Inhalation therapy - treating airway problems in the racehorse

Physiologically speaking, one of the major limiting factors to racehorse performance is how efficiently the lungs can exchange gasses. Training maximises the potential of any athlete, equine or human, to continue functioning at full throttle while the metabolism changes to deal with an oxygen debt in the muscle tissues. Clearly any threat to the efficiency of the lungs will result in poor performance. Horses are subject to a wide range of respiratory diseases; heaves, lung bleeding or exercise- induced pulmonary haemorrhage (EIPH), and exercise induced Airway Inflammatory Disease (IAD) among them. Another description of the same basic problem is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or (COPD). Like all mammals, horses suffer from allergic reactions as well as viral and bacterial infections. The epithelial linings of the airways and the lungs are sensitive to infection or foreign bodies of any size, and the result is usually a mucosal discharge which blocks the airway.

Whichever route an animal has airway problems, by infection or allergy, the result is almost the same; mucous builds up, coughing and irritation, frequent nose bleeding and considerably reduced performance. Moreover, some animals with tendencies towards heaves can show little signs of respiratory stress at times, but can be triggered later, more frequently by pollen and dust, when a change in regime occurs. The treatment options can be quite different for horses with a zootic infection to those with an allergy. Treatment of IAD involves the use of bronchial dilators and steroids, which have treatment implications of their own. Some of the drugs used can cause the gut to become sluggish, and can lead to colic.

Many of them induce tachycardia, the speeding of the heart rate, and still others make the animal skittish and nervous. Similarly, the use of corticosteroids in cases of allergic response, can affect the immune system, lead to numbers of other opportunistic infections, particularly in the mouth and have been implicated in laminitis. Bronchodilators include substances well known to human medicine and their function is to cause the dilation of the airways, thus allowing more air in and out of the lung. When irritated, the airways constrict and then produce mucous, which is then countered by the drug. There are two types of drug used for dilation of the airways, and they work very differently in the horse.

The Salbutamol type inhalation works on receptors on the epithelial cells of the airway, relaxing the muscle, thus causing dilation. They work at best for around an hour. A second class of drug, anticholinergics, work on various parts of the larger airway. Consequently, a mixture of the two types of drug is frequently used. Nigel Haizelden of the Ledston Equine Clinic in Castleford, West Yorkshire has been using this therapy for over 12 years and states that all kinds of drugs are administered using this system. Using a nebuliser, antibiotics, corticosteroids and bronchodilators are regularly applied. He points out that “the nebuliser is used to get the specific particle size which is required to reach a certain part of the lung – this is critical to the treatment.” Another important aspect of the bronchodilator is that the easier breathing allows the animal to relax under exercise, something which tends to promote further airway dilation. However, they do nothing for inflammation. Treatment should be associated with a regime which removes the animal from possible irritants. Trainer magazine has dealt with varying aspects in recent issues, from dust-free bedding to pollen allergy; particularly that produced by Oil Seed Rape.

One of the problems of treatment has included the fact that in order to get the drugs into the animal, the whole horse has to be treated. Injecting a horse with drugs means providing a high enough concentration in the animal’s blood which, when diluted by the circulatory system and metabolised by the liver, there is enough at the site of operation to do its work. Consequently a much higher concentration of drug is used than would be required if it could somehow be administered solely where it is needed and nowhere else. Inhalation therapy has been used in humans for a long time, from the vapour baths of Victorian days to modern viral carrier gene manipulation therapy proposed for such disorders as cystic fibrosis.

There are a number of benefits. Firstly the lung is an excellent way of getting a balanced concentration of drug into the blood stream. It works very quickly. In the case of airway disease, the drug is being used directly at the point that it is needed, and consequently the amount of drug required to be effective is greatly reduced. This improves treatment options by reducing the possibility of side effects. There are a couple of products on the market that allow this type of therapy. The Aeromask and the Equine-haler. Both are available via the vet and come from the United States. Their use has become increasingly widespread across Europe, particularly in France and Germany, where there have been particular links with American racing practices. IN the UK they have been used for at least fifteen years and the treatment regimes have developed accordingly. The Aeromask is strapped onto the head and the drug is held in a reservoir called the spacer. The Equine-haler is a cone which has to be held over the nose of the animal while the drugs are placed in a compartment at the bottom. This allows for a metered dose aerosol to deliver a dose to the spacer which is then inhaled by the horse. It only works on one nostril, and a puff of medicine is released into the nose.

The Equine-haler need not be held in position all the time, it allows for a puff of medicine to be fired into a spacer which then can be applied to the horse when it breathes in next time. Between the two it should be possible to find a regime which will ideally suit any animal, those shy of the head bag of the Aeromask could easily treated by the Equine-haler and visa versa according to the treatment required. It is important that only a measured amount of drug is administered, under veterinary control, so that overdoses do not occur. Similarly, the equipment should not be used to administer anything other than prescribed medicines. One yard on the continent was reported to have used their own remedies in association with the mask, which consequently caused some blistering to the horse’s mouth.

There are some risks associated with the use of inhalation therapy. One is associated with the drugs themselves. These drugs are particularly effective on the metabolism of the animal. It produces dilation of blood vessels, particularly in the liver, and it also promotes the production of insulin. In America at least, where there are different rules in various states regards doping, trainers are advised to take advice before racing. However, this method of treatment has meant that withdrawal periods for horses under treatment are considerably reduced in comparison to former treatments. Another possible problem is associated with the effect of the drug on the mouth, where fungal infections have been associated in humans with constant use.

Pia Brandt - a Swedish trainer taking on the giants of Chantilly

Declaration time – anomalies around the world

JUST when I thought that things in the administrative world could not get any worse, they did, though it took a trip to South Africa to discover the elements of an entry and declaration system that, at face value, makes any problems faced by European racehorse owners and trainers look like a little local difficulty.

Having researched the major European racing nations, and thrown in a smattering of the topmost events in North America, Asia and Australia, I thought I had a handle on where the best and worst value was to be had, from an entry and declaration perspective.

Then I met Mike Wankling, who recently relocated from Singapore to his native South Africa to take up the newly created post as manager of handicapping and race planning for the country’s National Horseracing Authority.

“You think there are some early closers around the world, but what about having most of the biggest races wrapped up ten days ahead of the race,” he says. That’s everything done: final declarations, jockeys and draw, the lot. And that’s for the whole programme, usually of eight races, on the particular big-raceday.

“We have about ten big days around the country, and every one has an early declaration for the entire card,” Wankling explains. “The only reason for a horse to be withdrawn after that stage is on veterinary grounds, and perhaps surprisingly we have very few of those. Maybe it’s because the horse can’t then run for a period of 14 days, except with the stewards’ permission.

“I’ve heard the complaints from British trainers, about changes to the going, over the proposed introduction of 48-hour declarations, but we don’t have a culture of people taking out their horses over ground conditions in South Africa.”

With race conditions for major handicaps that allow Wankling to add discretionary weight penalties for winners – but not for other horses that might show improved form – he is happy with his part of the bargain. But while he accepts the need to market and promote the big events, he is not happy with such a length of time between declaration and race day.

“In Hong Kong, for instance, they declare on the Thursday for their international races on the Sunday,” he says. “In Singapore they do the same for the Singapore Airlines Cup, and having declared in the morning, they print the race cards, with owners’ colours, by four o’clock in the afternoon. I’d certainly like to see us cut down the declaration time in South Africa.”

Strange as it may seem, the reason for South Africa’s uncommonly early system for major events can be traced to the country’s printing industry, though the original decision was taken back in the 1970s, with the introduction of exotic bets such as the four-race jackpot.

Derek Wiid, now business development executive for South Africa’s racing and betting company Phumelela, recalls the time when jockeys were not declared until the day of racing, and punters would laboriously enter the names against horses that had been declared two days previously.

Wiid explains: “When the exotic bets were brought in, punters objected to the late changes. They said they wanted extra time to think about their bets, because they were more difficult than straight win bets. So that began the process for earlier declarations.”

However, the big driver came from the demands of the printing and distribution business, which still also explains why South Africa’s everyday races are declared on Tuesdays (for racing on the following Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday) and Thursdays (for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday hence), to produce an array of time lapses that vary between three and seven days.

The relevant information about runners, draw and jockeys is generated by the National Racing Bureau, which takes entries in the way that Weatherbys does in Britain and France-Galop in France, for publication in the official race card and the main form guide, Computaform.

Without a very early declaration stage, it would be impossible to get the information to punters, on and off course, in time to generate appropriate levels of betting turnover, Wiid says.

He explains: “Both Computaform and the race card have small print runs, which are handled individually in each city for racing in Johannesburg and Durban, and sent between the two, which is a five-hour journey by car, while Cape Town does its own printing, and sends them eight hours to the other main cities.

“But on top of that, we have to send the race books from Johannesburg to the rest of Gauteng province, which can be 350km away on difficult farm roads. Distribution is a nightmare.”

The form guide might be Computaform, but transmission and distribution of the printed word has yet to reach the computer age in South Africa – and several other places around the world, come to that.

North America might have had men on the moon, and the declaration system is the shortest on the planet – usually 48 or 72 hours from entry to race, as individual racing secretaries ring trainers to fill races and write substitute events if the original comes up short - but US race fans generally have to go to the track to pick up copies of Daily Racing Form, so vast is the distribution area.

At the other end of the entry and declaration spectrum is Scandinavia, which has much less racing than South Africa, but Norway and Sweden still get their full lists of runners, riders and draw in the bag six days before racing, so that race cards can be printed and distributed to faraway places in good time for punters to pore over their exotic bets.

Denmark manages to get by on a five-day declaration system, but throughout Scandinavia there are generally only a minimal number of absentees from the published cards.

Elsewhere, among the main racing nations of Europe, the time-lag between entry, declaration and running is usually shorter, except – and there always seem to be an exception in this topic – for Group and Listed races.

Yet there are as many systems as there are countries, and the reasons for the differences are often more to do with working practice within the relevant racing authority than practicality within the racing community.

Outside the Pattern system – but sometimes within it – Britain revolves round a five-day entry system, which, like most changes now taken for granted, caused consternation and furore among the training fraternity when it was introduced.

But – yes, there has to be a but – entries for races on Fridays and Sundays are made six days ahead, because Weatherbys only takes overnight declarations on a Sunday, so entries for Friday racing are made the previous Saturday, and Sunday racing involves a 48-hour declaration stage, so entries are made on a Monday.

Weatherbys takes no entries on Tuesdays or Sundays. On the other hand, the Irish Turf Club office is closed on a Saturday, takes no entries on a Sunday, and runs an entry system covering four, five and six days.

As for declarations, British owners, trainers and punters have had to keep on their toes. The general overnight declaration stage, which enables the runners, riders and draw to be printed in newspapers on the day of racing, has been gradually extended to 48 hours for Group 1 races, Sunday race meetings, all-weather track racing during the winter period, and some of the major handicaps, such as the Grand National.

Group 1 races, Sundays and ‘heritage’ handicaps were brought forward to provide extra time for marketing and promotion, either through the media or by way of ante-post betting.

But all this could soon be academic, if Britain introduces a universal 48-hour declaration from July 1, as has been accepted in principle. Universal, that is, for Flat racing. Jump racing will be the exception. There had to be an exception.

France does things differently. France takes no entries on a Saturday or a Sunday, which means the entry cycle varies between seven, eight and nine days. However, there is a 72-hour declaration stage, followed by a 48-hour cancellation, which enables Paris-Turf to print the French race cards at all manner of times through the week, to the confusion of those infrequent overseas visitors used to seeing the day’s events laid out before them.

Germany does things even more differently than Britain, Ireland and France, since it runs a five-day declaration system, with a four-day cancellation stage that produces the final fields.

However, the Direktorium operates a very strict entry system – all regular races close on a Tuesday, so that its official racing calendar can be printed the same day, even though it is dated two days later. Very easy to remember, but it does produce a variable period from entry to race day of between eight and 14 days.

Of course, that’s not counting Group and Listed anomalies piled on normal anomalies, such as Cologne’s Winterfavoriten for two-year-olds, which will be run late this autumn for horses entered in November 2005, and a Krafeld juvenile race that closed in March for a September renewal. The racecourses and the Direktorium make the rules.

And so to Italy, which has taken the single-day entry stage to even greater lengths than Germany. Italy’s chosen day of the week is Thursday, when there is generally no racing.

This means that the time-lag between putting a horse into a race and getting it to the races, after the universal 48-hour declaration, can be as short as nine days and as long as 15. Why? Please ask UNIRE, though history suggests that the answer may not be immediately forthcoming.

As if this catalogue of differences is not confusing enough, no mention has yet been made of supplementary entries and the Pattern-race system, which throws up a myriad of dates, as some countries seek to boost prize-money from early cash contributions from breeders and owners, and others strive to bring entry as close as possible to the day of racing, so as to ensure that the best possible field gathers.

Mindblowing is a word that comes to mind, especially when you factor in the need to verify entries, which means that Irish horses running in Britain have to be notified a day ahead of the home contingent, and vice versa, and that France-Galop asks for details of intended runners from overseas to be dispatched to the Paris HQ eight days before entry, so that the information can be loaded on to the main database and race weights checked.

Mindblowing, that is, until you speak to James Fry, who heads the trainers’ service at the International Racing Bureau in Newmarket.

The IRB and Weatherbys are authorised to take and make entries from Britain, but the commercial enterprise that Fry oversees has the added value of leading their clients by the hand through the minefield of entry and declaration, with a service of going reports and form guides generally pointing clients farther in the right direction.

How does Fry cope with the plethora of variations on a theme?

“I keep it up here,” he says, knowingly, tapping the back of his head. “I always try to instil self discipline. I start a job and will see it through. Perhaps I don’t delegate enough, but it comes from years and years of practice, though I still wake up in the middle of the night and think, ‘Did I do that?’ or ‘I must remember to do that tomorrow.’

“We get a lot of help from the trainers and particularly their secretaries. Some of them leave things a little late, but that’s why the clock in the office is always five minutes fast!”

So that’s the secret, which explains why former trainer Toby Balding sums up: “Weatherbys and the IRB do a great job, if you leave it to them.

“The people who get into trouble are usually the ones who try to do overseas entries and declarations themselves, and don’t read the small print.”

Back problems - how they can affect performance, and how to treat them

It is well documented that horses can suffer with back problems and they tell us by their actions. Sometimes the signs are blatant – for instance the horse stops jumping, or displays an obvious aversion to being saddled. Most of the time the signs are much more subtle. The animal may slightly change its way of moving in order to avoid pain and if untreated this becomes a chronic and long term problem, the slight change of gait becoming a progressive shortening of stride and a reduced level of performance.

The power source in the equine comes from the hind limbs propelling the body forward. If there is pain within that area the animal will use less power – and therefore go slower, or be unable to clear fences – than if it felt no pain. Traditionally we look at a horse being ‘trotted up’ in a straight line as a way of assessing soundness. This is an adequate measure in many cases where there is obvious lameness in one limb however a lame horse can ‘trot up’ sound and this shouldn’t be the only measure of soundness. Other tests such as trotting on a circle in both directions, on both hard and soft surfaces should be used. Assessing the animal at a walk on a level surface and observing from both the rear and from the side is also a very useful tool in diagnosing a slight lameness or restriction of gait. What manifests itself at a walk will still be there at a gallop. And knowing how the animal moves when sound and supple is key to knowing when something is starting to go wrong – perhaps catching a small problem before it becomes a serious lameness issue. Just saving itself from a fall or slip up when in the field can be enough to cause a problem.

A momentary error of judgment by horse or rider can force a horse to use its athletic ability to get out of trouble. A twist or over-big jumping effort can be enough. The horse can go on to complete the course or win the race that day but later, when the body has cooled down and the tired muscles are trying to recover pain can develop because of that over exertion. A subluxation may have occurred An almost imperceptible lameness or a restriction of free movement of the limbs can make all the difference between winning and losing. A slight ache or low grade back pain can make all the difference between staying the distance and tailing off last. Do horses have an ‘off day’? Or is there an underlying problem which is preventing full extension, making the animal hold itself back in order to avoid pain? The Spinal Cord is the keystone of the body. Maintaining its health and integrity is imperative in maintaining the health and wellbeing of the body as a whole, and doubly so in the case of a performance athlete.

The protection of the spinal cord is paramount in the actions of the horse or any vertebrate. The nervous system controls the whole body, with nerve control of practically every cell of the body. Subluxations or trapped nerves can interfere with the ability of the nervous system to function to the best of its ability both in control and in counteracting disease. Manipulation is therefore a means of reducing these subluxations to improve the functioning of the whole body. The skeleton is responsible for supporting the body and providing it with a strong framework consisting of rigid components which can move relative to each other at articulating joints. The spinal column provides protection to the spinal cord.

If a joint in the spinal column were to be dislocated that would result in damage to the spinal cord and paralysis or death. Between each pair of vertebrae a pair of spinal nerves leave the spinal cord through a small ‘gap’ in the muscles, ligaments and other soft tissues. A subluxation is where the joint between two bones is misaligned – muscles go into spasm and can pull one of the bones of the joint slightly out of alignment. If a joint is subluxated then the two surfaces are not quite in the correct position and nerves become impinged or ‘trapped’.

A nerve which has become trapped cannot send signals to muscles therefore function is affected. The equine athlete, and particularly the race horse, is highly susceptible to damage of the back, neck and poll. The body is put under a great deal of stress and pressure during breaking and fitness work whilst still immature. Added to this the horse must learn to carry the weight of a rider on its back and to balance itself with this shifting weight. Exertion such as galloping and jumping stresses the musculoskeletal structure and it is whilst under stress and when fatigued that injuries can occur more easily. The neck, chest withers and shoulders are of paramount importance to the action of the forelimbs.

The main nerves which feed the forelimbs leave the spinal cord between vertebrae in the lower neck and chest area (C6 –T2). If a horse struggles to flex and bend its neck to each side, up and down, shows stiffness or pain reactions it will cause restricted limb action, reduced ability to gallop, reduced speed, reduced stamina and reduced performance. As a highly strung and active animal the young horse is likely to be ‘sharp’ and difficult to handle during breaking. Whilst lunging they are prone to over-excitement resulting in leaping, bucking, rearing, spinning around etc - once backed they are still likely to display these behaviours. Rearing followed by unbalancing and going over backwards, or rearing whilst tied up with the entire weight of the body being taken over the poll region by the headcollar can lead to damage of the neck, withers and back. Rearing and hitting their head on a stable beam or flinging up the head and hitting it on the door frame or in a vehicle are all possible scenarios for damage to the poll and neck resulting in tension, pain and the development of other symptoms.

Sensitive withers can be just ticklishness but could also be soreness from the front limbs and neck. Concussion can travel right up the forelimbs resulting in sore withers. Of course a horse of any age can become sensitive in the neck and poll and often we do not know what they have done or when they have done it, unless it can be attributed to a particular incident such as a crashing fall or getting cast in the stable. Often the problem exists without explanation and could have been there for months or years – like living with a permanent head ache. Treatment with manipulation is straightforward and can give lasting relief. The main nerves which feed to the hind limbs leave the spine in the lumbar and sacral region (L4 - S2) and inflammation, soreness and pain in this area can and does cause the horse to take a shorter hind stride or unequal hind strides. The result of this will be a reduction in power leading to slower galloping speed and/or reduced stamina and failing to stay the distance.

The inexplicable poor performance of any horse could be attributed to any of the above. Fitness to do the job required is a vital part of injury prevention. Weeks of slowly building up the workload are necessary to attain the level of fitness needed for the job in mind. Additionally training involves keeping the body free from aches and pains which might lower the level of performance that the individual can attain. During training nerve damage can and does occur which will cause restrictive movement and a loss of straightness. This can be due to conformational defects, concussion, over-exertion, muscle strain, or injury.

There are no absolutes when it comes to conformation of the limb and the flight of the limb through the phases of a stride. Generally we look at conformation relating to the breed or type of the animal when standing. Some abnormalities or defects may only be evident during a phase of stride and may affect a pair of limbs or a single limb. Abnormal development within a joint can also cause a limb to exhibit a lateral gait defect. Normally the joints such as fetlock, carpus and tarsus work in a hinge-like fashion, backward and forward in a straight line parallel to the horse’s midline. An abnormality can produce a swivel-like motion and cause the limb to arc in flight. Even if a horse shows all the conformational traits that theoretically add up to straightness, if it experiences pain in any part of its body it may break all of the conformation rules in order to use its limbs in a manner which creates the least stress and pain.

An injury or soreness in a limb can cause a horse to protect one portion of the limb when landing, subsequently altering the arc of the foot’s flight. When a horse has pain in a part of the body other than the hooves or limbs, its balance during movement may be negatively altered as it compensates for the soreness. Back soreness can mimic lower limb lameness and alter foot flight. A variety of factors can cause a horse to carry its body in a stiff or crooked fashion. Sometimes the stiffness or pain is subtle but just enough to prevent the horse from tracking straight. As most people will know from personal experience – back pain reduces their ability to move freely, slows them down and if left untreated is debilitating and can lead to a long term loss of full musculoskeletal function together with general irritability.

This is no less the case in the horse and it does not necessarily mean that the horse is lame only that performance has been reduced. A horse suffering with back or neck pain will be unable to gallop as fast as it did prior to the injury, will be unable to ‘stay’ as far. The pain will restrict it and it will be unwilling to keep galloping thereby being seen to fade in the last furlongs or in severe cases never being able to lay up with the pace and being adrift from the offset. By being vigilant to the signs pain and of over-exertion and by allowing for recovery of the musculoskeletal system after work these problems can be minimised. The signs can be subtle but they are there – sometimes rest is needed, sometimes an injury has occurred which will require treatment.

Postcard from Senonnes, the training track near Nantes and Angers

Situated in France in the Mayenne region (not far from Nantes and Angers), Senonnes is a training centre in full development. There are 24 trainers and 450 horses. Some horses you may know have been trained here, for example: - Kauto Star (trained by Serge Foucher) he won 2 Group 3 races in Auteuil in 2004 (Prix Jacques d’Indy and Prix de Longchamp) and was placed in other group races (2nd in the Prix Cambaceres, 5th in the Pepinvast and 3rd in the Prix Amadou) before it was sold in England;

- Trésor de Mai (trained by Laurent Viel) he won 4 steeple-chases and was placed 3 times (5th in Auteuil in 1998 in Prix  Bayonnet) before leaving for England.

The training centre as it is now opened in 2001. It was the idea of a trainer (C Rouget), who is the vice-president of the trainers’ association) and of the ex-President of Senonnes racecourse (H Malard) and of a local politician (J Beline). It is nowadays directed by an associative structure of voluntary workers (the CERGO), this consisted of 4 persons (G Nicol being the president); 2 people maintain the tracks permanently.

The centre was constructed for both flat and jumps trainers. The 40 hectare site includes, a 2200 m deep sand track, 2 lighter sand tracks of 2000 meters and a 2100 meter grass gallop. There is also a round schooling ground on the sand (1000 meters), which includes 8 hurdles on the inside and 8 steeple-chase fences on the outside. Fences include an oxer, a brook, a wall, an English fence, a bullfinch hurdle as well as cross-country jumps on the grass. 
Trainers can also use several canters, a trotting track, an arena (4 hurdles) and starting gates.

The geographic situation of Senonnes is very good because there are over 50 racecourses within a 100km radius and the area has excellent motorway links. Paris is just 3 hours away. If we travel a horse to a France Galop course, they will even reimburse some of our transport costs!

The local economic environment is also interesting with banks and bookkeepers nearby, a very good veterinary clinic (at Meslay-du-Maine), as well as several apprentice-jockey schools. We are well catered for our supplies as we have many local farmer-producers who sell us straw, hay, oat at very reasonable rates. All the trainers at the centre get on well together and help each other.

Whilst our centre might not be the same as some of the bigger centres outside Paris it offers trainers the opportunity to train horses without the higher costs of training at a large centre.

Kiaran McLaughlin - a veteran who has enjoyed international success

By participating in the last two runnings of the Kentucky Derby, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has raised his profile among casual observers of the North American racing scene. But for those who follow the sport regularly, McLaughlin is known as a veteran horseman who has enjoyed international success.

During a career that began in the early 1980’s, McLaughlin served as an assistant to North America’s most prolific trainer, D. Wayne Lukas; he handled the business affairs for the talented, but troubled jockey Chris Antley and oversaw the training of 200 horses for the Maktoum family of the United Arab Emirates.

The trainer of a public stable since 2003, McLaughlin has built his operation to 75 horses based at two locations in New York. While the Maktoum family accounts for approximately half of his stable, McLaughlin has several North American-based clients as well.

In 2005, McLaughlin came within one-half length of pulling one of the biggest upsets in Kentucky Derby history when Closing Argument, a 71-1 longshot, was outfinished by 50-1 shot Giacomo. McLaughlin returned to the Kentucky Derby in 2006, saddling fourth-place finisher Jazil for Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum’s Shadwell Farm as well as 14th-place finisher Flashy Bull for the North American syndicate West Point Thoroughbreds, LLC.

McLaughlin could have had a third runner in the Derby, but he and owner John Dillon decided to pass the race with the multiple stakes winning gelding Like Now, who ran in the Preakness instead.

McLaughlin, 45, has navigated the last eight years of his life while suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, a neurological disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. He was diagnosed with the disease in October 1998, not long before he won Aqueduct’s Grade 2 Knickerbocker Handicap with Sahm, owned by Shadwell.

“When I was first diagnosed in October of 1998 I went into a depression,” McLaughlin said. “I didn’t realize it at the time but I was depressed for 30 days. I didn’t want to get off the couch. Sahm won the Knickerbocker and I wasn’t there at the races.”

At that time, McLaughlin was splitting his time between Dubai and North America. By early December of 1998 he was back in Dubai and in February of 1999, he suffered a major setback when he developed blurred vision and needed a cane to walk.

For the last seven years, he has taken a daily injection of Copaxine, a class of drug called beta interferon, which inhibits certain white blood cells and in some studies has reduced the severity and number of multiple sclerosis attacks.

“I went on medication in June 1999 and since then I had no setbacks at all,” McLaughlin said “I feel very fortunate. I have MS, but I have it in my hip pocket.”

McLaughlin is a native of Lexington, Ky., and attended the University of Kentucky before working for trainers James Burchell and John Hennig, who would later become his father-in-law, David Kassen and Tim Muckler.

In 1985, McLaughlin started working for Lukas, where he worked closely with the multiple champion filly Open Mind, and stakes winners Slew City Slew and Dynaformer. In 1992, McLaughlin and his wife Letty, the sister of New York trainer Mark Hennig, wanted to settle down with their infant daughter. So, McLaughlin quit Lukas and began booking mounts for jockey Chris Antley, one of the more talented riders on the New York circuit.

But after 18 months, Antley fell out of favor with the top New York trainers and soon left for California. McLaughlin, through acquaintances such as Helen Alexander, Anthony Stroud and Rick Nichols, was offered a position in Dubai to work for Mohammed al Maktoum’s Godolphin Racing.

“I had 100 horses to train then later I ended up breaking 100 yearlings,” McLaughlin said. “I had a lot of good help, but I was overseeing 200 horses so I was just like a European trainer with a big yard.”

 McLaughlin quickly learned there many differences between training in Dubai and America. First and foremost was the fact that medication was prohibited in Dubai.

“That was an education,” McLaughlin said. “I remember I had a filly, one of the first runners I had that was absolutely a crazy filly. She threw herself down on the racetrack more than once. I said to the vet what can we do? We’ve got to do something to settle her nerves. He said you can’t do anything to medicate here. On the track in Dubai she was perfect. So you live and learn that medication is really overrated”.

McLaughlin said the anti-bleeding medication Lasix is not overrated. It is a medication he uses on most of his horses that race in North America. “Lasix is not overrated,” McLaughlin said. “But as medication goes a lot of people think you need Bute and anti-inflammatories, and this and that, and it was proved to me that you didn’t. But Lasix is an important performance-enhancing drug because I just feel like a lot of horses bleed. I wouldn’t take a horse to Dubai that is a bleeder.”

McLaughlin was the leading trainer at Nad al Sheba in Dubai three times: 1994-95; 1995-96, and 2002-03. Among the top horses McLaughlin trained during his time in Dubai were Dumaani, who won the $1.5 million, Group 2 Keio Hai Springs Cup in Japan and Key of Luck, who won the inaugural running of the Dubai Duty Free.

``Key of Luck was probably the best horse I trained,’’ McLaughlin said. ``He won the [Dubai] Duty free by 20 lengths the night Cigar won the World Cup.’’

While McLaughlin learned about medication, he helped bring about a few changes in Dubai racing. McLaughlin helped introduce outriders to Dubai.

“They were asking my opinion on improvements for there,’’ McLaughlin said. ``When I first went over there they didn’t have any outriders. My point was if a rider went down in a race you’d need to stop the race if it was once around. And they got outriders.’’

McLaughlin also introduced the concept of keeping assistant starters in the stall with the horses. ``The starting gate was a real interesting situation when I first got there,’’ McLaughlin said. ``The first horse I had that was meant to run went in and a horse next to him flipped. The rider stepped off my horse because he was acting up and they opened the doors and had a false start. My horse went loose and had to be scratched. I said to them back them out, but they didn’t have the personnel. They’d load them and duck under the front door so they were not in with them. So there were a lot of things to talk about; the starting gate was a big issue.’’

While McLaughlin said he enjoyed the lifestyle of Dubai, something he said was akin to Disney World, he and Letty wanted to raise their two children, daughter Erin, 15, and son Ryan, 12, in America.

``It was hard to leave, it was a great lifestyle for my wife and I having a maid and a cook; we were living like kings and queens,’’ McLaughlin said. ``We opted to come back to America and raise our kids in New York. That’s where our home is and we just felt like it was the right thing to do.’’

McLaughlin enjoyed success right away in 2003. Among his stable stars were the Irish-bred Volga, who won the Grade 1 E.P Taylor at Woodbine, and the South African-bred Trademark, who won the Bernard Baruch and Fourstardave, both Grade 2 events at Saratoga.

In 2004, McLaughlin won 84 races from 462 starters and his horses earned more than $5.5 million in purse money. He won multiple stakes with the likes of Seattle Fitz, Randaroo, and Bending Strings.

In 2005, McLaughlin won 60 races from 424 starters. In addition to saddling Closing Argument to a second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, McLaughlin also sent out Henny Hughes to a second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile just three weeks after taking over the training of the horse.

In addition to training, McLaughlin has got involved with many of the off-the-track issues confronting racing. He is on the board of directors of the New York Thoroughbred Horseman’s Association, which is trying to get their voice heard on many issues confronting New York racing.

In New York, slot machines are on the horizon which should bring a significant increase to that state’s purse structure. There is also the issue of who will win the franchise to operate the three New York tracks: Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga. The New York Racing Association currently holds the franchise, but that is about to expire on Dec. 31, 2007.
 
``Sometimes in New York we get down that we don’t have slots and the purses aren’t where they could be. but the purses are damn good when you look around the country,’’ McLaughlin said. ``The slots would be just a huge raise for us and help us out and hopefully we get there sooner or later.’’

McLaughlin said he would prefer to remain training horses in North America for a long time. He did not, however, rule out returning to Dubai some day.
 

“Not if I’m doing as well as I’m doing now, I wouldn’t,’’ McLaughlin said. ``But I wouldn’t totally rule it out because it’s a great lifestyle. It’s just that if I’m doing well I would probably just stay here and make my lifestyle great here also.’’

TRM Trainer of the Quarter - Dermot Weld

The TRM Trainer of the Quarter goes to Dermot Weld for Grey Swallow's win in the Jim Murray Memorial Handicap.

James Crispe (European Trainer - Issue 14 / Summer 2006)

Are the six newly upgraded Group One races for fillies and mares in Europe worthy of their status?

Well that is too soon to say, but there is a significant difference between the newly upgraded “f&m” events and how other races that have earned Group One status over the years. The key word is “earned” of course, as a race cannot, under normal circumstances, be upgraded unless it has earned it through attracting high quality fields.

Still, the upgrading of six races to Group One in 2004, was triggered mainly by the wish to improve opportunities for fillies and mares. Such a factor would almost certainly not be allowed much emphasis in discussions concerning upgrading races for males. Ruth Quinn, racing director at the British Horseracing Board, said at the time: “I am delighted to be able to announce these considerable improvements to the race program for fillies and mares. We want to offer every encouragement to fillies to extend their racing careers in Britain”.

What Quinn was actually saying, between the lines, was that the BHB were anxious to stop the export of potentially high class broodmares to the US, where better purses and black type opportunities in Graded handicaps make it more viable to continue a filly’s racing career before retiring her to the paddocks. So, two years ago, Europe offered a greatly improved program for fillies and mares aged three and up, including these new Group One races: Falmouth Stakes 1 mile (England) Sun Chariot Stakes 1 mile (England) Matron Stakes 1 mile (England) Pretty Polly Stakes1 1/4 miles (Ireland) Prix d’Astarte 1600 metres (France) Premio Lydia Tesio 2000 metres (Italy) Interestingly, these six were also the only races upgraded to Group One status that year.

How far off having earned the status were some of these new championship “f&m” races? The two in England are perhaps the two strongest and, as it has been won by stars like Sonic Lady and Al Bahatri, many would argue that the Falmouth Stakes was long overdue its upgrading. But the year before being staged as a Group One for the first time it was won by Macadamia – who had won the Royal Hunt Cup off handicap mark 93 three weeks earlier. She was improving of course, and two starts later she ran second in another Group Two, the Sun Chariot Stakes. That day, she was chasing Echoes in Eternity – who had not even been given the mark 100 by the BHB handicapper for her Listed win at Yarmouth just over two weeks earlier.

At the time, many would argue that these were weak Group Two events. Twelve months later they both held Group One status, as the European Pattern program underwent some major changes: - 23 new Group races were introduced, 21 as Group 3 events and four as Group 2 events. - 17 of the 23 races were restricted to fillies and mares aged three and up (three were for juvenile fillies). - 17 Group races were upgraded. Six races went up to Group One status, ten races went up to G2 status and one race went up to G3 status. - 11 of the 17 races were restricted to fillies and mares aged three and up (two were for juvenile fillies). Excluding the juvenile races, no fewer than 28 of a total of 40 new / upgraded races were contests restricted to fillies or fillies and mares. It is also interesting to note that, despite having given 40 races an elevated status, the European Pattern Committee downgraded only six events.

The Pattern Book had either been, or become, imbalanced. After such a shake-up in 2004, it was no surprise when only minor changes were made prior to the 2005 season. Four races were upgraded and two races were downgraded that year, including the Prix Lupin (a previous Group One race which was withdrawn from the pattern to allow the French Derby to be run at 2100 metres). Over the two-year period, no other race was downgraded from Group One status.

Is the European Pattern Committee gambling when upgrading as many as six fillies & mare races to Group One with one throw of the dice? Not if enough owners decide to keep top class fillies in training. They are the ones taking the financial gamble and, as one is striving to see fillies that have already won in Group One company stay in training, purses play a crucial role. The lure of prize money must not only outweigh the lure of a sale of the filly, or a sale of her first yearling, it must also be big enough to over-shadow the risk factors involved in keeping a valuable filly in training. Funds were added, as the Falmouth and the Sun Chariot both jumped up from £58,000 to £116,000 in value when being upgraded. That was the financial reward as Attraction took the first Sun Chariot Stakes carrying Group One status. Two weeks later the mare Chorist picked up £81,576 for finishing second to Haafhd in the Champion Stakes (Gp1) – where she was the only female runner. She had earned just shy of £110,000 when beating her own sex in the Pretty Polly Stakes (G1) at the Curragh earlier in the season. Chorist’s second in the Champion probably enhanced her broodmare value more than what was the case for Attraction when she won the Sun Chariot. This simply because Attraction had already won three Group One races. When a filly with such an impressive CV stays in training, one has to say that the enhanced program has already given positive results.

Though what will the enhanced program achieve in the long run? Will it make more and more Group One winners stay in training, or will it simply create more (party sub-standard) Group One winners? The big breeding operations, with Juddmonte at the forefront, will never stop sending numerous fillies to continue their racing careers North America, and a filly like Attraction – owned by the Duke Of Roxburghe – would never be exported in any case. In the 2004 Sun Chariot, Attraction beat Chic and Nebraska Tornado, giving the race the look of a solid Group One. Last year’s edition was won by Peeress, who beat Sumitville and Musicanna. That was hardly a genuine Group One finish but it is too soon to assess the success or failure of the upgrading this event.

Overall, the new Group One races seem to have got off to an adequate start. The continuation is perhaps more important. Will they all be deserving continued Group One status in about five years’ time? And if not, how difficult will it be for the Pattern Committee to downgrade one or two of them? Such a move will probably very difficult. Racecourses, trainers, owners and breeders combine for rather a formidable pressure group, and they will all be interested in keeping these races at Group One status. Even if they should become numerically strong enough to be self-destructing quality-wise, producing below par championship races, and in turn produce below par Group One winning broodmares.

A total of 85 Group One races were staged in Europe last year. 19 of these were races restricted to fillies (for 3-year-olds or 3-year-olds plus). In other words, 22.35% of all Group One races are for the fairer sex only. These are races that give the girls protection from competition with males. It is easy to see how the decision to upgrade six such events was a major change. Nevertheless, fillies and mares who race exclusively in their own division are still not offered anything as big a slice of the cake as they are in USA. North American racing has long had a lucrative program for fillies and mares. The US racing circuit will be staging 104 Grade One races in 2006, of which 39 are restricted to fillies and mares (excluding those for juveniles). This means that 37.5% of all Grade One events are “f&m” races and, not surprisingly, a great number of female runners stay in training well past their 3-year-old season. What it also means, however, is that US trained fillies and mares are rarely seen competing with males at Grade One level.

This is a feature that has always played an excellent role on the vivid and colourful stage called European horseracing. The true championship races should always involve clashes of sexes, as well as clashes of generations. If the increase in upgrading of European Pattern races restricted to fillies of mares continues, clashes of sexes may well be a rarity. If not a thing of the past altogether. An ‘Arc’ or a ‘Jacques le Marois’ without a top filly involved would not be quite the same, would it? It would not be as competitive. Many will argue that this would be a small price to pay, in return for seeing more top older fillies in training over a period of two to three years.

Maybe so, but more Group One races will always mean more sub-standard Group One races. And increasing top level opportunities for fillies and mares will have a knock on effect also on some of the established Group One events open to both sexes. The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes are not likely to be vulnerable in the foreseeable future, though races like the Prix d’Ispahan, Sussex Stakes, Preis von Europa and Champion Stakes could easily lose some big players of the fairer sex. Many of them will be campaigned exclusively in “f&m” races. So, without throwing out an unnecessarily early opinion on these new developments, perhaps one can offer this (provisional) theory: Giving the filly & mare division significantly increased protection can have positive effects, but overdo it, and negative side-effects will be part of the bargain.

The European Horserace Scientific Liaison Committee

Anyone heard of it? No? EHSLC? Still no-one? Thought not. Neither its full nomenclature nor its clumsy acronym elicits anything approaching a visceral response amongst racing professionals. This does not sound a sexy topic for discussion or debate – those at the Racing Post would surely agree, given that mention of this body has popped out from between their covers just twice in the past four years. If, in a private moment of extreme narcissism, you have ever ‘Googled’ yourself, I can guarantee that, however insignificant you are, you will find more references in cyberspace to you and your namesakes than to EHSLC.

This is curious. Rightly, racing preoccupies itself with the notion of integrity: maintaining a veneer of absolute probity is understandably this or any sport’s ne plus ultra. While we’re counting, integrity issues have warranted no fewer than 926 RacingPost articles in the corresponding period, yet the collective whose purpose more than any other is to ensure horses perform on a level playing throughout the five major European racing nations field barely warrants more than a couple of lines. It strikes me that the organisation whose mission statement is to “harmonise technical doping control policies and procedures… [and] to engender cooperation between the member countries in research underlying the suppression of doping” likes to keep a low profile.

Fortunately, Trainer was able to track down Peter Webbon for assistance. Webbon is happily rather less of a shrinking violet (91 Post mentions, in case you are interested) and is also what is commonly referred to as a ‘key player’ at the EHSLC. Dubbed ‘The Enforcer’, Webbon is now one of the sport’s most powerful individuals. Currently the Jockey Club’s director of welfare and science, he will assume overall control of racing’s integrity remit in April when he becomes the first chief executive of the newly branded Horseracing Regulatory Authority. When the appointment was announced, Toby Balding declared: “He will be brilliant. He is a very informed and switched-on operator. He will be excellent at the job.” Webbon and outgoing Jockey Club head Christopher Foster have been among senior administrators from several racing jurisdictions across Europe to have collaborated with independent expert pharmacists, chief veterinary officers and analysts in driving forward the work of EHSLC.

“The organisation started in 1992 as a joint initiative between representatives of Great Britain, France and Ireland,” explains Webbon. “In 1997, or thereabouts, we brought Germany and Italy into the fold. In order to maximise our effectiveness, we tend to work not as one single body that meets from time to time, but rather in smaller groups and working parties that are able to put forward suggestions and scientific findings to the relevant governing administrators who are then able to execute policy decisions.”

Implicit is a welcome recognition that horses compete internationally on an increasingly regular basis and, thus, there is an obvious danger that misunderstanding and misapplication of medication when abroad can occur. By harmonising drug thresholds and releasing data on detection times, the theory goes that unfortunate disqualifications can be avoided. Within this, more nuanced disparities also need to be ironed out. Webbon cites Scandinavian racing’s absence from EHSLC: “Although fewer British trained horses run in Scandinavia, they do tend to compete in the bigger races on a more regular basis than was the case. In Sweden, for example, the regulations state that there is a specific period of time before a race when certain drugs may not be administered under any circumstances, irrespective of whether a test returns a positive result. Theoretically, the authorities can ask to see the medication records of any trainer and disqualify a horse that actually tested clean and which, under domestic regulation, would be a legal competitor. This is a situation that we are striving to eradicate in EHSLC countries.”

There are those who would argue a “when in Rome” policy – that it behoves the trainer to familiarise himself with foreign regulations. It is surely realistic nowadays, however, to expect a certain level of assistance from, and cooperation amongst, the governing bodies when time constraints impinge so heavily on the busiest yards. There is, after all, evidence enough to suggest that trainers already feel a sense of disenfranchisement when it comes to doping policy. Rupert Arnold, the experienced chief executive of the National Trainers’ Federation, has concerns over the manner in which policy changes precipitated by the work of EHSLC insinuate themselves into the rule book.

“The first key issue on testing,” says Arnold, “relates to the sensitivity of tests and whether procedures are changed. We feel we get very little feedback from the regulators unless we push hard for it. This comes to a head when a rash of positives presents itself, as was the case with clenbuterol last year when trainers were contacting us to say that they weren’t doing anything different.” Arnold advocates the introduction of something akin to the current American model in this respect. “In the United States,” he says, “Horsemen’s associations tend to agree to a testing protocol with their particular state regulators where everybody knows exactly where they stand. If modifications occur, the associations are consulted.

One EHSLC inspired initiative concerned changes to the Jockey Club’s C7 Code of Medication Practise. There were subtle, but significant, alterations into which we were allowed no input – the Jockey Club just went about their job.” According to Peter Webbon, EHSLC will release a lumpy pack of information to show the fruits of its labour over the last seven years that will coincide roughly with this publication - it is hoped that this goes some way to assuage Arnold’s worries. To do so, however, it must be clear, palatable and accessible; not a straightforward task given the complexity and volume of the material at hand. Such a release will gauge the productivity and the utility of EHSLC.

As Webbon concedes, however, measuring its success and efficacy is an almost impossible task as a security body is essentially only informed by its failures. Rather as British intelligence was lambasted for its failings in the aftermath of the London bombings, so a body such as this is only truly scrutinised when there is a spate of dope test failures or a single event that is in some way deemed newsworthy.

In order to be accorded any credit, it must release its own findings and seek to present a positive impression. Nobody hoists the bunting for MI5 when we all manage to travel home safely on any given day. It is here that we arrive at the interesting pragmatic reality of EHSLC. Certainly, its basis in science and the advancement of drug testing technology and harmonisation is sound, but where it is most potent is in its capacity to protect racing’s image and to manage our expectations. That is, to keep us feeling warm and fuzzy when dark thoughts of racing’s besmirched integrity invade the sport’s collective consciousness. Look no further here than the EPO ‘raids’ of January 2002.

Martin Pipe, Paul Nicholls, Venetia Williams, Len Lungo and Alan Jones were visited simultaneously early one morning – each and every horse was tested only for presence of the performance enhancer EPO, of which there had been extensive speculation at the time, and each test returned negative in double quick time. This was the first time such testing had been carried out without prior warning to the trainers involved and was presented as new policy enlightened by the collaborative power of EHSLC – Britain was merely aligning itself with pan-European policy whilst, according to Peter Webbon, “safeguarding the industry.” Incidentally, “no horse in Britain has ever tested positive for EPO.” I am not suggesting that such unannounced out-of-competition ambushes are bad per se – there are now about a dozen that take place quietly each year – nor positing that they do not act as some form of deterrent to would-be cheats.

This particular instance, however, was no more than an exercise on the Jockey Club’s part to allay fears of widespread drug abuse. To suggest that they attempted to keep this out of the public eye is folly – this was the whole point and was realpolitik at its most brazen, with its deliciously press friendly rhetoric of ‘dawn raids’ and so forth. EHSLC, of course, facilitates such exercises by providing a collegiate ‘research based’ backdrop to proceedings. This is simply how any government operates – the Jockey Club (or HRA) is New Labour and EHSLC is the European Commission, “moving to strengthen practical cooperation between member states,” with its working parties, delegations and information networks.

When asked whether he is confident that racing has actually been made tangibly cleaner, Webbon is far more the pragmatist than the utopian. “You would have to be very naïve,” he suggests, “to think that we will find every illicit drug out there, but there are new technologies that are sure to act as deterrents.”

The interesting development cited may indeed make some think twice, namely the storing of samples (rather in the manner of a DNA database) so as that new technologies may revisit these some years later with the potential for different results. While he recognises the difficulties that could ensue here – the disqualifications and reallocation of prize money, not to mention the overwhelming bloodstock implications – Webbon outlines the possibility that this could uncover systematic breaches of regulations if more than one re-tested sample from the same yard was to betray a concerted effort to flout the authorities.

This is ostensibly admirable, but to what extent is this appeasement? What would happen if a swathe of retested samples came up positive? Would the consequences for the sport be sufficiently cataclysmic for this to be brushed aside? These are suggestions that would, I have no doubt, be vigorously denied, but presentation of an untarnished sport is obviously crucial, particularly at a time of impending financial Armageddon for racing. And this is fundamentally why I question any overarching international racing body such as EHSLC.

Each member state, and particularly racing’s present Britain, is consumed by perfectly understandable self-interest – lofty visions of consensus and ideas-sharing are often undermined. In this case, it appears that suggestions are made, but individual administrators can use or ignore them at will. Why is it, for example that Italy, in common with America, regularly tests for ‘milkshakes’? (Excess drenched doses of bicarb to reduce fatigue in horses). While, in Great Britain, according to Peter Webbon, “a few of these tests for excess CO2 were carried out pre-race a few years ago, but we’ve got the kit in the lab if we want to use it.”

The current EHSLC press release regarding detection times is most welcome and is not before time. In addition, a desire to harmonise doping procedure is a commendable one. It is hard, however, to conceive of the EHSLC as a unified force for improving racing’s integrity. Rather, it is a useful management tool and adjunct to an increasingly well-oiled Public Relations mechanism.

Trainer’s Comment - Christian von der Recke

This summer the Football World Cup will take place in Germany. Teams from Africa may play teams from South America. It is unlikely they'll talk the same language and the games may well be refereed by Asians who speak neither French nor Spanish! But, they all know the rules they are playing by.

You see, wherever international football, rugby, cricket, basketball or golf (to name but a few sports) uniform rules of sport are in place. Not like racing! In 2005, I raced horses in no less than fifteen different nations. Hand on heart, I needed to memorise rules that differ from country to country. Horse Racing is now a global business, it really needs to adopt an international rule book, thought out properly by professionals so that wherever we race we are racing under the guidelines of the same rulebook.

The European All Weather Series is a great idea and offers owners and trainers the opportunity to race for a valuable pot of money from February to May. However, through no fault of the courses that are running the series, the whole concept of bringing together the European All Weather nations is nearly halted by the varying rules from country to country.

Lets try and run a "mythical" horse in each of the races. Here are just a few of the problems we might face:

France

We enter the horse to run on the date given for entry deadlines. But, wait for it, the horse entry is voided because we didn't enter the horse eight days earlier than stated. The horse we entered is not based in France! So, we enter at the forfeit stage and now have to pay a premium to run. On raceday it is only by chance, we find out that we have to declare the horse to run. We declare the horse to run and with earplugs.

Germany

We make it into the parade ring where we are told that we are not allowed to run with cotton wool earplugs. The stewards are also not going to let us run as the horse has no hind shoes on. We are scratching our heads - this wasn't even an issue in France! England Like France we remember to declare the horse on raceday. But, we didn't have to do this in Germany! The horse runs without hind shoes and no one has asked anyway.

Italy

We present the necessary customs health papers at the border and are allowed into the country. Nothing unusual about this, the papers are needed whenever you ship horses into a country outside your home country. Our papers get lost between the border and racecourse but we aren’t concerned, as they were only for border officials when we travelled in France or England. On arrival at the course we aren't allowed into the stable area as we can't find the customs health papers. Why does the racecourse need them? They were only valid at customs and have nothing to do with the racecourse!

Sweden

We win the race! However our celebrations are short lived as the jockey used his whip inside the final furlong! This is not allowed in Sweden.

Now as I've said this is purely a "mythical" situation but it does show how diverse the rulebook is across Europe. I'm sure that any trainer who races overseas will sympathise with the idiosyncrasies I've highlighted. But how do we go about getting an international rulebook set up?

Under the auspices of which authority would this be introduced? Should racing have a world governing body, just like in other major sports? Perhaps the answer is staring us in the face! Each October the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities meet in Paris. Their website states that one of the main objectives of the federation is to coordinate and harmonize the rules of the member-countries regarding breeding, racing & wagering.

As trainers, we should lobby our own country representatives to help bring about the harmonization. We must have voice heard and it’s obvious that the governing organisations need to ask our opinion on such an important matter.

The role of protein in the racehorse's diet

Dietary protein is probably one of the most talked about elements of a racehorses’ diet, which is unfortunately ill deserved. Whilst the level of protein in the diet is important for tissue growth and repair, it is probably the least important source of energy to the athletic horse when compared to starch, fibre and oil. Protein has received a lot of ‘bad press’ in racing in the past, with both inadequate and excess intake being used to explain poor performance.

Excessive protein in the diet has also been blamed for racehorse excitability and even for conditions such as itchy or bumpy skin (urticaria) and tying up. More recent evidence suggests that protein per se is unlikely to be the major culprit in these situations. However, far from being undesirable, protein is an essential part of a horse's diet, as it provides the building blocks needed for tissue growth and repair and also for the synthesis of many important body chemicals such as enzymes and hormones. These building blocks are known as amino acids and each protein source used in horse feed has a characteristic amino acid makeup or profile. Look for quality and not just quantity Protein is digested primarily in the horse’s small intestine by the action of digestive enzymes; however, a varying proportion of the protein in feed may escape digestion in the small intestine and reach the hindgut, where it is fermented by the resident microflora. Although this latter method of breakdown can be beneficial to the hindgut microflora, the resultant amino acids released are generally not absorbed and so are unavailable for use by the horse. So the horse relies on dietary protein being digested in the small intestine, as far as possible, to provide a useable source of amino acids. Proteins from different sources are digested here to a greater or lesser extent, with the protein from cereals (oats, maize) and oilseeds and pulses (soya, linseed), generally being more digestible in the small intestine than that from forages.

In exception to this, the protein digestibility of alfalfa is relatively high compared to other conserved forages such as hay or haylage. Horses can synthesize some amino acids in the body, whilst others must be supplied in the diet and are known as the essential amino acids. The quality of a protein source is measured by not only its ability to be digested in the small intestine, but also by how much of these essential amino acids, in particular lysine that it provides (see table below). Commonly used protein sources for horses Protein Source Total Protein (%) Lysine (%) Soybean meal 55 3.0 Oats 12 0.5 Alfalfa 15 0.6 Hay 7.0 0.1 Inclusion of a proportion of a very high quality protein source such as soya, either within the existing racehorse mix or cube or as part of a high protein feed used to top-dress the diet is an advantage. How much protein is enough? An average mature horse in full work needs about 1.5 times the amount of protein per day compared to the equivalent requirement for the same horse in light work. Yearlings and two year olds have a slightly higher protein requirement compared to there mature counterparts, in the early stages of training when in light work. However, once their workload has increased, this extra protein requirement is more than covered by the increased requirements for hard work in itself. The bottom line for young horses coming into work is that the feed chosen for this stage of training needs to be considered carefully and ideally, whilst being relatively low in energy should have a slightly higher protein content compared to an ordinary low energy feed.

Many of the ‘recovery’ type products are suitable for this purpose or alternatively addition of a small quantity of a high protein supplement feed can suffice. As far as horses in harder work are concerned, their increased requirement for protein would easily be met by the increase in quantity of feed used in the transition from light training to hard work, irrespective of age. So providing that you are using decent quality hay or haylage and a feed designed for hard work or racing, the issue of inadequate levels of protein in the diet should not arise. It is always worth having batches of hay or haylage analyzed to ensure that amongst other things the protein level is not outrageously low or equally excessively high. In reality, there are probably far more racehorses being overfed protein and underfeeding is only likely to occur when forage is being used that is particularly stemmy and mature and has a related very low protein level. In contrast, excessive protein intake in the diet is likely to be more prevalent and some of the potential consequences are discussed below.

Ammonia and dehydration are two issues with excess protein intake One of the main issues with overdoing protein intake is the effect that it can have on both hydration status and respiratory function. If a horse is fed above and beyond its requirements for protein, the excess amino acids produced from its digestion will be re-processed by the liver and the nitrogen containing part, which is toxic, must then be converted to harmless urea, which is then eliminated in the urine and faeces. However, unfortunately no matter how meticulously clean a racehorse’s bed is kept, bacteria present will soon start to breakdown the urea to produce ammonia, which has a characteristic pungent smell and has consequences for the health of both horses and their lads or lasses respectively. When ammonia combines with water in body tissues it can become extremely irritating and harmful to the eyes, sinuses and respiratory system.

In humans short-term exposure to high levels of ammonia can cause upper and lower respiratory tract irritation and oedema, and over the long-term can contribute to chronic bronchitis and may exacerbate other lung diseases including asthma. In horses, ammonia restricts the movement of cilia (brush-like hairs) in the airways that filter out harmful dust particles, and its corrosive action causes inflammation and a build up of mucous. Independent consultant and respiratory expert Dr David Marlin warns that excessive ammonia inhalation in horses could cause irritation of the respiratory tract and exaccerbate other pre-existing conditions such as is recurrent airway obstruction RAO (formerly known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD, heaves) or inflammatory airway disease (IAD).

In addition to the ammonia issue, overfeeding protein can often result in horses drinking more and urinating excessively. This not only leads to wet beds, but can contribute to dehydration in horses. It is widely accepted that dehydration is a major factor in reduced exercise performance for horses involved in fast exercise. Too much or too little? A potential sign of a large surplus of protein in the diet is a horse that is drinking to excess and that has a wet smelly bed. Using blood results to assess protein status is not unfortunately as straight forward as simply looking at the level of plasma total protein. Plasma total protein for a horse in training is likely to fall between 53-67g/l. However, there are many factors, which influence this result in addition to the level of protein in the diet and therefore a high or low plasma total protein is not exclusively indicative of inadequate or excess protein in the diet. A more useful measurement may be the ratio of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) to creatinine, with values under and over the normal range being related to inadequate or excess dietary protein intake, respectively.

Another approach is obviously to have the ration checked by an experienced nutritionist, although, this would obviously require analysis of the forage and feeds, especially where straight feeds are used. Whilst excessive protein intake potentially can have a negative impact on horses in training, quite often the protein content of the diet is maligned without justifiable cause as discussed below. Is a high protein diet implicated in tying up? An excess protein intake was historically blamed for episodes of Azoturia or ‘tying up’ in racehorses. This is largely unfounded, as although the exact triggers for tying up are not fully understood, there are a number of other dietary related factors, which exclude protein, that have been implicated in its occurrence.

Tying up is more commonly associated with high-energy diets, where a large part of that energy is supplied in the form of hydrolysable carbohydrates (starch and sugars). In addition macro and micro mineral availability and balance (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and selenium), electrolyte supply (sodium, potassium and chloride) and antioxidant provision (vitamin E), as well as other factors such as stress and excitable behaviour are more likely to be relevant. Hives, protein bumps, urticaria – too much protein?

Once again, the general consensus in racing is that the skin disorders often describes as hives, protein bumps or urticaria are simply due to too much protein being fed. However, veterinary research would counter this, as leading dermatologists suggest that feed allergies, although they can occur, are much more rare than is commonly accepted. Certainly, where feed is implicated in the development of these skin disorders it is much more likely to be due to a sensitivity to a particular source of protein such as barley or wheat, rather than simply a general excess. Before feed is implicated, however, other more likely causative factors such as cereal or forage mites, washing powder, fungal skin or other general infections should also be discounted.

Where sensitivity to a particular protein source is seriously suspected, an exclusion diet can be used to identify the source of the problem. This involves feeding forage only for a period of time until the bumps have disappeared and then slowly re-introducing elements of the concentrate feed in an attempt to isolate the culprit. Much of the confusion surrounding protein in my opinion is due to the relationship between the energy content of a feed (DE MJ/kg) and the protein content (%). In general terms, as you move upwards through the portfolio of feed ingredients and compound feeds, as energy content per kilogram increases, so does the protein content of the feed in percentage terms. This is not because protein is a major energy source, but simply because the higher energy ingredients tend to have a higher protein content naturally. This causes much confusion and as more and more feed companies now declare the energy content of their feeds on their packaging or in their literature, there needs to be a move towards choosing feed by energy level and not percentage protein.

Paul Nolan - from complete beginner to leading National Hunt trainer in 10 years

It is at times assumed that a background in horses is almost essential for anyone to succeed at training but one individual that is certainly putting paid to such preconceived notions is Paul Nolan.

Nolan (37) is now firmly established as one of the leading National Hunt trainers in Ireland and his rise through the ranks has been nothing short of remarkable when one hears that a decade ago his experience with horses was minimal at best. From Enniscorthy in Wexford in the south eastern corner of Ireland, Nolan hails from an agricultural tradition. 

“I came from a completely agricultural background. The family had 150 acres and were sheep and tillage farmers. I was involved in farming myself but I might as well have been picking blackberries. Farming was a total waste of time, it was completely non-profitable. There was no way that my parents could make a living off it and that I would be able to rear a family off it as well,” he reflects.

For one that lacked a traditional grounding in racing, Nolan has certainly made up for that over the last eight years and has managed to make his name in the hugely competitive amphitheatre of Irish National Hunt racing. In winter when racing is down to three or (at most) four fixtures a week, the standard at even the most ordinary of race meetings can be very high and it is in this environment that Nolan has had to make his mark.

It was about ten years ago that his thoughts began to turn away from farming but things could have turned out very differently for him. “I was very nearly going to go to Australia but it was the love of hurling (one of Ireland’s national sports and one where Nolan represented his county with distinction at the highest level) and the fact that I don’t like straying far from home which kept me here”.

Having taken the decision to stay at home, he then decided to put an interest and liking for horses to practical use. A six month spell with vet Tom O’Shea and a year with top trainer Jim Bolger gave Nolan the experience to set out on his own. Despite starting from humble origins, his talents didn’t take long to elevate him to the forefront of the Irish jumping scene.

“When I came home we started out with two point-to-pointers. I was charging only a minimal amount and the owners were supplying the oats but both horses won for us. Then we moved up to ten and now we have between 60 and 70 in training,” he says. 

It is almost exactly eight years ago that Nolan sent out his first winner on the track. The horse in question was Nibalda, a Kambalda gelding that cost Ir2,300gns and obliged in a two-and-a-half mile Leopardstown maiden hurdle. 

“Nibalda wasn’t expensive but horses don’t know what they cost and I certainly wouldn’t turn away a horse on account of what they cost”.

In fact, Nolan’s preference for buying horses is to see that the relevant individual has a good front leg: “The front leg and the shape of it is very important. I don’t like jumpers being back of the knee, you’ve got trouble keeping them sound and they don’t last as long as other horses. You like a horse to walk well but the front legs are so important. They are the wheels and ninety percent of horses lose time on the track if they are not right”. 

After Nibalda’s success, Nolan continued to do well with inexpensively bought horses but his success over the last four seasons has enabled him to train a better standard of horse and thus compete at a higher level. It is by now a regular occurrence to see his representatives make more of an impact in the country’s top jumping races. 

To have one’s first winner at a track like Leopardstown is a significant boost for anyone’s career but the victory that has been the cornerstone for much of Nolan’s success was that of Say Again in the 2002 Galway Hurdle. 

The week long Galway festival is undoubtedly one the most important weeks in the year in the domestic racing calendar and indeed Galway Hurdle day regularly attracts the biggest crowd of the year to a racing fixture in Ireland. Nolan could not have picked a better stage for one of the biggest winners of his career and it was after this success the size of his string began to increase significantly towards what it is today.  

Say Again, Cloone River and Accordion Etoile are three of the best horses Nolan has trained and all three are traditional National Hunt types. Their trainer has also done well with useful ex-flat recruits but it is the jumping bred horses that have provided him with much of his success. “They stay more honest to the game for longer,” remarks the Wexford-based handler.

However, Nolan notes the mindset of many owners coming into racing is now making life that bit more difficult for National Hunt-bred horses as the emphasis has shifted on to producing results as quickly as possible.

“National Hunt horses are being broken earlier to be that bit more forward and patience is hard to come by as people want answers as soon as possible. You are better off telling owners that their horse isn’t going to run for a year because it is so backward rather than building up people’s hopes and then trying to explain where things went wrong”.

A feature of Nolan’s successes has been the involvement of his family and his brother James serves as assistant trainer: “He’s a key man. He’s great to work and loves his job. My father plays a very important role and I can’t say enough about Brendan my head man. He’s been with me since the start and is top class”.

Ask the trainer about what he thinks are the most important aspects of training racehorses and the response is instantaneous – health and fitness. The brittle nature of the thoroughbred and the ephemeral nature of racehorse training are already well documented and they are perhaps no more evident than during the winter months of the national hunt season.

“It’s so hard to keep a horse right and keep him fit. It terms of their health, the time I spent working with a vet was certainly help but you have to try and keep them sound as well. Flat trainers do very little different to jumping trainers but the National Hunt is much harder on their bodies and limbs. I also think it is very important to keep them in the right frame of mind,” he comments.

As personable, amiable and helpful an individual as one could ever meet, Paul Nolan has done exceptionally well to make his way to prominence in the National Hunt world. Interestingly when asked as to what was the most difficult aspect of embarking on a career as a racehorse trainer he comes up with a very refreshing response.

“The worry of failure and not doing well. People said that we were crazy and that we didn’t know what we were getting into. Thankfully luck was on our side and we are now making a living out of it and hopefully we will continue to be able to do so”.

Similarly, when asked about his ambitions for the future the trainer adopts the understated approach that has been the hallmark of his career and has brought him to where he is now: “If I could keep in the top ten trainers in the country I’d be happy”.

Conventional wisdom and traditional beliefs dictated that somebody like Paul Nolan would struggle to make an impact but his talents have shone through to make him one of Ireland’s brightest training recruits. Big races and high profile successes, such as that of Dabiroun at last year’s Cheltenham festival, have already come his way and his is a name that we will be hearing much more of in years to come.

International news round up - stories from the world of racing

Kempton Park will become England’s fourth “all weather” venue when racing returns to the right-handed Sunbury oval on Saturday March 25th. Over £18.8 million has been spent on converting the track to a floodlit facility, which will also continue to stage National Hunt racing.

Money has been spent on upgrading stabling and on a new sampling and veterinary unit, which will offer some of the best treatment facilities available.

The flat turf course has been replaced with a Polytrack, which will race similar to the surface installed at nearby Lingfield Park. Kempton will stage a new mile series which will culminate in a £100,000 final in early September. The two group three and five listed races which were staged on the old turf course will all be run on the new surface.

At Lingfield Park two group three races will be run on the Polytrack surface this year. The Winter Derby in March (upgraded from Listed) and the Silver Trophy in June. A new Listed Race (River Eden Stakes) will join the Fluer de Lys Stakes (Listed) to be run on the Polytrack surface on October 21st.

Redcar break new ground this spring and will stage the first big turf handicap, the William Hill Lincoln – transferred from Doncaster, which is closed for redevelopment. This summer, they will stage a new £50,000 mid-summer sprint. The Class 2 event, restricted to three-year-olds, will be staged on Sunday, July 23rd and follows the other major summer races for second season sprinters at York in June and Newmarket’s July festival.

The totepool Two-Year-Old Trophy in the autumn will be worth in excess of £200,000.

Winters in Norway are often harsh and the 2006 one has been no exception. However, trainers at Ovrevoll racecourse have been able to keep their horses in full training throughout the winter as the dirt track was renewed last autumn. The new track is sand based and is regularly salted and harrowed through the night. Temperatures have dipped as low as minus 20c but the track has been in full use by first light.

Figures released by Horse Racing Ireland at the end of 2005 showed an increase in on course betting and Tote turnover. As a result, prize money is expecting to rise to roughly €56 million during 2006.

The Turf Club have revealed that retired Supreme Court judge, Mr Justice Ronan Keane, and former Attorney General, Eoghan Fitzsimons SC, are to head a new appeals body for Irish racing. The appeals body began on February 1st and will rule on matters such as; doping offences, jockey suspensions and careless riding.

In France Pari Mutuel Urbain (the tote operator PMU) saw a 6% rise in revenue in 2005 to €8 billion from €7.4 billion in 2004. The 2005 figure beat a forecast gain of 5% and marked a 30% increase over the last four years. The PMU is the largest off track betting operator in Europe and has recently signed a deal with Ladbrokes to take promote French racing throughout the UK. Much of the increase in revenue can be attributed to legal internet gambling which produced €250 million sales in 2005.

In Italy, unlicensed offshore internet gambling was effectively outlawed at the end of February with the Italian government enforcing a law that will oblige internet providers to block access to unlicensed betting operators. The ban will be welcomed by many in the Italian racing industry as it will force overseas operators to be licensed and pay a percentage of revenue back to the state betting operator, which will undoubtedly increase prize money.

The Cyprus parliament is waiting for a new bill to be presented this spring, which deals with taxation on horseracing and electronic bets. Whilst the exact content of the bill has yet to be realised, it is expected to contain reference to a remodelling of betting laws along the lines of the British fixed odds betting. The concern for the industry is that if a move away from pool betting is accepted, it will have a detrimental effect on prize money.

American racecourses have announced a raft of enhancements to their stakes schedules this year, which will be of interest to European trainers. Notable revisions include the increase in purses at Colonial Downs where their two feature turf races, The Colonial Turf Cup and The Virginia Derby (Gr. II) have both had their purses increased to $1m. The races form the first two legs of the $5m Jacobs Investments Grand Slam of Grass, a four-race series for three-year-olds on the turf. Hollywood Park have added the CashCall Mile (Gr. III), formerly run as the Royal Heroine Stakes, for fillies and mares, 3-years and up, and will be run on Saturday, July 1. The American Oaks (Gr. I), at 1 1/4 miles, is scheduled for Sunday, July 2. Both races are invitational turf events and will each carry $750,000 purses. At Calder Racecourse in Florida, the inaugural running of the Bob Umphrey Turf Marathon will take place on July 22nd. The two mile event will carry a purse of $250,000 and will be the longest flat stakes race run in North America this year. The race is named in honour of the former racing secretary who died in early January. Calder will also stage two five furlong $250,000 ungraded stakes races on August 5th. Track executives are keen to encourage international participation for all their key races this year and will soon be announcing travel incentives for horses who fly direct to Miami International Airport where new quarantine facilities are now in place.

TRM Trainer of the Quarter - Paul Nicholls

The TRM Trainer of the Quarter goes to Paul Nicholls and his team for their six timer at Wincanton on January 21st.

Editorial Writer (European Trainer - Issue 13 / Spring 2006)

TRM Trainer of the Quarter - Peter Schiergen

The TRM Trainer of the Quarter goes to Peter Schiergen and his team for their handling of Soldier Hollow.

Editorial Writer (European Trainer - Issue 12 / Winter 2005)

TRM Trainer of the Quarter - Powerscourt

The TRM Trainer of the Quarter - Henry Cecil and Dermot Weld both trained their 3,000th winners and Valfredo Valiani won a thrilling Juddmonte International at York with Electrocutionist. All three and many others were worthy of the award in their own right, however only one horse can win and for thisissue the winner is Powerscourt.

Editorial Writer (European Trainer - Issue 11 / Autumn 2005)

TRM Trainer of the Quarter - Fabrice Chappet

The TRM Trainer of the Quarter award goes to French Trainer, Fabrice Chappet, who with his horse Billy Allen has won the European All Weather Series.

Editorial Writer (European Trainer - Issue 10 / Summer 2005)

Hoof Cracks - a very common problem in racehorses

A keen-eyed racegoer spotted a horse running in the USA last summer with six quarter cracks spread between three of its feet. While this number would be highly unusual in the UK, the problem of the hoof crack is not, and is one, which plagues the trainer, vet and farrier.

For the trainer, the words “The apple of your eye has popped a quarter crack, guv’nor,” are not welcome. Some great names have won Group One and other big races carrying hoof cracks, but the onset of a crack will result at minimum in serious problems in the horse’s preparation. Nevertheless, it is quite common for several horses to have cracks of one kind or another in a larger yard at the height of summer. “Some years you might have none, other years you might have two or three,” says Phil Brook, a leading Newmarket racing farrier who works with likes of David Loder, Chris Wall and Cheveley Park Stud.

The key to the treatment of hoof cracks lies in a determination of why they have occurred. This in turn relies on an understanding of the anatomy and dynamics of the hoof. TYPES OF HOOF CRACK Hoof cracks can occur at various locations on the hoof wall, and can be of varying degrees of severity. Cracks are normally defined by their location (toe, quarter or heel) and may also be defined by their type (e.g. sand, grass or horizontal) A grass crack originates at the ground surface and extends up the hoof wall; a sand crack originates at the coronary band, and runs downwards towards the base of the hoof. A horizontal crack runs more or less parallel with the coronary band. Cracks may be ‘superficial’ or ‘deep’. A deep crack can be defined as one, which has penetrated the sensitive laminae.

These are by far the more serious problem being the result of some trauma that has taken, or is taking place inside the hoof capsule. These can bleed during or after exercise and carry the additional risk of infection.

CAUSES OF CRACKS

Standard farriery textbooks will explain that the most likely cause of hoof cracks is either anterior-posterior (front to back) or medio-lateral (side to side) imbalance. Anterior-posterior imbalance may be caused by ‘long toe / low heel’ syndrome, which can result in breakover being forced too far forward through poor foot dressing. The pull of the deep digital flexor tendon conflicts with the point of breakover to cause a tearing of the laminae from the hoof wall and a consequent toe crack.

Likewise, medio-lateral imbalance may also be the result of the failure by the farrier to detect and correct, so far as is within his power, any imbalances. However, in most modern racing yards, good farriery can be taken as a given; and we have to look elsewhere for the causes of these cracks. Medio-lateral imbalance is more usually caused by conformation. Where it has not been possible to correct a limb imbalance when the animal was a foal, then the resultant incorrect loading will inevitably cause stress on other areas of the body, including the hoof. As the horse develops, this creates a potential for quarter-cracks.

A further cause may be injury – an overreach may cause injury to the coronary band, which results in poor hoof growth and a consequent crack in one area of the hoof. Alternatively, simply kicking the walls can open up a weak hoof or an old injury. “Thin-walled hooves with narrow heels can be particularly important causes of quarter-cracks,” says Phil Brook. “Likewise, flat and contracted feet can result in excessive tension at the coronary margin, also resulting in cracks.”

Another contributory factor is the breed itself. Bad feet are often inherited. If the hoof itself is of a weak structure, then it is even more susceptible to the development of cracks, whether through imbalances, conformation or injury. It is significant that cracks tend to appear in the spring and early summer as horses step up to faster work. All-weather surfaces have been cited as one of their root causes, the hard core exploiting any potential weaknesses in the hoof as both speed and concussion increase. Firm going may have the same effect.

TREATMENT OF CRACKS IN RACEHORSES

A hoof crack can never, of course, heal. The two sides of the hoof that have split will never grow together again. But, if the prime cause of the crack can be resolved, then there is usually no reason why good, solid hoof wall should not grow down from the coronary band to replace the area of the crack. The ultimate treatment for a serious hoof crack is of course rest. “Ideally,” says Phil Brook, “ you will want to get 1 – 1 ½ inches of growth from the coronary band before doing any work with the horse.” But for a horse in training, that is not often an option. Farriery techniques that might be used for the same problem on a horse that was not in training are not available to the racing farrier. For instance, lateral extension shoes to correct the weight-bearing through the hoof and limb, are not an optionwhilst the horse is in training, since these shoes will inevitably be lost in work and the problem perhaps exacerbated.

SUPERFICIAL CRACKS

Superficial cracks, which penetrate only the insensitive laminae, can normally be resolved by cleaning out and dressing by the farrier. It is important for the two sides of the crack to be separated so that the edges do not rub together as the hoof naturally expands and contracts with the horse’s action. If this is allowed to happen, then the crack will be perpetuated.

DEEP CRACKS

In the case of deep cracks, two different aspects of treatment are involved. On the one hand, action is required in order to address the original cause of the crack; and, on the other, the split hoof needs to be patched in order to immobilise the two sides, stabilise the hoof capsule and, when possible, allow the horse to continue to work. As Nick Curtis, farrier to Newmarket vets Greenwood Ellis, says, “You can put on any patch you want, but the underlying cause of the crack is what you need to find out. It is a 3-D thing – you have to take everything into consideration. The goal is to get the foot landing level and in line with the skeleton.” Without this double-handed attention, a horse can easily become lame. If, for instance, the two sides of a deep toe crack are pinching the sensitive laminae as the horse puts weight on the hoof, then lameness will follow. In addressing the cause of the hoof crack, the farrier has a number of options open to him. First and foremost, he will ensure that hoof balance is correct and will do whatever he can to correct any limb imbalances. Secondly he will probably use bar shoes to provide more support at the heel. On a racehorse, he is more likely to use ‘straight’ bar shoes than ‘egg’ bars, which can be pulled off in training and certainly in racing. Straight bar shoes are available either in steel or in aluminium versions. The aluminium version can be used for racing or simply as a lightweight therapeutic shoe. A secondary technique sometimes used is to relieve the bar shoe in the area directly beneath the crack in order to reduce the pressure being transmitted to that section of the hoof. This section of the hoof and shoe obviously has to be kept clean so that the effect of the relief is maintained. Thirdly, he may use a shock-absorbent sole packing material such as Vettec’s Equi-Pak. This is a liquid urethane dispensed onto the sole and frog which will ease concussion through the hoof. “Keep him off the all-weather surface for a while” could easily be additional advice from farrier to trainer. A nutritional supplement designed specifically for the hoof might also be recommended if the original problem has been a poor quality or thin-walled hoof.

PATCHING A CRACK

There are a number of ways that may be used to patch a crack, sometimes used on their own or in conjunction with each other. Shallow self-tapping screws may be inserted in the horn to either side of the crack. Wire or strong fibre filament is then wound between them to stabilise the crack. Similarly, a metal plate can be secured with screws on either side Wire can also be sutured directly into the good horn on either side of the crack without the use of screws. Another method, only open to the farrier over the last fifteen years, is the use of acrylic adhesives such as Equilox or Hoof Life and fibreglass cloth. Once the sensitive laminae exposed by the crack have healed sufficiently, a piece of fibreglass large enough to span the crack is impregnated with the adhesive, and is then applied over the surrounding area. Further adhesive is then applied on top To avoid infection, a straw or some form of removeable putty may be used underneath the adhesive, to create a cavity through which the area may be dressed and flushed out regularly. The acrylic or PMMA adhesives, whose main ingredient is Polymethyl Methacrylate, have proven the most effective in imitating hoof horn. Once cured, they can be rasped, and, when used for hoof repair, can be nailed into as if they were normal hoof wall. The Hoof Staple can also be used. This is a product resembling a double-ended fish-hook that spans the crack and is driven in on either side. In the USA, some senior veterinarians have started to use a product called Lacerum, manufactured by BeluMed X of Little Rock, Arkansas, in the treatment of hoof cracks. This is a platelet-rich plasma solution, obtained either from the horse being treated or a donor horse, that is used to promote healing, to accelerate the growth of healthy tissue and to fight off bacterial infection.

Thus, while cracks are, if anything, becoming more prevalent, new products and techniques are becoming available to the farrier as the result of developing technologies that permit him to address the issues in new ways and to find new solutions to the hoof crack problem. For further reading: ‘Farriery – Foal to Racehorse’ by Simon Curtis ‘No Foot, No Horse’ by Gail Williams and Martin Deacon ‘Hickman’s Farriery ‘(2nd Edition) by J. Hickman and Martin Humphrey ‘Principles of Horseshoeing II’ by D. Butler.

Digestion Development - how modern feeding practices affect the natural digestive system

Previous articles in Trainer have looked at how the horse, regardless of what he has been developed to do, remains the nomadic, trickle feeding animal that nature designed him to be. We have also examined how modern diet and management, combined with the physical and mental stress imposed on the competition and racing animal are contributory factors in a variety of problems, including ‘stereotypy’ behaviour such as cribbing and windsucking, and the perennial problem of ulcers and colic.

We know that the horse is essentially a grazing animal, with a digestive tract designed specifically for long periods of foraging, which can be as much as 20 hours per day. Their stomachs seem surprisingly small to some people, in relation to their overall size and the stomach is designed to empty when only two thirds full. Horses cannot vomit so this mechanism is a vital safety function designed to prevent a lethal stomach rupture. Feed then travels from the stomach along the small intestine, an amazing 70-foot-long organ where most starch, sugar, fat, vitamins, minerals and some of the protein is digested and absorbed into the bloodstream. The residual nutrients and fibres then travel to the hindgut, a large fermentation chamber of up to 30 gallons of fibrous material, with literally millions of bacteria and organisms working to digest it. Volatile fatty acids produced by fibre-digesting bacteria provide as much as 70% of energy for horses on a forage diet. Some of the residual minerals, including phosperous, protein and water are absorbed from the large intestine and recycled in the body. B-vitamins are also produced by bacteria in a healthy horse’s hindgut. It is easy to see how efficient the system is for a forage-fed horse and how we begin to compromise that efficiency with modern diet. So where does it go wrong? Grains are much higher in starch compared to hay and grass, which the digestive tract is designed to process. Excess starch is not broken down by enzymes at the start of the process due to a number of factors, a lack of enzymes, starch that is too compact to be broken down or there is insufficient time as the feed goes from the mouth, foregut and hindgut in less than six hours. Lactic acid is produced in the hindgut by starch-digesting bacteria and reduces the hindgut pH, with the result that many entirely beneficial, fibre-digesting bacteria, unable to tolerate the increased acidity, die and release toxins into the hindgut. These toxins often results in colic and related problems. Thus we know that starch in the hindgut is a problem and reducing grain reduces the risk of problems, but what of the competition animal? Exciting and pertinent research by Dr Derek Cuddeford, lecturer at the Royal School of Veterinary Studies, has shown that a new form of pure, protected yeast can significantly improve fibre digestibility in the horse, resulting in increased energy available to the animal.

This activity has only been demonstrated with a limited number of yeast strains; an example of which is Biosaf Sc47 produced by Lesaffre Feed additives in France. Dr Cuddeford says that Biosaf Sc47 has been used to good effect in starch-rich diets for high performance cattle and other ruminants for some time. “As soon as the yeast is swallowed it goes straight into the site of fermentation in the rumen where it has been shown to stimulate the growth of fibre-digesting organisms by mopping up oxygen and rapidly fermentable material (such as starch) as well as stimulating the numbers of organisms that use up lactic acid in the gut. “Obviously, this would be great if the same could happen during fermentation in the horse’s large intestine due to the risk of acidosis (excess lactic acid) in horses fed large amounts of starch. It seems that yeast must be actively metabolising and thus alive, to fulfil some of its most important functions. This can be a problem in the horse where the site of activity is in the large intestine and thus, yeast has to survive passage through the highly acid stomach in order to reach the caecum and be viable.”

The producers of Biosaf SC47 use a special process whereby live yeast cells are coated with dried, dead yeast cells that act as a protective barrier to the live yeast inside, likened to a Malteser sweet, which more mature readers will recall was advertised as ‘melt in the mouth and not in the hand’! In contrast, ordinary ‘instant yeasts’, such as Baker’s yeast, are highly vulnerable to attack by enzymes, liquids, acids, etc. Research carried out at The Royal School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh set out to test whether Biosaf Sc47 would survive passage through the horse’s stomach and small intestine. Firstly, some laboratory tests were set up to determine the resistance of this yeast preparation to exposure to acid and the enzyme pepsin normally produced in the stomach. Dr Cuddeford says they were able to show that the Biosaf Sc47 survived prolonged exposure to this strong acid/enzyme combination and it was estimated that one third of an oral dose would survive passage through the horse’s gut to reach the site of fermentation and to be active. “Some further studies were undertaken to test survival through the whole of the horses gut simply by feeding horses Biosaf Sc47 and collecting the droppings and analysing them for the presence of the yeast. Active yeast was recovered from the faeces confirming that this ‘protected’ yeast survived in the horse’s gut and was thus able to benefit the horse. However, it is important to remember that yeast cannot colonise the horse’s gut and thus must be fed on a daily basis. “Live yeast in the large intestine of the horse will utilise any free sugars, scavenge oxygen, stimulate both the growth of lactate-utilising organisms and those bacteria that ferment plant cell wall.

The overall effect is to enhance the digestive process in the horse’s large intestine and to reduce the risk of sub-clinical disease (acidosis) in those animals fed infrequent large meals. Apart from the role of Biosaf Sc47 yeast in stabilising the horse’s hind gut, yeast cell wall contains complex sugars known as mannan- oligosaccharides (MOS) that bind to pathogens thereby preventing their attachment to the gut wall, and thus preventing them from interfering with absorption of nutrients etc. “Thus, certain strains of yeast, together with yeast cell wall, can fulfil very important functions within the horse and this activity has been verified by quite a large number of experiments.” This is an exciting development in equine nutrition with significant implications for the high-performance horse. UK equine supplement and balancer manufacturer TopSpec includes Biosaf SC47 in its Bloodstock and Racing balancers.

The Lone Star phenomenon - built for big things

Maybe it’s because of the long, flat stretches of landscape that, when shimmering in the summer heat, have potential for mirage. Or maybe it’s just the capacious grandeur of a land vast as imagination. But whatever the reason, Texas always has inspired dreams and ideas so big and robust they couldn’t sit comfortably anywhere else.

To attempt anything on a small scale here is an insult to Texas heritage. And back in the mid-1990s, when developers and racing executives were planning a new racetrack for the Dallas area, a racetrack that was to be the jewel of Texas’ inchoate racing industry, they invested their plans with the dream of some day hosting the sport’s championship event. Everything was planned and created with the Breeders’ Cup championships in mind, recalled Corey Johnsen, the first general manager of Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie. Everything was built so that it could be stretched or expanded when necessary to Breeders’ Cup proportions.

And on October 30th 2004, in only its eighth season, Lone Star will become the youngest racetrack ever to be host to, as it’s now called, the Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships. The eight races worth at least $14 million typically attract the most accomplished racehorses in North America, as well as many of the best from Europe. This year the Breeders’ Cup will take its excellence and its pageantry and its enduring significance to a new region, specifically to Grand Prairie, Texas.

But don’t misunderstand. Grand Prairie isn’t a hiccup of a town in a Larry McMurtry novel; it’s a fast-growing city in the geographic centre of a metropolitan area of five million people. To the east, about 12 miles distant, the Dallas skyline is visible from the upper levels of the Lone Star grandstand. A few miles west, near one of the nation’s most famous amusement parks, the Ballpark in Arlington is home to Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers. A little farther west sits Fort Worth, which claims to be the only city that owns a herd of longhorn steers, and who would dispute it? Here the West is said to begin. And about 10 miles north of Lone Star Park, the Dallas Cowboys, who have won more Super Bowls than any team in the history of professional football, pursue yet another while playing at Texas Stadium.

In the sports world Texas is probably best known for football and in the general awareness for cowboys of all sorts. But, again, don’t misunderstand. This country, tamed on horseback, was made for horse racing; both the sport and the region have a prodigious capacity for inspiring dreams. And indeed Texas has a rich, if disjointed, history of racing.

In the mid-1930s, Arlington Downs, located about where The Ballpark in Arlington now stands, was one of the most successful racetracks in America. Crowds of 30,000 filled the grandstand on weekends. Newspapers of the time speak of dignitaries from around the world attending Arlington Downs. In 1937, Ben Jones topped the trainers’ standings. Jones, of course, went on to win six Kentucky Derbies, the first in 1938 with Lawrin, who had raced at Arlington Down the previous season. Racetracks also prospered in Houston and San Antonio.

If politicians hadn’t intervened, Texas quite possibly would have become the horse racing capital of North America. But the state’s racing industry instead became the victim of an acrimonious political dispute. In 1938 it was banned in the state. And so for the next 50 years, Texans simply raced elsewhere. 
 In 1946, as America and indeed the world recovered from an epidemic hostility, a Texas-bred racehorse named Assault supplied the raw material for hope and myth. He was raw-boned and deformed, and he had the most unlikely provenance. Yet with a sweep of the Triple Crown, the little chestnut known as the "clubfooted comet" became a prominent character in the eternally appealing story of determination's triumph.
 And for Texans, he was much more; he was their representative.
"The victory of Assault in the Kentucky Derby," wrote an editorialist of the time, "is but one example, if example is needed, that this great southwestern section of America is on the march and will be heard from in increasing proportions in every phase of American activity, and none more strongly than in the field of the horse."Assault was bred, born and raised on a vast expanse once called the "Wild Horse Desert" but later famous as the King Ranch. When he was a weanling, he stepped on a surveyor's spike. It ran through the frog, of the right 
front foot and out the hoof wall. The injury left the foot deformed and the horse crippled.
And so even years later Assault walked with a conspicuous limp and would sometimes stumble and fall when going to the racetrack. But once there, he ran 
with surprising grace and efficiency and, most of all, courage. Perhaps that was the source of his charisma. Overcoming his misfortune and his lameness to become 
the seventh horse ever to win the Triple Crown, he became a popular hero and for many an embodiment of courageous spirit.
After the Triple Crown, Assault was "the main topic" of conversation throughout Texas, according to a contemporary newspaper account. So popular was he that his 
admirers developed "some fantastic schemes" to satisfy "the public's clamor" and allow "the rank and file of Texans who were not able to witness the 3-year-old 
in action . . . to catch a glimpse" of him.

People petitioned Gov. Coke Stevenson to issue a proclamation honouring Assault and making his jockey, New York native Warren Mehrtens, an honorary Texan. 
Sentiment grew for returning horse racing to the state. There was even a plan to raise $100,000 for "a special race, without betting, of course," intended to attract Assault.
 "Everybody knew about Assault," remembered Monte Moncrief, who at the time was a Texas A&M student but who later became the King Ranch veterinarian. "We were highly proud. Just as Dallas is proud of the Cowboys, Texas was proud of Assault. . . . When Assault won the Triple Crown, it was like Joe Louis beating Max Schmeling."
 Yes, although no horses raced in Texas for more than 50 years – not with legal betting anyway – the state still can boast of a rich racing history that’s fraught with achievement. But most Texans, such as Hall of Fame jockeys Bill Shoemaker and Jerry Bailey and Hall of Fame trainer Max Hirsch, had to leave the state to pursue their racing careers.
Even without racing at home, Texans remained prominent in the sport, developing successful breeding farms in Kentucky and campaigning stakes winners from New York to California and from Ascot to Chantilly. Throughout the 1980s, racetracks in neighbouring states, such as Louisiana Downs and Oaklawn Park, prospered in part because of the many Texans that regularly travelled three-to-six hours to attend the races.

Racing returns

Then in 1987, the state’s politicians, who for 50 years had kept the sport underfoot, finally turned the issue over to the voters, who in a statewide referendum overwhelmingly welcomed horse racing back to Texas.
Problems persisted, however. The Texas Racing Commission, which regulates the sport in the state, could have produced a new translation of the Bible in less time than it took to write the state’s rules of racing. An onerous pari-mutuel tax virtually precluded the substantial investment necessary to develop any large racetrack, and so the first racetracks to open in Texas during this modern period were insignificant.

 Once the tax was lowered, the Commission dragged its tentative feet in awarding licenses. The Dallas area was a proven market for the sport, having supplied about 50 percent of the attendance at nearby Louisiana Downs for years. A Dallas racetrack was destined to stand at the centre of the state’s racing industry. But the Commission put off awarding a license in the Dallas area, deciding first to license racetracks in Houston and then San Antonio.

 Finally, the Commission awarded the coveted Dallas area license to Lone Star Park over three other applicants. The citizens of Grand Prairie had voted for a half-cent sales tax to help finance the $100 million Lone Star project. Nevertheless, as the new racetracks in Houston and San Antonio struggled, Lone Star developers met with considerable scepticism from banks asked to provide additional financing. But in 1995, famed real estate developer Trammell Crown and his son Harlan injected $10 million into the project. The state’s horsemen pledged another $5 million. And the dirt soon began flying at the Lone Star site.

 On a Thursday afternoon in April of 1997, 60 years after the closing of Arlington Downs, a crowd of 21,754 filled Lone Star’s Spanish baroque grandstand and welcomed major league racing back to North Texas. A couple days later, Bob Baffert, the leading trainer in the nation, saddled the winners of two stakes races, Anet in the Lone Star Derby and Isitingood in the Texas Mile. Skip Away, who finished third in the inaugural Texas Mile, would go on to become Horse of the Year.

 For its first season, Lone Star averaged nearly 10,000 in daily attendance. The average daily handle of $2.39 million was a record for an inaugural season by any North American racetrack built since 1970. No little house on the prairie, it immediately became the success story many had anticipated for decades; it became, in other words, the racetrack Texans had envisioned when they voted in 1987 to bring racing back to the state.

 Since then, most, if not all, of the nation’s leading jockeys have competed at Lone Star, many of them in the annual National Thoroughbred Racing Association All-Star Jockey Championship. And the nation’s leading trainers – such as Bobby Frankel, Bill Mott, Richard Mandella, Todd Pletcher and Steve Asmussen have raced their horses in Grand Prairie. In fact, Asmussen, who currently sits atop the North American standings in both victories and earnings, is Lone Star’s all-time leading trainer. And many of North America’s leading horses have raced around the Lone Star oval, including Congaree, Real Quiet, Answer Lively, Hal’s Hope, Sir Bear, Bluesthestandard and Hallowed Dreams.

 Since the track opened, more than 8.8 million people have attended Lone Star and have wagered more than $1.7 billion.
 In 2002, Magna Entertainment, which also operates Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park, purchased Lone Star. Since then, in anticipation of the Breeders’ Cup, three new barns have been built, including a 96-stall quarantine barn. When nearly $8 million in capital improvements are completed, the winner’s circle and paddock areas will be expanded and the seating augmented to accommodate a crowd of 50,000. A new banquet room is also under construction.
 Lone Star is accepting ticket applications for the Breeders’ Cup at lonestarpark.com. The deadline for applying is June 4.

What you need to know

 Lone Star’s regular season runs from April to mid-July. But to accommodate the Breeders’ Cup, the track will have a special championship season, starting Oct. 1 and continuing through Oct. 31.
 During October, the North Texas weather is like Goldilocks’ favourite bowl of porridge, neither too hot nor too cold. The average high temperature for the month is 78, with an average low of 56. The average high on Oct. 30, by the way, is 72, and the average low 51. The record high for October is 90, recorded back in 1951. In other words, if you endured the weather in Southern California this past year, you’ll love Texas in October.
 Lone Star will offer 14 stakes races, in addition to the Breeders’ Cup events, during its October season. The opening weekend will feature stakes races that could serve as Breeders’ Cup preps – the Silver Spur for 2-year-old fillies, the Middleground for 2-year-old colts and geldings, and the Alysheba for 3-year-old sprinters. The $250,000 Lone Star Derby and the $150,000 Stonerside Stakes for 3-year-old fillies will be run Oct. 29.
 The Dallas area is one of the most dynamic sports markets in America, with professional basketball, soccer, hockey, football and baseball teams. Moreover, a series of festive events, including concerts, are planned leading up to the Breeders’ Cup.

Around the ovals

 Lone Star has a one-mile dirt track, with chutes for 1 ¼-mile and seven-furlong races. Inside the track, as is typical with American racetracks, is a seven-furlong turf course, with a chute angling across the infield.
 When the track first opened and its turf was immature, horses with early speed enjoyed considerable success. Because of that, the turf course developed a reputation for favouring speed. And that reputation, although confuted by hard evidence, lingers. Over the last four years, half of the 480 turf races around two turns have been won by horses that rallied – that is, by horses that were more than four lengths behind the early leader. And only 16 percent of the turf races have been won by horses on or near the early lead.

 The main track, on the other hand, seems to offer an advantage to tactical speed. The race is not always to the swift, as the prophet pointed out, but at Lone Star a modicum of early speed generally proves valuable. Horses that have sufficient speed to gain an early advantage or to race within a half-length of the early lead win more than a third of the sprints. But the most effective style is stalking – that is, racing close to the early leaders, within four lengths, and then pouncing in the stretch. Late-running types win about 18 percent of the races.
In two-turn races on the main track, the victories spread out somewhat more evenly among the three running styles. But stalkers again tend to have an advantage, winning nearly 40 percent of the races. Horses that rally from more than four lengths back win about 26 percent of the two-turn races.

 Few places in America have packaged the joy and excitement of racing more effectively. Lone Star quite simply is a fun place to attend the races. And on Oct. 30, it’ll become the host racetrack for the sport’s championship event. Lone Star and indeed all of Texas racing could be very much like the diminutive colt who 58 years ago outran early difficulties to attain enduring glory.