NEW: 'Hindsight' - Clive Brittain

Published in European Trainer - October - December 2017, issue 59

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In a training career spanning more than 40 years, Clive Brittain and his Carlburg Stables in Newmarket became synonymous with high-profile success in Britain and on the international racing scene.

Clive’s lengthy resume of top-flight wins includes six British Classics and overseas triumphs in the Breeders’ Cup Turf and Japan Cup, achieved by horses such as the legendary Pebbles, User Friendly, Jupiter Island and Warrsan.

Two years on from his retirement, Clive reflects on the pivotal moments and people in his amazing career.

During your time with Sir Noel Murless, you were part of the move from Beckhampton Stables to Newmarket, which has been your home for more than 60 years. What are your memories of working for Sir Noel Murless and what changes have you seen in Newmarket in this time?

“Sir Noel was a very good boss, a very fair man, and never changed. I started out as an apprentice jockey, but I made a very good stable man and went with Sir Noel and the team to Warren Place. At the time, the stable held around 70 horses, which was a lot in those days, as most of established trainers would have around 50 horses with Geoffrey Brooke possibly having around 60, most of which were two-year-olds.

“Sir Noel later became the first trainer to have more than 100 horses, but numbers today for the larger trainers are typically well over 150 horses per trainer. We later had 160 horses between two yards, Carlburg and one at Stetchworth, on Bill Gredley’s estate, of around 30 boxes.”

You achieved notable success with long-priced runners in the big races (such as Terimon's second in the 1989 Derby at 500/1). What do you think of the BHA's recent decision to put a minimum qualifying rating of 80 on contenders for the Group 1 races for three-year-olds and upwards?

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EMHF - Our concern for horse welfare takes a myriad of forms

Paull Khan - News from the EMHF

Published in European Trainer - October - December 2017, issue 59

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In the wake of the now infamous incident in which jockey Davy Russell was seen to strike his horse on the head prior to the start of a race, the marked difference between the media reaction in Ireland (more forgiving) and that in Britain (more damning) was commented upon.

Just one example of the wide variation, as between European countries, in public opinion on horse welfare, and animal welfare more widely. In some regions, the ‘volume level’ of discussion of such matters is turned up high; not so in others.

In a sport with no global Rules Book, it would be strange if these cultural differences were not reflected to some extent in the practices and regulations of individual Racing Authorities. And sure enough, they are. Indeed, what a country’s Rules of Racing says about its culture would make for a fascinating study. One could make a crude start by marking up, on a map of Europe, the number of whip strikes allowed in a race by the various countries. Very broadly, it would resemble a climatic map of the continent, with higher numbers accepted in the hotter south, reducing as one travels north until reaching the point of zero tolerance in Norway.

Skim through the Rules Book in any of our countries and you will find a plethora which promote the welfare of our racehorses. In many cases, that aim is indeed their sole purpose. These Rules and procedures fall into many categories – from the horse-care component of the course which a trainer must pass in order to be granted a licence, to the requirement for a minimum number of vet’s to be present before a race meeting can take place, to enforced stand-down periods following the administration of certain veterinary interventions, to the mandatory abandonment of jump racing when the ground is designated ‘Hard’ – the list goes on and on.

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A report from the Merial - Performance Horse CPD and Raceday at Gowran Park

Becky James BSc, MSc - Haygain

Published in European Trainer - October - December 2017, issue 59

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Vets from all over Ireland congregated at Gowran Park racecourse in July for a continuing professional development event on the Performance Horse. The event, organised by European Trainer Magazine and Merial Animal Health, was the second in a series of veterinary CPD events for 2017 and featured a panel of expert speakers. The event was co-sponsored by Haygain and Connolly’s RED MILLS. 

Managing Inflammatory Airway Disease – Dr Emmanuelle Van Erck-Westergren

The first speaker Dr Van Erck-Westergren was due to fly in from Brussels on the morning of the event, so when her flight was cancelled at the last minute there was a moment of concern for the organisers but they arranged to bring her into the room via a video link so all was not lost!

Using her experience in practice at the Equine Sports Medicine Practice in Belgium, Dr Van Erck explained the importance of vets helping clients to manage the environment of the horses to prevent and manage Inflammatory Airway Disease (IAD). She described managing the horse’s environment to reduce exposure to noxious inhalable particles and improve hygiene and ventilation in the stable as the cornerstone to the success of treating IAD.

Important considerations for the environment include building design, bedding, stable activities and most critically, the forage, as this is in the horse’s breathing zone. Dr Van Erck explained that hay remains an important source of forage for horses but it is also a major source of dust and contaminants. Soaking hay is a cheap way of reducing airborne dust but it promotes bacterial proliferation and leaches out the nutritional value so well-made haylage or preferably steamed hay should only be fed to horses with IAD.

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The Trainers' Daily Rates Survey

Published in European Trainer - October - December 2017, issue 59

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The survey was circulated by the European Trainers Federation representatives in member countries. Responses were received from the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Norway and Belgium.

Results varied per country but indicated to be representative of those countries, with an even representation by Flat (41%), Jumps (15%) and Mixed (44%) trainers and feedback from small-scale (1-10 horses in training) to large scale (50+) yards. Trainers were asked to complete 28 questions relating to their current daily training rate charged to owners, the factors they feel contribute most to their daily rate, whether they make a profit, loss or break even, what factors would affect a potential increase in their rate, and what rate they feel they would ideally like to charge amongst other location-related questions.

The results indicated that average training daily rates are similar across the participating countries. The UK had the highest average at £45 (Euro equivalent at €49.95) with Ireland second at €45. France was concluded at €42 and neighbouring Germany at a lower average of €35. The lowest representation in Continental Europe was Austria at €26.

Overall, the number of horses in training varied with the highest representation (37%) training between 1-10 horses and 8.7% of respondents training 50< horses. Therefore, results represent the majority of trainers in Europe training between 1-50 horses.

Trainers were asked to rate various factors out of 10 that contribute most to the rate they charge....

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Epiduroscopy: an exciting window into back pain in horses

Dr Timo Prange

Read full study online here: 2016 Jan;48(1):125-9. doi: 10.1111/evj.12470

Published in European Trainer - October - December 2017, issue 59

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Back pain is a well known cause of lameness, gait alterations and poor performance in sport horses. Up to 25% of dressage horse owners report back problems in their animals, but not only sport horses are affected.

Although racehorses compete at a younger age than other equine athletes, they might suffer from back pain more often than we think, autopsy studies have identified pathological changes in the back of the majority of examined young thoroughbreds. Until recently, it has been very difficult to investigate back pain and it is easy to overlook this as a cause of disappointing performance. A novel surgical technique which has recently been reported in Equine Veterinary Journal, may change all this.  

How can epiduroscopy help veterinarians to find the source of pain in a horse with back problems?

While the spinal cord sends and receives signals directly from the brain, the spinal nerves are the communication pathway between the spinal cord and the body. Spinal nerves are, among other things, responsible for the movements of the muscles in the back and legs and for sending information about pain in the back and legs back to the brain. Injury to a spinal nerve can result in dysfunction of muscles or in pain. Fortunately, the spinal nerve roots are well protected from injury, first by the surrounding bony vertebrae and, after leaving the spinal canal, by a thick muscle layer. However, the nerve can be injured at the point where it exits the spinal canal. The spinal nerves exit the canal through the openings between two adjacent vertebrae. The opening is called the intervertebral foramina. Each opening is in close proximity to the facet joints that connect the vertebrae. Inflammation of these joints (facet joint arthritis) causes back pain and results in irregular growth of bone around the arthritic joint.

While severe bony changes can be picked up on radiographs, subtle changes can easily be missed. Unfortunately, even relatively small bony growths can impinge on the passing nerve and cause irritation and inflammation. Nerve root impingement is a recognized cause of lower back and leg pain in people and now that we have epiduroscopy available for horses, it will be possible to identify the prevalence and importance of this condition in equine athletes.  This will be especially interesting for young racehorses, where facet joint arthritis can be found in the thoracolumbar spine of up to 97% of cases that undergo autopsy but currently there is no information about the effects of this arthritis on passing spinal nerves.

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Training yearlings: Schools of thought around the world

Published in European Trainer - October - December 2017, issue 59

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Consider throwing a thirteen-year-old school child into a university environment straight from prep school.

Sights, sounds and influences that the young mind would struggle to compute; physical rigours on the sports field that would either disappoint the mind or cause physical damage. I cannot think of any parent that would choose this for their young adolescent. Yet we often do this to the young horse, plucking them straight from the sleepy pastures of their nursery into an environment that is measured upon its production of top-level runners. Perhaps we send them via the sales…an entrance examination of sorts.

When put like this it is clear that, as custodians of young bloodstock, we might consider a period of preparation during which the horse would be introduced to saddle and rider, taught the basic lessons that would allow it to fit into the programme of the trainer that its owner chooses, as well as a careful conditioning of the physical stresses that will be tested further upon its graduation to the greater strains that will be required to reach race fitness.

For the sake of this article pre-training will be considered to be the safe development of a young horse towards its first joining a trainer or returning from a break not enforced by injury, as opposed to rehabilitation. The American racing industry has the perfect phrase for this: Legging Up.

While there has been a constant growth in the number commercial pre-training yards in Europe over the last 25 years to satisfy a growing demand for this service, this is something that has been a long standing practice further afield, particularly in countries where there is stabling pressure at the racetrack or in metropolitan stables, not to mention numerous larger owners that have chosen to keep a greater part of the horse’s young career in their control by employing a farm trainer or establishing their own pre-training division.

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Tendon function and failure: Recent advances

Published in European Trainer - October - December 2017, issue 59

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Tendon injuries continue to be one of the most problematic injuries that affect racehorses. One of major issues facing veterinarians and trainers is that we have little understanding of why tendons become injured in the first place, how such the SDFT in the horse acts like the spring of a pogo stick, stretching and storing energy as a horse lands, and releasing energy to aid a horse’s locomotion as the limb pushes off.

There is a lot of clinical and research focus on these “energy-storing” tendons (such as the equine SDFT), as it is these tendons which are most prone to injury, and it appears to be a property of the function of such high strain, elastic tendons which result in these significant injuries will lead to so much economic loss and welfare issues for the affected horses. Under such extreme mechanical demands, it is not surprising the SDFT is prone to overuse injury, particularly amongst racehorses. SDFT injuries are highly debilitating, requiring considerable rehabilitation periods and are often career-limiting.

There is little convincing evidence of efficacy for any current treatment, and even after extensive periods of rest and rehabilitation, re-injury rates are extremely high, with little knowledge of how best to safely reintroduce training.  In the horse, tendons are also extremely long, due to the length of a horse’s leg. In the horse’s forelimb, there is no muscle lower in the leg than the level of the knee (carpal) joints, and tendons mainly extend from the level of the knee down to the hoof.

To understand why tendons, such as the equine SDFT, become injured and how we may develop methods to allow better treatments, we and other researchers, have been developing an understanding of how elastic “energy-storing” tendons function and how do they fail.

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Lycetts Team Champion Award

Published in European Trainer - October - December 2017, issue 59

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The important role played by stable staff has always been recognised by the horsemen and women employing them, though perhaps not always shown. It has certainly been overlooked beyond the stableyard, with the apparent view outside of the racing industry that stable work is unskilled and without long-term prospects. This misguided view has been detrimental, discouraging young people outside of the industry to explore job prospects and consider a role with thoroughbreds.

Recognising the individual skillset of the various roles within a working yard is important and while it may take time to get used to new job titles, where for centuries Lad or Lass sufficed, the titles are helping to identify particular roles and logical career progression. Above all, we are learning to openly value our team members and reward their skill and dedication, which means a tremendous amount in terms of job satisfaction and morale.

A wariness of comparing our workplace to any standard business is understandable, but it is important to recognise it as a business and every trainer wants to operate successfully. Peter Burnet, of the Peplow Group, has delivered learning and development programmes for individuals, teams and organisations since 1992. It's interesting to note that many of Peplow's programmes relate to the horseracing industry, “but can be adapted to any sector or organisation.” In this instance, our industry is setting the target for other industries to aspire to. Teamwork is naturally at its strongest in a working yard and can be seen as our industry's greatest, and to date overlooked, asset.

The team at Peplow explain that, “effective teamwork lies at the heart of every well managed organisation. The need to have a common purpose, clear objectives and a will to work cooperatively with colleagues is essential to maximise performance.”

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The Biome of the lung

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Dr Emmanuelle van Erck – Westergren, DVM, PhD, ECEIM

Equine Sports Medicine Practice (www.esmp.be)

Published in European Trainer October - December 2017, issue 59.

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Of bugs and horses

A couple of weeks ago, I was on an emergency call to a training yard. Half of the horses had started coughing overnight, some had fever and, as you’d expect when bad karma decides to make a point, the two stars of the premises due to face their greatest challenge to date the following  week, were dull and depressed. A thick and yellow discharge was oozing from their noses. It was not long before the yard became the typical scene of a bad strangles nightmare. The bacteria involved in strangles outbreaks are Streptococcus equi equi, highly aggressive and contagious germs, that spread fast and cause disruption in days of training and mayhem in tight racing schedules.

So what inevitably comes to mind when you hear the words germs or bacteria? No nice and friendly terms. As veterinarians, we have been taught that microorganisms are responsible for an endless list of gruesome diseases and conditions: abscesses, pneumonia, septicaemia ... you name it. They need to be identified and eradicated. Thank heavens; we still have an arsenal of antibiotics to get rid of the damn bugs. But recent research in human “microbiome” is making us think twice, especially as we aim to hit hard and large with antibiotics.

Never alone

Your healthy and thriving self, likewise your horse, host millions and trillions of bacteria. The “microbiota” is that incredibly large collection of microorganisms that have elected you and your horse as their permanent home. The microbiota is constituted not only by an extremely diverse variety of resident bacteria, but also by viruses, fungi and yeasts that multiply in every part of your external and internal anatomy. The discovery of this prosperous microbial community has triggered fascinating new research. It has unveiled the unsuspected links that exist between health, disease and the microbiota. In simple words, these microorganisms are vital to your strength and healthiness.

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Iconic Gallops of Europe

Published in European Trainer - October - December 2017, issue 59.

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Why are Europe's public training areas so well known? Part of their uniqueness and fame rests with the very concept of public training grounds. There are very few public facilities throughout the world and the most common training practice is the use of racecourse tracks. In the majority of countries trainers are based at racetracks and simply use the racecourse facilities.

While many of Europe's renowned training centres are situated close to a racecourse, or are run in conjunction with that track, they are, nevertheless, separate facilities offering a wide choice of gallops and surface, often over a vast acreage. The benefit to the horse is variety and change of scenery without impacting on its daily routine or necessitating travel. For the trainer, a choice of gallops and surfaces can be tailored to a horse's individual needs and prevailing weather.

Hoppegarten

Typical of this, though less widely known, is Hoppegarten in Germany, where 13-20 public trainers are based. A common factor shared by many of Europe's renowned gallops is Hoppegarten's sand-based subsoil, allowing the racecourse track and various gallops to drain freely. As a result, coupled with modern artificial watering systems employed by groundsmen in drying weather, extreme ground conditions are avoided and consistent work surfaces are provided all year round.

Hoppegarten is home to the biggest training grounds in Germany, encompassing over 500 acres of woodland, with 10km of walking and trotting paths, and since 2013 it has been granted the status of a Landmark of National Importance.

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Is EIPH beyond the scope of dietary change?

Published in European Trainer - October - December 2017, issue 59.

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Exercise induced pulmonary haemorrhage has been a concern to trainers for a very long time. The historic record of EIPH in horses such as ‘Bleeding Childers’, a son of the Darley Arabian, a founder of the modern thoroughbred, shows that ‘bleeding’ as it is commonly known is an age-old problem.

The prevalence of EIPH during high intensity exercise,  such as racing, is relatively high, but influenced greatly by how it is diagnosed. For example, the prevalence of EIPH is quite low when the appearance of blood from the nostrils (epistaxis) is used as the diagnostic criteria. Unsurprisingly, it is much higher when more rigorous investigative techniques such as endoscopy or bronchioalveolar lavage are used.  Additionally, the prevalence increases when horses are repeatedly examined. In clinical terms, it has been suggested that if you look hard enough diagnostically, and often enough, almost all horses will show a degree of EIPH with racing at some time.  A large Australian study has also reported that there is a proven heritability or genetic element to this condition.

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Notwithstanding this, EIPH presents a major concern for horses in training, as it often leads to loss in training days and may impact on race performance, although this seems to be dependent on the degree or grade of EIPH involved. A period of absence from the racecourse can also be a requirement of some racing jurisdictions, e.g. the British Horseracing Authority in the UK, following epistaxis, where blood is seen visually from one or both nostrils. Public perception is also relevant, especially when the public mood puts racing under tighter scrutiny in terms of animal welfare.

There is also a mood for change with regards to the previously widespread use of pre-race medications such as furosemide (which has been widely used to treat EIPH) in countries such as the USA.  The HH Sheikh Mansoor Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival had recently announced that its races in the US will be ‘lasix-free’, which has been widely welcomed by trainers worldwide.

In some racing jurisdictions, nasal strips can be used which support the tissues of the nasal cavity helping to keep the upper airway fully open during exercise.

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Profile: Julian McLaren

Published in European Trainer - October - December 2017, issue 59

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The rising star in Scandinavian racing

Julian McLaren was suddenly thrown into a trainer’s role less than two years ago and quickly started to make a name for himself on the Scandinavian racecourses. European Trainer caught up with the young Swedish trainer to discuss racing in Scandinavia, the new Stockholm racecourse, and how he overcome his fear of riding.

Growing up around racehorses, Julian McLaren always knew that he wanted to devote his life to horse racing. Having a trainer as a father and a racing administrator as a mother, the Swede has been a part of the Scandinavian racing community since before he could walk. “My dad, Alex McLaren, came to Sweden from Scotland in 1979 and started training near Stockholm shortly after,” Julian McLaren explains. “I grew up on the farm where he trained, and later we moved closer to the city and kept the horses at Täby Galopp.”

As a teenager, he spent most of his free time at the track, and once he finished school, his involvement in the racing industry became more serious. Valet, jockey’s agent, starting stall handler, and stable hand are only a few of the many roles Julian McLaren, now 30, has experienced.

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Trainer of the Quarter - Roger Charlton

Published in European Trainer - October - December 2017, issue 59

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The winner of this season’s Irish Champion Stakes, Decorated Knight is one of the leading lights in trainer Roger Charlton’s string and one of the best exponents of his trainer’s long-established skill in developing and maintaining a horse’s ability at the highest level.

The Irish Champion Stakes marked Decorated Knight’s third Group 1 success of 2017 in a campaign which started seven months earlier, and he follows in the tradition of numerous other Charlton-trained horses who have enjoyed lengthy and successful careers.

Owned by Saleh Al Homaizi and Imad Al Sagar, the five-year-old Decorated Knight joined the Charlton string nearly two years ago and his trainer says he was initially a horse who needed to learn to settle.

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