], and it’s almost impossible; they may know something’s in a test but they can’t tell you what it is.
How would you deal with this issue?
There are two things that could probably stop a huge part of it. Number one, the jurisdiction should know what’s in the truck of a veterinarian pulling in on the backside. No point in having certain drugs in your truck, or they could have a dispensary for specific drugs that could be signed out. I also think – I know it’d be expensive – but if they think people are doing something illegal – they take your picture most anywhere now, anytime you go to the bank to cash a check you get your picture taken, or go to the convenience store, everybody’s getting their picture taken. So, if they really want to do something about it they should just put some monitors in the barn. Then they’ll know who’s in the barn at all times.
But you can’t see what they’re giving them.
If you know what’s in their truck, you’d know that they don’t have any business with certain drugs. I just think you’ve got to try to stay away from anything that is going to endanger a horse’s health but analgesic medications, I don’t see anything wrong with that.
Let’s hear your thoughts on another sensitive subject, the horse slaughter ban bill awaiting Senate approval.
I think it is going to be a major problem in the logistics of it if they go ahead and pass this horse slaughter ban. There’s nobody that loves horses better than I love horses. And if I want to take care of my horse, turn him out and retire him and let him die of old age, that’s my business. If I want to support an organization that does that, that’s my business. I shouldn’t try to legislate what somebody else does with their property. Not just the Thoroughbred industry – there’s millions of horses. I don’t know what they think that they’re going to do with all of them because it’s just going to compound. That’d be like turning them out on the roadside only to get killed by people running over them. Which is worse, letting a horse go to slaughter or letting him starve to death? That has to do with the difference between being emotional and being realistic.
Either way, people are looking for absolution instead of taking responsibility. Slaughtering the horses just makes room for more and it creates a snowball effect. Stasis will only make things worse because people will feel encouraged to continue to breed as though there is no moral dilemma.
The government cannot take responsibility for what we do. We have to be responsible for our own morality and what we do with things. We can’t have the government telling us every move, whether it’s moral or immoral or what it is. I could argue both sides of the coin. It’s pretty silly to a certain extent to spend all that money they’re raising to save retired horses when the same guy walks down the backstretch and sees little kids in the tack rooms with no money and does very little for them.
John Gaines credited you with breaking down the dissension that threatened to keep the Breeders’ Cup from becoming a reality. Are you satisfied with how it has matured in these 23 years?
Give him credit, I thought Mr. Gaines was very innovative. And I think that once we got it organized and were able to appease the different factions, I think [the Breeders’ Cup has] been a tremendous success. If you went through the list of buyers at the Keeneland Summer Sale in like 1970, none of them were from Europe but I suspected that the game was going to get global in the early Seventies with global transportation and ease of getting horses over here. You could fly one over here from England about as quick as you can fly it to California – definitely faster than you can van it out there. So I thought it was going to be a global thing and I thought that it would put the spotlight on a special day, at least have another venue that the public could attach itself to rather than just the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont if you happen to have something that might win the Triple Crown.
What improvements would you suggest?
We probably need to take a step further, which I think we’re doing, by creating venues leading to the Breeders’ Cup. It could be a venue in England or Ireland or France or anywhere. I don’t think you can really create any public excitement without events. People always follow crowds. People aren’t going to NASCAR just to see cars running around, they’re waiting on a wreck and to people-watch. The biggest thing about the Derby is, number one, it’s the Derby. Number two, people go to people-watch 150,000 people. People like crowds.
You don’t think that these additional venues will detract from the Breeders’ Cup?
No no no. Not if you start soon enough, it’s just like football and baseball and basketball, they all have playoffs.
Do you think you have any Breeders’ Cup-caliber horses in your barn?
I’ve got two or three of them working like they’re nice horses. A Chester House colt looks like a good one, the same for a Holy Bull colt and a Cat Thief colt who rapped a tendon – it’s minor but I’m giving him some time – I think he might be a good colt. The rest of them I think might be just ordinary.
How many horses do you have in training?
We’ve got about fifteen, all 2-year-olds.
Did you buy any yearlings at the sales this year?
No, but I’ve got three I bred that will go into training.
You’ve had a winner from only a handful of starters, but it didn’t run in your name! How did that happen?
I wasn’t licensed in Ohio so I just let my assistant trainer Ricky Castilleja get his license and he was down as the trainer. I had a filly run third at Saratoga but I’d sent her to Patrick Biancone for the meet and I’ve since sent her to Mike Doyle at Woodbine because she’s a Canadian-bred. I don’t care whether it’s in my name or somebody else’s. I was in San Antonio all winter every day just about and then Keeneland in April, and went to Turfway after that. I’ve got an excellent assistant, and I talk to him twice a day.
Will you continue to train for the foreseeable future?
If I don’t have three or four nice horses by the end of Churchill I’ll probably send them to another trainer.
And then what? Play golf? Go to Barbados?
I’ll just spend more time at my ranch in Oklahoma. I like the cattle. I’ve enjoyed this and I have no complaints. It’s just that I’ve been doing it for forty-something years.
You can only get so far even by being in the right place at the right time, so how do you explain your success?
In a nutshell, I’ve been lucky. But I was paying attention.
TRM Trainer of the Quarter - Brian Meehan
The TRM Trainer of the Quarter goes to Brian Meehan. For the second time in 2006, a horse from the Brian Meehan stable gave his trainer a success on one of the sports elite days, when Red Rocks landed the John Deere Breeders' Cup Turf at Churchill Downs on November 4th.
Editorial Writer (European Trainer - Issue 16 / Winter 2006)
Tom Tate - we profile the Yorkshire trainer
"I am a developer of horses, and all my horses are for sale". These words, by Tom Tate, soon give you a balanced view of the Yorkshire trainer when you first meet him. Tate, who has 36 boxes at his two farms in Tadcaster, may come across as a very careful, conservative man. But he is also a gambler.
Geir Stabell (European Trainer - issue 16 - Winter 2006)
"I am a developer of horses, and all my horses are for sale”. These words, by Tom Tate, soon give you a balanced view of the Yorkshire trainer when you first meet him. Tate, who has 36 boxes at his two farms in Tadcaster, may come across as a very careful, conservative man. But he is also a gambler.
”It is not always economically wise”, he says, “but, yes, I own a few horses myself. I often buy yearlings hoping to pass them on to my clients or sell them on to others when they have raced a bit”. Tate is not a ‘factory type’ of trainer but improving the product, increasing the value of horseflesh, is very much a part of his job. And racing them on anything but turf to achieve the goals, is seldom, very seldom, an option.
A former amateur jumps rider for 22 years, who partnered some of Tony Dickinson’s best chasers, such as Silver Buck, Badsworth Boy and Bregawn, switched his business interests from cars to horses. Originally from Leeds, Tate tells us how he, like so many in this sport, had a very early start to what was to become a career and a lifestyle. “I was competing at pony shows from about eight”, he explains, “and I was a competitive show jumping rider as a teenager, but moved my attention to racing as soon as I could. Which was a bit late, as I wanted to get my business going first”.
Tate set up as a trainer in 1969, first as a permit holder, training only his own horses. Married to Michael Dickinson’s sister Hazel in 1972, he soon became involved in better horses and his family is horse people through ad through. “My sister Frances Walwyn is a keen endurance rider”, he says, “I don’t know why, but she enjoys that, and has won abroad. We are an equestrian family”. Tate’s two sons, Richard, a business man, and James, a veterinarian working for Mark Johnston, are both amateur steeplechase riders.
The Yorkshire man, who sent out the 7-year-old Welsh Emperor to win the Hungerford Stakes (G2) at Newbury and go very close to winning the Prix de la Foret (G1) at Longchamp this year, has what he calls “a small, but very specialist operation. We have excellent facilities, with two miles of grass gallops, an indoor riding school and an all-weather gallop. ”
“I have everything I need”, he says.
With his background as a jumps rider, Tate first trained hurdlers and chasers. “I still prefer jumping”, he says, “it is more of a sport, but we now have nearly 80 per cent flat horses. Flat racing is the reality of the business, jump racing is not as economically viable.”
Tate never considered turning professional in the saddle. “I was having my businesses at the time, in the motor retailing trade, and never thought about becoming a jockey. Nowadays, however, horses are my business.”
The team is relatively small but may expand. “My maximum number of horses is now 36”, Tate says, “but I have started thinking about having more boxes built. Since I have gone flat racing it has all changed, it is a different job, really, as there is more turnover. We have gradually edged towards the flat. The jumping is closer to my heart but it does not compare with the flat from the business aspect. We also always get some jumping horses from the flat team because I buy big, strong horses – some of them are too slow for the flat!”
Tate has no particular geographical preference when it comes to buying horses; “I go to all the major sales”, he explains, “I buy yearlings mainly. I also like the German horses, and have bought around twenty or thirty horses at the Baden-Baden sales over the past three to four years. The best one is a horse called Gardasee, who is quite a good hurdler”. The 4-year-old Gardasee, a son of Dashing Blade, finished fourth in the Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle (LR) at the Cheltenham Festival this spring.
“There are some nice horses from Germany, they are tough, solid horses from good family and they stay well. France have a big staying breed as well, people should not be surprised when the English buy all their jumps horses. I am a big fan of French bred horses too. Normally I buy at Deauville, although I got involved with the AQPS people down in the middle of France, and got very impressed by their approach. This is the organisation for non-thoroughbred horses, but they are thoroughbreds really - in a separate stud book. They are a fine type of horses, and often cheaper. French horses are cheaper flat and jumps, it is only the upper international end of the market which has a different value.”
The 36 horses trained at Castle Farm stables are mainly racing for private owners, “most of my owners are millionaires”, Tate says with a smile, “as I stand here today I have four or five good owners and I have managed to get them all a Group class horse or a winner at a big meeting. We have not gone into the racing club or syndicate market. It all began with jumping of course, Lo Stregone, one of my best chasers, was among the favourites for the 1997 Grand National, won 13 races. We also had a Tingle Creek winner, called Ask Tom, another I bought as a young horse. My objective is to find a young horse with a future, and be working long term. To be able to do that, you must have a very good relationship with the owners. As sometimes you do not hit it very sharp. My owners are also close friend.”
My father in law, Tony Dickinson, was a very good judge of a horse, and he was who I learnt from first. It is very hard to explain what you are looking for in a horse, or what you like. I have never used a bloodstock agent, by the way, always bought my horses based on my judgement. Sometimes I buy horses with a fault that I think, or at least hope, the horse will be able to live with. There are very few perfect specimens. You need a certain financial strength in this business, but time and time again we have seen that finding a top horse has little to do with money.
“Welsh Emperor is the best horse I have trained, since switching to the flat six years ago. Before him, Another Bottle would probably be the best.”
Welsh Emperor, who was an 8,500 guineas yearling, has won 10 of his 48 races to date. Another Bottle, a top end handicapper, won five races.
Tate feels that the training of flat horses is totally different to training jumpers. “Jumpers are a much bigger beast, and financially it is quite an act of faith o own a jumper, as it takes longer before you get an idea of the horse’s ability, and even longer before you get some results. With flat horses, you get an idea when they are yearlings, and you can get a result for a client within months. It is much more decisive, whereas jumping is still a little bit of a labour of love.”
All Tate’s horses go out for at least an hour to an hour and a half for their daily training, flat horses and jumpers. They also spend much time out in small fields or paddocks. One can’t do that daily with every horse but Tate says he will do it if I can. Welsh Emperor, for instance, spends most of his mornings outside. Such luxuries are seldom possible for trainer with 100 horses or more. The expansion here will not go further than to around a team of 50 horses, which Tate feels is a manageable number.
“This year I buy 15 yearlings”, he says, “but 20 would be a good number. I am interested in quality, not quantity, and I am interested in good value - and getting Group horses”.
Tate’s ambition is to “up the quality while we also up the quantity a bit” and get even better horses. When talking about the sport in general, he soon comments on the current situation with more poor quality horses in training. “Racing has multiplied”, he says, “giving us more moderate horses, and I do not think that is a good trend”.
Does he race his horses on the all-weather tracks?
“Well, reluctantly. I have done it but I do not like it. Nobody goes! And what suits the horse best is good grass courses. Some horses stand it better than others, but if you keep turning them out on these artificial surfaces, they do suffer from strains on their joints.”
Tate is comparing all-weather racing to racing exclusively on turf, and is adamant that turf is much better. When we move on to talking about the North American circuit, he says: “I only know dirt racing through my brother in law Michael Dickinson, who tells me that the attrition rate out there is diabolical. Of course, they will improve the situation by racing on artificial surfaces, because it is better than dirt. But you cannot beat good turf courses. In these islands, we can grow good turf, which is not possible everywhere in the world, and it would be a big, big sin if we all go to all-weather racing. It would be a lazy man’s way, really, and no cheaper, because they do wear out and need replacing. You can’t kid yourself, but obviously there is a place for it. Some horses are very well suited by all-weather tracks, but there needs to be a good, sensible balance between turf and all-weather fixtures.”
The Yorkshire trainer feels that the importance of “keeping the sport enjoyable“.
“It is a great spectacle, and that is how it should be sold to the public, he says. “It is a red-blooded sport, it is a great day out, but racing is also a traditional sport. It wants to be a fun day, with horses at the centre of it. It lifts our lives out of the ordinary, it is a theatre thing, really, and people identify with that. One of my sayings is that everybody is a king for a day with a good horse. The owner, the trainer, the jockey, and the groom – even you, if you backed him!”
Tate is northern regional chairman of the National Trainers’ Federation. On the day after we visit Castle Farm Stables, the yard has one runner at Nottingham and one at Huntingdon. Both will run without Tate present, as he has a federation meeting. “It takes up quite a bit of time, really”, he smiles, “and this is a job nobody wants!”
So, why did the Tadcaster trainer take it? “Because it is important, and the sport is bigger than me. Also, I felt that, with many years of experience, I had something to offer. Someone was needed when I went into this role and I have been involved in racing all my life. I have enjoyed it, I am enjoying it, and I want to give something back”.
Next year, Tate will be the president of the National Trainers Federation, and he is very passionate about the work trainers are doing. “It it at a developmental stage”, he explains, “and unless we do a proper job, racing is in danger. Our sport is at the mercy of commercial forces. This will not necessarily produce good results for the thoroughbred. There seems to be a lack of understanding of the sport, at the BHB / BHA. Take an example, we are now experiencing a severe lack of two-mile chases in the program book. So, I have to make a lot of phone calls, take everyone’s view, get them across, explain the situation, and try my best to improve it. Yes, it does take up a lot of time.”
Any spare time for this trainer is spent on skiing trips in the winter, “normally to Zermatt”, and he is also a hunting man, “I nowadays particularly like grouse shooting when I get the opprtunity”, he explains, “ I do not get a lot of spare time but I enjoy doing what I do.” Well, a day at Castle Farm Stables, after spending a day with Tate’s small, very relaxed team, one can tell. Everyone, be it on four or two legs, is enjoying the daily routines – often a key to success.
Holiday Wishes
The New Year Brings New Benefits to California’s Trainers and Their
Employees.This edition brings news of two Christmas bonuses for trainers
in California. The first is an accident and disability policy that will
be provided without cost to trainers who are in the CHSA Workers’
Compensation Program. Trainers who are injured at the workplace are not
covered by workers’ compensation because employers are routinely
excluded from such coverage. Fortunately, because of the financial
success of our program, we are about to announce a policy that will
provide accident and disability coverage for trainers. This coverage
will be at no cost to participants and will provide up to $500,000 in
medical benefits and $200 in weekly wage loss indemnity for up to two
years. It is anticipated that additional coverage will be available for a
very small premium. We are hoping to announce the rollout of the
program by January 1, 2008.
Edward I. Halpern, CTT Exec - ( 01 December 2007 - Issue Number: 6 )
The New Year Brings New Benefits to California’s Trainers and Their Employees.
This edition brings news of two Christmas bonuses for trainers in California. The first is an accident and disability policy that will be provided without cost to trainers who are in the CHSA Workers’ Compensation Program. Trainers who are injured at the workplace are not covered by workers’ compensation because employers are routinely excluded from such coverage. Fortunately, because of the financial success of our program, we are about to announce a policy that will provide accident and disability coverage for trainers. This coverage will be at no cost to participants and will provide up to $500,000 in medical benefits and $200 in weekly wage loss indemnity for up to two years. It is anticipated that additional coverage will be available for a very small premium. We are hoping to announce the rollout of the program by January 1, 2008.
The second bonus is another increase in the amount contributed from each ADW wager to the CTT Backstretch Pension fund. The Plan was originally funded through a transfer of 1% of the purse pool. When the original ADW bill was passed in 2002, that amount was increased by an additional takeout from the ADW wagers. In 2006, that additional contribution equaled approximately $110,000 for the CTT Pension Fund. In the most recent version of ADW legislation, the Jockey Guild and the CTT were able to negotiate an additional .00295 percent of ADW bets that will be shared by the CTT Pension Fund, the CTHF, and the Jockey’s newly created pension fund. It is estimated that this could bring an additional $500,000 or more in revenue to the CTT Pension Fund annually. In summary, the CTT pension fund should now receive total contributions of approximately $2,300,000 per year. This fund, which benefits trainers and backstretch workers, is paid for in its entirety by the racing industry, and we continue to owe a debt of gratitude to all the racing associations and organizations that make this possible and that worked to attain the increased funding.
The message to trainers is, in order to qualify for maximum benefits at retirement, remember to sign up between February 2 and April 15 of each year. Also, encourage your eligible employees to sign up.
It seems a New Year is not complete without a wish list, so here goes ours:
Lighter exercise riders
Heavier bettors
Old racing facilities that don’t close
New racing facilities that attract more fans
Faster training surfaces
Slower training surfaces
Whatever surfaces Bobby Frankel recommends
More protection for innocent trainers by the long-awaited final passage of the RMTC penalty guidelines that incorporate “mitigating circumstances” into the trainer-insurer rule
Legislators who are sympathetic to the needs of racing
A fair share of Advanced Deposit Wagering for purses
Stalls at the track where you wish to train
A never-ending supply of experienced grooms and hotwalkers
Condition books filled with the races you need at distances you need
A real cure for bowed tendons
A reasonably priced ulcer medication
Barns that don’t leak
Rail trips
More Gregson Foundation Scholarship applicants from Northern California
Increased California Thoroughbred Trainers Backstretch Pension Plan benefits
More television announcers like TVG’s Frank Lyons
AND a happy, healthy, and prosperous Holiday Season and New Year for all.
Edward I. Halpern, CTT Exec - ( 01 December 2007 - Issue Number: 6 )
Flunixin and Clenbuterol - changes in the CHRB rules
Two important amendments to CHRB rule 1844 became effective on October
20, 2007. The flunixin regulatory threshold was raised to 50ng/ml in
blood form the previous 20ng/ml. This should have little impact in the
day-to-day operation of most stables.
Rick M. Arthur, DVM (01 December 2007 - Issue Number: 6)
Two important amendments to CHRB rule 1844 became effective on October 20, 2007. The flunixin regulatory threshold was raised to 50ng/ml in blood form the previous 20ng/ml. This should have little impact in the day-to-day operation of most stables.
A standard 500mg (10cc) IV dose at 24 hours seldom exceeds 20ng/ml in the average horse. The 50ng/ml level was established from administration studies with flunixin administered to 28 horses; all but a handful were thoroughbreds in race training at the track. The laboratory analysis was done by Dr. Scott D. Stanley at UC Davis and Dr. Rick Sams at Ohio State University. The results were statistically analyzed, and a flunixin level above 40ng/ml can be shown to be so improbable as to be unrealistic. The regulatory level was rounded up to 50ng/ml for California for simplicity and to add an additional margin of safety.
The second amendment to rule 1844 involves clenbuterol. The rule change gives the CHRB the ability to regulate clenbuterol in the blood as well as urine. The new regulation adds a 25 picograms/ml in blood threshold to the 5ng/ml threshold in urine. If either exceeds the threshold limit, there is a violation. This can have an impact on any trainer administering clenbuterol within 72 hours of race time. Administration of clenbuterol up to 72 hours at 5cc twice a day to the average-sized horse will not result in a violation in blood. We estimate between one-third to one-half of horses are at risk of exceeding 25 picograms/ml in blood from an administration at 48 hours and nearly 100% within 48 hours will results in a violation. This is very different from the current clenbuterol level of 5ng/ml in urine, where a single dose within 48 hours could pass the post-race urine. That will no longer be the case.
Cobra Venom
All trainers should be familiar with CHRB rule 1867. The rule has been on the books for over 10 years and addresses prohibited practices. The rule specifically bans the possession of snake venom at CHRB facilities. The Kentucky equivalent to our rule was the basis for Patrick Biancone’s recent suspension. Biancone was suspended even though the cobra venom was found in a container marked as belonging to Biancone’s veterinarian, Dr. Stewart. Dr. Stewart’s container with the cobra venom was stored in a refrigerator in a tack room assigned to Biancone’s Kentucky stable. Biancone denied knowledge of the cobra venom, but was held responsible as it was found in his barn. Cobra venom has been used in the past by a number of trainers and veterinarians. Regardless, and so there is no question, California will be just as aggressive as Kentucky in prosecuting any licensee found in possession of cobra venom or any other prohibited drug under rule 1867. In addition to snake venom, erythropoietin (EPO) and darbepoietin (darb-EPO) are specifically identified in the rule.
In a somewhat related matter, the same Dr. Stewart from the Biancone cobra venom situation has a case pending in California for improper labeling of medications and practicing veterinary medicine at a CHRB facility without a CHRB license. This involves medication allegedly sent to California by Dr. Stewart related to Biancone’s salmeterol positive from January. Mr. Biancone was fined $10,000 and given a 15-day, stayed suspension, even though salmeterol is a Class III violation. Neither salmeterol administration nor salmeterol dispensing had been reported to the CHRB by his California veterinarians. Dr. Stewart is currently under suspension in California; his California case will be heard after the resolution of his Kentucky problems.
Law Change for Hearings of Class I, II, & III Violations
Governor Schwarzenegger has signed AB1616, which will change the way Class I, II, & III violations are adjudicated; the law is effective in January, 2008. The new law puts the hearing process back in the hands of the CHRB. For the last 8 years, a licensee could elect to go directly to the Office of Administrative Hearing (OAH) and bypass the CHRB with Class I, II, & III violations. OAH, especially in Southern California, often has a large backlog of cases and setting hearing dates has been problematic. Several CHRB cases have taken a year to get to hearing from the date of the violation. Both the CHRB and the licensee were forced into an expensive and slow process where no one benefits but the attorneys. Under 1616, there is an option of the hearing going before the stewards or an independent hearing officer. The CHRB envisions the hearings to take place at or near our racetracks to facilitate the process. The goal is for the hearings to be scheduled, heard, and resolved much more quickly than is currently accomplished through OAH.
Split Sample Procedures
A number of trainers have lost their opportunity to have their split samples tested under rule 1859.25 by not adhering to the deadlines expressly specified within the rule. Trainers need to take the deadlines in rule 1859.25 seriously if they intend to pursue a split sample analysis. There are two deadlines that must be met: The first is notifying the CHRB whether or not the owner or trainer wants a split sample analyzed. This must be done within 72 hours of the owner or trainer being notified of an adverse finding in the official sample. This is best done by notifying the Split Sample Custodian at the CHRB’s Sacramento office. That telephone number is 916-263-6050; the fax number is 916-263-6051. The notification needs to be accompanied by form CHRB-56 (Request to Release Evidence) and a check for $35 for handling and shipping expenses. The second deadline is completing arrangements with the split sample laboratory. There are nine (9) CHRB approved split sample laboratories. After the CHRB receives notification, the owner or trainer has five (5) days to finalize all arrangements with their chosen split sample laboratory. Each lab has somewhat different requirements to complete the process. This includes payment and any paperwork required by the laboratory. This is the licensee’s responsibility; it is not the CHRB’s.
The calculation of the deadlines gives the trainer more than adequate time to complete the process. The 72-hour (3-day) deadline to notify the CHRB of your decision to have a split sample analyzed begins the first working day after the licensee has been notified of the adverse finding and ends at the close of business on the third working day. For example, if you are notified on a Wednesday, the following Thursday, Friday, and Monday will constitute the 72 hours. If the CHRB has not been notified at the end of the workday on Monday, the licensee has missed the deadline. Similarly, with the above example and assuming the CHRB was notified on the Monday, the owner or trainer would have until the end of the following Monday to complete all arrangements with the chosen split sample laboratory. In the above example, the trainer would have 12 calendar days. This is more than enough time with any serious effort to meet the regulatory deadlines of 1859.25.
The Split Sample Custodian is willing to answer questions, but will not make the arrangements for you. The list of the nine (9) CHRB approved split sample laboratories is available through the Split Sample Custodian or the CHRB investigator handling the case. Keep in mind, most split sample labs are in earlier time zones than California. In addition, even though a lab is on the approved split sample laboratory list, it does not mean the laboratory can or will accept your sample. All racing laboratories experience workload constraints from time to time. This is especially true in the summer. In addition, the CHRB split sample laboratory contract requires that the lab can only accept a sample if they have the procedures and capability to confirm the target drug or medication at or below the level reported by the CHRB’s official laboratory. If they do not have that capability, they must decline the sample.
One other issue causes some confusion. The split sample is the property of the CHRB; it is not the property of the owner or trainer. In addition, the CHRB is the recipient of all reports generated by the split sample laboratory on any sample sent from the CHRB. Who pays for the analysis does not alter this. The owner or trainer requesting the split sample analysis will receive copies of all documents generated by the split sample lab. Nothing is hidden. Please be aware some labs will have additional charges for any report or documentation beyond the standard one- or two-page report confirming or not confirming the finding. The cost for any additional documentation or paperwork is the responsibility of the licensee. There may be additional charges for quantitative testing; quantitative testing provides drug levels. Depending on the drug, some quantitative testing is not important for the CHRB to proceed with a case, but may be important as a mitigating factor for the licensee during the subsequent hearing. All this needs to be finalized before the sample is shipped.
The CHRB does not consider an adverse finding by the official lab to constitute a positive until it is confirmed by the split sample lab. The exception is when a split sample is not requested or denied for not meeting rule 1859.25 deadlines or other requirements. Only then does the CHRB declare a positive and file a complaint.
Rick M. Arthur, DVM (01 December 2007 - Issue Number: 6)
Kenny McPeek on his love of pedigrees and importing horses from South America
Kenny McPeek sounds just slightly frustrated. At his home in Louisville, with an on-line copy of "Turf Brasil" ; on his lap-top, a file folder chock full of pedigree information and news clips on his desk, the Kentuckian is trying to find a buyer for a Brazilian filly he's had his eye on for a while.
Caton Bredar (19 September 2006 - Issue Number: 1)
By Caton Bredar
Kenny McPeek sounds just slightly frustrated. At his home in Louisville, with an on-line copy of “Turf Brasil” on his lap-top, a file folder chock full of pedigree information and news clips on his desk, the Kentuckian is trying to find a buyer for a Brazilian filly he’s had his eye on for a while.
“She’s a 2-year-old champion. She’s got a great pedigree. For five hundred thousand, someone needs to buy this filly.”
Chances are, someone will, and it wouldn’t be shocking if that someone turned out to be McPeek. While the trainer made his mark domestically with Thoroughbreds like Tejano Run, Take Charge Lady, and Belmont Stakes winner Sarava before he ever made his first intercontinental journey, McPeek has, for the past six years, carved out a niche traveling back and forth to South America, purchasing proven, grade I winners then importing them back to the U.S. with more than moderate success.
A case in point, Hard Buck, winner of the 2002 Gulfstream Park Handicap, was the first Brazilian champion according to McPeek, to capture a grade I event in his North American debut. He was part of the first package of horses McPeek selected and brought back to race in the States. They haven’t all turned out as fortuitously, he is quick himself to point out. The mistake, the trainer believes, was in not buying high enough…not having a good enough horse to start with. For the most part, he now shies away from the lesser or mediocre and tries to learn from his mistakes. It would seem to be a mantra for the horseman who grew bored just a year ago, and retired from training, then “un-retired” this spring, after less than a year away from the game.
With a recently purchased, state of the art training facility in Lexington, and a new, more global outlook on the sport, the man who self-admittedly has tried “just about everything” over the years to win races, is once again trying something entirely new. In the process of re-inventing his training methods, he appears to be re-inventing himself as well.
A self-professed “hard-boot” born and bred in Bluegrass Country, McPeek is a somewhat unlikely student of the sport. He claims to have been first attracted to racing through pedigrees, as a child delving into bloodlines, a passion that he holds true to, even today. Mention a horse of yesteryear such as Tom Fool, and his eyes light up. “The sire of Buckpasser,” he responds.
Try a more recent runner closer to home. “Tejano Run…a double shot of Man O War. You knew, by virtue of that pedigree, what he was made like. From there, it was just a matter of testing his talent.”
An avid reader, McPeek seems as enamored with the historical relevance of the topic of breeding, as he is the role it plays in the horses he trains.
“It’s such an interesting topic,” he says. “The influences, the information, the statistics are all recorded. For generations, records have been kept. You can take any horse, look at the pedigree, see how many foals have been born, how many were bay or chestnut, how many ran long or short, on dirt or turf. It’s a complete analysis of the breed.”
“It comes into play with any horse I ever buy,” he reveals. “How he’s bred. How he’s made. And of course, you use pedigree in training, too. Whether the horse is really made to be a particular type of horse, distance not sprint--how to run and when. The bloodlines give you an idea of the long-term picture, rather than the short term.”
“Any trainer that doesn’t know about bloodlines,” the often outspoken trainer remarks,” doesn’t know about horses.”
McPeek lists Federico Tesio’s “Breeding the Race Horse”, first published in 1958 as mandatory reading for every Thoroughbred trainer. “Speed in the Thoroughbred” also makes the McPeek top ten list.
“If you read that, you understand that horses were bred to cross deserts,” he offers. “Long distances, as a breed, they’re not meant for speed so much as stamina. So the key becomes to harness the speed and develop the stamina.”
“Take Charge Lady, for example, was too fast for her own good,” he continues, speaking of the grade I, 2002 Ashland Stakes winner. “She was meant to run long but was so quick early. I only ran her short the first time I ran her.”
“It might have ruined her,” he says, admitting, “I’ll go so far as to say that sometimes I will rush a horse to go long. They’ll stay sounder that way. I believe it makes them last longer. If I do something well, that’s what it is, I think. By getting them to run long, I allow their careers to extend.”
In an effort to extend the stable, McPeek ventured out internationally in 2002. After rejecting several years of invitations, the now-44-year-old decided to take a trip to Brazil.
“Up until then, I hadn’t found it was a necessity,” he explains. “But there was an opening in the stable for more quality, older horses. I asked my hosts to show me the best horses, and I would tell them what I was interested in.”
After looking at approximately 30 grade I or grade II proven stakes winners, McPeek found several he was attracted to by virtue of past performance, pedigree and type. It’s a formula he still adheres to.
“It’s pretty much the way they’re made,” he says. “A good horse is made a certain way. I’m looking for a certain conformation type. And I’m basically looking for long distance, turf horses.”
A college graduate with a degree in business administration, McPeek, not surprisingly, is also looking for the right price. He says value, particularly in Brazil, is prevalent.
“Better than fifty cents on the dollar,” McPeek claims. “There’s more value due to logistics. Very few good horses are at the racetrack. They’re spread out, they train at training centers four to six thousand feet above sea level. From the airport, you drive two hours into the mountains and then cover the whole coastline. It’ll whip you,” he admits. “But the market is really pretty closed.”
Which makes it a buyers market, as far as McPeek’s concerned, and he’s taking full advantage. “It would be next to impossible to get a grade I horse in the United States for half a million dollars,” he explains. “For me, it’s a matter of budget and clientele. But good horses are good horses. It’s no different than doing a deal here at home.”
But there are a few differences, not the least of which was language. “When you don’t speak the language, and you don’t know the place, it’s difficult,” he observes. He tackled Portuguese with the same pragmatic approach with which he appears to approach most things. “I took eight lessons on a CD and then made a commitment to write down every new word I heard,” McPeek explains. “Then, if I didn’t understand something, I’d ask a friend.”
He’s since expanded that network of friends to include several South American bloodstock advisors and agents, who watch races and look for horses on a year-round basis. McPeek lists Alberto Figueiredo, a veterinarian and racing manager out of Sao Paolo as a key contact, and insists on having all prospective purchases examined in Brazil by U.S.-trained veterinarians, with X-rays digitally sent to Dr. Larry Bramlage for the final okay.
“This is a network I’ve had to build socially as well as professionally,” McPeek says. “But these are people I completely trust. The people of Brazil are a warm people—some of the nicest people I’ve ever been around. They are passionate about racing, and if they’re your friend, they’re your friend for life.”
As for the horses themselves, the transition from South America to North is comparatively simple, according to McPeek. After a nine-hour flight from Sao Paolo to Miami, the horses move into seven days of quarantine.
“That’s actually more difficult than shipping,” McPeek says. “You don’t have any control, and you don’t have the same facilities as a top stable. The flight is relatively easy, but in quarantine, a lot of them lose weight.”
McPeek relies on the transportation company, IRT, for the transport arrangements, claiming “they do a fantastic job.” From there, the horses generally go to a farm in Ocala to recuperate for at least a couple weeks.
“The theory is six months to fully acclimate,” McPeek says. “Hard Buck was the exception. He acclimated quickly. After five months, he ran and won five in a row. But generally, it’s at least six months. It’s particularly difficult on fillies. And the more time they have, the better they do.”
And possibly the better the trainer will do, as well. It was time, McPeek appeared to need himself last year, when he decided to leave the training profession despite more than 750 career winners and earnings in excess of $28 million. After putting together a stable of close to 150 horses, with runners across the Midwest and East, McPeek claims to have grown weary—almost bored—with the day to day grind.
“There were lots of reasons that I quit, professionally and personally,” he says. “After twenty years without missing a beat, I was tired. I had too many horses in too many places. It was something I had never envisioned. I told my wife Sue, I had created Godzilla, and now I had to figure out how to feed him.”
But the monster wouldn’t rest for long.
McPeek made the decision to retire in April, 2005 and spent several months traveling and focusing on his wife of ten years, Sue, and his 5-year-old daughter Jenna. He continued his work as a bloodstock agent, and made several trips overseas, including to Australia. For several months, it was enough.
“As an agent, I did well and stayed busy,” he says. “But in December, it seemed slow. By January, it was too slow. February it was slow. There hadn’t been a horse in Brazil that had caught my eye in about nine months. I had purchased around six million dollars worth of horses for clients, but I didn’t feel the same satisfaction. By late February, I put in for stalls at Keeneland.”
By April, McPeek was back at it, but with a different perspective.
“I don’t want to get too big, and I don’t want to be too stretched out. I don’t want to be stabled in New York or Chicago,” he says. “I want it a Kentucky thing, with horses in Lexington and Louisville. I’m from here, I made my mark here, this is my home. And I can stay closer to Sue and Jenna.”
He’s also back with a different set-up. In addition to stalls at Churchill Downs, McPeek is in the process of developing his own training center in Lexington on a 115-acre parcel of land in northeastern Lexington.
“The evolution of the idea for the farm is complicated,” he says. “I’d been to Brazil, to Argentina, Chile, India, England, Ireland, South Africa and Dubai. I have to say that’s probably more than the average trainer has seen.”
“I’ve been to Newmarket several times,” he continues. “And the options that trainers have there is eye opening. It got me to thinking how training on U.S. racetracks, in many cases, can be so limited. Internationally, there are better options. There’s a better way.”
McPeek believed he saw the better way on a trip this spring to Australia, where he toured two major training facilities. One belonged to Hall of Famer Lee Freedman, who, early in his career according to McPeek, had dealt with similar growing pains and had soured on the game. When Freedman purchased his own property and started over, he became hugely successful. Another of the trainers McPeek met was Colin Hayes.
“His place was way out of the way,” he says. “But he’s one of the top trainers in Australia. I started to piece together ideas from each of their training centers. I wondered, will this work in the U.S., and I decided to find out.”
McPeek began looking for property before he got back to America. He purchased what is now Magdalena Farm, named for the matriarch settler of the land, earlier this spring. The property was formerly part of 505 Farms, and before that, historic Pillar Stud, a point not wasted on McPeek.
“There’s a horse cemetery on the property, some incredible horses are there.” Sue, who assists her husband at the local sales, is researching the human history of the land.
But the McPeeks are looking to the future as well, with plans for 23 turn out paddocks and round pens, a European walker, larger than normal stalls, a mile and a half turf course grown from genetically designed seed.
“Options,” Kenny explains as the main benefit of the facility. “Dirt, turf, right-handed, left-handed, up-hill and down. And the ability to make my own schedule.”
Already, he’s made the change from seven days a week of training to one day —Sundays —off.
“I’m intrigued,” he says. “I love horse racing, and seeing the different ways of doing it…always looking for ways to improve. I think the old ways are inefficient and bad for horses. They’re also bad for people. Change is good, but it’s usually difficult.”
“I want my stamp on it,” McPeek offers. “I’m putting every bit of knowledge and energy I have into it, but there’s a real comfort in doing what I do.”
“I was clumsy when I started training, and I tried everything. I tried it all. I would do anything I could to try and get them to win. But I figured out the best way is to keep it simple. I don’t believe in fancy medication. The more you complicate it the worse you make it. Just keep them happy and sound, and go over with something left.”
“All horses are the same,” he concludes. “They all wear out eventually.”
But hopefully, not their trainers.
Johnny Jones - we profile the legendary Kentucky horseman
When John T.L. Jones Jr. props his cowboy boots up on his desk, he leaves behind the mud accumulated from 72 years of being the Jones to keep up with. Unlike the speedy Quarter Horses that jump-started his livelihood by making a mad dash to the finish line, Jones’ ascent in the racing industry has taken him several circuits around the racecourse.
Frances J Karon (19 October 2006 - Issue Number: 2)
When John T.L. Jones Jr. props his cowboy boots up on his desk, he leaves behind the mud accumulated from 72 years of being the Jones to keep up with. Unlike the speedy Quarter Horses that jump-started his livelihood by making a mad dash to the finish line, Jones’ ascent in the racing industry has taken him several circuits around the racecourse.
Jones spent nearly 30 years at the helm of Walmac International, presiding over the successful stallion careers of dual Arc winner Alleged and the great sire Nureyev before selling the farm to his son Johnny III and business partner Bobby Trussell. Retirement was short-lived as Jones soon fell back on his roots to train a small string of horses. In between running a couple of two-year-olds at the fall meet at Keeneland, he took some time to sit down and think back on his years in the business.
When you sold Walmac in 2004, you could have chosen to do anything, or nothing for that matter. What influenced your decision to train again?
My good friend R.D. Hubbard said to go buy some yearlings and I wanted to supervise them through at least their first year to know kind of what I got. I haven’t really supervised that kind of thing for 35 years. But I enjoy it. I guess I just have an addiction to horses. I like them! To be honest with you I don’t know how long I’m going to train.
Your father was in the insurance business. Did he want you to follow in his footsteps?
Not particularly. We’d had horses since I was a boy, I mean, as far back as I can remember. He got interested in Quarter Horses and registered his first horse in 1945, so I just grew up with it. He was a businessman, but still we always had a farm and had horses and so I had an interest. Then when I went to college, I played golf and got away a little bit from the horses because I was gone all the time. When my dad passed away in 1958 he had probably 25 or 30 head of Quarter Horses. So basically I started devoting all my time to horses right after my father died.
So how does one begin the journey from humble origins with Quarter Horses in Quanah, Texas to syndicate manager for some of the world’s most valuable Thoroughbred stallions?
I ended up joint venturing a deal on my farm in 1965 and when my partner got into a financial bind that carried me with him I lost everything I had. When you wake up one day with four children and no money, you’d better get your ass to work. I went to the track and started training for Walter Merrick in 1966.
Had you had any introduction, formal or otherwise, to training?
No.
So from the first day you started training horses you just went on instinct?
Well, Mr. Merrick was a legendary horseman but he never had much input. What he basically told me is that little things win races. In other words, that everybody knows to feed them, everybody knows to gallop them, everybody knows to work them, the details are what make the difference between the people that win and the others. Most of what I learned was trial and error. So I won races all the time, everywhere I went. First started off with match racing, and we won most of them.
Where was that, at bush league tracks?
You’d pull up in a trailer and a guy would say, what have you got and how far do you want to go? You’d bet $500 or $1000. I started doing that every weekend instead of playing golf.
I got into it because a cowboy was badgering me one time so I went down by the wheat field and grated off about 3/8’s of a mile, just turned around and let the horse run. We got to hauling down there to those little old straightaway tracks. Most of them were bred to run; well the horse I started out with was out of a half-Thoroughbred mare. Originally he was meant to be a parade horse for a friend of mine’s boy. That was in 1962 or ’63, first time that he’d ever been on an official – by that I mean pari-mutuel – track. His name was Gold Nugget Sims. The first time I’d ever been to an official track and he ran second and I was thrilled. I went and got them to give me a picture of him being second.
It was about a $300 purse. I was in the paddock that night and it was hotter than Hades up in Oklahoma, 240 miles from where I lived. So I was in the paddock and I was nervous and I’d never been in a paddock before like that. The paddock judge came out and said, “Rain’s over!” I said, huh? It was so hot and not a cloud in the sky... He said, “Reins over!” and I went oh! and threw the reins over the horse’s head.
I think you’ve learned a lot since then!
I’ve learned most of it by trial and error. Still making errors!
At this point your main focus was on Quarter Horses. Did you win any major races?
The biggest Quarter Horse race I won was the Kansas Futurity in 1967 with Jet Smooth for Mr. Merrick. I did train some cheaper, New Mexico Thoroughbreds for him, too.
How and when did you transition to Thoroughbreds?
I went to work for a fellow named Marvin Warner in Cincinnati. He gave me the freedom and the financial backing to do what I thought was the best in the horse business. In 10 years he never bought a horse and he never sold a horse. Now, had I not been producing, had I not been making money, I’d have been back in Texas chopping cotton. But he enabled me to accomplish something or use my knowledge to accomplish something where 99% of owners like that that don’t know anything about the business start thinking they know and it’s all an odds game anyway. He enjoyed the game, he enjoyed going to the races and never injected what he thought about the horses. I had pretty much a free rein and we were fortunate enough to do well. It just gives you an edge, it just gives you the advantage of over a period of time being right more times than you’re wrong. ‘Cause in the horse business you’re going to be wrong a lot of times. So, that’s really where I was lucky with Mr. Warner because he just gave me a free rein. He looked at the balance sheet and as long as that was good he allowed me to go to Europe, he allowed me to go anywhere I wanted to go. Not many people have that opportunity.
Training horses at River Downs in Ohio in the late 1970’s, you were in a good spot to observe the fledgling career of Steve Cauthen.
[Steve’s father] Tex was our horseshoer. I wasn’t paying much attention and I’d already made a deal with a jock at River Downs to ride our horses when Steve started riding and I couldn’t really get out of that commitment because I wanted to do what I’d said I’d do. I rode Steve some when he first started out. But then when he went to New York we’d sent horses to Chuck Taliaferro [for Marvin Warner] and since his family knew Chuck – we were all kind of family – well Steve went up and stayed with Chuck when he got really rolling.
Why did you leave training?
I figured out if I was ever going to be a factor in the industry it was going to be through stallions but I didn’t have any money; I had to get into something where I could use other people’s money. A man told me a long time ago that in the stallion business, people are calling you – you’re not having to call them. In other words, you can gather a lot of information in all facets of the industry by just picking people’s brain when they call asking about a stallion or something. I knew where I wanted to be but I didn’t know exactly how to get there. I thought with some of the older, established farms, I thought at that time there was a little spot for a younger farm. Brereton Jones had just got started and most of the other farms around here had just one stallion, except for Claiborne, Spendthrift and Gainesway. In all honesty, I’ve known a lot of people in my life that worked very hard and were good horsemen but never did have the break.
What is the most difficult part of being a trainer?
Training horses is somewhat of a mundane life. In other words, as Walter Merrick taught me, the little things win races. For example, there will be a few seconds, a few minutes of highs…the majority of what a trainer goes through are negatives. He’s got a horse that’s coming up a little off, or not doing what he expects of him, or enters it in a race but only one horse can win.
That’s probably less true of trainers at the top level with a barn full of stakes-quality horses. There is quite a dichotomy between the Todd Pletchers and everyone else.
For some of these fellows it’s somewhat of a system to run a business rather than training and teaching the individual horse. The horse adapts to a system and if he doesn’t they really don’t have time for him, especially when they’ve got horses at five different locations. That’s also different from the way I came up. Thirty, forty horses was the most anybody had. Most owners had their own personal trainer; the Whitneys had their trainer, Spendthrift had their trainer, Claiborne had their trainer. Very few have that now; they’ve either got their horses scattered or they’ve got them in a huge stable with somebody.
We’re talking about a very small minority of the trainers. But even in Europe, I think, most of the bigger stables are still geared towards the personal aspect and trainers are able to feel their horses’ legs every night and know about every little niggling problem as it happens.
With major trainers in America today, probably a lot of them know exactly what is going on but they have to hear it from somebody else. Their system is excellent, but the owners don’t have the personal touch. It used to be a much more social atmosphere, a personal atmosphere rather than all business. They have a very, very good system but they can’t possibly be as involved like the trainers of the old days. You used to see pictures of old Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons sitting on a stool running cold water on a horse’s legs. You don’t see much of that with your high-profile trainers anymore.
Sure you do, right after their horse has won the Kentucky Derby! But that makes for a great photo op.
That’s it.
What differences have you noticed between the horse of today and his ancestors?
The horses are much more fragile than they were 30 years ago. Horses that had stamina were more acceptable in American racing until the advent of the two-year-old sales. A huge part of our market is to pinhook into the two-year-old sales so that requires speed. With so many buyers looking for speed people are breeding for it. The faster horses run the more liable they are to break down so I think that probably we’re breeding less sound horses. Not many people want to buy a horse and wait for him to make his first start at three; they want it now.
Of course I have to ask, what do you think of the Polytrack?
Polytrack, well, nobody knows for sure but I do know one thing, it’s much easier on horses. I think it will probably in a number of years have an effect on how we breed horses. They say that grass horses like the Polytrack. I think to a certain extent – obviously there’s no absolute to this business – I do think it will give horses with stamina more opportunities and it’s safer for the horses. Everybody likes it. I give Rogers Beasley a lot of credit for pushing them [to install the Polytrack at Keeneland]. First of all, it’s safer. It’s just safer. Plus, you don’t have the days when your racetrack’s a soupy mess.
Is there anything you don’t like about artificial surfaces?
One thing I do think is that all the tracks going to that surface should use the same material. Not with any prejudices to any manufacturer but just to make everything the same. I haven’t experienced any of the others so I can’t say accurately but I would say it would have been better if they had been all the same. And they may be all so similar that it doesn’t make any difference.
And its overall effect?
It’s much easier on a horse. A horse has got to be a little fitter, there’s going to be a little more emphasis on recognizing stamina in pedigrees. Five furlong horses that could go 6 furlongs or even a mile and a sixteenth are not going to do that on these surfaces. I think you’ll see horses lasting longer, I think you’ll see fuller fields. Fuller fields mean more pari-mutuel wagering so I think it’s all positive. If horses last longer owners have more chances to recoup money and to make money and it’s positive all the way down the line.
Another positive of the artificial surfaces is that horses are getting a hold of it leaving the gate. I think a lot of horses hurt themselves when they stumble or the ground breaks out from under them leaving the gate, bam! and they’re hitting it wrong and then they run around there and break down. I just think a lot of injuries are caused at the starting gate and with the new surfaces they get a hold of it, they don’t slip, and they go.
The recent Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit held at Keeneland included a presentation made by Wayne McIlwraith, D.V.M., in which he said that most breakdowns are due to pre-existing stress fractures or other such conditions. Would you like to see routine MRIs, CT scans and ultrasounds become mandatory?
I guess you could regulate yourself clear out of business.
But if you’re saving your horse you’re keeping yourself in business.
Well but it’s going to come down to an opinion. It’s just like the vets vetting these horses that have a little chip here or a stress fracture or something that they’re not particularly sore on, but it’s there. One vet says don’t run it, the next vet says it’s okay to run. If you want to just have a nightmare, try to do something like that.
What is your stance on the ever-controversial drug and medication policy in the U.S.?
Overall I think racing is good. I think we’ve gone overboard in not allowing some analgesic-type drugs to be used on horses. I imagine the people who are saying that horses should run on oats and hay are taking eight pills a day for themselves to get through the day. I don’t think it’s fair; analgesics are just comfort-type drugs. They’re athletes, just like baseball players or football players, and narcotics and steroids are not good but I think drugs like Lasix and Banamine and stuff like that are fine. It’s like someone getting up in the morning and taking an Advil for their headache. I don’t think they’ll ever solve the problem. We’ve got too many jurisdictions and everybody wants to be the hero. By the time they figure out what one guy’s using he’s going to come up with another [drug], and it’s almost impossible; they may know something’s in a test but they can’t tell you what it is.
How would you deal with this issue?
There are two things that could probably stop a huge part of it. Number one, the jurisdiction should know what’s in the truck of a veterinarian pulling in on the backside. No point in having certain drugs in your truck, or they could have a dispensary for specific drugs that could be signed out. I also think – I know it’d be expensive – but if they think people are doing something illegal – they take your picture most anywhere now, anytime you go to the bank to cash a check you get your picture taken, or go to the convenience store, everybody’s getting their picture taken. So, if they really want to do something about it they should just put some monitors in the barn. Then they’ll know who’s in the barn at all times.
But you can’t see what they’re giving them.
If you know what’s in their truck, you’d know that they don’t have any business with certain drugs. I just think you’ve got to try to stay away from anything that is going to endanger a horse’s health but analgesic medications, I don’t see anything wrong with that.
Let’s hear your thoughts on another sensitive subject, the horse slaughter ban bill awaiting Senate approval.
I think it is going to be a major problem in the logistics of it if they go ahead and pass this horse slaughter ban. There’s nobody that loves horses better than I love horses. And if I want to take care of my horse, turn him out and retire him and let him die of old age, that’s my business. If I want to support an organization that does that, that’s my business. I shouldn’t try to legislate what somebody else does with their property. Not just the Thoroughbred industry – there’s millions of horses. I don’t know what they think that they’re going to do with all of them because it’s just going to compound. That’d be like turning them out on the roadside only to get killed by people running over them. Which is worse, letting a horse go to slaughter or letting him starve to death? That has to do with the difference between being emotional and being realistic.
Either way, people are looking for absolution instead of taking responsibility. Slaughtering the horses just makes room for more and it creates a snowball effect. Stasis will only make things worse because people will feel encouraged to continue to breed as though there is no moral dilemma.
The government cannot take responsibility for what we do. We have to be responsible for our own morality and what we do with things. We can’t have the government telling us every move, whether it’s moral or immoral or what it is. I could argue both sides of the coin. It’s pretty silly to a certain extent to spend all that money they’re raising to save retired horses when the same guy walks down the backstretch and sees little kids in the tack rooms with no money and does very little for them.
John Gaines credited you with breaking down the dissension that threatened to keep the Breeders’ Cup from becoming a reality. Are you satisfied with how it has matured in these 23 years?
Give him credit, I thought Mr. Gaines was very innovative. And I think that once we got it organized and were able to appease the different factions, I think [the Breeders’ Cup has] been a tremendous success. If you went through the list of buyers at the Keeneland Summer Sale in like 1970, none of them were from Europe but I suspected that the game was going to get global in the early Seventies with global transportation and ease of getting horses over here. You could fly one over here from England about as quick as you can fly it to California – definitely faster than you can van it out there. So I thought it was going to be a global thing and I thought that it would put the spotlight on a special day, at least have another venue that the public could attach itself to rather than just the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont if you happen to have something that might win the Triple Crown.
What improvements would you suggest?
We probably need to take a step further, which I think we’re doing, by creating venues leading to the Breeders’ Cup. It could be a venue in England or Ireland or France or anywhere. I don’t think you can really create any public excitement without events. People always follow crowds. People aren’t going to NASCAR just to see cars running around, they’re waiting on a wreck and to people-watch. The biggest thing about the Derby is, number one, it’s the Derby. Number two, people go to people-watch 150,000 people. People like crowds.
You don’t think that these additional venues will detract from the Breeders’ Cup?
No no no. Not if you start soon enough, it’s just like football and baseball and basketball, they all have playoffs.
Do you think you have any Breeders’ Cup-caliber horses in your barn?
I’ve got two or three of them working like they’re nice horses. A Chester House colt looks like a good one, the same for a Holy Bull colt and a Cat Thief colt who rapped a tendon – it’s minor but I’m giving him some time – I think he might be a good colt. The rest of them I think might be just ordinary.
How many horses do you have in training?
We’ve got about fifteen, all 2-year-olds.
Did you buy any yearlings at the sales this year?
No, but I’ve got three I bred that will go into training.
You’ve had a winner from only a handful of starters, but it didn’t run in your name! How did that happen?
I wasn’t licensed in Ohio so I just let my assistant trainer Ricky Castilleja get his license and he was down as the trainer. I had a filly run third at Saratoga but I’d sent her to Patrick Biancone for the meet and I’ve since sent her to Mike Doyle at Woodbine because she’s a Canadian-bred. I don’t care whether it’s in my name or somebody else’s. I was in San Antonio all winter every day just about and then Keeneland in April, and went to Turfway after that. I’ve got an excellent assistant, and I talk to him twice a day.
Will you continue to train for the foreseeable future?
If I don’t have three or four nice horses by the end of Churchill I’ll probably send them to another trainer.
And then what? Play golf? Go to Barbados?
I’ll just spend more time at my ranch in Oklahoma. I like the cattle. I’ve enjoyed this and I have no complaints. It’s just that I’ve been doing it for forty-something years.
You can only get so far even by being in the right place at the right time, so how do you explain your success?
In a nutshell, I’ve been lucky. But I was paying attention.
Does artificial lighting benefit the conditioning of a horse?
The claims of manufacturers of light therapy equipment for equines vary from the scientifically proven, through the scientifically dodgy to the downright bizarre. Trainers need to be able to sift through the advice and make financially viable judgements and weigh up the various proposed benefits against costs
Paul Peacock (19 October 2006 - Issue Number: 2)
By Paul Peacock
The claims of manufacturers of light therapy equipment for equines vary from the scientifically proven, through the scientifically dodgy to the downright bizarre. Trainers need to be able to sift through the advice and make financially viable judgements and weigh up the various proposed benefits against costs.
There is also the question of animal welfare to consider, comparing proposed benefits against the possible inconvenience of treatment. Certain forms of so-called light therapy, involving crystals and projected rainbows lie outside the remit of this article as much the same conclusions apply as in other forms of alternative treatment for equines.
However, there are many scientifically proven and highly practical uses for light therapy with thoroughbreds. Research by H. Kolárová, PhD, D. Ditrichová, MD, J. Wagner, PhD at three universities in the Czech Republic has conclusively shown that light penetrates skin tissues and there are a number of light receptors in the skin. These receptors have various functions including the production of more than one set of hormones and vitamins.
Mares at stud
Research in the USA showed that the day-length stimulated the pituitary gland to produce follicle stimulating hormone, thus bring the mare into season. This response is linked to the onset of spring, which in the natural world would bring the mare to foal at the appropriate time. However, this is not usually good enough to meet the cycle of yearling sales, especially in the US (much less so in Europe) and artificial light is used in the autumn and winter months to bring mares into season prematurely early. Up to 70 days of enhanced light, using medium intensity day-glo lighting, either in bulb or fluorescent form, is usually sufficient. More recent research has reduced this figure to les than a month with the use of the drug Sulpiride.
Implications of day length
Clearly, if the pituitary gland can be stimulated using artificial light, other benefits might be available to the horse if the onset of spring is artificially induced. These included increased energy, healthier immune system response, quicker and better recovery from injury and the vague yet important increased interest in life and work. This simple conclusion has led to a growing industry which in some cases uses pseudo science to market benefits that are simply not true.
The science
As far as it is currently understood, light has a number of effects under the skin, i.e. nothing to do with the eye. These effects are not fully understood, and consequently, in order to sell equipment, many companies resort to little understood, pseudo science in order to enhance the effects of light therapy equipment.
There are some compelling and intriguing reasons for looking in to light therapy, but there are not, as yet, any ‘double blind’ scientific studies to actually back up current claims.
Vitamin D
There are light receptors under the skin, but the production of this important vitamin does not need them. It is impossible for any mammal to get all its vitamin D from food sources. One of the many cholesterol molecules is broken down by a specific frequency of light to the vitamin. This only takes place under ultra violet B, and so ordinary bulbs and fluorescents do not produce the required frequency.
The effects of vitamin D deficiency used to be thought to be quite plain. However modern research has shown there to be a lot of problems directly or indirectly associated with lower amounts of the substance.
These can include depression, seasonal affective disorder, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, poor coat quality and other skin problems, periodontal disease and inflammatory bowel disease.
Consequently, Vitamin D being such an important molecule, the exposure of horses to an adequate amount of UVb light either in daylight or artificial form is important.
Endothelial light receptor cells
The science that might be at work in the other forms of light therapy shown by advertisers is detailed below, but these ideas are not particularly highlighted by many of the companies themselves. Usually you get the statement, “healing at the cellular level” or the “light heats up cells thus increasing their metabolism” or “the extra energy given to cells allows oxygen to become more available”. None of these statements can be attributed to factual evidence. However, current and possible areas for research include the following.
Horse skin, as in almost all mammals, contains a lot of light receptors. These use light to create a number of interesting effects.
First of all, nitric oxide synthatase (NOS), an enzyme which produces nitric oxide, is found more readily at higher light activity. This releases nitric oxide into the tissues which stimulates blood flow and has an effect on the nerves in the area. The interruption of morphine receptors can be initiated by nitric oxide, among other substances, thus providing an element of pain relief. In circumstantial evidence there does seem to be an increased immune system response directly associated to light receptors receiving extra incident light. This might be associated with oestrogens and their interaction with NOS, nitric oxide itself, and other as yet unknown substances. In particular, wound repair and the healing of operation scars is becoming an interesting area of study which has been one of the favourite claims for using light therapy, particularly cold laser treatment.
Treatments
Cold laser treatments are supplied in hand held form in a little box. You simply shine the light at the treatable area for a short while. A number of companies say that this treatment works by somehow transferring energy to and from ADP to ATP. This claim is nonsense. However, the non-science of the claims does not have to mean that the treatment doesn’t work. Hand held lasers are expensive, possibly out of the reach of many small yards. LED infra red diode therapy is where a string of infra red diodes are attached to the affected part. There are receptors in the skin which respond to infra red energy, normally to increase blood flow to remove the heat from the area. This can, therefore, have some benefit at the local level, but it is not conclusively shown. Furthermore many companies suggest using this equipment at the acupuncture points on the animal, causing the prospective user to weigh up the relative pros and cons of alternative therapies too, something beyond the scope of this article.
SAD adjustments, as described earlier, are possibly the best use of light therapy. It has to be said that the best and most cost effective light source is the sun, and stables need to be as light and airy as possible. However the simple use of daylight bulbs or fluorescents is sufficient to compensate for day length initiated disorders, keeping the animal in general good health. There are companies that sell booths with banks of lights on them. You can alternate these lights for infra red banks which create a warm radiance on the animal. They are frequently advertised with benefits such as shortening warm up / warm down times, and drying the animal after exercise or otherwise. Trainers will have to make up their own minds about these benefits. There are no studies which detail the combined effect of heat and light on the health response of horses, yet common sense might provide some hints to their possible use.
Un-synchronised fluorescent lighting
Some horses. Like a small but significant number of humans, respond negatively to fluorescent lighting that is un-phased. Older, or cheap, fluorescent lights can have a flicker associated with them which can affect some thoroughbreds. Examples of crib biting and walking and kicking have been eased by simply changing the lighting.
Conclusion
There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that light therapy has some basic scientific truth about it. However the studies to completely show benefits are few and far between. Particularly, trainer will have to make up their own minds whether expensive equipment justifies the proposed benefits. Perhaps the very best light therapy can be obtained by simply changing the indoor lighting to daylight bulbs and the maintenance of a fourteen hour regime of daylight type radiation in the yard.
Bones of contention - how to maintain a strong skeleton
The expression no foot no horse’ should perhaps be extended to cover all the bones of the skeleton, for as far as racehorses are concerned, without strength and durability in this area a trainer’s job is fraught with difficulties. The number of training days lost to lameness in a season is testament to this. A racehorse diet should help to maintain the skeletal system during rigorous training. This task is no doubt easier when the skeletal foundations have been firmly laid in utero and during the rapid growing phase.
Dr Catherine Dunnet (19 October 2006 - Issue Number: 2)
By Catherine Dunnett
The expression ‘no foot no horse’ should perhaps be extended to cover all the bones of the skeleton, for as far as racehorses are concerned, without strength and durability in this area a trainer’s job is fraught with difficulties. The number of training days lost to lameness in a season is testament to this. A racehorse’s diet should help to maintain the skeletal system during rigorous training. This task is no doubt easier when the skeletal foundations have been firmly laid in utero and during the rapid growing phase.
The formation of cartilage and its subsequent conversion to bone ‘proper’ is one of the key processes to highlight. Long bones develop in the foetus from early bone templates that are composed entirely of cartilage. Conversion of cartilage to bone occurs initially within a central area of ossification (bone formation) within the long bones, known as the diaphysis and then also at each end of the bone (epiphysis).
There are various abnormalities that can occur during the development of bones and joints that may involve problems during the localised conversion of cartilage to bone, or with bone lengthening, or changes within the bone after it has formed, once a horse has commenced training.
Nutrition is only one of many factors involved in DOD Osteochondrosis (OCD) involves disruption to the normal conversion of cartilage to bone within the areas of ossification. For many years, researchers viewed nutrition as the key to OCD, however, it is now recognised that genetic predisposition, body size and mechanical stress, as well as trauma are all additional factors that must be considered. Whilst diets that simply oversupply energy have been demonstrated to increase the incidence of OCD, the previously hypothesised causal link with excessive protein intake has not been proven.
This suggests that the source of the energy in feed is an important issue. Recent research supports this, as it has been reported that diets with a high glycemic nature, i.e. those with a high starch and sugar content (typical of the more traditional stud and youngstock rations), appear to be more likely to trigger OCD.
However, one would suspect that this would be more apparent in genetically susceptible animals.
Many mineral imbalances in the diet have also been implicated as causative factors in OCD, but few have any strong evidence to support their role. For example, OCD lesions have been reproduced experimentally in foals maintained on a very high phosphorus intake. This type of diet could arise inadvertently by feeding straight cereals such as oats, without a suitable balancer or complementary feed such as alfalfa to redress the low calcium to phosphorus ratio in the grain. Less extreme versions of this diet could occur through excessive top dressing of ‘balanced’ coarse mix or cubes with additional cereals such as oats or barley, as is common practice in many yards.
A low copper intake, especially during the last trimester of pregnancy, has also been implicated in OCD. Copper has received particular focus due to its functional role in the activity of a key enzyme involved in formation of the collagen cross-links. However, other trace minerals including manganese and zinc may be equally important during this key stage in a foal’s development in utero, as they are necessary co-factors for important enzymes involved in regulating cartilage metabolism.
Blood tests that challenge the premise that horses are unaffected by molybdenum levels in grazing
In grazing youngsters, a secondary copper deficiency can be caused by excessive molybdenum levels in pasture. In cattle, bacteria in the rumen form complexes between molybdenum and sulphur. These thiomolybdate complexes will bind copper within the gut and when absorbed will then search out further copper to bind, either circulating in the blood or in association with copper dependent enzymes. This can severely impair the activity of some key enzymes involved in growth processes and cartilage turnover.
However, as a horses gut is somewhat different from a cow’s, in that the hindgut (the equivalent of the rumen) is positioned after the small intestine and not before, there is theoretically less opportunity for these thiomolybdates to be absorbed and ‘cause trouble’. At least this is what has been largely accepted from previous studies in horses that focussed on plasma copper levels and copper absorption.
However, new blood tests that can be used to measure the activities of key copper dependent enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), in conjunction with traditional measurements of plasma copper status and the presence of thiomolybdate complexes suggest that this may not always be the case. Dr Stewart Telfer of Telsol Ltd, routinely carries out such tests in cattle and has to date analysed about 100 samples in horses suspected of having an issue with molybdenum interactions. He says, “From our work, it is clear that horses do suffer from molybdenum (thiomolybdate) toxicity. The interactions between copper, iron, molybdenum and sulphur will take place in the horse’s gut and in certain situations, not always linked to a high molybdenum intake, will result in the horse suffering from molybdenum (thiomolybdate) toxicity. Dr Telfer however, acknowledges that only relatively small numbers of samples in horses have been tested and the laboratory does not currently have a definitive reference range for horses.
Calcium and phosphorus may be mobilized from bone to compensate for ‘acidic diets’
When yearlings first move into training yards, they usually experience a significant change in their diet that has consequences for bone metabolism during this period in their lives when some continued growth occurs and the skeletal system is put under considerable strain. In general terms, a ‘stud diet’ has what’s called a high dietary anion to cation ratio (DCAB). This is largely due to the high inclusion of ingredients like soya and forages. A ‘full race training diet’ on the other hand tends to have a much lower DCAB (is more acidic) due to the reduction in forage intake and higher inclusion of cereals such as oats. The significance of a low DCAB is that it reduces the efficiency of calcium absorption and retention within the body and may contribute to the reduction in bone density seen in horses in early training. This surely is an argument for limiting the intake of cereals and maximising forage intake during the early stages of training when a high cereal intake is largely unnecessary.
Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the horse's body, with the majority being present in the skeletal system. Phosphorus is also found in large amounts in bone in close association with calcium. A racehorse’s diet should provide an adequate intake of both minerals but also needs to provide a balanced calcium to phosphorus ratio of near to 2:1. Although exercise demands a slight increase in calcium intake above the requirements for maintenance, this is usually satisfied by the generalised increase in feed intake. However, the efficiency with which individual horses absorb calcium varies and should certainly be investigated when a calcium-related issue arises. This can be achieved by examining an individual horse’s calcium and phosphorus status, by looking at the diet and also within the body using a creatinine clearance test.
Topdressing – a national pastime
When using straight feeds, or when topdressing ‘straights’ onto a ‘balanced’ racing mix or cubes, be aware that certain types of feed are much higher in calcium relative to phosphorus and vice versa (see table). Alfalfa, with its high calcium to phosphorus ratio, makes an ideal partner for cereals, which are low in calcium relative to phosphorus.
Conversely, the traditional combination of oats and bran is not ideal, as it combines two feeds, which are low in calcium. Remember that you can use a supplement or feed balancer to carefully correct any deficiencies or imbalances when feeding straights. Equally excessive addition of oats to a balanced mix or cube can decrease the calcium to phosphorus ratio sufficiently to cause problems. Most commercial mixes or cubes have sufficiently high calcium to phosphorus ratios to practically be able to withstand the addition of 1-2kg of oats daily, however any increase beyond this is unwise without further corrective measures.
Feeds High in Calcium & Low in Phosphorus
Alfalfa, Sugar Beet, Seaweed
Feeds Low in Calcium & High Phosphorus
Oats, Barley, Maize, Wheat Bran
Horses have a complex regulatory system, involving certain hormones, for ensuring that the proportion of calcium in the body, relative to that of phosphorus, remains stable and that the level of active or ‘ionised’ calcium in the blood remains within tight limits. If for one reason or another the level of calcium relative to phosphorus in the blood drops, a number of safety systems will be triggered to redress the balance. Bone acts as a reservoir of both calcium and phosphorus, which can be drawn on when necessary. The body's balance of calcium and phosphorus is continually 'corrected' by either conservation or loss of calcium or phosphorus in the urine, via the kidneys or through the skeletal system. Sustained calcium and phosphorus imbalance can, however, contribute to developmental orthopaedic diseases (DOD) in young horses, or lameness and sometimes bone fractures in mature horses.
Research shows silicon is a trace mineral worth a second look. Moving on to a less well-recognised trace mineral as far as bone is concerned, there has been some interesting research carried out into the effects of supplemental silicon in the racehorse’s diet. Silicon is a natural constituent of plants and provides structure and rigidity to some of their cell walls. It therefore forms a natural part of the horse’s diet, however, the availability in horse feed is apparently limited. Silicon plays a role in the development of new bone and is also important for the calcification process. It is therefore a relevant micronutrient for horses in training, as bone is dynamic and is constantly undergoing change, in response to forces placed upon it during the training process.
Research carried out by Dr Brian Nielsen at Michigan State University in the early nineties reported a dramatic decrease in injury rates in quarter horses fed a bioavaiable form of silicon as sodium zeolite A. This program of research has also established that the silicon is available to foals via the milk of supplemented mares. However, thus far the group have not uncovered the mechanism by which the beneficial effects of silicon are brought about. However, the form in which sodium zeolite A is fed (a chalk like powder) and the level of intake used in these studies (about 200g per day for a 500kg horse) makes it impractical to use as a feed supplement unless it can be incorporated within a feed pellet.
In conclusion, attention to those factors within the diet that support bone turnover is likely to contribute to a reduction in injuries observed, however, the implementation of appropriate training techniques and use of suitable training surfaces also has a huge impact on the durability of horses in training in comparative terms.
The benefits of long reining - enhancing a horse's physical and emotional well-being
Lunging and long reining may seem like old fashioned, basic disciplines for working horses. However by the end of this article, I hope to remind you that these disciplines, when incorporated into your horse’s work routine, can really enhance their physical and emotional state.
Bolette Petersen (19 October 2006 - Issue Number: 2)
By Bolette Petersen
Lunging and long reining may seem like old fashioned, basic disciplines for working horses. However by the end of this article, I hope to remind you that these disciplines, when incorporated into your horse’s work routine, can really enhance their physical and emotional state.
After twenty years of working on the ground with yearlings and racehorses, I have seen how these simple methods have produced many successful racehorses.
Used on a regular basis, these disciplines will strengthen your horse’s body so that he will go from being a front wheel drive machine to a four wheel drive machine with extra power behind. As well as becoming stronger, he will be more confident and willing in his work. You will notice how he will respond better to his handler, due to them spending more time together as a team whilst being lunged and long reined.
I find that it is safer and easier to lunge a horse in a closed round pen. When lunged correctly, your horse will become more balanced in his work, his muscles will become stronger and have a more rounded feel to his body shape. Always put on over reach boots and brushing boots to protect the front legs. Some horses will need brushing boots behind too. I find the key bit a wonderful device for horses of all ages because it teaches them to accept the bit, as well as helping to soften their mouth, which eventually gives them a suppleness through their neck, resulting in an overall improved movement throughout their body. Even when they are older and still in training.
Many horses will initially rush into the round pen and immediately start cantering until they settle. It is very important to teach horses to walk around the pen first, allowing them to relax and warm up their muscles. Horses are more prone to injuries at a canter, so it is imperative that you teach your horse to trot at a collected pace, making sure his hind feet fall into the foot prints of his front feet. You will see that this is the natural rhythm for your horse, allowing his muscles to work properly, and keeping injuries to a minimum. At this pace he will put less pressure on his fetlocks, tendons and knees, as well as less concussion going through his shoulders and withers. Trotting a horse at this pace can also strengthen weaknesses through the legs. I have noticed on many occasions, improvements in horses that are back at the knee because the shoulder and chest area strengthen, tightening everything up.
Your horse should trot the same amount of time each side, and for most horses, trotting each way five to ten minutes every other day will produce significant results in his overall fitness. The day in between can be used for relaxation, long reining, walking or riding out, depending on what routine you are in.
Incorporating side reins after a week or two will help the horse learn to use his hind quarters and hamstrings to a greater degree, they will also strengthen his back muscles, in particular his longissimus dorsi, and neck muscles: the rhomboid muscle along the top of his neck, the complexus muscle, the longissimus, capitus and atlantis muscles. These muscles will take on a much more pronounced, rounder shape to them. Your horse‘s body will work almost like a concertina effect, this creates deeper strength throughout his body, strengthening his buttocks, and hamstrings which really power him forward towards his shoulders and neck. He will then start to drop his head into the bit, rounding his neck, working deeper. His muscles along his backbone (longissimuss dorsi) will start becoming even stronger, providing a better platform for the saddle and rider, thus helping to protect the back bone.
Some horses will never have had side reins on before, so it is important to start with the reins quite long and then gradually shorten them over time. The ideal length allows the horse unforced give in his mouth and neck so that he attains a natural curve to his head (as seen in photo). Again after a couple of weeks you will notice his muscles changing shape, becoming more curved, in particular the rhomboid, longissimus capitis and atlantis muscles. Over time you can shorten the side reins to build the muscles up even more. Never have them too tight though as this may cause your horse to have a sore mouth and he may start to go against the lunging.
Incorporating long reining into your horse’s weekly routine is also beneficial for general fitness and well being. It is a difficult discipline, and should only be attempted by the more experienced horseman. I really enjoy taking my horses up the road, out of the farm and into the woods, but I always make sure that I do this route a few times in advance, leading in hand first, so that they are familiar with their surroundings. By leading them in the roller and side reins, they learn to abide by your voice and get to see different objects like rubbish bins, cars, tractors and barking dogs. It is good for them to come into contact with these different objects, because they will be so much calmer when in training. The side reins make it easier to control them too, so you don’t have to use a chiffney all the time.
It is easier to get the horse used to the long reins whilst lunging in the round pen. Lunge your horse in two lunge reins, attached to each side of the bit, through the middle holes of the roller, on each side for a couple of days until he gets used to them against his sides and flapping around his legs. Then, at the walk bring yourself around behind your horse, making sure you are not too close because he may kick out. Be prepared for your horse to take off which can happen sometimes if he is a little nervous. Help to avoid this by keeping your hands down by your knees so that your horse drops his head, rounding his back, and get him to walk on around using a calm reassuring voice to keep him calm and controlled. The side reining will have prepared him for this contact to his mouth, so he should be more receptive. If you can get someone to walk at your horse’s head for the first week, it will make it easier and safer.
After a few days of practicing circles with the long reins, in the round pen, you can then try walking your horse out onto the road. The aim of this discipline is to get your horse out into the woods walking around the trees. This is particularly good for breaking in yearlings because not only will they become braver and more independent, you will notice how their mouths and neck will be much more pliable and their body more balanced. Keeping your hands down by your sides will help coax your horse to bring his head down, making him work forward with more strength from his hindquarters. Please make sure you wear leather gloves at all times, to give your hands greater protection in case your horse pulls hard.
Long reining is also extremely beneficial for horses in training and resting racehorses. The older horses really enjoy learning new things. You may find that they sometimes lose interest in their work because they have become bored with the same routine. Therefore, I find that by incorporating lunging in side reins and long reining you will notice that they immediately change their attitude to their normal work, becoming more positive towards everything they do.
I have worked with many horses that just need a change to freshen them up and just turning them out doesn’t seem enough. That’s why horses come here, to my farm for ‘working holidays’, not only to relax, but to do different things, and learn new disciplines.
One such horse is Zorn, and he really is my inspiration for all the work that I now do with horses that come here for a rest during their training career. We bred him so he had been through all the basic education with me before he went into training. Unfortunately after four unsuccessful years in training and a few injuries, we took him home. I began schooling him with a view to having him as a dressage horse. Lunging in side reins came easy to him because he remembered what he had been taught as a youngster, as was long reining, and it didn’t take him long to become more balanced, rounded and stronger behind.
He did this work for eight months with quite a lot of dressage thrown in. He became so fit, that we decided to send him back into training. A couple of month’s later he won his first race! He had become a stronger horse for all the work he had done at home and it had paid off. Seeing him win on several occasions after that has been extremely rewarding for everyone involved.
He has been home every summer for his ‘working holidays’, and always returns to a winter all weather campaign, winning a few races every year.
It is not just Zorn who has been successful after his ’back to basics’ schooling. Horses like Captain Rio, Torrid Kentavr, Distant Prospect and Shatin Venture, amongst others, have all been educated here in the same way, they have all been through these basic disciplines as youngsters and have since done extremely well on the racecourse
Lunging and long reining may seem like old fashioned, basic disciplines for working horses. However by the end of this article, I hope to remind you that these disciplines, when incorporated into your horse’s work routine, can really enhance their physical and emotional state.
The future structure of New York racing
The New York Racing Associations 51-year reign on Thoroughbred racing at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, Belmont Park in Elmont, Long Island, and Saratoga Race Course is nearing an end.
Bill Heller (19 October 2006 - Issue Number: 2)
By Bill Heller
The New York Racing Association’s 51-year reign on Thoroughbred racing at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, Belmont Park in Elmont, Long Island, and Saratoga Race Course is nearing an end.
Maybe.
Though billions of dollars, tens of thousands of jobs and the future of a vibrant racing and breeding industry are at stake, the process of choosing a successor when NYRA’s current franchise expires on Dec. 31, 2007, has been playing out like an unending circus, one which did not end on Nov. 21 when the Ad-Hoc Committee on the Future of Racing in New York recommended Excelsior Racing Associates, not the non-profit NYRA, be granted the franchise to operate NYRA’s three tracks, Aqueduct in Queens, Belmont Park in Elmont, Long Island, and Saratoga Race Course, beginning Jan. 1, 2008.
That recommendation was made by members of a lame-duck Legislature for a lame-duck Governor, and everything changes on Jan. 1, 2007. That’s when current Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat who was elected Governor by an overwhelming margin on Nov. 7, assumes office, accompanied by a newly-elected Legislature. Spitzer replaces Republican George Pataki, who had been in office for 12 years.
Ultimately, the future of racing in New York will be decided by Spitzer and the Legislature and it is unclear whether or not they will follow the Ad-Hoc Committee’s recommendation.
That is not their only difficult decision, for we do not know whether NYRA or the state of New York owns the three tracks and the incredibly valuable real estate they occupy, or whether or not the archaic state racing law will be rewritten to allow a for-profit entity to operate the three tracks.
Excelsior, headed by New York Yankees General Partner Steve Swindal, owner George Steinbrenner’s son-in-law, and casino-hotel developer Richard Fields, plans to run racing at the three tracks as a non-profit entity and video lottery terminals at Aqueduct and Belmont, if approved by the new Legislature, on a for-profit basis.
VLTs at Aqueduct were approved in October, 2001, a month following the tragedy of 9-11, but construction has still yet to start more than five years later despite the fact that Aqueduct signed a contract to partner with MGM Grand more than two years ago. The State’s Division of the Lottery, which oversees VLT casino’s at the state’s other racetracks, has yet to give final approval to the contract, propelling NYRA into bankruptcy.
Welcome to New York.
THE HISTORY
The four privately-owned racetracks in New York in the early 1950s, Aqueduct, Belmont Park, Jamaica and Saratoga Race Course, lacked sufficient capital to fund much needed renovations at their facilities. So Ashley T. Cole, the Chairman of the New York State Racing Commission, suggested that the Jockey Club come up with a solution. The Jockey Club appointed a committee to study the issue: Christopher T. Chenery (who would own Secretariat two decades later), Harry F. Guggenheim and John W. Hanes. The trio presented a plan of action in September, 1954: create a not-for-profit racing association to acquire the existing tracks and operate them under a long-term franchise granted by the state of New York.
The New York State Legislature complied, and on June 22nd, 1955, the New York Racing Association, originally called the Greater New York Association, was created under a 25-year franchise grant which guaranteed the association a minimum four percent of pari-mutuel handle at downstate tracks and five percent at Saratoga to be used for capital improvements. This allowed the association to borrow $47 million on a 10-year loan from a consortium of 13 banks headed by the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company in the fall of 1955.
Approximately $24.5 million was used to purchase New York’s four tracks, and the remainder went into rebuilding Belmont Park and making major improvements at Aqueduct and Saratoga.
On April 8th, 1958, the Greater New York Association was renamed NYRA, and on August 1st, 1959, Jamaica closed. The property was sold for $6.5 million on July 15th, 1960.
NYRA’s first problem had surfaced years earlier. After just one year of operation, NYRA needed more money to pay its debt service, so the legislature increased NYRA’s take of pari-mutuel handle by one percent at all its tracks. The takeout rate would be raised and lowered many times over the years. But as the franchise neared its sunset date of 1980, NYRA encountered what would become a familiar, troubling scenario. Banks were reluctant to lend money to NYRA for any period beyond the end of the franchise. So NYRA’s franchise was extended through 1985.
In October, 1983. The franchise was extended through December 31st, 2000, with an important provision: if the franchise had not been extended by September 1st, 1997, the governor was mandated to create a nine-person committee to solicit proposals from any interested parties for a new 10-year franchise beginning January 1st, 2001.
Nine days before that deadline would have kicked in, allowing open bidding on New York racing for the first time, Governor Pataki ignored damning investigations of NYRA by the State Attorney General and Comptroller and extended NYRA’s franchise through its present expiration date, Dec. 31, 2007. To minimize media coverage of such a controversial decision, Pataki’s office issued a press release half an hour before post time for the 1997 Travers Stakes.
This time, nine years later, NYRA, which weathered a new scandal involving money laundering by its tellers that resulted in a deferred prosecution agreement, has not been saved at the bell. At least not yet.
THE POLITICS OF NEW YORK
For the past 12 years, the course of New York State has been dictated by three powerful politicians, two Republicans, Governor Pataki and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, and one Democrat, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Year after year, Pataki and the State Legislature fail to get a state budget completed by the mandated deadline of April 1, leaving key issues to be resolved in a swap meet in the late morning hours preceding a summer recess. Of the trio, only Bruno has a real concern for racing. He once was NYRA’s staunchest backer, but that support dissipated in the past year.
Faced with the opportunity of forging a new future for racing in New York through open bidding - the same opportunity they ignored in 1997 - Pataki, Bruno and Silver instead demonstrated how little they truly are concerned with horse racing. The extension of the NYRA franchise in 1997 mandated that open bidding begin in 2005 if NYRA’s franchise had not been extended past 2007, and Pataki, Bruno and Silver were each given three appointments to a nine-member ad-hoc committee charged with publishing a request for proposals for a new franchise beginning in 2008, sorting those bidders out and recommending a winner to the state legislature by September 29th, 2006.
On Nov. 18th, 2005, six of the nine members of the Committee on the Future of Racing met for the first time - Silver hadn’t even bothered to make his three appointments - in Saratoga Springs at a public meeting. Three of the six had no experience in racing. The collective lack of racing knowledge of the six was stunning, and much of the initial meeting was spent deciding whether or not a meeting of six of the nine members constituted the establishment of the committee. If Rob Williams, a lawyer from the State Racing and Wagering Board who was ultimately chosen as the committee’s executive director, hadn’t been in attendance to hand-walk the members through their first meeting, their first session would have been even more embarrassing. The six decided to subscribe to trade publications to increase their knowledge of racing, then went into executive session.
Fast-forward to the committee’s first public hearing in Albany last January 24th. Silver still had not appointed his three members, so three of the nine chairs on the podium were empty. Regardless, an entire entourage from Magna Entertainment Corporation, including founder and chairman Frank Stronach, attended to weigh in on the future of New York racing. A similar hearing was held the next day in New York City. Charlie Hayward, NYRA’s President and CEO, testified at both hearings.
All the testimony in the world, however, would not resolve the thorny question of track ownership.
THE ISSUE
Deciding the future of New York racing would be easier if one could determine the past or present. Doesn’t anyone know whether the New York Racing Association or the state of New York owns Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course? It’s only been 51 years since NYRA took over the racetracks, yet that principal issue has yet to be resolved, and could ultimately drag racing in New York into an interminable series of lawsuits taking years to resolve.
NYRA, which has trademarked some of its stakes races such as the Travers, contends quite accurately that it actually purchased the three tracks; has been paying property taxes on them for decades and actually holds deeds to at least two of the properties.
The state maintains that it created NYRA and that if NYRA’s franchise expires, the tracks and the land they occupy revert to the state, and that NYRA, in exchange for one of its franchise extensions, agreed to that. Yet if such claims can be documented, why hasn’t the matter been resolved?
Confusing the issue even more is that, even if the state is right, it may be unconstitutional to take a tangible asset, the tracks and the land, from NYRA without compensating NYRA adequately. And if that wasn’t confounding enough, consider that NYRA’s contention that it owns the track and lands has a far greater chance of being supported in a federal court than in a state court. That may explain why the state of New York bailed NYRA out of impending bankruptcy in December, 2005, with a $30 million loan. But the state only released $11 million of the $30 million to NYRA through late-October, 2006, explaining that the delay was because the state’s Division of the Lottery had not given final approval to NYRA’s VLT casino contract with MGM Grand, even though it was signed more than two years earlier.
That prompted NYRA to threaten to declare bankruptcy again. The state then offered the remaining $19 million to NYRA if NYRA guaranteed that it would not file for bankruptcy through the first six months of 2007. Instead, NYRA, on November 3, filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. “We always viewed filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as a last option, and regrettably, NYRA’s Board of Trustees felt that we were required to take this action to protect New York’s Thoroughbred racing industry,” NYRA’s Hayward said. “The goal of the filing is to maintain the current schedule of racing and dates, purse structure, stakes program and all other racing operations.”
Of course, video lottery terminals at Aqueduct could reverse NYRA’s finances drastically and immediately, but VLTs there have been on hold for more than five years. Since it will take 12 to 14 months to install them once there is final approval by the state Division of the Lottery, there is virtually no chance that they could be up and running before NYRA’s franchise literally expires. That could all change when Spitzer and the new State Legislature take office in January. Or it could stay the same for months.
Now that we’ve got that settled, let’s move on.
THE BIDDERS
Early in the bidding process, NYRA’s management made it clear that it, too, would bid on the new franchise. In doing so, it would be the only not-for-profit entity doing so. One can only conjecture how strong that bid would have been if NYRA had enlisted the support of the 5,000-member New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association.
Instead, the NYTHA threw its unconditional support to the Empire Racing Association, a group baring a more-than-passing resemblance to a not-for-profit think-tank called Friends of New York Racing (nobody was thinking ahead here, the acronym is FONY or FONYR) headed by Tim Smith, the former head of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association who had been chosen to become the new president of NYRA only to withdraw at the last minute to create Friends, whose members included many entities who would bid on the NYRA franchise including bitter enemies Magna and Churchill Downs, Inc.
At a private meeting with NYTHA’s leadership in December, 2005, Smith, who said he had no ties to the Empire Racing Association, spoke on behalf of the group, which soon afterwards announced it had the NYTHA’s support for its bid on the new franchise. NYRA understandably felt undercut, and in August, 2006, Smith finally admitted that he, indeed, had a stake in Empire. But not everyone in the NYTHA is comfortable with the decision to back Empire. In a mid-October, 2006, story in the Daily Racing Form, many prominent New York trainers went on record saying that the NYTHA membership was not polled before the decision was made to support Empire and that the NYTHA should not be backing any bidder at this time.
Regardless, citing the backing of New York’s horsemen, Empire argued that New York racing should be operated by New York people, a position which quickly lost credibility when Empire added not only Magna and Churchill Downs, but also Delaware North, which operates Finger Lakes, the only non-NYRA Thoroughbred track in New York, and two harness tracks in the state, and Woodbine Entertainment from Canada in an all-out assault to land the bid.
Two other groups emerged as final four bidders for the franchise: Excelsior Racing Associates, whose backers include retired Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey, and Capital Play, an Australian bookmaking operation given little chance to succeed and indeed was ruled out before the final decision was made. The Committee on the Future of Racing was mandated to announce the winner of the bidding process by September 29th, but postponed that announcement to Nov. 21, when it announced that Excelsior was a narrow winner over Empire and NYRA a distant third. The Committee cited Excelsior’s offer to pay off NYRA’s $50 million pension fund debts as a major factor in its selection.
Does the Committee’s decision matter? It is hard to imagine a new governor from a new party and a new legislature not wanting to make its own determination. And the new governor and new legislature do not take office until January.
There is another important issue, one which cannot be overstated. The archaic state racing law in place allows only for a non-profit entity to operate the tracks. Unless that law is amended, nobody but NYRA can have the franchise. Excelsior’s desire to separate the tracks as a non-profit business and the VLTs as for-profit might not be constitutional the way the existing racing law reads. Throw in yet another variable.
Since we still do not know whether the state of New York or the New York Racing Association owns the track and the land they occupy, perhaps NYRA can use the ownership issue for leverage to cut a franchise extension with a new governor and new legislature. If not, the issue will be resolved in court.
That may take years.
If a new franchise holder is not in place when NYRA’s current franchise expires December 31st, 2007, then the separate NYRA Oversight Committee will be asked to conduct racing the following day. That committee’s members - all of them without any experience in racing - is headed by a chairwoman who, when asked last summer what will happen when NYRA’s franchise expires, thought the franchise ended December 31st, 2006. She was only one year off.
Racing has continued at Aqueduct despite NYRA’s bankruptcy, though one of the track’s main parking lots has been shuttered by the Port Authority, which had purchased the land from NYRA earlier, suggesting that NYRA does indeed own the track and its property. On Wednesday, November 8th, a crowd of 1,239 braved a raw, wet afternoon to watch nine races at Aqueduct.
Say a prayer for racing in New York.
Dermatologic conditions that affect thoroughbred racehorses
Horses are similar to many other species with the skin being the largest
organ in the body. This is based on overall organ size; just think
about the total surface area of a 600 kg horse!; The good news is that
it can be easily evaluated by visual inspection and palpation. Specific
tasks for equine skin include protection from trauma, thermoregulation
(temperature control; sweating and heat conservation), sensory
perception, secretory function and pigmentation. In addition, it is
important to recognize that skin is an important indicator of systemic
health since disorders of the skin may actually indicate systemic ill
health.
Elizabeth G. Davis, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, Kansas State University (16 October 2006)
Horses are similar to many other species with the skin being the largest organ in the body. This is based on overall organ size; just think about the total surface area of a 600 kg horse! The good news is that it can be easily evaluated by visual inspection and palpation. Specific tasks for equine skin include protection from trauma, thermoregulation (temperature control; sweating and heat conservation), sensory perception, secretory function and pigmentation. In addition, it is important to recognize that skin is an important indicator of systemic health since disorders of the skin may actually indicate systemic ill health.
Hives (urticaria)
Of all domestic species horses show evidence of hives most often. The technical veterinary terminology for hives is urticaria. In some cases horses will have a condition of recurrent or repeated bouts of hives. The skin lesion itself is an indication of allergic reaction. This is not a specific disease, yet it is a clinical sign of a systemic problem. In some cases this may be a very serious condition such as after drug treatment, vaccination or insect bite. Other times it is a more mild condition associated with an air-borne allergen. The size of the bumps, how rapidly they develop and the contact they have with one another are all important characteristics of the condition in determining the severity of the problem. Those that occur rapidly, enlarge quickly and touch with one another (coalesce) are the most severe. Figure 1 shows examples of mild (individual) and severe hives (coalescing) lesions in two different horses.
The cause of hives is somewhat complicated. Specific immune cells called mast cells and basophils are the source of the proteins that result in hive formation. The primary protein released from these cells is called histamine. Once the allergen is present in the host, either by contact, ingestion (by mouth) or inhalation (by the respiratory tract) a series of events occurs that results in the release of inflammatory mediating proteins that include histamine. The effects of these proteins are increased leakage from blood vessels, increased recruitment of white blood cells to the area of inflammation and hive or wheal formation. Immunologic or hypersensitivity reactions to dugs, ingested material, or inhaled pollens or dusts are potential sources for allergen exposure. The most common medication to result in hives is penicillin. Air borne allergens may be certain types of pollens or molds or specific feed types. Alfalfa is a forage source that results in allergy in certain horses, the horse pictured in Figure 1 (lower panel) is suffering from hives as a result of allergy to alfalfa hay.
Definitive diagnosis of the cause of hives can be challenging. Many times symptomatic therapy is required for the initial stages of disease and following anti-inflammatory therapy the lesions will disappear. In cases where the lesions recur, diagnosis may be required. The most effective method of making a diagnosis is to skin test the individual with a series of different allergens. Once the allergen (s) is / are defined they must be eliminated from the horse’s environment. This can be very challenging to accomplish for certain air borne or particulate allergens. In cases where elimination can not be accomplished, symptomatic therapy may be required intermittently. An example of recurrent disease may be associated with certain insects during warm months of the year; lesions will recur as long as insect bites continue to occur. Once the seasons change then the insect population will regress and lesion development will be less common. Horses maintained in warm climate environments may have more problems with clinical disease associated with warm weather insects or pollens.
Treatment with a low dose of allergen over a period of many weeks to months has been used in people and small animals to reduce immune responses to antigen stimulation. This process of reducing immune reactivity is called hyposensitization. Hyposensitization may be attempted in an effort to reduce the reactivity of the horse’s immune system. The response to this treatment may take weeks to many months to see an improvement.
The goal of management of affected horses involves elimination (or control) of exposure to inciting allergens. Symptomatic anti-inflammatory therapy under veterinary guidance is needed when lesions are present. Once the allergens have been identified and controlled development of lesions and clinical sings may be achieved.
Pastern dermatitis
Scratches, sore heel, pastern dermatitis, and grease heel are all names of a similar disorder that affects horses undergoing frequent moist conditions. As a result of race horses requiring frequent baths it is common under training conditions for pastern dermatitis to occur.
Crusting and flaking associated with scratches occurs on the back side of the pastern in one or several limbs (Figure 2). Although it is common to start as a small circular lesion, the lesions often enlarge to become ulcerated lesions on the pastern. The condition commonly begins on a white limb and then may spread to involve other limbs.
It is important to identify if a topical irritant may be responsible for the initial lesion. If this is the case the irritant material should be thoroughly washed off and the limb(s) dried. Not uncommonly the initial lesion is a minor irritation and secondary complications occur from opportunistic bacterial infections. The secondary complications can make this condition extremely difficult to clear. Local cleansing and keeping the limb dry will often be curative. Thick emollients should not be applied, the most important aspects of managing this condition is keeping the limb(s) clean and dry without adding topical irritants or materials that will retain moisture.
In severe cases antibiotic therapy may be necessary and therefore veterinary consultation is recommended. Severe disease may require additional diagnostic tests to be performed such as skin biopsy for histologic analysis and bacterial / fungal culture. In some instances a definitive cause can not be identified and care with cleaning the limb and keeping it dry will improve the condition.
The goal of managing a horse with scratches is to keep the affected areas clean and dry. Avoid application of topical emollients since these agents will retain moisture in the affected areas. In severe cases veterinary attention may be required to completely clear the infection with antibiotic therapy.
Dermatophilosis
One of the most important skin conditions in horses involves bacterial infection with Dermatophilus congolensis. Characteristics of this condition include matted hair, skin crusting, scab formation and hair loss. Most commonly horses that suffer from this condition are maintained in prolonged moist conditions, occasionally horses that are maintained under dry conditions develop this disorder.
The area where the lesions may be observed are usually over the head, neck, and sides of the belly or chest. More localized disease may occur over the top line (back) region or on the cannon bone of the hind limbs, particularly in race horses.
Signs associated with this condition may be local or generalized and include hair loss and skin crusting, without itching. When the condition is severe horses may show signs such as depression, poor appetite, weight loss or fever. When this condition occurs on the head or legs the areas of white skin are more likely to be affected. When horses have a thick coat the crusting scabs are more easily felt than seen, the crusts are located deep in the coat next to the skin surface. When the crusts are removed pus material may be observed on the skin or crust. These lesions can also occur on short coated horses during summer months. The cannon bone condition in race horses occurs in warm moist conditions. Small matted hair patches are observed down the front of the cannon bones.
The diagnosis can be made by careful examination, findings that are consistent with those described, and microscopic analysis of the crusts. In suspect cases bacterial culture can be used to confirm the diagnosis.
Treatment of this condition requires careful cleaning of the affected area and removal of scabs. It is important to recognize that this is the result of a skin infection and the skin may be very painful to touch, therefore removal of scab material may be strongly refused by the horse. In severe cases, veterinary aid should be implemented to allow for safe and effective removal of scab material. Gentle washing should include a dilute betadine or chlorhexidine scrub (surgical scrub). In some instances soaking scab material with warm water will facilitate removal and will not meet with severe objection by the affected horse.
Infections that involve white skin may be associated with secondary light sensitivity, so that the horse develops a severe sun burn. Protection from sunlight is recommended in such cases, if the horse must be outdoors, then powerful sun block (SPF 25 or greater) should be applied.
When this condition is present on the lower limbs bandaging should be used with caution. The presence of the bandage material will promote a dark, moist environment, which will prolong healing time. Clean and dry limbs will be most likely to heal. Contact with wet bedding material or surfaces (wet grass) should be avoided until the lesions have healed. Scar formation may occur with longstanding disease; this will possibly lead to skin cracking and reinfection. If lameness occurs at any point veterinary consultation should be sought out immediately.
Dermatophilosis is a skin infection that results in crusting and cracking, which involves the cannon bone in race horses. Mild cases respond well to dry, clean conditions. In more severe cases antibiotic therapy may be required. Caution should be implemented when affected horses are handled because lesions are typically painful to touch, making affected horses potentially dangerous to work with.
Dermatophytosis
Ringworm is a highly contagious fungal skin infection that can affect horses of all ages. Younger horses are more sensitive than order horse, particularly those maintained under stressful conditions. Spores of various fungal species can exist in the environment for extended periods of time; they are remarkably resistant to environmental destruction. Most cases are observed in the cool winter months, when horses are confined indoors and are groomed extensively. Outbreaks may also occur at times of warm wet weather, a superior time for fungal sporulation on growth.
Infection is dependent upon live spores and skin abrasion, in some cases following very mild skin trauma. For this reason most lesions occur in the girth or saddle friction areas.
Early signs appear as hairs that stand up off of the skin surface. Hair loss occurs easily at this time and commonly appears as a round area of hair loss. Hair loss occurs in a expanding region with the borders becoming diffuse and ill defined. The girth, neck and shoulder / chest wall are common sites for infection to occur. Generalized infection is not common, but may develop in a young horse that is under severe stress or illness.
The horse will only appear to be itchy on the lesions early in the course of disease (first few days). As the affected area begins to heal hair loss will persist on the outer portion of the affected area, while hair growth will occur centrally in the affected area.
The diagnosis of fungal skin infection is made by microscopic evaluation that reveals the presence of fungal organisms and fungal culture.
Management of horses suffering from fungal skin infection usually involves exposure to sunlight and good nursing care, reduced stress, and maintaining excellent nutrition and proper deworming. Recovery occurs over a period of approximately 2 weeks. Specific treatment is aimed at controlling infection in the individual horse as well as controlling infection in the environment. Clipping affected areas in horses with long hair coats is recommended. Thorough cleaning of clipper blades is required after use on infected horses. Topical administration with an antifungal product containing miconazole is typically effective. All horses in contact with the infected individual and equipment should be monitored for evidence of disease and considered exposed. Exposure to sunlight of other infected horses is necessary as well. Topical cleansing of affected areas with an iodine scrub or 2.5% lime sulfur will also aid in control of the spread of lesions. Oral treatment with antifungal agents should be considered in severe cases that don’t respond to local treatment. Systemic treatment of such cases will require veterinary consultation and evaluation.
One of the most important aspects of managing fungal skin infection is limiting exposure to other horses in the same environment. All hair and contact materials should be considered “infected” material and must be properly disposed. Appropriately diluted washes of antifungal drugs should be used to clean the environment so that continued or reexposure does not occur. Horticultural antifungal fumigants can be used for environmental cleaning, but should not be used for topical use. It is also important to recognize that people can develop lesions from fungal agents and proper protection should be implemented to avoid human infection. Individuals that do not have normal immune function should not work with horses suffering from fungal skin infection.
Summary
In summary there are many skin conditions that can affect horses, particularly race horses that are under stressful conditions. Following good methods of general maintenance and hygiene will reduce the likelihood of lesions developing. If lesions should occur identification of the type of skin infection will aid in the best course of action for management. In cases that don’t respond well to initial attempts at management as well as those that progress despite treatment will require veterinary consultation for additional diagnosis and treatment.
Elizabeth G. Davis, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, Kansas State University (16 October 2006)
Immunostimulants and their role as an alternative to vaccines
What is immunomodulation? By definition this simply means that we modify the natural immune response. This can occur in one of two ways, either by boosting the response with immunostimulants or suppressing the response with medications like corticosteroids. Currently immunostimulation has become a more widely discussed method of managing horses suffering from infectious disease.
Elizabeth Davis, DVM, PhD, Dip. ACVIM (19 September 2006)
By Elizabeth Davis, DVM
What is immunomodulation? By definition this simply means that we modify the natural immune response. This can occur in one of two ways, either by boosting the response with immunostimulants or suppressing the response with medications like corticosteroids. Currently immunostimulation has become a more widely discussed method of managing horses suffering from infectious disease.
An ideal situation when a host is exposed to pathogen challenge (e.g. bacteria or virus) is to have optimal immunity that protects the host from disease. However, if we have a situation of overwhelming challenge or an inadequate immune response then we have an individual that succumbs to infectious disease. In many cases specific therapy in the form of antibacterial, antiprotozoal, antiparasitic or antifungal therapy will work in combination with the immune system to aid with pathogen clearance. In some instances though, the addition of an immunostimulant will aid in “boosting” the immune response so that we have a more robust immune response acting in coordination with the antimicrobial drug to clear the infection. Some examples of instances where immunostimulant therapy have been shown to be of benefit to equine patients include prevention of disease prior to stress such as long distance transport or weaning, bacterial respiratory disease, endometritis (infection of the lining of the uterus) or improvement of nasal secretions associated with viral respiratory disease (Equine Herpes Virus, EHV). When a person is asking whether this type of treatment is right for their horse, it is important to consult with a veterinary professional to determine the appropriateness of such therapy.
Specific examples of diseases
Respiratory infection (prophylaxis and treatment)
Immunostimulants may be beneficial for treatment of chronic, infectious pulmonary disease in young horses. An example would be a horse that has experienced clinical disease for several weeks with incomplete resolution following antibacterial therapy. The indications for immunostimulant therapy in horses are relatively specific for the management of infectious disease. The mechanism of action of nonspecific immunostimulation is activation of specific white blood cells that produce proteins of inflammation called cytokines. Immunostimulant therapy may not be effective in patients with acute, fulminate infections because the immune response is likely maximally stimulated by the infectious agent. Therefore, these agents are useful as a preventative therapy or for chronic respiratory infection that is incompletely resolved. Horses with primary immunodeficiency syndromes, such as severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome of Arabian foals, are incapable of responding to immunostimulant therapy. Immunostimulant therapy is indicated in horses with chronic bacterial or viral respiratory infections due to immunosuppression or immunotolerance to the organism. Prophylactic administration of immunostimulant preparations prior to stressful events such as weaning or long-distance transportation may decrease onset of infectious disease that is associated with reduced immune responses and stress.
Propionibacterium acnes:
In equine medicine, Propionibacterium acnes (EqStimÒ, Neogen Inc.) is recommended for treatment of chronic, infectious respiratory disease that is unresponsive to conventional antibiotic treatment. In addition, it is recommended for prophylactic administration prior to stressful events that may impair pulmonary defense mechanisms, including weaning and long-distance transport. Propionibacterium acnes is considered an additive (adjunct) treatment to antibiotic therapy, not a stand alone treatment. Treatment requires a series of 3 injections over a period of approximately 1 week.
In addition to equine respiratory disease, P. acnes has been recommended for treatment of endometritis, osteomyelitis, papillomatosis (warts), abdominal abscess, fistulous withers, and sarcoid skin tumors. In this author’s experience, administration of P. acnes is effective for treatment of viral papillomatosis, whereas, efficacy for treatment of sarcoid skin tumors (intralesional and intravenous) is less consistent.
Inactivated Parapoxvirus ovis:
Parpoxvirus ovis (Zylexis™, Pfizer Animal Health) is a non-specific immunomodulator that contains a purified highly concentrated viral strain that is inactivated and packaged in a freeze dried form. In a respiratory challenge model of equine herpesvirus (EHV) infection, Zylexis™ was shown to reduce the severity of nasal discharge when compared with placebo-treated horses. The response of this treatment occurs rapidly after treatment and may be effective in less than 24 hours. Similar to other compounds Zylexis™ treatment requires a series of 3 treatments over approximately 10 days.
Respiratory disease and beyond
Interferon-alpha:
Interferon-alpha (IFN) is a naturally produced protein that has antiviral activity. Interferon production occurs naturally in all mammalian hosts, including horses. Synthesis of this protein is induced by viral infection, and is an early, nonspecific antiviral defense mechanism. Interferon-alpha aids with nonspecific immunity via enhanced killing activity of several types of white blood cells. Interferon- induces an antiviral state in target host cells by stimulating production of enzymes that inhibit viral protein synthesis and degrade viral RNA. In mice, administration of IFN stimulates white blood cells to produce other proteins that activate the cell response that promotes cellular killing and removal of microorganisms.
Interferon alpha can be used in a few different ways, by the mouth in low doses or systemically at higher doses. When the low doses are used by mouth the effects include: reduced inflammation in the lower respiratory tract of racehorses with pulmonary inflammation. This treatment reduces fluid and mucous in the respiratory tract, lowers total cell counts in lung fluid therby improving pulmonary health which may improve athletic performance. Interferon- administration is not effective with all airway conditions, so it is important to visit with your veterinarian to determine what tests are needed and if this therapy is right for your horse.
When IFN is given to the patient by the oral route an interesting effect is that it is not absorbed by the intestine, which is in contrast to many drugs that we administer to our equine patients. We know this because IFN is degraded by digestive enzymes and cannot be detected in peripheral blood after oral administration. Instead, oral dosing activates unique natural defense systems originating in the oral cavity (mouth). This anatomic region is a special component of the immune system called the oropharangeal-associated lymphoid tissue. White blood cells exposed to IFN transfer enhanced biologic effects to other naive white blood cells in the absence of IFN. Ultimately this therapy has a bit of a domino-effect from one activated white blood cell to another. This process requires direct cell-to cell-contact, which does not require continued presence of IFN. Cell-to-cell transfer of the antiviral state to naive cells permits low to undetectable concentrations of IFN to produce potent antiviral activity, and possibly represents a major mechanism for amplification natural IFN activity. White blood cells then enter general circulation and communicate this antiviral capability to cells at distant sites. This mechanism allows the biologic effects of IFN to reach tissues accessible to mobile white blood cells, in which penetration of IFN is poor, such as the surface of the respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract, and eye.
Although this treatment is effective under various conditions, it is important to note that patients can become unresponsive to IFN therapy after repeated administration due to production of anti-IFN antibody (protein) or reduction in sensitivity of the immune system to the interferon that is given. These effects occur after the host has been exposed to a foreign protein (in this case IFN-α) several times. The effect of antibody production that limits the effectiveness of IFN has been observed in human patients and calves.
An additional use of interferon-α is a larger dose administration given systemically (intravensously). When used in high doses, this treatment can be beneficial for horses suffering from certain viral diseases, such as West Nile Virus encephalitis. Since we don’t have an effective antiviral drug for treatment of WNV, the use of a natural protein made by the immune system makes good sense. In the cases that have been managed with this therapy, the results have generally been favorable.
Additional uses of immunstimulant agents including equine endometritis
Mycobacterium:
Mycobacterial products have long been recognized as potent stimulators of nonspecific immunity. The bacteria Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine was developed from a strain of Mycobacterium bovis that had been inactivated through serial passage (growth) in culture. Live BCG, whole-inactivated BCG, and mycobacterial cell wall fractions have been used as nonspecific immunostimulant agents, and all 3 preparations demonstrate strong activity when administered with antigen. The mechanism of action is white blood cell activation and subsequent release of immune stimulating proteins by the host, called cytokines. Whole, inactivated BCG preparations can be highly reactive; therefore, partial cell wall products have been developed that are less reactive. Purified peptides (tiny proteins) are the smallest subunit of the mycobacterial cell wall that maintains immunostimulant activity. In equine medicine, mycobacterial cell wall products are used to treat infectious respiratory disease (Equimune IVÒ, Bioniche, Belleville, ON, K8N 5J2) and sarcoid skin tumors (RegressinÒ, Bioniche, Belleville, ON, K8N 5J2).
Purified mycobacterial cell wall extract is labeled for single-dose, intravenous administration, as solo therapy for treatment of equine herpesvirus infection. Administration of purified mycobacterial cell wall extract improves clinical recovery of horses with respiratory disease resulting from stress, transportation, bacteria and/or viral infections. In an investigation looking at the efficacy of such preparations response to treatment was determined by monitoring clinical signs (fever, cough, anorexia, nasal discharge, abnormal auscultation, poor performance) and laboratory tests (complete blood count, differential, and acute phase protein concentration). More than half of the horses treated with mycobacterial cell wall extract improved significantly within approximately a week after administration of a single dose, whereas less than half of the saline treatment group were without clinical signs.
In human medicine, live BCG immunotherapy is used for treatment of certain tumors that affect the urinary system. In such patients, treatment with live BCG organisms prevents recurrence or progression of superficial bladder tumors, and the response is superior to treatment with certain chemotherapeutic agents. Complications may occur in patients that are treated multiple times with a certain BCG products, veterinary consultation will help avoiding complications with administration.
Mycobacterial cell wall extract
Settle® (Bioniche, Belleville, ON, K8N 5J2) has been studied for its effectiveness to treat endometritis in mares. Endometritis is classified as an infection of the innermost lining of the uterus. In certain mares, persistent infection of the uterus may impair reproductive soundness, so clearance of infection is an important mechanism to maintain reproductive health in infected mares. The most common bacterial pathogen associated with endometritis in horses is Streptococcus zooepidemicus. Settle has been shown to work well alone and in combination with standard therapies to clear infection of the uterine lining. This product can be used as a systemic treatment (intravenously) or locally (in the utuerus). Consultation with your veterinarian will help determine if this therapy is right for your mare.
Conclusion
Immunostimulant therapy may be beneficial for equine patients under a variety of settings that include prevention and treatment of various infectious diseases. It is important to know the appropriate use of such treatments so that the ideal immunostimulant preparation is selected for each individual patient. Determination of the factors of disease in your horse will be provided by appropriate veterinary evaluation. In some instances this method of treatment will work in combination with antimicrobial agents to enhance the clearance of pathogen challenge.
Osteochondritis dissecans - the development, causes and treatments of OCD
One of the most common orthopedic problems encountered in young horses is osteochondritis dissecans (OCD). This is of particular concern in the Thoroughbred industry, where horses are often bought and sold before maturation is complete and are expected to perform starting at a relatively young age. There are many common sources of confusion surrounding this disease. Deborah Spike-Pierce, DVM discusses research into the development, causes and treatment of OCD.
Deborah Spike-Pierce, DVM (13 October 2006 - Issue Number: 1)
By Deborah Spike-Pierce, DVM
One of the most common orthopedic problems encountered in young horses is osteochondritis dissecans (OCD). This is of particular concern in the Thoroughbred industry, where horses are often bought and sold before maturation is complete and are expected to perform starting at a relatively young age. There are many common sources of confusion surrounding this disease. Deborah Spike-Pierce, DVM discusses research into the development, causes and treatment of OCD.
Development
In the most basic sense, OCD is caused by a disruption of the normal growth process of bone. It most commonly occurs in young fast growing animals such as large breed dogs, pigs and horses. Normally, a cartilage framework in the growth plate at the end of a bone is slowly converted into bone as an animal grows. If this ossification process is interrupted, the syndrome of OCD can result. There are three major stages of this disease, although the term OCD is commonly used to refer to all parts of the syndrome. The first phase is osteochondrosis (OC), which is a disturbance of ossification of cartilage into bone resulting in excess retained cartilage. If this retained cartilage results in inflammation of the joint, this stage is termed osteochondritis. The inflammation may manifest itself clinically as joint distention or lameness. Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) is the stage where a portion of the retained cartilage loosens from the parent bone and forms a fragment. The separated fragment may remain cartilage or it may ossify into bone. It is the disturbance of this fragment that can cause the most severe clinical form of the disease by shedding debris into the joint, thus causing synovial effusion and lameness. Not all horses that develop OC will go on to develop OCD. In many cases, horses will have no clinical signs and areas of retained cartilage will go on to ossify normally as the horses grow with no long term consequences.
Many different parameters have been described as having an affect on the development of OCD. There is no apparent common denominator in OCD formation and the disease is multifactorial. Nutritional imbalances, trauma, rate of growth, biomechanical influences as well as genetic predisposition have all been documented as potential causes.
Recent research on the relationship between nutrition and development of OCD have found multiple correlations. It has been shown recently in the United States that the time of year can affect OCD rates due to spring and autumn peaks in the energy content of the grass. In studies, horses fed diets with low copper, excess zinc, excess phosphorus and high digestable energy have all shown increased rates of OCD. There has been an emphasis placed on copper intake, especially in pregnant mares, as copper has been shown to play an important role in the repair of osteochondrotic lesions. Since mineral content of feed and forage vary throughout the world it is recommended to concentrate on a sound nutritional program since the nutritional contribution to OCD formation itself is multifactorial.
Certain sites in each joint are predisposed for OCD formation. It is thought that a high mechanical load in areas of thickened cartilage where the blood supply is tenuous can lead to OCD due to traumatic causes. Conformation may play a role in the distribution of the weight that the horse places on the developing bone. It has been proposed that horses with a toe-out and upright conformation of their hindlimbs may have higher levels of hock OCDs. This issue is intertwined with genetics as conformation is influenced by genetics. Conformational variations can also induce more mechanical stress in particular areas and affect the ossification process via trauma.
Research investigating a possible link between genetics and OCD development is ongoing. Studies in Standardbreds assessing the prevalence of hock OC have shown heritability rates ranging from 0.25 to 0.52. These numbers appear significant, however certain warmblood studbooks will not allow stallions with hock OCD into their registry and after 20 years the incidence within the breed has not decreased. This again supports the claim that OCD is a multifactoral disease.The most recent research on OCD development is at the molecular level. The focus is on the development and maturation of cartilage, growth factors, collagen types and the expression and metabolism of these factors in bone development.
Osteochondritis dissecans can occur in many different joints but is most commonly identified in fetlocks, hocks and stifles. Generally, the fetlocks are the first joints affected, followed by hocks, where OCD develops between 2-6 months of age. OCD of the stifle and shoulder joints usually emerges later, often between 6-9 months of age. In short, the larger the joint or the longer it takes to ossify, the later OCD develops. These are the typical windows of susceptibility but since OCD may be traumatic as well as purely developmental in nature the disease may manifest itself at a later time.
Clinical Signs
In many cases, OC and OCD may be clinically silent, with no outward signs that a problem is occurring. In other cases, there are outward manifestations of the disease. Fetlock OCD may present as a foal or weanling with persistent distention of one or more fetlocks, with or without lameness. Radiographs of the affected joints may confirm an OCD lesion. However, traumatic chip fractures of P1 and sesamoid bone fractures present with similar clinical signs, so radiographs may show those lesions instead.
A foal or weanling with hock distention (bog) with or without lameness may also have OCD. Hock OCD is often bilateral, even if distention is only present in one leg. High quality radiographs are essential in this diagnosis, since small lesions may cause significant joint distention.
Stifle OCD can have a slightly different presentation, often found in a lame yearling with stifle distention. Radiographs taken at the onset of the lameness and joint effusion may not show an OC or OCD lesion; it may require several weeks for the lesion to be evident radiographically. However, even without radiographic evidence of a lesion at the onset of the problem, it is important to restrict exercise because the joint debris causing the effusion may result in significant damage to the articular cartilage with excessive exercise.
Diagnosis
A diagnosis of OC or OCD is most often made from radiographs. OC lesions are characterized by a lucent area in the bone representing an area of retained cartilage. OCD lesions often have a similar lucent area as well as the presence of a bony fragment. However, some lesions are not able to be identified on radiographs and exploratory arthroscopy may be necessary to make the proper diagnosis.
Osteochondrosis lesions occur in specific anatomic sites in horses. In a stifle, OCD lesions most commonly occur in the lateral trochlear ridge of the distal femur (Figure 1), the medial trochlear ridge of the distal femur and less commonly in the patella. The most common area of OCD in the hock is the distal intermediate ridge of the tibia (Figure 2), followed by the distal lateral trochlear ridge of the talus and the medial malleolus of the distal tibia. Fetlock OCD most commonly occurs in the proximal (Figure 3) and distal sagittal ridge of the distal cannon bones.
Since Thoroughbreds are sold at ages ranging from a few months old to adulthood, many variations of this syndrome are seen on survey radiographs. In young horses, a lucency is often seen where the cartilage in this location has not fully ossified. Many of these areas will continue to ossify as the horse matures and not develop OCD. However, some will go on to develop OCD. This is a grey area purchasers face when buying immature horses.
Treatment
Since there is not a preventive solution for OCD, horses with this disease often need to be treated. This usually consists of either conservative medical management or arthroscopic surgery. Conservative medical management has been shown to be successful in very young horses that still have the capacity to heal an OC or OCD lesion. Regimes may include a modified exercise program, medication, and supportive therapy. Exercise modification may involve reducing the intensity and amount of exercise (changing from large field to small paddock turnout, for example) or it may be as drastic as stall rest in severe clinical cases. Medications focus on improving the health of the joint, decreasing inflammation, and augmenting the blood flow to the area of OC or OCD. Supportive therapy can be as simple as bandaging an effused joint.
If a lesion is non-responsive to conservative management it may need surgical intervention. Surgical treatment is generally the treatment of choice in true OCD lesions that have a flap (versus the OC lesions that characterize the initial phase of this disease). Surgery is recommended in these types of lesions even if the horse is not showing clinical signs. It is likely that a true OCD lesion visible on radiographs will become a clinical problem in training and thus require down time for surgical treatment during the training or racing process. Therefore, it is best removed before the joint is inflamed and further damage occurs. Prognosis varies by joint but is generally favorable, except in the case of the shoulder joint.
In a study of Thoroughbreds with stifle OCD affecting the femoropatellar joint the affected horses’ overall racing performance was not significantly different than their unaffected siblings. Fewer of these horses started races at two years old, but there was no difference at three years of age. The size of a stifle lesion can be a concern when a horse is marketed; however no study has been able to link the size of the lesion with performance. It is also important to note that the radiographic size of an OCD is not always consistent with the true size identified at surgery because a portion of the OCD is cartilaginous and therefore not identifiable radiographically.
A study of hock OCD in Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds who underwent arthroscopic removal of the OCD lesion showed the overall racing performance was not different between affected horses and their siblings. The site of the lesion also had no impact in performance.
There has not been a study published assessing racing performace in horses with fetlock OCD lesions. However, studies involving multiple breeds show favorable results from surgery. Ninety perfect of horses who had proximal sagittal ridge OCD lesions arthroscopically debrided returned to athletic activity.
Conclusion
Osteochondritis dissecans can be a confusing and concerning disease. Although research into its causes is ongoing, there are many effective treatment options available. Many lesions will heal without requiring surgical intervention and the prognosis for those requiring surgery is generally favorable as well.
Time for a re-think? Why do we deny a horse water and fibre before a race?
Removal of fibre and water intake before a race are supposed to enhance performance in Racehorses… Surely this is not sound practice, let alone science. No sensible, modern day athlete would go out of their way to cause discomfort in their digestive system and thereby reduce performance, let alone remove hydration.
Removal of fibre and water intake before a race are supposed to enhance performance in Race Horses… Surely this is not sound practice, let alone science. No sensible, modern day athlete would go out of their way to cause discomfort in their digestive system and thereby reduce performance, let alone remove hydration. Perhaps the racing industry should look outside their field of view and take a leaf out of the endurance horse world. In this field of horsemanship, horses are fed just before and even during competition and hydration of the horse is paramount. Common sense says that a happy and comfortable horse will give us its ‘all’. Perhaps now is the time for a bold trainer to take this on board. The following is a more scientific rational behind my thinking.
The evolution of the horse into the animal we know today has meant the development of a very specialised digestive system. The proportionally huge hind-gut indicates the importance of fibre/forage in the equine diet. The specialised stomach has evolved to cope with a nearly continuous intake of fibrous plant material, so that (unlike the stomachs of omnivorous and carnivorous animals) the pyloric sphincter allows a ‘trickle’ of partly digested material into the small intestine. This function may cause a problem for horses fed a high level of concentrates as this ‘trickle’ mechanism can allow food to pass through the sphincter, before sufficient digestive processes have taken place. Also the acid level in the equine stomach is relatively high, as it has evolved to start the breakdown of cellulose in plant material, ready for digestion.
It has been suggested that inadequate provision of fibre in the diet may be a reason for many cases of stomach ulcers in horses. For optimum health and performance all horses require a balanced supply of :- Fibre – 1) indigestible fibre – for gut health and motility and 2) digestible fibre for nutrients and energy – the cellulose of plant material is broken down by colonies of microbes in the hind-gut into ‘complex’ carbohydrates, producing Volatile Fatty Acids which are absorbed into the blood stream, transported to the liver and converted into fat. This fat can be utilised by the body cells for energy or stored as adipose tissue until further energy is required. The process of fermentation and absorption of volatile fatty acids continues for many hours, so that horses may draw on the stored energy as required.
Good quality hay and pasture can provide much of the essential nourishment required for general maintenance and health, always providing that a balanced supply of micronutrients is fed. For horses in strenuous work, high energy fibre sources such as alfalfa chaff and sugar beet shreds can be a valuable part of the ‘short’ feed. The provision of adequate dietary fibre, in the daily diet, satisfies the equine ‘trickle’ feeding system and also the physiological and psychological need to chew.
Starch & Sugars – ‘simple’ carbohydrates for an energy supply – from oats and micronised cereals, Care has to be taken with quantities fed, as cereal overloading has been considered as a possible ‘trigger’ for problems such as ‘set-fast’, laminitis, azoturia etc. The choice and balance of cereals in the diet is also important, as some horses have been found to show an apparent intolerance to barley, exhibiting skin eruptions, filled legs and/or excitable ‘mood swings’. Cereals are broken down into their component glucose molecules in the small intestine and absorbed into the blood stream.
This ‘blood sugar’ can be directly utilised by the muscles as a valuable ‘fast release’ energy source for short bursts of strenuous work or stored in the muscles or the liver as glycogen. During prolonged exercise a problem found to be associated with fatigue – hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) – may be avoided by the provision of sugars such as molasses in the diet. Vegetable Protein – for tissue repair and development of almost all body constituents; Cereals contain a very small percentage of protein which is digested in the small intestine. Soya beans, an excellent source of quality protein, are also digested in the small intestine; providing the 22 amino acids commonly recognised as essential in the horse’s diet. Most importantly the limiting amino acids lysine and methionine, as they are likely to cause metabolic problems if in short supply. Methionine is classified as an essential amino acid, it helps lower cholesterol levels, reduces liver fat protects the kidneys and regulates ammonia formation, also a natural chelating agent for heavy metals.
Certain amino acids are necessary for the metabolism and utilisation of energy. It is recommended that care should be taken to supply a correct balance of protein for horses under six years of age, as they are still in the growth and body building stage and will have greater requirements for protein and the associated, necessary micronutrients than the mature horse. Lysine is the amino acid involved with growth as are the minerals calcium, phosphorus, copper and zinc for the strength and integrity of cartilage and bone. However overly high intakes of protein can lead to an increase of urinary ammonia producing and/or aggravating respiratory problems for the stabled horse. Also, over feeding protein can cause an increase in the requirement for water possibly leading to a certain amount of dehydration and at least very wet beds - with a resulting increase of ammonia! . Fats/Oils – 1) as an energy source, 2 ¼ times the energy of carbohydrates per unit weight. 2) as an insulating layer of subcutaneous fat and 3) for development and maintenance of cell membranes. It is thought that fats may prove valuable in increasing the performance of horses at sustained submaximal exercise by providing a higher energy density diet, with the risks of carbohydrate overloading likely to be reduced.
The horse conditioned to an intake of oil in the diet will be able to accept more demanding training sessions, leading to increased fitness and performance . Made up from ‘chains’ of fatty acids, linoleic, linolenic and arachidonic acids are considered to be important for the horse.
If the blood glucose and muscle and liver glycogen energy stores have been depleted then the body will convert to fat oxidation for metabolic energy. – from ‘ The Scientific Rational for High Fat Diets for Equines’ Deborah M Lucas MSc, CBiol, MIBiol, R.Nutr. Minerals – almost every body process requires a correct supply (the feral horse fulfilled requirements from a variety of herbage grown in different soil types).
Minerals rarely act on their own, but interact in groups and with Vitamins, so that a deficiency or excess of one may affect many body processes; for example, research suggests that excessive iron intake may cause a type of metabolic corrosion affecting both respiratory tissue and working muscle. Also a balanced supply of trace elements such as selenium, copper, zinc and manganese along with vitamins E and C is advisable, to protect cell membranes from ‘free radicles’ and help control ‘oxidative’ stress for horses in heavy exercise, under stress and when travelling etc. Vitamins – as above almost every body process requires a correct supply.
Vitamins rarely act in isolation but interact with other vitamins and with minerals. For optimum health and performance a correct and balanced supply is essential. For example – the normal requirement for Vitamin K (important for the blood clotting mechanism) can be met through microbial digestion in the gut, if quality forage is supplied; but a deficiency has been considered to be a cause of pulmonary bleeding and internal haemorrhage, so it should be supplied in the diet of the stabled, working horse. The important B complex vitamins can also be manufactured by the gut microbes during the digestion of forage, but additional dietary supplementation will be required for stabled horses in work . The correct storage of Vitamins is vital as they are sensitive to heat, light, moulds and oxidising agents.
Valfredo Valiani - we profile the successful Italian trainer
Valfredo Valiani (46), the man who discovered Electrocutionist, trains around 50 horses from his base in Pisa, Italy. In love with his motherland, he admits to having had thoughts of moving his operation abroad, to England or France perhaps.
Geir Stabell (European Trainer - issue 15 - Autumn 2006)
Valfredo Valiani (46), the man who discovered Electrocutionist, trains around 50 horses from his base in Pisa, Italy. In love with his motherland, he admits to having had thoughts of moving his operation abroad, to England or France perhaps.
”But I am getting older, it would be tougher to move now”, he explains. He wants to run more horses abroad though. His raids abroad have been very selective and successful. Two runs in England have resulted in two Group One wins. ”When I have the right horse, I like to race internationally”, Valfredo says, and soon reveals his views on how racing is developing in Europe these days. How does he see the current state of affairs?
”If you are talking about the horses”, Valiani reflects, ”I think European racing is doing very well. The quality of our horses is world class, something global results clearly show. If you are talking about the situation of our sport, however, I think it is going quite badly. ”
”England apart, not many have been putting money into the game in serious attempts at attracting new faces at the tracks. That is our main problem. I am not saying it is wrong to have people in betting shops but we must try to get them from the betting shops to the tracks. Hopefully, when they experience this great spectacle they will want to come back. We are missing crowds at the tracks. Unless this is addressed, it will come back to us in a negative way. In fact, it already does. Therefore, I think that our Jockey Clubs, our associations and most of all our racecourses must do better. If the big heads in racing don’t work together, races will soon be much worse than now. The only way to stop this is that owners, trainers, breeders and jockeys get together, face the racecourse ownerships, trying to work together. Unfortunately, in Italy this is almost impossibe. We are trying to do it now. Earlier this year, I went to a dinner with Max Hennau and Jim Kavanagh, where we had the president and vice president of the breeders’ association, a prominent owner, a big bloodstock agent and the president of the European Breeders’ Association present. We tried to socialise and discuss our problems.
”Up to a certain point, the trainers’ problems are also the same problems owners and breeders experience. Organising a good spectacle is the main thing, we must give the racing fans a top class leisure product, and together we can do just that. We all believe that the European Trainers Federation is very important. If we make the ETF work properly, we can become very influential. To do that, we should increase and expand our meetings to include all countries, and work together. We must work as a team in Europe, and representatives from each country must work locally. Racing people should not be overtaken by administrators from outside the sport. I believe racing people are the right people to run our business. Well, as you know, that is not preciseley what is happening everywhere, is it?”
”In Italy, UNIRE is run by people who are mainly political, not people with the right knowledge on racing. The main problem for a trainer, is that he who works harder and tries to be serious and professional, is not properly rewarded. Much too often, hard work makes little difference.”
So, with strong views on how racing should be run, and a desire for change in Italy, how seriously have Valiani been considering a move to a bigger playing field?
”Unless I should get a good offer to go to Newmarket or Chantilly, I intend to stay in Pisa”, he says, ”I love my country, as does my wife Sveva. Our five-year-old son Vittorio Guiseppe is important to me, he is my hobby if you like. Really, my hobby used to be going on long riding treks in the coutryside, on riding horses, not thoroughbreds. But there is little time for that. When I can get a break I love travelling, and normally we go away in January, seeing other parts of the world is both important and relaxing. This year we went to Mauritius and Morocco.”
Racehorse trainers do not have much spare time and for Valfredo the free hours he gets is dedicated to his family.
”I spend more and more time with my son”, he says. Is litte Vittorio Guiseppe going to step into his father’s shoes one day? ”He has ridden of course, he has a pony”, Valfredo explains, ”but we live upstairs in the yard and I think he has too many horses around him right now. Therefore he is not all that interested. A situation I am quite happy about. I hope he is not going to become a trainer – at least not in Italy, I would rather see him becoming a soccer player or something like that”, Valfredo laughs. Although he is a prominent player at home, with international success, it is clear that he sees better conditions abroad.
Valiani has no hesitation when asked which is the best course in Italy. ”Definitely Milan”, he assures us, ”it is big track, and it is well developed, with a 1000 metres straight. You can run races over 2400 metres with just one bend, like at Newmarket. It is a severe racetrack, where the best horse usually wins. I prefer to run my horses there.”
Valfredao was introduced to racing by his father, who was a teacher riding in amateur races in Italy. ”He became a steward, and later on he was president of the Italian stewards”, he explains, ”he put me on a horse for the first time when I was three. From about seven or eight, I was competing in show jumping. This continued until I was 14 and rode my first throughbred – I fell in love with him from day one. I switched to racehorses almost overnight and became the youngest amateur riding races in Italy in 1974. I rode quite a few flat races, won three times and had good fun but I am too tall. Riding was never going to become a career. I always wanted to be a trainer. ”
It was also his father who sent the young, tall amateur rider to Newmarket ten years later, to learn from working with Luca Cumani. Valfredo spent two years with the Bedford Lodge handler, and experienced top class horses like Bairn, Commanche Run and Free Guest. ”Frankie Dettori had just come over from Italy too, and we both learned a lot from Luca”, Valfredo tells us. ”After the years in England, I went to work as assitant to Richard Cross in Los Angeles for a year, and I went on to work with preparations of yearlings in Lexington in 1986.”
After spending over three years learning abroad, Valfredo returned to Italy to set up as a trainer in 1987. His first horse, a colt named Swalk, was owned by Luca Cumani and Doctor Boffa, of Fittocks Stud. Many horses have passed through his hands since, but there is no doubt which is the best he has had in his care;
”I discovered Electrocutionist when he was very young, as he was bred by an owner of mine”, Valfredo tells us, ”he wanted to sell him, and I really liked him a lot. At the same time, Mr Earle Mack, an American ambassador, had asked me to find him a yearling. He bought him privately and, as you know, Electrocutionist proved to be an excellent investment. ”
Does Valfredo prefer buying his horses as yearlings?
”Yes I do”, he says, ”I like to get my horses as yearlings, and I tend to buy late developing types. I hate to say this but I have been better with middle-distance horses, not so much with sprinters. A trainer should be able to train all kinds, but this is still true – I like to buy horses with a future as older horses, horses with scope - and I am not a trainer of juveniles. I like to give them time. As an example, by the 1st of August this year I had sent out only one juvenile runner. I have a nice bunch of young horses in my yard. Hopefully, there is a future Group One winner among them. ”
Valiani trains around 50 horses and owns a few himself. ”I don’t like it, but I do own some”, he says, ”they are for sale, from time to time I buy to sell on, sometimes it works out, sometimes not, one has to take the odd gamble.”
He buys horses mainly in Italy, England and Ireland, where he found a smashing daughter of Lahib back in 1997. We have been lucky before Electrocutionist came along”, he says, ” Super Tassa, who won the Prix Corrida in France and the Yorkshire Oaks in England, was a real bargain. I found her at Fairyhouse, and paid only 1800 Irish pounds for her.”
Valiani tells us that he has an ambition to campaign more horses abroad. ”I like to run my horses in Italy, and if a horse is good enough, I like to send it to Newmarket or Chantilly to prepare for races there. I fly up and down when we are getting the horse ready for a big event.”
Having prepared for his training career by working around the world, Valiani now trains for owners from North America, England and France, though most of his owners are Italians. Individuals own the majority of the horses. Racing syndicates and racing clubs are yet not playing a big role in Italy, he explains:
”The problem with the Italian man is that his attitude is to own the horse outright, not share it with someone else. Partnerships are a good thing, in my opinion, and we are really working on this. Racing partnerships is also an excellent way to attract people from outside the game, as partnerships give members a smaller risk but should give them the same fun”.
From being an amateur rider as age 14, soon to become too tall to pursue a career in the saddle, Valiani has worked his way up the training ranks in Europe, and he is now one of the most respected in his trade. Where would he have ended up in life, if training had not been an option?
”Probably a cowboy”, he laughs, ”I grew up in the Grosseto, a small place in the countryside, where people used horses every day – much like the North American cowboys. Well, if I had not become a trainer maybe I would have been a vet now, however. I thought that I wanted to become a vet, but I soon decided that what I really wanted was to work closely with horses full time. I studied for three years, though did not get very good results. I was spending too much time fooling around with horses!”
Frank Stronach and his growing global Magna empire
When Frank Stronach says he is optimistic that “down the line” his company can control “ten per cent of all the gambling in the world”, the queue of punters wanting to bet against him may be very short. He has a record of reaching his targets, and if he ruffles a few feathers along the way, so what.
Howard Wright (European Trainer - issue 15 - Autumn 2006)
When Frank Stronach says he is optimistic that “down the line” his company can control “ten per cent of all the gambling in the world”, the queue of punters wanting to bet against him may be very short. He has a record of reaching his targets, and if he ruffles a few feathers along the way, so what.
Stronach reaches his 74th birthday in September, but he retains the energy and business enthusiasm that took him from his native Austria to Canada as a 21-year-old tool and machine engineer, and launched him into his own company three years later. At the age of 41 he was running a major automotive parts company, Magna International Inc., from which eventually sprung Magna Entertainment Corp. (MEC), now the biggest race-track owner and operator in the United States and the vehicle for his gambling ambitions.
In the States, MEC accounts for 11 racecourses, ranging from the glorious and historical Gulfstream Park, Pimlico and Santa Anita, through the unexpected Breeders’ Cup venue Lone Star Park, to the thoroughbred and quarter horse mix of Remington Park, and accompanying training centres.
Then there are two television channels, a betting operation, and a one-third share in AmTote, the leading international totalisator systems provider that will soon become wholly owned by MEC; a plant making horse bedding, and various extensive real estate developments.
The Magna empire was not always so big; it was bigger. With losses mounting, Stronach’s frantic purchase of race tracks in the late-1990s was balanced last year by the sale of two harness racing tracks, one in Canada, the other on the Maryland-Virginia axis.
In Europe, Stronach’s immediate influence is less obvious. Personally, the man who has a trophy room full of Eclipse Awards for owning and/or breeding such as the Preakness Stakes winner Red Bullet, Belmont Stakes winner Touch Gold, and Breeders’ Cup winners Awesome Again and his son Ghostzapper, Perfect Sting and Macho Uno, has only recently dipped a toe into the ownership waters, with horses in training with Luca Cumani and Jeremy Noseda that were collected when he bought for the first time at Tattersalls in Newmarket in 2005.
Corporately, European interests extend to the Magna Racino, a 24-hour combination of racecourse and casino 20 miles south of Vienna that is Stronach’s gift to his Austrian birthplace, a betting website, MagnaBet, and a one-third share in a joint venture with Churchill Downs and Racing UK, the British racecourse rights exploiter and TV channel operator.
That last project, set up earlier this year and operating from England as Racing World, is both new and still small, but it sets the tone – and may yet set the standard – for Magna’s global wagering ambitions. It brings together two great race-track rivals, covering most of the top venues in North America, a UK subscription-only racing channel that boasts the best of British racing, bar Ascot, and is pointed towards a European-based betting site, MagnaBet, which feeds all manner of foreign currency into the dollar-rich host-track pools.
Joe de Francis, Magna’s executive vice president and recently promoted to the main board, was at the forefront of negotiations to set up Racing World, and he is not immune to gentle ribbing about the amalgamation of ambitions between his company and Churchill Downs, which together provided most of the funding for the project.
“There’s an internet term known as co-opetition, which sums up our relationship,” he says. “We’re vigorous competitors in some areas but collaborators in others. Global distribution of the racing and betting product is the key, and it’s the smart and the right thing for us to work much more closely on an international vehicle such as Racing World. We both have quality content, and that goes for Racing UK, so this is an ideal arrangement.
“In addition, we have MagnaBet, the essentially German-language, European sister to XpressBet, our US-based, English-language internet betting site. They have developed side by side, but we are in the process of merging them on to one platform, which will be available globally, with technical expertise sitting in various places around the world.
“We need local partners, who understand the idiosyncrasies of the local markets. That’s why it’s important to be with Racing UK, which knows the demands of British punters.”
Magna previously worked for a time with the other UK racing channel, At The Races, through TRNi, but the relationship was never a marriage made in heaven, perhaps because TRNi’s vision clashed with Stronach’s.
The arrangement with Racing UK is working well, says executive chairman Simon Bazalgette, who explains: “I think they are much more comfortable working with a racecourse group that understands how a betting path should operate. They also seemed to be impressed how Racing UK was managing our racecourses’ right in the UK, because they wanted to exploit their rights in the UK and Ireland.
“Racing UK was already working with Magna because XpressBet was taking UK racing, but Racing World has strengthened our relationship, which will grow, especially now that we have 48-hour declarations in place in Britain.
“We are in the process of putting pari-mutuel links into the major UK bookmakers, which will transmit bets back to the US pools through the AmTote gateway.
“To distinguish themselves from the betting exchanges, and to help their margins, UK bookmakers are becoming more interested in the kind of exotic bets that overseas pari-mutuel operators provide. We see this as a growth area, especially when UK punters realise they can play the big carry-overs that US pools often turn up.”
Bazalgette, who expects the joint venture to take more UK racing to the States in the future, as the possible precursor to a fully global channel that would include other European racing authorities, sums up his joint venture partners: “Churchill Downs is the more corporate, more conservative organisation, but Magna is very driven and commercial, which reflects Frank Stronach’s business approach. He has shaken up North American racing, buying tracks when no-one else did.”
Magna will need to be commercial if it is to drive down ongoing losses and wipe out the minimum $500m of debts hanging round its neck. This year’s first-quarter net income of $2.2m was the first plus after seven consecutive losing quarters, but the second quarter reverted to recent type, and though revenues for the first six months of 2006 were up from $413m to $465m, compared with the same period in the previous year, costs were also up, largely due to servicing debt, from $433m to $488m. The red ink is back, and the second-quarter loss of around $26m all but matches the same period in 2005.
Yet Stronach remains confident. He believes MEC could be debt free, or have very little debt, some time next year. “People may ask, ‘Why the hell are you in this kind of business, losing so much money?’” he said to investors on publication of the first-quarter results. “Well, it’s a huge business, and I’m optimistic that down the road, we have a great opportunity to be the foremost gambling and entertainment company in the world.”
Joe de Francis, a lawyer by profession, has 25 years’ experience in the horseracing business. His family controlled the Maryland Jockey Club, which owns Laurel Park and Pimlico, home of the Preakness Stakes, and he took over as chief executive in August 1989. He retains that position today, but under Magna, which bought 51 per cent of the company from de Francis and his sister in November 2002.
De Francis is well placed to view all sides of the MEC operation. “I came in at the tail end of the cycle of acquiring race tracks and at the beginning of the distribution of the racing and betting products,” he reflects. “I believe Mr Stronach when he talks about controlling ten per cent of global gambling. You can’t climb high unless you aim high.
“Magna is both a race-track company and a wagering organisation. It believes strongly in vertical integration. First and foremost it owns race tracks, but to be successful in the 21st century you have to distribute your content as broadly as possible, and that’s where globalisation is important. It’s part of our mission statement.
“To be successful, a race-track operator has to be involved in distribution businesses. I compare horseracing to manufacturing. We make the product and we distribute it.
“Since I came into the business, I’ve watched the evolution in distribution, from the days when you got in your car and drove to the track to bet on live racing. There was no simulcasting, very little off-track betting and no home wagering, and it was only about a dozen years ago that things began to change.
“The challenges now are to select the best technology, distribution platforms and partners, so that you can take the product around the world. The challenges in North America, which centre on legislation, underscore the importance of developing systems to take the product to Europe, South America and the Pacific Rim.
“One advantage is that horseracing is extraordinarily popular, to varying degrees, around the world. The only comparison for passion and global appeal is football.”
De Francis stresses that nailing down the distribution systems will be key to Magna’s success, with three pathways to be negotiated, in no particular order but together.
“There’s the bet pathway,” he says. “Since our wagering is pari-mutuel, as opposed to fixed odds, we have to figure out the best way to transmit a bet from the customer to the race track, which is important because the pari-mutuel system allows the customer access to a range of betting opportunities, such as the exotics, that fixed odds cannot provide.
“We are exercising our option to purchase the remaining 70 per cent of equity in AmTote, and that will give us control over one of the best companies in the global market. We are working actively with a number of the larger UK bookmakers to allow them to take pari-mutuel bets on our racing, which will enable them to offer exotic bets.”
De Francis is aware of Simon Bazalgette’s observation that UK bookmakers could get one over the betting exchanges from this channel, but he takes no side over the new betting phenomenon itself, saying: “The betting exchange business model is different from ours and it fulfils a market demand, but how we interact with them is a new issue. I don’t have a clear answer on how to work with or against them.”
However, he does have an unobscured view on the second distribution pathway – pictures, “which give the punter the ability to see the race live. People won’t bet as much if they can’t see the race, and that’s where Racing World is so important.”
The third pathway involves data and information, which de Francis says is vital to give the punter everything he needs to make an informed wager.
“Together they make up a three-legged stool,” he explains. “If one leg is not there, you’ll fall over. In North America we control all three, through AmTote, HRTV and Xpressbet, but in different markets it’s almost certain we will choose to partner others.”
Expansion remains on the cards for Magna, de Francis says, but while he is reluctant never to say ‘Never’, the US race-track portfolio appears to be full – with The Meadows harness racing venue almost sold – and there are no plans to extend beyond Austria’s Magna Racino in Europe.
However, AmTote is steadily moving over; the New York Racing Association franchise, which is up for grabs next year, is being strenuously pursued, “with partners”, because “it’s an important part of the North American landscape and provides a very important piece of content,” and 500 slot machines are on standby for Gulfstream Park, as a forerunner of the model for other racecourse-casino sites.
Remington Park’s fortunes have already been transformed by the introduction of slots – much of the $12.5m, second-quarter revenue increase in the Magna’s southern US operations came from the introduction of the casino facility there last November - and de Francis points to improved revenues, better purses for owners and better quality racing as benefits that will flow from these and other developments in technology over the next five years.
“There will be an enormous evolution in our business generally,” he forecasts. “We’re going to be in many more geographical markets, with much more content available in homes, so that people will be able to access the racing product like never before. We’re being presented with a unique set of challenges.”
THE MAGNA ENTERTAINMENT CORP. EMPIRE
Original parent company Magna International Inc. is a diversified automotive parts supplier, based in Canada and founded by Frank H Stronach, currently chairman and interim chief executive.
Stronach, born in Weiz, Austria, on 6 September 1932, emigrated to Canada in 1954 with a background in tool and machine engineering. He started his first tool and die company in 1957, branched out into automotive components and after a merger of companies MII was formed in 1973, and has grown into one of the world’s biggest of its kind.
Under reorganisation of the corporate structure in November 1999, the non-automotive businesses and real estates assets, including recently acquired race tracks, were transferred to Magna Entertainment Corp, which became a public company, quoted on Nasdaq and Toronto Stock Exchange in March 2000. Executive office in Aurora, Ontario, Canada, but incorporated in Delaware, USA.
RACE TRACKS
USA
Golden Gate Fields: Albany, California; acquired in Dec ’99; 105 racing days.
Great Lakes Downs: Muskegon, Michigan; acquired in Feb ’00; 120 racing days.
Gulfstream Park: Hallandale Beach, Florida; acquired Sept ’99; races during winter months.
Laurel Park: Laurel, Maryland; majority interest acquired with Pimlico Nov ’02; two near-four-month meetings at either end of year split by three-week August meeting.
Lone Star Park: Grand Prairie, Texas; acquired Oct ’02; thoroughbred racing April to mid-July, quarter horse racing October and November.
The Meadows: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; acquired April ’01; year-round harness racing on 210 days; in process of being sold for $200m.
Pimlico: Baltimore, Maryland; majority interest acquired with Laurel Park Nov ’02; 8-week spring meeting includes Preakness Stakes.
Portland Meadows: Portland, Oregon; operated by MEC since ’01; races from October to April.
Remington Park: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; thoroughbred racing August to November, quarter horse racing March to June; year-round simulcasting and casino.
Santa Anita Park: Arcadia, California; two seasons, 26 December to mid-April, six-week Oak Tree meeting in autumn.
Thistledown: North Randall, Ohio; acquired in Nov ’99; races 185 days March to December.
Europe
Magna Racino (Ebreichsdorf, Austria; built April ’01; thoroughbred and harness racing from April to November; year-round gaming and entertainment.
WAGERING
XpressBet: for US-based punters only, in states where legal; launched ’02; HQ in Washington, Pennsylvania; off-track betting facilities and national account wagering business, by telephone and internet; covers pari-mutuel betting from over 100 thoroughbred, harness and quarter horse tracks in North America and races in Australia, Dubai and South Africa; offers real-time audio and video streaming; bets co-mingled with existing race track pools.
MagnaBet: European-based online, mobile phone and SMS service, for non-US customers; launched ’04; covers pari-mutuel betting on races from US, Austria, Germany and UK; offers real-time and recorded audio and video streaming; bets co-mingled with existing race track pools.
TELEVISION
HorseRacing TV (HRTV): owns and operates 24-hour network focused on horseracing; available to more than 11m cable and satellite viewers in US.
The Racetrack Television Network (RTN): one-third interest in direct-to-home, subscription telecasting service from MEC and other tracks, made available to betting shops internationally.
Racing World: one-third partner since January ’06 with Racing UK and Churchill Downs in international TV channel, currently broadcasting US racing to Britain and Ireland.
OTHERS
AmTote International: leading provider of totalisator services to international pari-mutuel industry; 30% interest bought for $3.8m in August ’03; notice given of intention to take up option on remaining 70% of equity in two stages, September and November ’06, for total of $14m.
Thoroughbred training centres: San Diego, California; Palm Beach County, Florida; Baltimore, Maryland.
Production facilities: for Streu-Fex, straw-based, horse bedding product, in North Carolina and Austria.
Real estate: two golf courses (in Austria and Canada) and related recreational facilities; residential developments in US, Austria and Canada.
Employs 5,300 through the group.
PARIMAX
Holding company formed in February ’06 to oversee development of XpressBet, HRTV, RaceONTV, Magnabet, AmTote, Racing World and PremiereWin (TV partner in central Europe).
Reiki - Paul Peacock discovers the ancient Japanese healing method.
A fast growing treatment for racehorses is Reiki, an ancient Japanese healing methodology which is said to date back over 2000 years, but was actually ‘discovered’ by a monk in Victorian times.
Paul Peacock (European Trainer - issue 15 - Winter 2006)
Many racing yards are turning to a number of alternative treatments in an attempt to either speed healing times, improve the life styles of individual thoroughbreds or respond to the wishes of owners who themselves have clear ideas and requirements for the care of their animals. A fast growing treatment for racehorses is Reiki, an ancient Japanese healing methodology which is said to date back over 2000 years, but was actually ‘discovered’ by a monk in Victorian times. It involved a combination of Japanese and Christian philosophies – the manipulation of Chi and the laying on of hands.
Only recently has this technique been used with animals, possibly most successfully on equines. Trainers frequently try Reiki for a halting and infrequent period, and there are two reasons for this, according to Beth Luck, an equine Reiki therapist. “If substantial treatment with Reiki takes place, and is successful, the horse can become calmer and in some circumstances loose that winning instinct – it becomes a horse again.” The last words a trainer needs to hear is that a racehorse somehow calms itself in a racing sense. The second reason is the unbelief that the fundamentals behind the process actually work. But there are reasons why, in certain circumstances, thoroughbreds might benefit from the attention of someone trained, or attuned, to Reiki in a racing yard. As we shall see later, Reiki is associated with a calming effect on an agitated animal, and the greatest successes have been achieved where the thoroughbred has become difficult to ride, or is confined to box rest or shows signs of agitation.
It is a source of frustration often repeated by practitioners that they believe an animal needs more attention and or rest than might be actually available in a racing schedule, and consequently the patient is being only partially accommodated and frequently returned to racing too quickly. It would be easy to see that an animal only partially well would fall to injury in training or on the track. But then are the claims of Reiki practitioners valid, after all, every athlete, human or equine will benefit from a lot of rest and attention? Reiki is thought to be connected to the body's magnetic or energy field. Some people say it is the manipulation of the Universal Life Energy and that the ‘patient’ receives energy through the practitioner which puts things right. This energy is sometimes referred to as ‘chi’ and is the same as that which is manipulated by acupuncturists and Oriental massage practitioners.
This is the same so-called energy system as that used in Yoga and other oriental healing techniques. The basic idea is that the energy pervades all living things and is needed in order to put your system in the best possible status so that you can heal yourself. There is said to be a difference between the Reiki energy and all the others forms of chi; it is described as ‘beautiful energy’. The more a practitioner delves into the process the more beauty he or she is said to recognise in the energy. All the other forms of chi are cold in comparison. In Reiki this energy can be received by the laying on of hands or the near contact; the hand being waved or held just above a special point.
Thus the patient can ‘drink in’ energy which allows the body to heal itself. The ‘special points’ are known as Chakras, and the animal is supposed to let the person know which, if any, can be used. It is also important for practitioners to make sure the animal is happy before any administration. The crown Chakra is between the ears and another, called the third eye, just above the line of the eyes. There is another by the throat and yet another by the withers and there is a solar plexus Chakra and a sacral one, with a root one by the rump. Interestingly, all these points happen to be largely where the animal’s centres of lymph nodes. All these points are used by the practitioner, and the training the Reiki practitioner undertakes involves an appreciation of which channel is actually accepting the energy.
The idea of there being an energy involved in the healing process should imply that the animal actually feels something. There are reports of exactly that among people who are able to report their responses. Warmth and tingling are frequently reported during sessions, but there are few if any scientific studies that measure either a temperature rise in tissues or an increased blood flow where the sensation is being reported. Various claims are made for this treatment in humans from the healing of cancers to tempering of moods, and there is a wealth of circumstantial evidence to show the treatment has been to good effect.
But there are equally a large number of claims of fantastic results with horses, particularly where the animal has suffered some trauma or other. The use the non scientific term, ‘puts things right’ about best describes the process of what practitioners believe the ‘energy’ is actually doing. Some practitioners call this chi a spiritual energy to differentiate it from heat or kinetic energy. In short, the energy is said to be something all animals need, but is not measurable in standard scientific terms. Consequently, some practitioners are able to provide treatments from a very great distance, the conduit for this energy being some form of spiritual communication. Simon Earle, who practices what he calls natural horsemanship, had a Reiki practitioner in the yard for some time who worked on the horses, but the results were not discernibly different from the other work in the yard. Lisa Venables of Holistic Horses has used a modified form of Reiki in her yard where animals have been discarded from the racing scene.
She uses a number of techniques, but has an interesting take on Reiki which retains the energetic theory, but could provide an insight into the therapeutic effect of the treatment. She believes that we communicate our state of excitement to horses and the action of Reiki is basically calming. In order to be able to do it in the first place, the practitioner has to be confident and calm, and this is communicated to the animal. A horse that has a problem, and suffers from the stress of the injury or illness and also the stresses of living in a fast paced, modern racing yard, might not heal as well as it could.
The Venables version of Reiki involves bringing the animal to a relaxed state, and once relaxed and at peace, healing has more of a chance of success. This communication of the human’s calm, she believes is an energetic process. This is more likely to mean a proactive understanding between the animal and the human, responding on feedback from the other, and emotional rather than spiritual in essence. This empathetic idea of Reiki is certainly more understandable to Western minds and yet still draws on resources or perception and communication that might be considered ‘alternative’ by many.
The kind of person who is able to communicate in this way might not fit in to the life of modern racing stables, with the fast paced sequence of training and therapies. However, Lisa believes every yard should have one person on the staff able to “communicate” with the animals in such a way. The law regarding Reiki is the same as any complimentary therapy in that it must not be used as frontline treatment. It is an offence not to allow a suitably qualified vet to treat any ailment or injury the animal might develop. It is similarly an offence to diagnose a problem or propose a course of treatment. In short, Reiki can only be administered as an adjunct to treatment, under the supervision of a vet.
The vet is within his remit of care to refuse to allow Reiki, or any complimentary therapy, where he believes it might be injurious to the animal. This might happen, for example, when the practitioner waves his or her arms around a lot and consequently unnerves the animal. There do exist, however, horse therapy centres where, like the one run in Wicklow, Ireland by Heidi & Philip Sheane, who has an equine vet on site and a mix of complimentary and conventional healing takes place. Reiki is a part of the compliment of therapies and a horse has a tailored programme to match its own needs. Reiki is practised by a few equine practitioners around Chantilly in much the same way around the UK.
It is of most interest in America, where there is a well established, if loose, association of practitioners. The laws covering the use of Reiki in the UK are set in Equine and Animal husbandry EU statutes, and similar ones exist in the USA. However, there are no uniform practitioner training requirements and almost anyone can set themselves up as a Reiki practitioner. Whether you believe in the Chi energy transfer explanation for the apparent success of this technique or whether you feel there are other explanations including the setting of an animal at ease and reducing stress will determine which kind of person you employ, if any. A Reiki practitioner with a comprehensive racing yard understanding can provide an angle to animal care which will benefit both horse and owner.
A part of the technique is to notice the response of the animal when they are laying on hands and can therefore understand which parts of the animal are ‘taking the healing’. Such feedback has proved effective in assessing day to day practicalities of training such as poorly fitting saddles, rider stance and shoe problems. Certainly there is mileage in improving horse health by paying them long term physical attention; everyone associated with them will know how much racehorses crave it, and Reiki is an excellent conduit for making a horse feel special. Whether it is the impulsive impartation of healing energy remains to be seen.