Horsewalkers - should they be round or oval?

Horsewalkers (electro-mechanical devices that allow multiple horses to be exercised simultaneously in a controlled fashion) are used extensively in the management and training of horses. They permit controlled exercise of horses at walk and trot. They are less labour intensive than most other forms of controlled exercise, such as walking in-hand, lunging, riding, swimming or running horses on treadmills. The exception might be ride and lead, but this is not a widely used technique, except perhaps in polo.

Horsewalkers may be used for a variety of reasons including warming-up or cooling down prior to or following ridden exercise, as a way to relieve boredom in stabled horses, for controlled exercise as part of a rehabilitation programme and to supplement ridden exercise. Horsewalkers are often also used where ridden exercise is not desirable or possible, such as in preparation of young animals for sale or in animals that may have injury to the back and therefore cannot be ridden. The majority of horses can be trained to accept being exercised on a horsewalker within a short period of time.

Any form of exercise carries a risk of injury and whilst there does not appear to be any objective information on the safety of this form of exercise, it would generally be considered that the horsewalker is a very safe form of exercise. Until recently, horsewalkers have been exclusively of a round design in which the horse is constantly turning on a circular track. The radius (tightness) of the turn is determined by the diameter of the walker - the larger the walker, the more gradual the turn. At present commercial round horsewalkers vary from around 10 to 30 metres in diameter (i.e. 5-15 metres in radius). The conventional design is of a centre post from which radiate arms that support the moving dividers that separate the horses but also encourage them to walk as the centre post rotates, in turn moving the dividers.

Other designs do not incorporate dividers but horses are hitched to arms radiating from the centre post. Whilst the majority of walkers can operate in either a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction, on the walker the horse is still turning constantly. Exercising at walk or trot on a circle for prolonged periods of time must be considered to a large extent unnatural for a horse. Horses at pasture, whether grazing or exercising, move in all directions and never in one continuous direction. The same is true of ridden exercise. No rider would work his or her horse continuously for 30 minutes on a circle, even when working in a confined area. For example, a Dressage test incorporates many changes in rein and exercise in straight lines as well as on turns. Lunging is another mode of controlled, unridden exercise that is commonly used by horse owners or trainers.

Lunging may be used in place of ridden exercise or to train riders or as a warm-up for the horse prior to it being mounted and ridden. Lunging may also be used in situations where a horse requires to be exercised but where fitting a rider and saddle is not desirable, for example, in the case of a sore back. However, prolonged lunging is not advisable and in addition, as with circular walkers, changing the rein frequently is common practice. Continual turning may be deleterious to the musculoskeletal system (muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments and joints). For example, it is widely recognised that signs of lameness are exacerbated in horses exercised on a circle. This is commonly used by veterinary surgeons in lameness investigations. It is also suspected that sharp turns may contribute to injury of distal limb structures (i.e. those structures furthest from the body such as the foot).

This implies that turning exercise changes the weight distribution through the limbs. The surface on which a horse is lunged may also determine whether lameness is apparent or not; a horse may not exhibit lameness when lunged on a soft surface but may do so when lunged on the same size circle on a firmer or uneven surface. Most research into how horses move has been concentrated in horses walking and trotting in straight lines, or on treadmills, and there are only a limited number of studies relating to horses turning on a circle. Only one kinematic (movement) study has evaluated the effects of turning a corner on the distal joint motions. Horses turning in a sharp (1.5m diameter) left circle showed a shorter stride length, but stance duration (the amount of time the foot is on the ground) was longer. This work also showed that the lower leg and foot rotate as the weight of the horse moves over the limb. Research from Australia showed that the outside edge of the cannon bone is not loaded significantly during exercise in a straight line on a flat surface. The same group of researchers also showed in a separate study that surface strains on the cannon bone vary between inside and outside forelimbs during turning.

On the inner surface of the cannon bone, compression of the bone is greatest in the outside limb, and stretching of the bone is greatest on the inside limb. On the outer surface of the cannon bone, both compressive and tensile peaks are largest on the inside limb, which also showed the largest recorded strains in compression. On the dorsal (front) surface of the bone (where bucked shins occur in young horses), compressive strains were largest on the outside limb, and were greater on larger circles. They concluded that turning exercise is required to maintain normal bone, in that low-speed exercise in a straight line only loads the outer edge of the cannon bone. In 2006 workers from the USA studied the effect of trotting in a circle on the centre of mass of the horse. The centre of mass is a point within or on the body at which the mass of the body is considered to act.

The centre of mass may vary according to gait, speed and direction of travel. The location of the centre of mass affects the distribution and size of the loads on the limbs. These researchers showed that in horses trotting on the lunge on a 6m diameter circle at a speed of ~2 metres/second, all horses leaned inwards at an angle of ~15°. The speeds attained by these horses at trot on a circle are lower than those typically seen for horses on a straight line. As the speed was slower, the implication is that stance proportion was increased (i.e. the weight bearing phase of the stride was longer on a circle than would be expected in a straight line). Furthermore, the researchers pointed out that “horses may behave differently when turning clockwise versus counter-clockwise due to asymmetries in strength, suppleness and neural programming…”. Thus, whilst it is often assumed that an equal amount of exercise on each rein on a circular horsewalker should be applied, this may not be the case for many horses and may actually be counter-productive. The potential negative impact of circular exercise has also been highlighted with respect to the muscular system: “Especially in the initial stages of a return to work avoid lunging, horse walkers, or work in tight circles, as well as hill work”; a quote from veterinary surgeon and muscle specialist Dr Pat Harris from the Equine Studies Group at the WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition, UK. Exercising on a circle also requires more effort than exercising in a straight line (Harris, Marlin, Davidson, Rodgerson, Gregory and Harrison (2007) Equine and Comparative Exercise Physiology, in press).

For example, being lunged on a 10 metre diameter circle was around 25% more work than being ridden on a large oval track in an indoor school. In addition, being lunged on a 5m circle was around 12% more work than being lunged on a 14 metre diameter circle. Even accounting for the weight of the rider, lunging is harder work than ridden exercise, which is most likely due to the continual effort required by the horse to balance itself on a continual turn. Oval walkers are a new concept. The premise of using oval walkers is that continual exercise on a small circle is unnatural for horses and could even lead to injury and that a walker incorporating both straight line and turning exercise would represent a more appropriate form of controlled exercise.

As so little information exists on turning in horses, a study was designed by us [Dr David Marlin (Physiologist) and Paul Farrington (Veterinary surgeon)] to investigate turning stress in horses in more detail. The work was undertaken in collaboration with Dr Bob Colborne (a specialist in Biomechanics) at Bristol University, UK. A

SUMMARY OF THE RECENT RESEARCH ON TURNING

The purpose of this study was to record the forces acting on the lower limb as horses walked in a straight line, on a 14 metre diameter circle, and on a 10 metre diameter circle to provide insight into the horizontal forces transmitted up the limb during locomotion in a straight line and whilst turning. Three fit, sound Thoroughbred horses, ages 3, 5 and 12 years of age were used in the study. Horses were walked across a force-plate (a metal plate placed on the ground that measures the force with which the horses’ foot is placed on the ground) both in a straight line and on a 10 and 14 metre diameter turn. For the turns the horse was always walking on a left-turn. The results showed that the coffin joint had the greatest degree of abduction (movement of the limb away from the body), adduction (movement of the limb towards the body) and axial rotation (twisting movement) and that these movements were greatest at the time of impact and break-over. The first point of contact with the ground has a significant influence on the line of stress through the foot and up the limb, as does the position of the body at the same moment.

On a turn the horse abducts the inside forelimb away from the body towards the line of the circle with rotation of the foot in the direction of the turn. The stride length is dictated by the tightness of the turn, as is the stance time (when the foot is on the ground). As the horse then moves forward the horse’s body moves towards the inside limb increasing the loading on the limb. The results showed that on average the forelimbs tended to behave asymmetrically (i.e. the two front legs did not behave the same) on a circle so that the forces and movements differ to produce different torque effects (twisting forces). The hind limbs tended to behave more symmetrically except when the size of the circle was reduced from 14 to 10 metres in diameter.

IMPORTANCE OF HORSEWALKER SURFACES

The walking surface will likely have an effect on the stresses experienced by a limb. If the surface allows reasonably free twisting of the hoof when weight bearing, the stresses between the hoof and ground will be small. However, any ground surface that holds the hoof and impedes this horizontal rotation will probably impart higher loads to the joints of the lower limb. Large turning forces should be avoided when the limb is vertically loaded (i.e. when the weight of the horse’s body is over the limb and the limb is on the ground). It is also important that the walking surface is level to avoid tilting of the hoof during weight-bearing. A walking track that is worn in the middle and that causes rotation of the joints in the foot is likely to cause larger and uneven forces to the lower limb joints and associated tendons and ligaments.

IMPLICATIONS FOR OVAL VERSUS ROUND HORSEWALKERS

Our recent research and a review of other scientific studies show that turning is not equivalent to exercise in a straight line. Turning exercise is harder than exercise in a straight line and loads the bones in a different way. Furthermore, on small turns the inner and outer limbs may not behave in the same way as on larger circles. This may have implications for horses with pre-existing musculoskeletal injuries. The potential advantages of an oval walker is that it combines straight line and turning exercise that more closely mimics the exercise that a horse will do when being ridden or when free at pasture. The results of our small study have shown that the hind limb patterns were quite different on the tighter radius turns, indicating a different strategy for turning, and supporting the notion that both straight line and turning exercise should be recommended for overall loading patterns that are healthy for maintaining bone that can withstand loading forces in a variety of directions. The results also make clear that small diameter round walkers (~10 metre diameter or less) are less desirable than round walkers of 14 metre diameter or greater. Small diameter round walkers increase the loading and asymmetry and increase the work compared with larger diameter walkers. In conclusion, there appear to be significant advantages to using a walker of an oval design as opposed to a round design, as exercise on an oval loads the limbs with a combination of straight and turning movements, as would be experienced during riding or in free movement.

Nasal Strips - increasing performance, reducing EIPH

Nasal strips’ future in Thoroughbred racing seemed limitless in the fall of 1999. Just two weeks after longshot Burrito won a race at Keeneland wearing one, 29 of the 101 horses competing in the 1999 Breeders’ Cup at Gulfstream Park November 6th had the 4-by-6-inch strip affixed 1.5 inches above their nostrils. More importantly, three of the eight winners wore them, including Cat Thief, who captured the $4 million Classic at odds of 19-1 under Pat Day, who was sporting a human equivalent, himself. The image of both Cat Thief and Day posing in the winner’s circle with nasal strips was a powerful one. Cat Thief’s victory was the second that day for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who earlier saddled 32-1 longshot Cash Run to win the $1 million Breeder’s Cup Two-Year-Old Juvenile Fillies.

She, too, wore the non-invasive strip designed to reduce an exercising horse’s airway resistance and decrease exercise-induced, pulmonary hemorrhaging (EIPH). The nasal strips received enormous national publicity after the Breeders’ Cup. Wouldn’t almost everyone in North America emulate Lukas? Stan Bergstein, the executive vice-president of Harness Tracks of America and a columnist for the Daily Racing Form, postulated long ago that if a horse wearing a blue balloon tied to his tail won a race, you’d see dozens of horses with blue balloons tied to their tails in the paddock the next day. Lukas, however, preached caution regarding the role of nasal strips in Cash Run and Cat Thief’s surprise Breeders’ Cup victories.

Regardless, Lukas and trainer Bob Baffert spoke at a meeting of the California Horse Racing Board Medication Committee meeting, January 12th, 2000, in support of nasal strips. According to a CHRB press release, CHRB Commissioner Marie Moretti expressed hope that using the strips could lead to the decreased use of bleeder medication for some racehorses. That never happened, as Lukas proved prophetic. He saddled three horses in the 2000 Kentucky Derby, two with nasal strips, and none of them finished higher than 12th.

According to Equibase, between October 23rd, 1999, and April 24th, 2000, 8,402 Thoroughbreds wore the strip and 1,077 won, nearly 13 percent. Apparently that wasn’t high enough. Less and less trainers used them, though Lukas still does. By the end of 2000, there was a story on the Internet site www.suite101.com entitled “The Demise of Nasal Strips.” Published December 12th, 2000, the article began, “The rise and fall of nasal strips was short and sweet.” Noting that the Daily Racing Form had originally listed the nasal strip in past performance lines for all tracks and that by mid-June was only listing them at Hollywood Park, the story concluded, “As quick as they appeared in the spotlight, they vanished.” The obituary was more than a bit premature. Miesque’s Approval won the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs wearing a nasal strip for trainer Marty Wolfson, who uses them on all of his 30 horses. “I’ve been using them on all my horses for two years,” Wolfson said in mid-March. “I use them on myself. I run and they help me when I run. I breathe easier. The only time I couldn’t use one was when Pomeroy was in the 2006 Forego Handicap at Saratoga.” Pomeroy won that stakes. He was denied the nasal strip at Saratoga because the New York Racing Association mysteriously banned nasal strips, a day after the New York State Racing and Wagering Board approved them for both Thoroughbred and harness racing. Currently, New Jersey is the only other state which doesn’t allow them, while Pennsylvania allows them for Thoroughbreds but not for Standardbreds. According to nasal strip co-inventor and president of Flair Nasal Strips Jim Chiapetta, some 15,000 nasal strips are sold world-wide each year: 9,000 in the United States, 3,500 in Europe, 2,000 in Australia and New Zealand and 500 in Dubai. He said they were used mostly on horses in eventing, then on Thoroughbreds, Standardbreds and Quarter Horses. Should they be used more often? Are they a realistic alternative to the powerful diuretic Lasix, which is now used by roughly 95 percent of all

Thoroughbreds in the U.S., though the rest of the horse racing world bans Lasix and all other race-day medications? Lasix, which is used ostensibly to reduce EIPH, can improve a horse’s performance dramatically the first and/or second time it is used, if for no other reason that its diuretic properties. Horses can lose 10 to 20 pounds through urination after Lasix is injected. That alone improves most horses’ performance. Think about it. If there is an apprentice jockey with even a modicum of ability, trainers scramble for his services just to decrease the weight his horse is carrying by five pounds. The efficacy of nasal strips can be judged in comparison to Lasix or by itself. “Lasix and nasal strips work in very similar ways,” said David Marlin, a consultant who worked for the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket, England, and co-authored Equine Exercise

Physiology. “From scientific studies, they seem to be equally effective in reducing bleeding.” Breathe Right strips were invented in 1987 by Bruce Johnson, who suffered from allergies. By the early 1990’s, they were being used for colds, allergies, snoring and athletic performance. They work by reducing the partial collapse of the soft tissues of the nose when it is under pressure because of the vacuum caused by the lungs during exercise. The mechanical, spring device maintains optimum air flow. Humans have an option for breathing: nose or mouth. Horses do not. They breathe only through their nostrils. Could nasal strips benefit horses? That’s a question Jim Chiapetta and his partner Ed Blach decided to explore. They had become friends at the Littleton Large Animal Clinic in Littleton, Colorado. Chiapetta, 48, returned to his clinic in Shakopee, Minnesota, to finish law school at William Mitchell College of Law. Blach, a former veterinarian who is now an animal products consultant, called Chiapetta in 1996 to discuss a possible equine version of a nasal strip. “We talked to a bunch of people and they said it wouldn’t work for horses, but I told Ed I think it could,” Chiapetta said. “We went ahead and made some prototypes.” Then they consulted Monty Roberts, the horse whisperer. “Ed used to be Monty’s resident veterinarian,” Chiapetta explained. Roberts was interested enough to have them test the strip at a track at Roberts’ farm north of Santa Barbara in California. “We didn’t have the adhesive done right,” Chiapetta said. “The riders were coming back and saying, `This horse felt better, more relaxed.’ So we figured there was something there.” Having breakfast one morning with Roberts, Chiapetta and Bloch came up with a name. “I was thinking about flaring nostrils, then I was thinking about air, and we came up with the name Flair,” Chiapetta said. Next, they consulted with CNS, the Minnesota company which manufactured Breathe Right. “They agreed to license it if it showed it reduces bleeding,” Chiapetta said. “They funded a study at Kansas State University.” That study and a majority, but not all, of a handful of subsequent studies - all involving a standard small sample of horses - showed positive results from nasal strips. “The nasal strips seem to help,” Dr. Howard Erickson of Kansas State University, a co-author of one of the studies, said last February. “We’ve done studies here.

There have been studies in Kentucky, California and Florida. In most of the studies, it decreases the bleeding by 50 percent and it also decreases the airway resistance.” He believes that most horses would benefit from both, because he believes almost all horses suffer from EIPH: “I think it’s nearly 100 percent that have some degree of bleeding for the movement of fluid from the capillaries to the airway. For some, it may be negligible. Quarter Horses will respond the same way. Standardbreds, too. You see it in rodeo horses and barrel horses.” That sentiment is shared by David Marlin, who has worked with researchers at Kansas State. “The bottom line is that all horses will break blood vessels in a race,” he said. “It happens with camels; it happens with humans, it happens with greyhounds.” Marlin also believes that nasal strips may be a more preferable treatment than Lasix. “It’s less complicated and you can’t build up tolerance,” he said. “If you think about a diabetic who uses insulin, he develops tolerance and needs more of it.

Do horses develop tolerance of Lasix? Generally, when you use drugs repeatedly, there’s a chance of adaptation to it. The nasal strip is different because it’s a mechanical device.” Then why aren’t trainers around the world, and especially in the United States, using them? Ironically, Chiapetta believes that the success of Cash Run and Cat Thief in the 1999 Breeders’ Cup is a major reason why. “It was the worst possible thing that could have happened,” he said. “We were on the front page of the New York Times Sports Section, the Wall Street Journal and Sports Illustrated. I think horsemen said, `Hey, this will make us win.’ So they strapped them on. And when they didn’t win, they took them off.” Some, not all. “They’re expensive ($7.95 per strip),” Wolfson said. “Some people don’t want to spend the money, but I think it’s worth it.” Day, the retired Hall of Fame jockey, knew they worked on him. “I found them to be quite helpful when I was riding a number of races back to back,” he said. “It seemed that I was less fatigued because I believed I was getting much more air into my lungs. I would have thought that would be more helpful to horses than riders. Horses only breathe through their noses. They cannot or will not breathe through their mouths.

If you can open up the nasal passages, open the airways, you would think it would be beneficial to the horses.” At the Havemeyer Foundation Workshop investigating EIPH, March 9th-12th, 2006, in Vancouver, Canada, Dr. Frederick Derksen, of the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences at Michigan State University, spoke about the role of airways in EIPH. He said, “A series of studies demonstrated that the use of a nasal strip decreases the number of red cells in bronchoalveolar laverage fluid after exercise. In horses, the majority of inspiratory resistance to airflow is located in the upper airway. The nasal valge region, located just cranial to the nasoincisive notch is a high resistance region, not supported by bone or cartilage.

These characteristics make this region particularly susceptible to collapse during inhalation. Application of the nasal strip in this region prevents nasal collapse and decreases upper airway resistance during exercise. This in turn is expected to reduce negative alveolar pressure during inhalation and decrease transmural capillary pressures.” The nasal strips are certainly a hit in New Zealand, especially with harness horses. After reading about the use of nasal strips in the 1999 Breeders’ Cup, Brian McMath, a committee member of the New Zealand Standardbred Breeders Association, imported a few samples. After the strips were approved by Harness Racing New Zealand, several trainers began using them and many had success, including Jim and Susan Wakefield’s Glacier Bay, who won the $105,000 PGG Sales Series Final at Alexandria Park in April, 2000, for trainer Cran Daigety. Eventually, Thoroughbred trainers began using the strip, too.

By the end of 2004, more than 700 winners in both harness and Thoroughbred racing won wearing the strip. “I have a technology background in chemistry and engineering, and what convinced me the strips work was basic physics,” McMath said. “It’s all about windpipe pressures and how a simple mechanical device like the springs in the nasal strip can beneficially alter these pressures.” The reception in Europe, at least for Thoroughbreds, was decidedly cooler. In an April 11th, 2000, letter, Peter Webbon, the Chief Veterinary Adviser to the British Jockey Club, noted that the senior veterinary surgeons from the European Horserace Scientific Liaison Committee (Britain, France, Italy, Germany) considered the question of nasal strips and decided to recommend to their racing authorities that their use should be banned for the following reasons: 1 “Other `gadgets’, such as tongue ties, which are allowed, are intended to address a specific clinical entity. Nasal strips are seen by trainers as a non-specific way of improving performances. 2 “If they improve performance, they should be banned, in line with performance enhancing medication. 3 “If they are ineffective, they should be banned because they give the impression that we condone practices that are intended to improve performance. 4 The manufacturers claim that they reduce the frequency/severity of EIPH.

The EHSLC veterinarians felt very strongly, for the sake of the breed, that horses should run on their merits. What would be the effect on the Thoroughbred in the long term if a horse won the Derby, wearing a nasal strip,that without the strip was unable to win a selling race?” To this day, they are banned throughout Europe for racing but allowed for training. Two years ago, Chiapetta met with Webbon and his assistant in Newmarket. “He said, `It reduces fatigue, which improves performance,’” Chiapetta related. “I said, `If you shoe them, do they run better? If you feed them, do they run better? If you train them, do they perform better? Where do you draw the line?’” Event horses are allowed to use them throughout the world because they were approved by the International Federation for Equine Sports (FEI).

On June 26th, 2006, Horse & Hound wrote that nasal strips “are becoming commonplace on the noses of top event horses,” and noted that Andrew Hoy’s Moon Fleet won the Badminton, a premier cross-country event in England. “I started using them two years ago,” Andrew Hoy said. “I’d seen them being used on horses and humans, and discussed their use with a vet. I had used a human one myself when I had a cold, and it seemed to help. I now use them on my horses at top events to give them every opportunity.” The story said that another eventer, Francis Whittington, uses them on his “advanced” horse Spin Doctor. “I tried the human version and noted the difference,” he said. “I believe it makes it easier for him to breathe so he can last the distance.” That’s the whole point. “Some people may think that more oxygen makes them run faster,” co-inventor Blach said. “That’s not the case. Rather, horses perform at their optimum level for a longer time so they can do what they’re made to do over the long haul. Maybe it’s too simple. It’s based on very simple physics that if you maintain the size of an opening, you’re going to maximize what goes through it, in this case air.” Asked if nasal strips help horses, Blach said, “Absolutely.” Perhaps the most confounding question about nasal strips is that even the single negative clinical study about them said that they do not reduce EIPH, but offered no tangible downside to their usage. Asked if there is a downside, Marlin said, “I think, as far as anyone knows from a scientific point of view, there is no evidence that there is.” Referring to that study, Chiapetta said it showed that horses using them “certainly weren’t less healthier. I don’t think there’s any downside to it.” Dr. Ted Hill, the New York Racing Association steward for the Jockey Club, said on April 11th, “Our only downside was how to regulate it. If a horse comes to the paddock and it falls off, what do we do? Do we treat it as equipment? We can’t put it back on. The significant problem we had originally was it possibly being an aid to bleeders, and relaying that to the public. That came up in an international meeting at a round table in Tokyo last October. It did not receive wide acceptance because it has some efficacy.”

So Japan does not allow them. Australia allows them for Standardbreds, but not for thoroughbreds. Yet, nasal strips are allowed for Thoroughbreds in Dubai and Singapore, as well as New Zealand. “It’s probably been embraced more in other countries than here, but in Thoroughbred racing here, furosemide (Lasix) is so embedded,” Kansas State’s Erickson said. “Furosemide reduces weight. It certainly reduces bleeding. But maybe we have to look for something better.” Maybe something better has been out there for eight years.

Nick Cox - an Australian trainer now based in Ireland

The damp of County Meath seems a long way from the sunshine of Melbourne, but to first season trainer Nick Cox it’s home from home.

Mind you, it’s very misleading to refer to this as his first season, since Nick already has more than 180 winners to his name, back in his native Australia. So what made him decide to make the former Mitchelstown Stud here in Ireland his new base for training?

“My wife Elaine is originally from Navan,” Nick explains, “we met while we were both working in Newmarket. After six or seven years in Australia, Elaine started to get a bit homesick.” With two sons aged two and three it seemed a good time to move back home, but it was as much consideration for his horses as for his family that made Nick opt for Ireland.

“It is such a calm environment over here,” Nick says, as we stand in the peaceful and secluded stable yard of the old stud. A traditional courtyard of twenty boxes, tucked neatly behind a second yard, it would be difficult to argue otherwise. There is no noise to betray that the gates open on to the main road from Trim to Athboy.

Nick is the ideal man to ask when it comes to finding the perfect locale for training racehorses. He has spent time with some of the most renowned names in international racing and has gained from their expertise. Most recently he has been working for Emerald Bloodstock in Kilcullen, County Kildare, for the past eighteen months. It provided him with the perfect introduction to the Irish racing community. One of the great assets he feels Ireland has to offer is the lack of time restraints placed upon horses, both on and off the track.

“The great Australian racecaller, Frank O’Brien, once said to me, ‘Nick, they don’t run horseraces in the morning’!” Nick explains. “We have our own gallops here and I can take the horses out any time that suits them. There are no time limits on the gallops. In Newmarket and Chantilly the horses have to be off the gallops very early to allow for maintenance; also America and Australia, where the horses are trained on the track.”

And it isn’t only in exercise that Nick can be allowed to make time work for him. “The Irish have a greater understanding of horses and a great love for the horse,” Nick says. “They are far more prepared to give a horse time. Trainers are not under constant pressure to produce results.”

But Nick can also see an opportunity to exploit that careful time taken with maturing horses. Even as he speaks there are hints that his juveniles are going to come out early with all guns blazing. As foreman to Lee Freedman and assistant trainer to Tony Vasil and Tony Newman in Australia, and Willie Jarvis in Newmarket, Nick is the man to ask when it comes to the secret of Australian horses’ international success. He clearly has a fair idea of what that might be, but he isn’t about to reveal any trade secrets just yet.

“Something that you often see elsewhere but we don’t seem to do in Australia is train to pedigree,” Nick says. “You might get an obvious sprinter on paper who actually turns out to be a twelve furlong horse. Lee Freedman will happily admit that he bought Sub Zero to be a two-year-old. He bought him to win a Golden Slipper, but instead he won the Melbourne Cup.”

Lee Freedman is just one of the great influences on Nick. While at boarding school, at fifteen, he was lucky enough to have Tony Newman as his teacher. “I’d always had an interest in racing,” Nick recalls, “and can remember sitting up in the middle of the night to watch the European Classic races on TV. So Tony and I pretty soon got to talking about horses and I’d go and work with him at weekends and school holidays.” Most Australians have a love of racing, cricket and Australian Rules football and Nick was no exception, getting distracted from horses for a while and playing Aussie Rules professionally for three years with Carlton. “Then I went back to Tony full time. I learned so much from him.” Stints with Tony Vasil and Lee Freedman were followed by three years in Newmarket with Willie Jarvis, before returning to Australia and taking out a licence in 2000. So, what one secret has he picked up that he’s prepared to share?

“If I have to say one thing that gives a horse the edge, it would have to be education,” Nick reveals. “I think education is vital for young horses. A well educated horse will very often beat a horse of better ability but less experience. In Australia they’re trained on the racecourse. It’s good for them to see that environment, the rails, the people, the noise. They have organised trials – to all intents and purposes proper races. It gives them so much experience, which is invaluable. Over here they don’t encounter anything like that until their first race. In Newmarket, with such a large concentration of racehorses and the whole layout, it’s a little more structured, but still not quite like the racecourse. ”

Not surprisingly, if there was just one thing Nick could introduce from Australia it would be public trials, where at Cranburn, for example, 450 horses raced over a period of two days. He sees Dundalk as the perfect opportunity for such an introduction and would also like to see winter racing on the All-Weather. “It would take the pressure off the racetracks,” he points out, “and give trainers a chance to start running horses in January to get them fit. I think it would help to cut down on a lot of injuries, too. Horses pick up more injuries on the gallops than on the racecourse.”

Whatever Nick manages to introduce from Australia, it certainly won’t be the weather. But at least the forecast looks good for a bright start to the European career of Nick Cox.

Nutritional ergogenic aids for horses

No doubt we are all aware of the plethora of dietary supplements that are now available and that are promoted as offering clear and profound benefits to our horses’ health, general well being and performance. In the latter category are the so-called ergogenic aids. So what are they, and do they work? These are the questions that this article aims to address. It should be made clear however, that as nutritional ergogenic aids are quite often not normal constituents of the equine diet and that they function by affecting one or more of the body systems of the horse, then they are by definition prohibited under the rules and regulations of racing. Consequently, this article neither advocates or seeks to legitimise, the use of the supplements discussed specifically, nor the use of nutritional ergogenic aids generally during training or racing.

DEFINITION

Ergogenic is defined as ‘work producing’. An ergogenic aid is therefore some system, process, device or substance than can boost athletic performance in some fashion, such as speed, strength or stamina. Broadly speaking there are five categories of ergogenic aids: biomechanical, physiological, pharmaceutical, psychological, and nutritional.

From an athletic perspective ergogenic aids may - • enhance the biochemical and therefore physiological capacity of a particular body system leading to improved performance • alleviate the psychological constraints that can limit performance • accelerate recovery from training and competition This article will focus upon the use of nutritional supplements that are marketed or currently being researched for their efficacy in improving athletic performance in horses.

HOW DO THEY WORK?

In principle nutritional ergogenic aids can enhance exercise performance in horses in a variety ways, depending on the nature of the particular supplement. For example an ergogenic aid might - • Enhance the lean mass of a horse by reducing body fat content whilst maintaining muscle mass, leading to an improved power to weight ratio • Improve the ability to counter lactic acid production or accumulation - producing a slower fatigue process in muscle • Increase muscle mass - resulting in increased power or strength • Increase the transport of oxygen around the body • Improve the efficiency of utilisation of body fuels such as fat, glucose and glycogen • Increase the storage of fuels within the body • Enhance the storage and utilisation of high-energy phosphates used in the early stages of fast exercise

WHAT’S ON THE MARKET?

A vast array of supplements are promoted as being effective ergogenic aids to the training and racing of horses. The table to the right offers an overview of the global ergogenic aids ‘catalogue’ but is by no means intended to be an exhaustive list.

CREATINE

Many of us will have heard of creatine in the context of nutrition and sport. It has been the great success story, efficaciously and financially, within the sports nutrition sector from the 1990s to the present. In 2004, for example, gross revenue from creatine supplement sales to sports people within North America alone was estimated at $400 million. This success largely stems from the fact that, unusually, it is a supplement that works! Admittedly, its effectiveness varies across different sporting disciplines. It has proven especially beneficial in sporting activities of comparatively short duration, such as the athletic disciplines of sprinting and jumping, but also in sports that require very high levels of power production as in rowing, swimming and track-based cycling. Creatine accomplishes this performance enhancement, firstly by elevating the levels of high-energy phosphates, ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and PCr (phosphocreatine), stored in muscles. Secondly, creatine can enhance the effect of training; i.e. it boosts the responsiveness of the muscles to stimuli generated by training.

This is often observed as increased muscle mass that arises from elevated production of the major muscle protein myosin and from enhanced levels of localised growth factors. The benefits of creatine supplementation in training and competition have not passed the equine world by, and a number of products are marketed specifically for horses. Unfortunately however, despite the positive claims made for these equine products they are not supported by scientific evidence. Indeed the opposite is the case. Sewell and co-workers in the UK and Essen-Gustavssen’s group in Sweden have conducted three rigorous placebo-controlled studies in horses. No positive effects of creatine supplementation on performance were found when parameters including time-to-fatigue, high-energy phosphate depletion and lactic acid production were measured. The underlying cause for lack of efficacy in horses is due to poor absorption of creatine from the equine gut, leading to inadequate levels being attained in the muscles. Even if a strategy could be devised to deliver creatine effectively to the muscle, some researchers are of the opinion that there would still be no effect.

They form this view on the basis that in comparison with humans the horse is an elite athlete wherein the level of creatine in equine muscle is at or very near to the physiological upper limit. CARNITINE Carnitine is another well-known dietary supplement widely marketed as an ergogenic aid in human sports nutrition and within the equine industry.

The role of carnitine in exercise in humans and horses has been researched for almost 20 years. The biological actions of carnitine that make it central to exercise include: Directly: transport of fats into muscle mitochondria where they can be used aerobically (oxidised) to generate ATP Indirectly: increase aerobic utilisation of glucose to produce ATP Indirectly: reduce lactic acid production (acidosis) Some research does indicate a positive effect of carnitine supplementation on exercise performance in human athletes, however there are other studies that seem to indicate the opposite. Conflicting research results have also been found for horses. Studies carried out by Foster and Harris in Newmarket during the 1990s showed that dietary supplementation could increase carnitine levels circulating in the blood, but did not appear to affect the levels in the muscles. In 2002 Rivero and his fellow researchers at the University of Cordoba conducted a placebo-controlled study into the effect of carnitine supplementation in 2-year-old horses when used in conjunction with an intensive 5 week long training programme.

Improved muscle characteristics were seen in the carnitine-supplemented group of horses, including a 35% increase in the proportion of fast-contracting (type IIA) muscle fibres, a 40% increase in the number of capillaries supplying blood to the muscle and an 11% increase in the level of glycogen stored in the muscle. After a let down period of 10 weeks most of these improvements were reversed. It was concluded that carnitine supplementation enhanced the training effect on muscles and that this could improve performance. Despite the large number of studies conducted over the years the balance of evidence does not yet allow a consensus to be reached on whether carnitine improves performance in horses (and humans) or not.

Of course this does not rule out a beneficial effect, and Rivero’s study would seem to be encouraging. GAMMA-ORYZANOL Gamma-oryzanol is not as the name implies a single substance, but is a mixture of chemicals, mainly ferulic acid esters, derived from rice bran. It has been popularised as a potent anabolic agent, i.e. a substance that promotes muscle growth leading to increased strength and speed. Gamma-oryzanol has been employed in equine and human athletes in the belief that it elicits increased testosterone production and stimulation of growth hormone. To date there is no published research describing the effects of gamma-oryzanol on exercise performance in horses, so in an effort to judge its potential efficacy we have to draw upon comparative studies in humans and other animals. Efficacy for gamma-oryzanol is debatable, as it is poorly absorbed from the digestive tract. What is more when given to rats, contrary to popular belief, it is reported to actually suppress endogenous growth hormone and testosterone production. Research carried out in humans fed 0.5g per day of gamma-oryzanol showed no improvement in performance, nor indeed any change in the levels of testosterone, growth hormone, or other anabolic hormones even after 9 weeks of supplementation.

Thus in summary, no scientific evidence exists to support the anabolic effects ascribed to gamma-oryzanol. DIMETHYLGLYCINE (DMG) AND TRIMETHYLGLYCINE (TMG) Both DMG and its precursor TMG cannot be regarded as new supplements having been researched briefly in the late 1980s with a single research report being published. Rose and colleagues at the University of Sydney’s veterinary department looked into the potential benefit of DMG on heart and lung function, and lactic acid production in Thoroughbreds during exercise. In this placebo-controlled trial DMG was fed twice daily to a group of thoroughbred horses that underwent a standardised exercise test at varying intensities before and after supplementation with DMG or the placebo.

On completion of the trial it was concluded that DMG produced no measurable improvement in any of the parameters, and that it exerts no beneficial effects on heart and lung function or lactic acid production during exercise. Warren and co-workers following experimental evaluation of TMG as an ergogenic aid came to a similarly negative conclusion. ß - HYDROXY- ß METHYLBUTYRATE (HMB) HMB is one of the few ergogenic aids available for use in performance horses that is supported by at least some credible science. Significantly, research developing and validating the use of HMG in horses (and farm animals) was instigated and carried forward over a number of years at Iowa State University, USA, and the concept and methodology are protected by US patents. HMB is a metabolite of leucine, one of the so-called branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), that are themselves often touted as ergogenic aids, although there is no convincing evidence to support such a claim. Research seems to indicate that HMB supplementation when employed in conjunction with an effective training regime can benefit equine performance in a number of ways: • Enhance muscle development and increase lean muscle mass and strength by reducing the proportion of energy needed for exercise that is derived from protein and increasing the proportion derived from fat. • Reduce muscle damage (catabolism) during and after exercise and accelerate muscle repair. Some research suggests that HMB is a structural constituent of muscle cells that is destroyed under the physiological stress of exercise. • Increase aerobic capacity (oxygen utilisation) in performance horses by increasing both haemoglobin and the proportion of red blood cells in the blood (haematocrit). When HMB use was evaluated in practice under real racing and training conditions it appeared to reduce muscle damage, and to improve oxygen use by the muscles and overall performance.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS RIBOSE

Ribose is a potential new dietary ergogenic aid that began to be studied in 2002. It is a sugar that is the central component of ATP. As ATP stores are depleted during intense exercise in horses, it was thought that supplementing the horses’ diet with ribose might lessen the loss of ATP during exercise and enhance its regeneration during recovery. Kavazis and his colleagues at the University of Florida conducted two placebo-controlled studies in Thoroughbreds. In these studies ribose was fed twice daily as a top dressing for two weeks to a group of trained horses. The data from these two studies was contradictory and thus no conclusions can be easily drawn. However, two studies in humans have shown no positive effect of ribose supplementation on exercise performance.The balance of available evidence therefore suggests that ribose provides no ergogenic benefit in performance horses.

BIOAVAILABLE STABILISED OXYGEN

An unusual ergogenic product has recently appeared that purports to be a bioavailable supplementary source of oxygen. In simple terms, it is water that is apparently treated by a sophisticated electrical process so that it becomes a super-saturated solution of oxygen. It’s described as containing about 20,000 times more oxygen than that found in average tap water. As yet, there appears to be no convincing scientific evidence for this type of product, and what is more the explanation of its action does not seem to be physiologically credible. It is suggested that this bioavailable oxygen is absorbed from the stomach and intestine into the blood stream, however these tissues have not evolved for this purpose unlike the lungs. Even if we assume that all the oxygen from e.g. (100 mL) was taken up into the blood, the added benefit would be very small; 100 mL is roughly equivalent to 20 litres of oxygen. In comparison, an average horse exercising at racing speeds breathes in more than 2000 litres of air (420 litres of oxygen) every minute and the muscles use 75 litres of oxygen over the same period. We should also remember that for a normal healthy horse the blood is 98% saturated with oxygen.

WHERE NEXT?

The future direction for nutritional ergogenic aids is extremely difficult to predict as any new developments are likely to mirror advances in our detailed understanding of the basic biochemical and physiological processes that underpin exercise performance. In the past, much of the impetus for equine research in this area developed from human sports nutrition and this is likely to continue in the future. A closing comment to put all of this information into context would be that whilst one should always seek a feasible mechanism of action and proof of efficacy for new products, small numbers of horses used in trials and difficulties in measuring ‘performance’ means that science will not always come up with the absolute answer.

Forage - so much more than just a filler

Too often thought of as just a ‘filler’, or occupational therapy to while away the time between hard feeds, forage is worth so much more than that. Simply feeding an inadequate quantity of forage, or choosing forage that has an inappropriate nutrient profile, or is of poor quality can have a negative impact both on health and performance in racehorses. Inappropriate choice of forage and its feeding can easily lead trainers down the slippery slope towards loose droppings and loss of condition.

Forage can also have a significant impact on the incidence and severity of both gastric ulcers and respiratory disease, including inflammatory airway disease (IAD) and recurrent airway obstruction (RAO).

When choosing forage the main elements to consider are

• Good palatability to ensure adequate intake • Adequate digestibility to reduce gut fill

• Fitness to feed to maintain respiratory health

• A profile of nutrients to complement concentrate feeds

FORAGE CAN ONLY BE GOOD WHEN PALATABLE

Palatability is a key issue, as even the best forage from a quality and nutritional standpoint is rendered useless if the horses do not eat sufficient quantities on a daily basis. Palatability is a somewhat neglected area of equine research and so we largely have to draw on practical experience to tell us what our horses like and what they don’t. Some horses appear to prefer softer types of hay, whilst others prefer more coarse stemmy material. Many horses readily consume Haylage, whilst some trainers report that other horses prefer traditional hay. Apart from the physical characteristics, the sugar content of hay or haylage may affect its palatability. Forage made from high sugar yielding Ryegrass is likely to have a higher residual sugar content compared with that made from more fibrous and mature Timothy grass. Some interesting research carried out a few years ago by Thorne et al (2005), provided some practical insight into how forage intake could be increased in the reluctant equine consumer.

This work reported that the amount of time spent foraging (which will increase saliva production), was increased when multiple forms of forage were offered to horses at the same time. From a practical viewpoint this can be easily applied in a training yard and it should help to increase the amount of forage consumed. For example, good clean hay could be offered together with some haylage, and a suitable container of alfalfa based chaff or dried grass all at the same time.

A Healthy Intake Racehorses in training often eat below what would be considered to be the bare minimum amount of forage to maintain gastrointestinal health. Whilst sometimes this is due to the amount of forage offered being restricted, in other instances it is because the horses are limiting their own intake. This may be due to either their being over faced with concentrate feed, or due to unpalatable forage being fed. Establishing a good daily intake of forage during the early stages of training and then maintaining the level through the season is important. Typically the absolute minimum amount of forage fed should be about 1% or 1.2-1.5% of bodyweight for hay or haylage, respectively.

This equates to 5kg of hay or a rounded 7kg of haylage for an average sized horse (500kg). The weight of haylage fed needs to be greater than that of hay due to the higher water content of the latter. Intake of haylage needed to achieve a similar dry matter intake to 5kg of hay Moisture Dry Matter Weight of forage % Increase above hay Hay (Average) 15% 85% 5kg Haylage 1 30% 70% 6kg 20% Haylage 2 45% 55% 7.5kg 50% The dry matter of haylage needs to be consistent to allow a regular intake of fibre and reduce the likelihood of digestive disturbance or loose droppings.

Ideally trainers should be aware of any significant change in dry matter, so that they can adjust the intake accordingly. Forage intake is restricted in racehorses to firstly ensure that a horse consumes adequate concentrate feed to meet their energy needs and requirement for vitamins and minerals within the limit of their appetite. Secondly, the amount of forage fed is restricted in order to minimise ‘gut fill’ or weight of fibre and associated water in the hindgut, as this will restrict their speed on the racetrack. BUT… inadequate amounts of forage in a horses’ diet has such a negative effect on health that the minimum amount fed must be kept above recognised ‘safe limits’.

Choosing an early cut forage that is less mature and with more digestible fibre means that the ‘gut fill’ effect is lessened. In addition, horses can always be fed more forage during training with the daily quantity being reduced (within the safe limits) in the few days before racing where this is practical.

FITNESS TO FEED

Quality of forage, in terms of its mould, yeast and mycotoxin load, can have a major impact on respiratory health. A recent Australian report (Malikides and Hodgson 2003) highlighted the cost of inflammatory airway disease (IAD) in horses in training, in terms of loss of training time and of potential earnings, together with the associated cost of veterinary treatment. They estimated from their study group that in Australian racing up to 33% of horses in training can have lower airway inflammation, yet show no overt clinical signs. Type and therefore quality of forage, as well as the quality of ventilation were singled out as the most significant risk factors in the development of IAD.

Forage is potentially a concentrated source of bacteria, mould spores and even harvest mites. Hay that has heated during storage, or that has been bailed with a high moisture content is likely to provide a greater load of these undesirable agents that can harbour substances that promote airway inflammation, such as endotoxin. Purchasing good quality and clean forage from a respiratory perspective will certainly reduce the pressure placed on young racehorses’ respiratory systems.

However, how does one achieve this?

• Microbiological Analysis – the price paid for a microbiological analysis of a prospective batch of hay is a worthwhile cost when the consequences of poor hay are considered.

Assuming the analysis is favourable, purchasing a larger batch for storage gives further peace of mind and spreads the cost further, providing of course that the storage conditions are appropriate. Interpretation of the microbiology results as CFU/g (colony forming units/gram) for moulds, yeasts and Thermophillic actinomycetes is not difficult. As a rule of thumb the lower the CFU count the better. Whilst a very low mould or yeast count (<10-100) should not usually cause concern, more consideration of the merits of a batch of forage should be triggered by a CFU count that reaches 1000-10,000. Certainly if any Aspergillis species of mould are identified the alarm bells should be ringing.

Aspergillis Fumagatus has particular association with respiratory disease including ‘Farmers Lung’ in humans.

• Storage –A suitably sized storage area will allow storage of a good-sized batch of your chosen forage giving consistency through the season. It makes financial sense for the welfare of racehorses to make adequate provision for a good-sized storage area. Third party storage is also sometimes an option where this is not available on site.

• Forage merchant or farmer - A good working relationship with one or more farmers or forage merchants is essential to be able to consistently buy good hay. They need to know what you want to buy and you need to be able to rely on them to provide a high quality product through the season. Newmarket based forage merchant Robert Durrant stands by the principle that “A good forage merchant should be able to supply a trainer with the same high standard of hay for much if not all of the season”. He adds that in his opinion “American hay English hay or haylage are all good options when they have been made well and the quality is high, but the quality of the American hays are consistently more reliable.”

PRO’S AND CON’S

Hay from colder climates e.g. UK, Ireland commonly used quality can be variable usually palatable economical Haylage. Usually clean dry matter can be variable Fermentation inhibits mould growth Need to feed more than hay Feed value often higher May need to adjust hard feed Usually palatable Beware of punctured bales Newmarket trainer James Eustace has used big bale haylage for many years he says “I found it increasingly difficult to reliably source good clean English hay. I am very happy with the haylage, as it is pretty consistent and it provides the dust free option that I wanted.”

Hay from warmer climates e.g. USA / Canada usually very clean May need to adjust hard feed Feed value often higher Premium price Usually palatable Newmarket trainer Ed Dunlop appreciates the advantages of using more than one forage source he says, "American hay gives us the consistent good quality that we need and the horses eat it well. Feeding it alongside other forage gives us the flexibility needed for different horses throughout the season." Alfalfa (High temperature dried or sun dried)

Good adjunct to forage (e.g 1-2kg) High intakes can oversupply protein and calcium Can be used as chaff Leaf fragments can add to dust High feed value & digestibility Less gut fill Many of Forage merchant Robert Durrants clients choose sun dried alfalfa as an extra treat for the horses he says “the horses get a large double handful daily as a treat and they love it.”

NUTRITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

The nutritional contribution made by forage should complement that made by the concentrate feed. Most racing rations are high in energy, high in protein and low in fibre. Therefore a suitable forage needs to be contrastingly high in digestible fibre with a limited level of energy and protein. However, where you have sourced early cut hay or haylage that is more digestible and higher in energy and protein, the concentrate feed intake should be adjusted to account for this. This will help to avoid the issue of over feeding of energy or protein. An excess of energy can result in undesired weight gain or over exuberance, whilst an excessive intake of protein at the very least increases the excretion of ammonia, which is a respiratory irritant.

Whilst it is important to know the calcium and phosphorus content of forage, the trace mineral content is less significant as the concentrate feed will meet the majority of the horse’s requirement. The exception to this, however is where a batch of forage is identified as having a severe excess of one particular element, e.g. Iron which can reduce the absorption of copper. Much emphasis is placed on finding an optimum concentrate feed and associated supplements, to enhance the diet of horses in training. The same emphasis should ideally be placed on a trainer’s choice of forage. Forage can so easily make or break the best thought out feeding plan.

Equine Exercise Physiology - understanding basic terminology and concepts

Anaerobic work is performed at heart rates above 150 BPM and involves explosive power such as short sprints, acceleration, and fast galloping. A Quarter Horse running 2 furlongs would be deriving energy 60% anaerobically and 40% aerobically. The primary anaerobic fuel source is glycogen without the presence of oxygen. Typically a horse can perform purely anaerobic work for a short duration.

MUSCLES AND STRUCTURE

Horses have 700 individual muscles, and in thoroughbreds, muscles make up as much as 55% of the horse’s total body mass. The skeletal muscle consists of bundles of long spindle shaped cells called muscle fibres that attach to bone by tendinous insertions. The blood vessels and nerves that nourish and control muscle function run in sheets of connective tissue that surround bundles of muscle fibres. Each nerve branch communicates with one muscle fibre at the motor end. The nerve and all muscle fibres that it supplies are together termed a motor unit. Each time that a nerve is stimulated all of the muscle fibres under its control will contract. One motor nerve will supply from 10-2000 muscle fibres. A muscle’s unique ability to contract is conferred by the highly organized parallel, overlapping arrangement of actin and myosin filaments. These repeating contractile units or sarcomers extend from one end of the cell to another in the form of a myofibril. Each muscle fibre is packed with myofibrils that are arranged in a register giving skeletal muscle a striated appearance under a microscope. Muscle contraction occurs when the overlapping actin and myocin filaments slide over each other, serving to shorten the length of the muscle cell from end to end and mechanically pulling the limb in the desired direction. The sliding of the filaments requires chemical energy in the form of ATP.

MUSCLE FIBRE TYPES

The horse has three basic muscle fibre types: Type 1, Type 2A, and Type 2B. These fibres have different contractile rates and metabolic energy characteristics. Type 1 fibres, also known as “slow twitch” or “red fibres” have high oxidative capacity and are resistant to fatigue in part related to their high density of mitochondria which can utilize fuels aerobically and have the highest oxidative capacity. Mitocondria are the small organelles in the muscle cells that convert fuels (fats and glycogen) into ATP. They have the highest lipid stores, highest densities of capillaries, and the lowest glycogen stores. They have the lowest glycolytic enzyme capacity of the three fibre types. Type 2A are the “intermediate fibres” in terms of both contractile speed and metabolic properties between Type 1 and Type 2B. These fibres are aerobic, but also use a combination of glycogen and fat for energy generation.

The thoroughbred has a high percentage of these “intermediate” fast twitch oxidative fibres that can produce speed and still utilize large amounts of oxygen and resist fatigue. Type 2B “fast twitch” fibres have the fastest contractile speed, the largest cross-sectional area, the highest glycogen stores and glycolic capacity. They are ideally suited to short fast bursts of power. They have a low aerobic capacity and tend to depend on anaerobic glycolysis for energy generation. Genetics determine muscle type and composition and is 95% inheritable in humans, and is thought to be highly inheritable in horses (Snow and Guy). In evaluating the fibre type distribution in a number of breeds of horses, heavy hunters had a very large proportion of Type 1 fibres, while Thoroughbreds and Quarter horses had few Type 1 fibres and a large number of the faster contracting 2A and 2B types.

The percentage of each fibre type that a particular breed has in its muscle depends on the type of performance for which the breed is selected. Thoroughbreds have the highest number of the highly aerobic 2A fibres, illustrating the importance of oxygen utilizing pathways in the thoroughbred racehorse. Researchers also found that thoroughbred stayers have a higher number of Type 1 fibres than either sprinters or middle distance horses. Unfortunately, within a breed, the spread in fibre type distribution is so small that fibre typing as a predictor of performance is probably of limited value.

Muscle strength, size and shape can be predictive of muscle fibre ratios. Although each muscle may have a fibre type mix, generally a higher percentage of the “fast twitch” (Type 2) fibres are found in the horse’s hindquarters providing power, whereas the “slow twitch” (Type 1) are found in the forelimbs providing stride, rhythm and a weight bearing role.

VO2 MAX

VO2 Max is a measure of aerobic capacity. VO2 Max is the maximal rate of oxygen consumption that can be consumed by the horse. VO2 Max is determined by cardiac output (stroke volume x heart rate), lung capacity, and the ability of muscle cells to extract oxygen from the blood. During exercise the oxygen requirement by muscles can increase to 35 times their resting rate. VO2 Max is a high indicator of athletic potential, and has been found to be highly correlated with race times in thoroughbred horses. A horse with a higher VO2 Max had faster times (Harkening et al, 1993). Training increased VO2 Max. (Evans and Rose, 1987) VO2 Max is determined by measuring oxygen during exercise as increasing speed and/or incline of a high-speed treadmill incrementally increases the workload. VO2 Max expressed as millilitres of O2 per kilogram of body weight per minute (or second). At rest a horse absorbs 3 millilitres of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute. Maximal rates of oxygen intake vary within breeds and vary with breed and training state, but fit thoroughbreds have a VO2 Max of 160-170 ml./min./kg. By comparison elite human athletes have a VO2 Max of about half or 80 ml./min./kg. Pronghorn Antelopes have a VO2 Max of 210-310 ml./min./kg. When VO2 Max is determined, the speed at which VO2 Max is achieved is also measured. Comparing two (2) individuals with the same VO2 Max, one individual will have a higher speed at which the VO2 Max is achieved. VO2 Max calculations enable researchers to evaluate the fitness of a horse and its ability to utilise oxygen for energy.

ANAEROBIC THRESHOLD

Anaerobic threshold (also know as lactate threshold) is the level of effort usually expressed as a percentage of VO2 Max at which the body produces more lactate than can be removed. Anaerobic work is performed at a heart rate approximately above150 BPM and at intensities above 70% VO2 Max. At lactate threshold the cardiovascular system can no longer provide adequate oxygen for all exercising muscle cells and lactic acid starts to accumulate in those muscle cells (and subsequently in the blood as well). Lactate threshold research has recently focused on blood lactate threshold (LT) as a reflection of an individual’s level of training. There are always certain cells within muscles that are relatively deficient in oxygen and are therefore producing lactic acid, but at levels small enough to be quickly metabolized by other cells that are operating on an aerobic level. At some point the balance between the production of lactic acid and its removal by body systems shifts towards accumulation. Lactate threshold is usually slightly below VO2 Max, and will improve with training. Horses with increased LT not only experience less physical deterioration in muscle cell performance but also use less glycogen for ATP production at any level of performance.

TRAINING RESPONSES

Through training physiological changes take place in most of the horse’s systems. Major training responses take place in the blood, heart, muscles, and cardiovascular, neuromuscular and skeletal systems. The first 2-4 months of training increases the total amount of blood volume, red cell count, and hemoglobin concentrations and creates a more efficient circulatory system. Increased blood plasma in the first weeks of training contributes to improved thermoregulation and sweating capacity. After training for 3-6 months, an improved network in the number and density of capillaries provide more efficient blood flow and transit time to working muscles. After 4-6 months of training a multitude of adaptations take place at the cellular level. Oxidative enzymes in the muscles increase along with the number, size and density of mitochondria in the muscle cells. The enhanced oxidative capacity results in increased utilization of fat and less reliance on blood glucose and muscle glycogen, being an advantage at both submaximal and maximal exercise, because fat is a more efficient energy fuel. Training regimens that include speed work, and increased acceleration at intensities close to VO2 Max will also result in the increase of glycolic enzymes needed for anaerobic energy production.

Training at these higher anaerobic levels will improve the buffering capacity in the muscle cells. Buffers are chemicals that limit lowering of pH when lactic acid accumulates. The clearing and removal of lactic acid and wastes also becomes more effective. Heart mass has been shown to increase with training. Hypertrophy (enlargement) in the heart physically comes in two ways, a thickening of the heart walls, and an increase in the size of the chambers, especially the left ventricle. Heart mass has been shown to increase up to 33% in 2 year old horses after only 18 weeks of conventional race training (Young, 1999). The increase in heart size results in increased cardiac output. Stroke volume has been shown to increase by 10% after as little as 10 weeks of training (Thomas et al, 1983). A study has also shown that heart size is also correlated with VO2 Max using an ECG (Young et al, 2002). VO2 Max increases from 10-20% in the first 6-8 weeks of training after which further improvement is limited. Although the relationship between VO2 Max and velocity is highly correlated, the differences found in the speed and performance of two thoroughbreds with equal VO2 Max values can be explained by differences in biomechanics, and economy of locomotion. Horses with a high VO2 Max and efficient gait will use less energy to attain the same speed.

As fitness progresses, the horse will be able to attain a higher speed before reaching VO2 Max. An example would be a lightly trained thoroughbred hitting VO2 Max at 25mph, but after beginning a training program, the same horse would eventually be able to go 30 mph before reaching the limit. Although improvements in VO2 Max and aerobic capacity occurs early in the training stages, it’s not until 4-6 months that improvements are seen in bone and ligaments. This physiological mismatch is often the cause of many bone and soft tissue injuries. At maximal exercise levels, such as a gallop, increases are seen in bone density and mass. Bone density, shape and internal composition are related to strength. Medium tissues such as tendons and ligaments become thicker and more elastic. The modeling response of bone is stimulated by fast work, fortunately only short durations are necessary (Firth et al, 1999). Training at the trot or canter results in minimal changes in bone mass and density. Therefore, the trainer must gradually add speed work into the training plan with the goal of developing bone density. The peak time of bone development occurs between 2 and 3 years of age, with 50% of their primary structure replaced by their 3 year old year.

The ability of bone to adapt decreases with age, with some researchers believing that bone becomes more brittle with age, and young horses actually remodel bone more quickly and easily, and are at less risk than horses started later (McIlwraith). This idea is further supported by other researchers that found that tendons grow and adapt to the stresses of training more successfully prior to their 2 year old year (Smith, Birch, Patterson, Kane et al, 1999). Contrary to common belief, most current research indicates that early training may not only enhance bone and tendon development, but reduce the incidence of injury during training and racing, prolonging racing careers.

PERFORMANCE MEASURES

For over 30 years high speed treadmills have revolutionized the study of equine exercise physiology. Today many veterinary clinics and universities with equine departments are able to study the equine athlete in their own sports performance laboratories. The treadmill can easily evaluate the athletic potential of an equine athlete by standardizing variables used in an exercise test. A high speed treadmill can answer various questions relating to speed, ventilation, heart rate, VO2 Max, blood lactate, substrate (fuel) use, gait analysis, and endoscopic examination of the upper airway. The high speed treadmill will run at speeds in excess of 35 miles per hour, can be inclined at a 3-3.5% grade to simulate ground resistance and a rider’s weight. Treadmills equipped with a respiration calorimeter are used to measure gas exchange. Using indirect calorimetry, a loose fitted, padded face mask is attached to a motorized pump that monitors and analyses air breathed in each breath. The suction created by the pump ensures that expired air is collected and not re-breathed by the horse. The research team can design an exercise test tailored for desired performance measures.

The test can be designed as an incremental test, where horses are asked to perform at ever increasing high speed until reaching maximal exertion, or a longer endurance test. During a standard exercise test fitness can be monitored using heart rate, with a heart rate monitor. Heart rate is one of the most frequently measured physiological variables measured in exercise tests. Measurements of blood lactate, glucose concentrations, free fatty acids and pack cell volume can be taken throughout the test not just before and after. Knowing the horse’s weight is necessary in order to make calculations, and the horse is weighed prior to testing. During the test the airflow rate is measured in litres / minute. Both Oxygen (o2) intake and exhaled carbon dioxide (CO2) is measured. These measurements provide information to calculate VO2 (volume of oxygen), VO2 Max (maximal oxygen intake), and VCO2 (volume of carbon dioxide).

VO2 Max provides information on aerobic capacity, and the speed at which VO2 Max is achieved. Being equipped with a heart rate monitor, the speed at which maximal heart rate achieved is also known. The relationship between running speed, heart rate and oxygen consumption is linear up to VO2 Max. Two commonly used variables that are used to describe the relationship between heart rate and velocity are V140 and V200. There is a high correlation between V200 (velocity at 200 beats per minute) and VO2 Max. These variables are simply used to describe speeds attained at different heart rates. Numerous graphs and charts can be generated to display a horse’s athletic progress over time. Similarly, the speed at which blood lactate reaches certain levels is also measured. Lactate levels at different speeds are used to measure anaerobic capacity. Onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA) is recorded as VLA4. This is the speed achieved when blood lactate concentrations reach 4 mmol./l. Elite thoroughbreds can tolerate lactate concentrations as high as 30 mmol/l. A sprint test on a thoroughbred may be run at supramaximal intensity of 115% VO2 max for a 2 minute period, near maximal heart rate, whereas an endurance horse such as an Arabian may be expected to run at 35-40% VO2 max for 90 minutes. Interestingly, Arabians have been found to use more fats as fuel than thoroughbreds (Kentucky Equine Research, Pagan). Using RQ (respiratory quotient) researchers can determine whether the horse is using fat or carbohydrate as a fuel source. Unlike oxygen, carbon dioxide varies tremendously with substrate (fuel) use. The RQ is calculated by dividing VCO2 by VO2. An RQ of 1.00 indicates that carbohydrates are being used as fuel, and an RQ of .7 indicates that fats are being used.

DESIGNING A TRAINING PLAN

By understanding the basics of equine exercise physiology, a racehorse trainer has the advantage of understanding how various physiological systems adapt and respond to training. In designing a comprehensive training plan for each horse the intensity, frequency, duration, and volume of the work is determined. The plan must also incorporate rest and recovery, and avoid overtraining. Each new level of training is maintained until the body has adapted to the added stress, after which further increase in training load can be applied. Alternating periods of increased workload with a period of adaptation is known as “progressive loading.” Training should be specific to the event in order to train the appropriate structures and systems, doing work that is similar to racing which elicits neuro-muscular coordination. Horses “learn” how to do the event. This principle of conditioning is known as “metabolic specificity.”

Most training programs are divided into three phases. Phase I is the long slow distance (LSD) phase, Phase II is focused around strength work, and Phase III involves sharpening and speed work. (Marlin and Nankervis, 2002) In Phase I, the primary focus is on long slow distance (LSD) and builds the foundation on which all other work is based. In their first year of training, Phase I may last from 3-12 months, with improvements in aerobic capacity seen in the first 6-8 weeks. Long slow distance is performed at slow canters at heart rates below 130-150 beats per minute. Even after this phase is completed LSD may comprise of 3-5 sessions per week lasting 20 minutes.

Phase I improves cardiovascular fitness and trains musculoskeletal structures decreasing the future risk of injuries. This phase also helps the horse’s mental attitude toward daily training. Phase I is primarily done at low intensities of aerobic levels. Phase II is the strength phase, where horses are trained with intensities from 150-180 beats per minute, and above 70% VO2 Max. Horses are usually working from a canter to a gallop over distances up to 1 ½ miles. This phase can be accomplished in 60-90 days. Aerobic and anaerobic systems are trained, with horses reaching anaerobic threshold levels during their workouts. These workouts over time will increase the time and speed at which lactate threshold is reached. Strength work may be performed 2 days a week with adequate rest between sessions.

Often in Europe hill work is added at this stage, increasing the intensity, without increasing the speed. Hill training strengthens the hindquarters, and working horses downhill strengthens the pectorals, shoulder, and working against gravity, the quadriceps in the hindquarters, become balanced. Phase III is the sharpening phase, where speed work is performed at heart rates and intensities at close to race speed, often reaching V200 and VO2 Max levels. Usually, depending on intensity, this type of work is performed only once every 1-2 weeks. Fast work can be performed as either continuous or interval training. Continous training performed at the racetrack involves distances from ¼, ½ mile, and 1 mile or more, usually with the last quarter at race speed. Interval training involves using multiple exercise bouts separated by relatively short recovery periods where the heart rate drops below 100 beats per minute.

CONCLUSION

Understanding basic equine exercise physiology and the metabolic systems of the horse not only benefits trainers, but owners, breeders and agents in training, breeding and buying a future thoroughbred athlete.

TRM Trainer of the Quarter - Jim Bolger

The TRM Trainer of the Quarter goes to Jim Bolger. It is difficult to know if Jim Bolger will look back on spring 2007 with fondness or frustration, On the one hand, he broke a long drought, plundering the 1,000 Guineas 16 yrs after Jet Ski Lady had given him his only British Classic success. But that same evening Bolger must have Newmarket pondering what might have been, Teofilo's knee injury denying him the chance of a rare Guineas double.

James Crispe (European Trainer - Issue 18 / Summer 2007)

California Horse Racing Board explain their drug testing procedures

>The rules of racing are intended to maintain a level playing field; any drug testing program is meant to monitor compliance to those rules. In reality, drug testing is a deterrent. For truly illicit activity where the intent is to take an unfair advantage (cheat), the current program in California is working well. But we know it isn’t perfect. We are always looking for holes in the system and ways to improve the program.

The CHRB began conducting out-of-competition testing as a routine part of their drug regulation program in mid-February. Blood doping agents are the targets of this testing. Specifically, these are epoetin (Epogen®, Procrit®, “EPO”) and darbepoetin (Aranesp®). These drugs are synthetic forms of the natural hormone erythropoietin; they all stimulate red blood cell production. These drugs are administered several days in advance of racing and will not be detected in post-race testing. Out-of-competition testing is the only way these drugs can be identified. This is the reason out of competition is critical in human sports testing. Other prohibited peptide hormones will be included in the testing protocol as those tests are brought on line. We will not be testing for routine therapeutic medications, but we will be specifically testing for the synthetic hemoglobin Oxyglobin®.

Horses are selected for out-of-competition testing by both random and non-random methods. Non-random methods will have specific objective criteria to identify a group of horses. For example, last fall horses nominated to the Cal Cup was the selection criteria. Trainers will not be targeted by non-random methods without cause. We have tried to make the program as unobtrusive as possible. This is a new program; we welcome constructive recommendations to make the sampling process easier for everyone. A key element to this program is unpredictability so we will not be able to restrict testing to any specific day or days.

The CHRB will be expanding its program of freezing routine, cleared samples for retroactive testing. Retroactive testing will involve testing random samples with new tests or selecting specific samples based on specific information. If an illicit drug is being used for which we did not have a test at the time the sample was analyzed, we now have the ability to go back and re-examine the sample with a new test.


We are also in the process of developing the anabolic steroid testing program. Currently, nandrolone (Durabolin®), boldenone (Equipoise®), stanazolol (Winstrol-V®), and testosterone are Class IV drugs and will be handled as category D penalties (warnings) under the new penalty guidelines. All other anabolic steroids are at least Class III violations. We will be asking trainers and veterinarians to assist us in developing withdrawal time information to avoid future problems. Within the next 12 months, anabolic steroids are expected to be regulated in most states. Congressman Whitfield of Kentucky has introduced federal legislation requiring a total prohibition as opposed to the proposed regulation state by state.

A new website should be of use to trainers and veterinarians. The RMTC is hosting a site for withdrawal time information around the country for cooperative jurisdictions. The site is www.rmtcnet.com; go to the Withdrawal Times box and follow the instructions. These are the best available estimates at this time for California and many other states. Not all drug withdrawal times are available, but additional information will be added in the future as it becomes available.

Horsemen need to be aware several drugs remain problematic:

Fluephenazine is a long-acting tranquilizer. Two separate fluphenazine (Prolixin®) positives are working through the process where the administration periods were purported to be 14 days and 16 days prior to racing. These administration dates are supported by the veterinarians’ confidential reports. Unfortunately, fluephenazine has been shown to be pharmacologically active for over a month and is a Class II violation, a serious offense. This should raise concern for any trainer or veterinarian when fluephenazine is being administered anywhere close to a race. A 30-day withdrawal time is recommended as a minimum until more research information becomes available. Be aware this drug is confirmed in the blood rather than urine because of its unique elimination characteristics.

Hydroxyzine is a very useful medication for chronic allergies, including urticaia (hives) and respiratory allergies. Hydroxyzine metabolizes to ceterizine, which is also a pharmacologically active drug.  Hydroxizine is administered orally and the last two positives have been in powdered formulations prepared by a veterinary compounding pharmacy. As with all oral medications administered by barn personnel, mistakes are easy to make. A single oral dose of 250mg clears in 96 hours, but we have seen 8 times this dose on some prescriptions. The trainers have claimed they stopped the medication at 5 days in two of the cases. A seven-day withdrawal time may not be adequate at high doses or when using compounded preparations.

Methocarbamol continues to be a problem. We had suspected these violations were coming from compounded injectable methocarbamol with inconsistently formulated strengths. That may be a factor, but the most common finding is oral administration along with a methocarbamol injection at 48 hours. Again, oral administration increases the chance for management error and can be expected to extend the delectability of the drug in post-race samples.

TCO2 is still occasionally a problem, but we believe some violations may be inadvertent. We advise trainers to minimize and closely monitor their pre-race medication schemes, keep your horse well hydrated, and never administer an imbalanced or excessive electrolyte load. A significant number of horses have been administered one or another paste formulation of vitamins and/or electrolytes within 24 hours of the race. Many of these paste vitamin/electrolyte preparations contain bicarbonate or other alkalizing agents. Some certainly have high electrolyte concentrations. Be aware that these products are not permitted on race day. Oddly, there is a glaring disparity between northern and southern California. There has been about twice the rate of violations in northern California as in southern California, which was not case prior to last summer. We do know the pre-race medication protocols are different between the north and south. Regardless, the pre-race testing TCO2 program has worked well to deter the race day use of alkalizing agents. We have had only one trainer exceed 39 mmls/l since the CHRB took over the program and he received a 15-day suspension for the violations. The warnings letters for over 36mmls/l has also worked well. Prior to this program, the rate of samples 36.0mmls/l or higher was 1.4%; the rate is now at 0.2%.

Methamphetamine is a great concern to every regulator and should be to every trainer. This is our most common Class I violation. These are most likely from human derived contamination by someone in the barn having a “meth” drug abuse problem. This is a surprisingly common and cheap drug. We do not believe there has been intent to drug any of the horses, but amphetamines cannot be tolerated in horse racing for obvious reasons. The lightest penalty for the trainer to date has been a 120-day suspension.

There are several developments of importance to trainers in the enforcement and hearing process. The CHRB has been willing to settle cases administratively if a trainer so desires. Any settlement has to be mutually acceptable to both parties. Whether to settle a complaint or go to hearing is entirely up to the licensee. All settlement agreements must be approved by the Board of Stewards or the Board. As CHRB policy, all settlements are publicly announced. The other change we are seeking is in the hearing process where Class I, II, & III violations would be heard first in front of a hearing officer or the Board of Stewards rather than the Office of Administrative Hearings. This requires legislative changes currently under consideration in Sacramento. Lastly, the new penalty guidelines will soon be finalized. The penalties are significant for Class I, II, & III violations, but the hearing officer or Board of Stewards must take into account mitigating factors from the licensee and aggravating from the state. The intention is to allow a fairer process for the trainer or any other licensee charged in the complaint.

Lastly, under the new penalty guidelines with NSAID violations (phenylbutazone, flunixin, ketoprofen), the trainer can elect to deal directly to the Official Veterinarian with a set penalty schedule or to go to the Board of Stewards for a formal hearing. All penalties in this category call for higher fines than have typically been issued under the current process. Fines are significantly higher for multiple violations and especially high levels of the NSAID’s.

The CHRB’s hope is that the programs we have established will protect the integrity of our racing, be fair to all horsemen, and reduce violations over time. The goal is for California to have the cleanest, fairest racing in the United States.

Rick M. Arthur, DVM, - (01 July 2007 - Issue Number: 4)

THE FUTURE OF RACING IN CALIFORNIA - A NEW SAGA

California is racing into the future, or maybe not. As of writing, there is turmoil and uncertainty as to how racing will develop in the immediate future. A long-term prognosis is even more uncertain. The California Legislature has placed a stranglehold on funding for the California Horse Racing Board.

The confirmation of one CHRB Commissioner is being threatened, while three other Commissioners are considering resigning in protest. In Northern California, Bay Meadows racetrack is refusing to commit to racing but refusing to provide information on when they will quit racing. Similarly in Southern California, Hollywood Park racetrack continues to operate, but has let it be known that the guillotine is poised to drop. The picture is confused, and the confusion is complicated because of a prior mandate that all tracks racing more than four consecutive weeks install synthetic surfaces before 2008.

Whether or not this all gets straightened out in the near future, and I suspect it will, it makes a fascinating story about racing, money, land speculation, personalities, and politics. The underlying theme of all this is the use of vast amounts of pension fund cash to purchase assets that are valuable for both their land value and their speculative value. The properties in question are possible beneficiaries of “mitigation funds” that may come from California Indian tribes. Stockbridge Capital, the owner of both Hollywood Park and Bay Meadows, invested pension fund money to buy what it saw as undervalued real estate. The plan was to close the tracks and reap the rewards of putting the land to its best use. Somewhere along the way the investor discovered there was a way to make a fortune in easy money while still holding the land for its continuing appreciation. A circumstance like this one is probably the derivation of the expression, “have your cake and eat it, too.”

THE REAL ESTATE ANGLE: 

The law requires that Indian tribes pay “mitigation” to industries affected because of decreases in revenue due to Indian gaming. Horse racing is clearly one of those industries. Stockbridge claims it is entitled to $25 million per year for each property it owns. That amount, in addition to what they can make off of racing, makes it worth while for them to keep their properties as racetracks. It’s a nice situation to be in, $50 million a year, with no work and no expenditure of effort. The Indian tribes aren’t falling for the deal. The days of buying Manhattan for beads are long gone. At a recent convention of Indian Gaming Tribes, the mere mention of the word “mitigation” brought an angry reaction from the crowd. “No mitigation, hell no, no mitigation” was the response. With the exception of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association, every other segment of the industry recognizes the pie-in-the-sky nature of the demands of Stockbridge.

THE POLITICS: 

The Commissioners of the California Horse Racing Board are caught in a trap. They mandated installation of synthetic surfaces and Bay Meadows wants permission to race for some unspecified period without installing the surface. Golden Gate Fields planned to have a synthetic surface in this summer. Golden Gate management believed it deserved extra dates for meeting the mandate, and the majority of CHRB Board members believe they ought to have those extra dates if they comply with the mandate and have a safer surface. When Bay Meadows asked to be allowed to run for two years without a synthetic surface, the CHRB Board members said “no.” Terry Fancher, who is the Managing Partner of Stockbridge Capital Group, has spent what he calls a fortune for political contributions in Sacramento trying to “help racing.” One must assume he has, therefore, been able to make friends in the Legislature. Along comes State Senator Leland Yee, who represents the district in which Bay Meadows is located.  He attacks the CHRB members who voted to deny Bay Meadows the right to run without a synthetic surface. He introduces SR 14,  a resolution calling for the State Senate to ask for the resignation of CHRB Chairman Richard Shapiro. He also threatens to derail the confirmation of Commissioner John Amerman.  And the most recent twist architected by Senator Yee was to have the CHRB budget zeroed out, which could lead to the cessation of racing throughout the State. This story has the aura of the 1971 Roman Polanski film, “Chinatown.”  Racing is in the middle of a real life screenplay.

In reality, all Richard Shapiro has done is to be the most effective and constructive leader of the CHRB in the past two decades. He has made his chairmanship a full-time job, without remuneration. He has been the activist the industry has long needed. And he has worked tirelessly for the benefit of horsemen, for the control of drugs and medication, and for the safety of horses. Commissioner Amerman has improved the Board by bringing his wisdom, long-time knowledge of the industry, experience, and success to the table and supported the same programs as Commissioner Shapiro.

Senator Yee has a different agenda. He wants to use his political power to keep racing alive at Bay Meadows. Apparently, he doesn’t care about the fact that the ownership of Bay Meadows won’t make any commitment or agreement to race. He doesn’t care about the fact that the Bay Meadows management is willing to leave horsemen without any ability to plan for the future or to create alternative racing sites. And he certainly doesn’t care about the safety of the horses and the riders.  He says he wants to prevent people from losing their jobs. There will be no lost jobs. The jobs will move to the new venues. He just wants to keep them in San Mateo for a short period of time at the expense of the entire racing industry.

No doubt all this political posturing will pass and it may well have passed by the time this magazine reaches the reader.  One suspects that common sense will outpace political decadence. Sacramento politics often seems to encourage people to start with the most outrageous position one can take and back-off throughout the political process. None the less, the Leland Yee anti-CHRB campaign makes a juicy story. Unfortunately, it leaves a lot of wasted energy and anxiety in its wake. Senator Yee is either naively listening to a string of misinformation or is exhibiting callous disregard for the welfare of the 40,000 to 50,000 thousand people whose families are supported by the racing industry. One wonders how his sole purpose could be to get a few more days of racing at Bay Meadows in 2008.

Horsemen can be assured of one thing. The industry has put together contingency plans. Should Bay Meadows fail to race in 2008, the racetrack at Pleasanton is ready to step in and fill the void probably with a new synthetic surface, an expanded barn area, and improved fan facilities. The fairs are willing to realign their schedules to improve the quality of summer racing. The proposed schedule also includes a continuing series of turf racing opportunities. That is a first for Northern California and would be a considerable improvement over the current situation. It may just turn out that the death of Bay Meadows breathes new life into what has been a slow lingering decline in Northern California racing. If readers want to express any thoughts on this issue, a good place to start would be with a letter to Senator Leland Yee at State Capitol, Room 4048, Sacramento, CA 95814.  His telephone number is (916) 651-4008.  A copy should go to Senator Don Perata, State Capitol, Room 205, Sacramento, CA 95814.  (916) 651-4009.

Edward I. Halpern, CTT Exec - (01 July 2007 - Issue Number: 4)

Gregson Foundation Honors Joe & Barbara Harper

Twin Palms in Pasadena was jammed with 400 guests on April 23 to honor Joe and Barbara Harper of Del Mar at the annual Edwin J. Gregson Foundation benefit hosted by California Thoroughbred Trainers.

About $100,000 was raised for the foundation, which since its inception seven years ago, has raised close to $1 million specifically for educational purposes for backstretch workers and their families.


Following a video tribute and an introduction by Peter Tunney, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club officials Craig Fravel, executive vice president, and Tom Robbins, vice president-racing, spoke glowingly of the track’s long-time president, CEO, and general manager and wife Barbara.


The Harpers have long been viewed as the unofficial hosts and ambassadors of goodwill of the seven-week summer meet at the San Diego County coastal track.


For those in the racing industry who view Del Mar as a sort of summer camp, Joe and Barbara are perceived as its counselors.


CTT honored the Harpers for their outstanding leadership and countless charitable efforts to benefit those in need and for their many achievements and contributions to the horse racing industry.


Joe has donated his time as chairman of Winners Foundation, director of Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, chairman of the advisory board of the UC Davis Center for Equine Health and a member of the advisory board of the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program. Barbara has been busy with roles in numerous civic projects. 
Joe and Barbara have been married 43 years and are the parents of four daughters.

Joe, grandson of legendary Hollywood director Cecil B. de Mille, joined the track in 1977 and since taking over its leadership has orchestrated one of the biggest success stories in the sport.
“Joe is simply the best,” said Robbins. “His demeanor and style are perfect for the job.”
Fravel added, “Joe and Barbara both know the importance of putting on a good show.”


Harper took the microphone from his wife with his usual impeccable timing, deferring to her as the power behind the scenes and saying, “Thank you, Gracie.”
After several moments of roast-style humor, Harper turned serious and underscored the significance of the event and the late trainer after whom it was named.
“

Eddie Gregson was a guy I always went to, and he’d give it to me, right between the eyes,” said Harper appreciatively of the trainer’s no-holds-barred candor. “I wish there were more guys like him in the industry.”


One of the most fruitful programs in the foundation is a fund for scholarship grants that has enabled more than 60 individuals to attend college.
New grant recipients last year were Michael Ascanio, Bobby Ochoa, Lyssa Ortega, Francisco Rangel, Mayra Salmeron, Angel Solorzano, Luis Solorzano, and Daniel Valenzuela.


Noting the myriad problems plaguing the industry in recent years, Harper hoped the scholarship money would be well invested. “I hope some of you kids stick around to help us,” said Harper. “Our future is in your hands.”

Steve Schuelein (01 July 2007 - Issue Number: 4)  Posted 

Jockey School - we spend a day at the North American Racing Academy

​By Frances Karon

Standing in the classroom of the North American Racing Academy (NARA) at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky is a sensory thrill. The smell of leather, the sharp crack of reins slapping against outstretched necks as seven jockeys scrub hard on their mounts. If you close your eyes and listen to the strained breathing of the riders you can almost hear the cadence of the hooves. The only thing that isn’t real are the horses, but with names like John Henry, Alysheba and Sunday Silence, they are all but real.

Chris McCarron’s voice rises above the din, all at once coaxing, encouraging, taunting and unrelenting. Looking at the red-faced students you can pick out the ones who want it the most, their attention focused forward between their horses ears with intensity. Stopwatch in hand, McCarron counts down from ten and gets stuck on four amid a chorus of pained protests. “Four…four…four…three…two…one. To the victor go the spoils!” The riders nearly collapse from the exertion. “Yeaaah, look at the grimace in her face!” He’s given them quite a workout.
Welcome to a typical day at NARA, the first program of its kind in the United States and Canada, where McCarron, retired from the jockey colony but far from retired, is whittling his inaugural class of 11 aspiring students into the jockeys of tomorrow. After this particular drill, McCarron explains to them that they’ve just ridden their mechanical Equicizer horses for a minute and nine seconds, the equivalent of a six-furlong sprint. They can hardly believe it. They might have guessed they were competing in the 1½-mile Belmont Stakes.
NARA only opened its doors in 2006 but the concept is older than many of its students, dating back to the time McCarron spoke to young jockeys at a racing school in Japan in 1988. “I was very impressed with the program. That’s actually what planted the seed in my head about establishing a program here in this country.” He has since been to almost every riding school on offer and has put together a curriculum that borrows from his research. The end result is a combination of what he calls “the way I was taught to ride and the sort of European style, whereby the students have to take care of the horses as well as getting on them.” This way, he says, “they’re learning a respect for the animal, respect for the people who actually get the horses prepared for them to ride. It gives them a much greater appreciation of all the hard work that goes into getting a horse to the races.”

Prior to earning multiple Eclipse Awards and a Hall of Fame induction, McCarron was fortunate enough to find a mentor in trainer Odie Clelland, who had helped launch a fledgling Eddie Arcaro into his successful career. He recalls his first time on a Thoroughbred, working as a 16-year-old hotwalker for Clelland. “I was scared to death. I’d just been riding the pony around, so knowing what a Thoroughbred is capable of doing I was terrified. When he saw the fear in my face he told me to jump off and I just froze. He reached up and pulled me off. It was a good while before I was back on a Thoroughbred.” But eventually he conquered his “fear of the unknown” and tried again. One of his goals at NARA is to take away that fear and give his students all the tools they need to be confident, conscientious riders with an ingrained understanding of horsemanship.
McCarron says the jockey system in place in this country is like putting “somebody behind the wheel of a NASCAR automobile without having been formally trained. It’s crazy, considering the amount of investment that is in this thing called the Thoroughbred horse. You’ve got the breeders, the owners, the trainers, all the stable help, the farm help, and then when you involve the betting public, you have thousands of people that have an interest in this horse. And, a jockey walks into a paddock having received no formal training whatsoever, gets a leg up from a trainer and is expected to go out there and perform like a professional. It’s wacko, it’s wacko.”

The picture he paints of the uneducated young jockey in the driver’s seat for the Indy 500 brings the lack of training many of today’s riders receive into frightening perspective. It is almost inconceivable that NARA is the first of its kind in these parts, where the Thoroughbred industry is a lucrative business. Steve Cauthen, like fellow retired Hall of Famers Laffit Pincay Jr. and Eddie Delahoussaye, is on the academy’s board. “It’s a great thing,” says Cauthen, “something that has been needed here for a long time. It’s amazing that there’s never been a jockey school in America.” Everyone seems to agree that the racing school is long overdue and that McCarron is the perfect fit at the helm. He is patient, intelligent, articulate, and totally committed to the endeavor. Spend some time with Chris McCarron and you quickly understand that he does not accept failure lightly.

NARA is intertwined with the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), meaning that the students, all of whom have obtained either a high school diploma or a GED equivalent and who pay a tuition to the college based on the number of credit hours they take, can opt to take additional courses in English, math and science to graduate with an Associate’s Degree in Equine Science. NARA’s organizational framework under the KCTCS banner reveals a futuristic blueprint extending beyond the Professional Jockey Certificate. Soon, individuals who are interested in other careers in the horse industry will be able to go after a Professional Horsemen’s Certificate or a Racing Office Professional’s Certificate.

NARA has some other exciting plans, including a top-notch facility with its own track and dorm at the Horse Park. Besides what it has attracted from donors, the program received sizeable state funding in 2006 but has a long way to go before it raises the $15-million required to convert an artist’s rendering into their actual campus. In the meantime, students and instructors split time between their headquarters at the Horse Park and The Thoroughbred Center. McCarron hopes to go before the General Assembly to request financial assistance for NARA, and, if all else fails, “get on my knees and beg.”

NARA is providing a win-win situation for its students and consequently, in a few years’ time, for racing. McCarron cites the specialized coaching and instruction other professional athletes receive. “What that demonstrates is there’s a greater need for that teaching, that tutoring, in order to help a person reach his or her full potential as an athlete.” With jockeys, “not only do we not have someone formally teaching us ahead of time, after we begin our careers we have to learn our trade from our competitors. How much is someone going to help me when I go out there and beat him three times in an afternoon? When you first start out, it’s easy to go to a veteran and say, can you teach me how to switch my sticks faster, can you teach me how to make a horse change leads better, how to break out of the gate more quickly, how to talk to a trainer about his horse being sore – those kinds of things. And the veterans will help you only to a degree, and then when you go out there and start winning races on a daily basis, those good lessons start slowing down and so it creates a pretty steep learning curve. I just think it really stunts someone’s growth when they don’t have someone mentoring them, telling them when they’ve done something right and when they’ve done something wrong.” McCarron does not hesitate on either count.

Recruiting last year was a bit rushed and applicants chiefly found their way to the racing academy through word of mouth. Before accepting students for classes beginning in the fall of 2007, NARA “will be sending a letter along with a flyer to all the jocks rooms around the country, every racecourse around the country and have it posted in the jocks room and try to do something that way. But eventually, long term, what I plan to do is use the resources at KCTCS and be able to get into the high schools and get word to them and start actively recruiting potential students that way,” McCarron says. He anticipates having more applicants to the program this year and refers to the initial interest from freshmen, sophomores and juniors in high school who requested information packets last year.

During the screening process, the students have to demonstrate that they are “serious about pursuing a career as a rider.” They must have the natural physique to keep light without putting their bodies at risk. In addition, NARA is “looking for someone who is at least going to express some passion about being a jockey. Not someone that is like, well, you know, maybe I’ll try this, and if it works, fine, if not…”
Chris McCarron is all about the passion. When he says that the apprentices “can expect a lot of hard work from me, a lot of dedication from me to help them become the best riders they can be under my watch,” he means it. He also means it when he says, “what they can expect is to be involved in a very tough program. It’s a lot of hard work, takes a lot of discipline. I’m a taskmaster. Very fair, but by the same token, if you’re not carrying your load you’re not going to go as far in this program as you would compared to someone who goes even further than carrying their load.” Passion, it seems, is a prerequisite for his pupils. This is a seven-day-a-week labor of love for the jockey-turned-mentor and it goes beyond the horse-and-rider relationships he’s nurturing.
There have been some surprises along the way for McCarron. “What I didn’t know was that I was going to have to be somewhat of a psychologist, psychiatrist and have to deal with different types of personalities and different work ethics and so forth. I’ve always been a hard worker and I try to instill that same type of work ethic in those that I’m surrounded by. Especially with the students. I’m going to try to work hard at developing an interview process that will expose the ones that have THE best work ethics and the most dedication.”

Ideally, McCarron is looking for people “with a certain degree of talent to communicate with horses. Also, a certain amount of athletic talent. You have to be born with those two things first, and then I think you can certainly hone those skills. I think that there are some that have to work harder at becoming a better athlete.” McCarron himself has had to “really work hard at honing my style and figuring out exactly what was going to make me less of a hindrance on a horse. You hear the term, oh yeah, that rider moved that horse up. Well, we don’t move horses up so to speak, we slow them down less. The best riders have the greatest ability to stay out of a horse’s way.” Not to say that a good rider doesn’t help his horse, which is what “separates the better riders from the rest of them, figuring out exactly what that little quality is, what that talent is. Not all the riders ever figure out exactly what theirs is. The best riders are the ones that first of all have the skill, have the talent and then figure out what buttons to push, how to use that talent.” McCarron is here to help them find and fine-tune both types of talent.

Back on the Equicizers – the horse simulators developed by jockey Frank Lovato Jr. – McCarron notices that some of the riders ease up as he takes a phone call. He interrupts his conversation. “Hold on one second, my students are cheating on me. Come on, pump, let’s go! Pump! Quick!” He has an extraordinary ability to focus on everyone at the same time as though there are just the two of them in the room; he is fully aware of what they’re all doing, at all times. It’s not difficult to image how natural it must have been for him to weave his way through a tight throng of galloping horses, anticipating all the right openings before they happened. He could probably have done it while reciting the alphabet – backwards.

One of the boys gets a leg cramp during the grueling calf raises they are required to do in the stirrups before they get into riding stance. “We’ve got a Charley horse going on over here.” McCarron continues to call out directions, barely breaking his rhythm with the other six as the rider gets down from the horse. “Push up…somebody call an ambulance…down…up…down.”

As they settle down to race ride again, two of them stage an impromptu recreation of the 1933 Kentucky Derby, taking on the roles of Don Meade on Brokers Tip and Herb Fisher on Head Play, playfully grabbing at each other’s legs. The girl on Flawlessly manages to pull Alysheba’s rider out of his saddle. McCarron: “Another one bites the dust! What chance do they have of riding a real horse if they can’t stay on an Equicizer?” He is only partially teasing.

There is a lot of good-natured ribbing, but underneath it all you sense McCarron’s frustration that some of them aren’t a little more serious, that they don’t have a keener awareness of the opportunity they’re getting. “I’ve got a few students that kind of just go through the motions. I don’t want to do that with them, because that’s not what I’m paid to do. I’m paid to give them my best, which I continue to do. There are times when I say to myself, ah, he’s just going through the motions, so maybe I’ll go through the motions. You know, with everybody else, I’ll give them their due. But that’s not fair. I can’t slight anybody even though they’re slighting themselves.”

Jessica Oldham, whose parents are retired jockeys – Robbie Davis’ daughter Jackie is also enrolled in the program – is the veteran of the group, with roughly ten years of riding time. Still, she says, “this is different because learning how to ride is actually structured here, whereas when I went to gallop on the track for the first time I just kind of got thrown up on a horse and basically hung on.” As a high school student, she got some tips mock-exercising the pony sandwiched between two exercise riders. Outside of that, she picked up “bits and pieces” of advice along the way.

The majority of the students – seven of them – had little or no horse experience before enrolling at NARA. Jason Truett is so small in stature that “everybody used to always tell me I should be a jock.” He informs McCarron that he has “hit triple digits today,” meaning that he now weighs 100 pounds. Before being allowed on the Thoroughbreds, all of whom are retired racehorses that have been donated, Truett and the other novices had to get their balance on mustangs, or “Thoroughbred simulators,” until the instructors felt they could handle the more hot-blooded racehorses. This is one of many steps to prepare students for safe learning in a comfortable, controlled environment.

They have a rigorous daily routine, meeting up for 7.30am classes. Students spend three hours a day in class; one hour riding the horses and three hours taking care of them; and one hour on the Equicizer. They look after their horses six or seven days a week, depending on the rotation for their on-duty Sunday. Before they complete the two-year, six-semester program, of which the last two semesters will be spent as interns for trainers, the NARA trainees will have had extensive and invaluable hands-on studies on racehorse care, equine physiology, commercial breeding, the racing industry, lameness, racing stable operations, riding principles, finance and life skills. A nutritionist has been teaching them how to eat so that they can be healthy and still maintain their weight and a proper diet. In this environment, they’re not only learning the basics of riding; they’re learning the fundamentals of how to live.

Although McCarron’s name is the one most publicly associated with NARA, the academy draws on the support of a strong team. Jennifer Voss-Franco, who is the project facilitator, shares an office with McCarron. Dr. Reid “Doc” McLellan is the instructional specialist who, among other things, oversees their racehorse care lessons. Barn manager Aimee Knarr, the Horse Park’s director of education Margi Stickney and even McCarron’s daughter Stephanie – they have all, says one of the students, “pitched in to help everyone excel really quickly.”

As of January, the students are up to galloping at The Thoroughbred Center. Of the program’s 12 horses, Oldham says, “they’re all working out great and it’s nice because there’s one for every level of rider, and you do have to get used to galloping the tough horses as well as the easy horses.” It doesn’t take much for these ex-racehorses to remember their racing days. They get out on the track after training hours, and the outriders stick close to round up the horses when they run off with or throw the jocks. “They’ve caught a few of them,” says Oldham. “Us,” she corrects herself. McCarron has come off Toots, whose reputation for running off while he was in active training remains has followed him to his second career. In May, they will be ready to learn how to breeze their horses. It remains to be seen who will be on Toots that first day.

McCarron is no stranger to accidents of varying severity, and because racing is by nature tinged with danger he does not envision that having suitably educated jockeys will provide a needed boost to the insurance issues. “I would love to be able to sit here and tell you, oh yeah, my students are going to be so knowledgeable, so skilled and such great athletes when they leave my program it’s really going to make racing a lot safer. I think that’s a pipe dream. I think that’s a bit of a reach.” In 1986 he was involved in a five-horse pileup, eight lengths behind Encolure when that horse fell at Santa Anita. At first he was “livid” with himself, until he worked out that he had had merely one and three-fifths seconds to react and steer a 1,000 pound cannonball running at 40 miles per hour out of harm’s way. Still, he says, “I blame myself to the point where I try to figure out a way I could do it better next time.” His students are the beneficiaries of the mental edge that greater knowledge can give them. Every memory, good and bad, from 28 years in the saddle has its purpose.

This afternoon they are working their Equicizers alongside gate-to-wire replays of some of John Henry’s famed duels. As McCarron presses “play” on the VCR to start a third race, one of the girls grumbles, “oh no, not another one!” Though she may not think so at the moment, it is her good luck that McCarron was a regular rider of the great gelding who won 39 times, leaving them with plenty more to watch. And when those run out, McCarron has an abundance of wins – 7,141 of them, in fact – to refer to in guiding his students along.
“This,” says Truett, “is my dream, by far. Even riding right now, if I have a good day it’s so emotionally rewarding.” Oldham is quick to point out that “when you have a bad day it’s so emotionally toiling.” Truett smiles and says simply, “but, if it wasn’t for those days, the good days wouldn’t be as good.” Listening to them, you have no doubt that what McCarron is doing is a very, very good thing, even more so with the realization that for so many jockeys, this opportunity never existed.

Chris McCarron is hopeful that NARA will be a life-changing event for the industry, as it is proving to be for him. “It’s like the old saying. You get out of it what you put into it. I’m putting a lot into it as far as I’m concerned and consequently I’m getting a lot out of it. It’s been a great learning experience for me.”

Is no matter more pressing than international rules on medication?

By Geir Stabell

There is a need for several changes and improvements in international racing. None can be more pressing that the issue on international regulations on the use of medication. Both on and off the tracks."

Last year, we experienced a Japanese champion being disqualified after finishing third in the Prix de l’Arc. In Hong Kong, the sprinter Takeover Target caused some embarrassment when withdrawn from the Hong Kong Sprint, having failed pre race tests. In Dubai, the result of the Dubai World Cup had to be revised when runner-up Brass Hat was disqualified weeks later. Like Deep Impact, he had failed a post race test.
When discussing medication in horseracing, it would be unwise not to take the publicity aspect to the table. Last December, the Hong Kong international meeting was overshadowed by the debacle surrounding the absence of top sprinter Takeover Target. Leading up to the event, there was almost as much written on this horse alone, as on all the other contenders preparing for the big day.

Bad news sell newspapers and draws attention to web sites. Racing is no different. Horseracing folks around the world try hard to get more coverage in the media, often fighting a losing battle. When a horse breaks down, a jockey is injured or killed, or the words ”illegal substance” pop up in the press releases, there is no need to lobby the editors. They will print their take on the matter. And they will not do it in a kind way.  In stories regarding medication, you can call it a side effect, but make no mistake about it; this is a seriously detrimental side effect. The ”quest for excellence” – in international racing is beginning to get a high price.


Enhancing the breed?

How excellent is the horse that needs to be administered the painkiller “Bute” to win a championship race? How well suited to breeding is the horse that needs the anti-bleeding medication “Lasix” to race? Yes, these drugs are illegal when racing in Europe, but it is not illegal for a European trainer to administer these drugs to a horse when he is training it.

Is this a case of the racing authorities turning a blind eye to what goes on outside their own racecourses? Is it a case of the racing authorities not caring at all about how these animals are being prepared for appearances on their stage? Or is it a case of absolute naivety, in all corners of the racing communities, including the normally ever so sharp breeding industry? Either way, it is a recipe for more scandals, and perhaps also for more confusion among the horsemen.

Regulations on medication are very different around the world, giving trainers quite a headache when campaigning horses internationally. Brass Hat’s trainer, William Bradley, was convinced that he was within the rules when the horse ran second in the Dubai World Cup. Similarly, Yasuo Ikee, who trains Deep Impact, ran his star in the ’Arc’ feeling certain that any post race sample would not cause a problem. Both horses were subsequently disqualified from a valuable placing in each race. Both races have clear medication regulations, both trainers felt that they had followed the regulations surely disqualifications could have been avoided.

Medication qualifies for a run

Medication or no medication does not only play a part on the actual race day. At international meetings, a certain quota of the pre entered horses are ranked by a panel of handicappers. So, if the use of legal medications in the jurisdiction where a horse is based are performance enhancing, they also become a tool to help qualifying a horse for big races. Use of medication can help a trainer to get his horse qualified for a race, even for a race staged under rules not permitting medication. One strong stand to take, for organisers where medication is not allowed, would be to give preference in big races to horses that have not raced on medication. Perhaps the fact that a US based horse has been campaigned on medication, does not give him an edge when he runs free of medication elsewhere. Then again, if this is so, why would a European trainer administer medication when working their horses?


Hong Kong and USA

When Takeover Target tested positive before the Hong Kong Sprint , it was bad news for racing. It was truly creating a slandering effect when the press hammered home the fact that a favourite chasing a million dollar bonus was ruled out due to an illegal substance (in Hong Kong) in his system.
The race was eventually won by Absolute Champion, who had originally not been found good enough to take his place in the field. The handicappers placed him on the reserve list. He had never been raced on medication. Fast Parade, who made it into the selected field as one of the top names, had never run a race without medication. Some reports suggested that he had also failed a medication test on arrival. He was therefore never entered, officially as ”he was not doing well” after his trip to Hong Kong. He was shipped back home where, four weeks later, he produced his career best performance at Santa Anita. If Takeover Target and Fast Parade had taken their places in the Hong Kong Sprint, Absolute Champion would not have been a participant. He is currently officially the world’s highest ranked sprinter.


Is there a will to make a change?

Yes there is. At the Asian Racing Conference one report stated: "A growing need for uniform medication rules around the world was underlined by officials representing both racing jurisdictions and the International Racing Bureau."

Adrian Beaumont, of the IRB, pointed out that the explosion of international meetings had raced ahead of government protocols. Beaumont said that one of his main wishes for horseracing is ”a level playing field in terms of medication”. Mark Player, Hong Kong Jockey Club manager of international races, stated that medication rules should be made globally uniform if international series were to succeed and make the sport grow.  
 
Medication is also an issue for sellers and buyers of racehorses. February 8 this year may have been day one in groundbreaking work. On that day, a bill was filed in the Kentucky House of Representatives, that would allow buyers of horses to return the horse and demand a full refund, if veterinary records are falsified or information is omitted. Any administration of drugs would have to be disclosed. This bill is pushed by the Jackson’s Horse Owner’s Protective Association, formed by horseman Jess Jackson and lawyer Kevin McGee, who said:”The actual buyers and sellers of horses would like to see this in Kentucky because it would strengthen the integrity of the business. This would be an excellent way to encourage new owners to come into the business because it reduces the mystery of buying a horse.” 


Deaths, breakdowns and medication

How definable is the connection between use of medication and injuries? Taking a global view makes it almost impossible to come to any hard conclusions, as too many other factors play their part. Nevertheless, one should take not of the recent media focus on ratios of fatalities around the racing world.

According to professor David Nunamaker, at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, studies conducted at around ten American racecourses show that the rate of fatal accident in the US is 1,5 in 1,000 starts. This may seem small but even a high profile track suffered from much worse stats last year: 21 horses died during the three-month meeting at Arlington Park outside Chicago. The track had a total of 7,013 starters, producing the grim figure of 3 fatalities in 1,000 starts.

Yes, this was well covered by the non-racing media in Illinois.How this affected business, is hard to say but the on-track wagering at the meeting fell by 14.5% compared to 2005. The average attendance figure was down from 7,607 in 2005 to 6,903 in 2006.

How do these figures of fatalities compare to the rest of the world? Many point out how much better the situation is in Hong Kong, where no form of medication is accepted. They have a fatality rate of 0,58 in 1,000 starts. In England the figure is reportedly 0,65 deaths per 1,000 starts.

Medication alone is not to blame for breakdowns and fatalities in American racing. Other factors are racing on dirt tracks, juvenile racing, and the fact that the country’s vast horse population means that there is a much higher proportion of very moderate horses in action. Furthermore, comparing US racing to racing in Hong Kong make little, if any, sense at. Not least since the HKJC does not stage juvenile racing and the fact that they race exclusively on turf.


’Cheaters’ not so clever on turf?

Gary Dutch, Racing Secretary at Hawthorne Racecourse, Arlington’s little brother on the other side of Chicago, has some interesting comments: “I don't believe medication affects the breakdown rate”, he says, “I believe that it is caused by too many sprint races under six furlongs and two-year-olds racing over two furlongs too early in their careers. What these horses are learning is speed, speed, speed! ”

“I am sure that there are so called 'wonder drugs' some trainers are using as are professional athletes to enhance performance doing. These 'cheaters' are always a step ahead of testing and have an edge. You can't test for something that you don't know exists.”

Dutch goes on to make an interesting point about dirt racing compared to turf racing:

“The only difference is that some high percentage dirt trainers have a poor win percentage on turf. Why I don't know. Turf racing is more formful as turf horses will win the turf races. Dirt horses or horses that are not bred for turf usually are automatic throw-outs.”


Lasix and Bute ’overrated’?

European trainers shipping to North America can run horses on medication. Many European trainers sending a horse to a big race in USA, runs the horse on Lasix. ”First time Lasix” is a well-known phrase among American horsemen and horseplayers. It can often explain a horse’s improvement in a race. Many believe it will always improve a horse’s performance.

If so, one would think that running a horse without the help of medication at the Breeders’ Cup, was a sure fire recipe for defeat. After all, with the top trainers in USA taking their best horses, and many of the finest horsemen in Europe doing the same – and adding Lasix – he or she who decides to go without would stand no chance whatsoever. Not so. In fact, the one trainer who has refused to run his horses on medication, Andre Fabre, has a Breeders’ Cup record pretty close to the best of the Americans. And his record is way better than those achieved by some of the numerically strongest operations in the US. Even those who have been sailing so close to the wind in the medication game, that they have paid the price through fines and suspensions.


 
Over the years, the French trainer Andre Fabre has run 39 horses at the Breeders’ Cup, and won with four of them. 10.2% of Fabre’s runners were winners. None of them ran on medication. The most successful trainer in the history of the Breeders’ Cup, D. Wayne Lukas, has saddled 146 runners at the meeting, with 18 winners to date. This gives a strike rate of 12.32%.

The simple truth is that Fabre has been as good as the best Americans at the Breeders’ Cup, despite the meeting falling after the ’Arc’ weekend and is thus not his main priority, despite the fact that he is at a disadvantage geographically, and despite the fact that he has never run a horse on medication. While several horsemen in the US believe that Lasix is virtually the most important factor in their quest for success, one man alone, training racehorses in Chantilly, seems to have proven them totally wrong. Other Europeans have run big races at the Breeders’ Cup when racing on medication. Perhaps they would have run just as well without?

People are quick to point at one odd result, or a few winning ex-Europeans in the US, and claim that there in lies the proof that racing on Lasix improves horses’ performances. Much was made of Miss Alleged’s win in the 1991 Breeders’ Cup Turf, when the French filly was racing on both Lasix and Bute. Based on previous form, she was an absolutely shocking winner. She had raced once in the US previously, when fifth in the Washington D.C. International two weeks earlier. Her win over Itsallgreektome at Churchill Downs was lengths better than her performance at Laurel, and also much better than what she had achieved in France, where she had been placed in Group races but could manage only 11th when running in the ’Arc’. It was reported that she burst a blood vessel at Longchamp that day. Was the anti-bleeding medication Lasix added for the first time on Breeders’ Cup day? No, it was not. The filly had also raced on Lasix when well beaten at Laurel Park.

This is not at all the only example of a European horse that has produced contrasting performances on consecutive starts when aided by medication in North America. Sometimes horses run up to form when they are supposed to, sometimes they don’t. Strangely enough, this is the case also for horses racing on medication. Can you think of a better ”selling point” - for those who are working towards a medication free horseracing world?


The importance of worming - keeping parasites under control

The use of homespun and herbal remedies may have been superseded by wormers formulated after lengthy research programmes, but the control of worms in the horse remains as important for horsemen today as it was when the significance of these unwanted passengers was first understood.

The main internal parasites of the horse are small red worms (Cyathstomins), large red worms (Strongyles), round worms and tapeworms. The worms undergo similar lifecycles: Larvae and eggs are ingested by a grazing horse and they mature within the gastrointestinal tract. The adults pass out eggs and immature stages in the dung which reinfect the pasture, allowing the cycle to be completed. Infestations with Bot Fly larvae may also be seen.
The development of all these parasites within the equine gut has the potential to cause clinical problems, including colic and ill thrift. However, the lifecycle of the cyathastomins can be particularly destructive.  Cyathostomin larvae actually grow and develop within the wall of the horse’s intestine, causing disruption to the highly specialised intestinal cells. In addition, the larvae have the ability to arrest their own development, entering an encysted or hibernatory phase within the gut wall. Importantly, during this encysted phase the larvae are relatively impervious to a number of common antheImintics (wormers) and over time the parasite burden on the horse may accumulate, with large numbers of larvae entering the encysted phase.
Following the encysted phase, the larvae continue their development by growing and literally bursting out through the gut wall to mature into adults within the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract. However, a cruel twist to the cyathastomin lifecycle is that thousands of encysted worms appear to coordinate their emergence from hibernation, usually in the spring. Large numbers of larvae emerging at once can give rise to a variety of clinical signs from slight lethargy, anaemia and weight loss through to spasmodic or obstructive colic.  Large areas of damaged gut may be replaced by scar tissue instead of the specialised, absorptive cells of the intestine, potentially resulting in weight loss and diarrhoea. Our equine athletes must be able to utilise the high quality (and expensive!) feeds we offer them, and this necessitates a healthy gastrointestinal tract. Thankfully, it is unusual to hear of parasite-associated mortality in racehorses but it would be interesting to know the contribution  made by infestations to sub-optimal performance or training days lost.
It has been accepted for many years that the routine worming of horses is important for their health. This is especially true in establishments with a young and constantly changing population of horses, or pastures which are heavily stocked or grazed by multiple horses. Although all of these conditions are likely to prevail in racing yards, parasite-associated problems could formerly have been dismissed as irrelevant to the well-organised yard with a sound worming policy. Unfortunately, things are now not so simple and it appears that the worms are fighting back. Keen to ensure the survival of their own  kind, they are evolving new strains that are resistant to some anthelmintics. It is not scaremongering to say that some horsemen may soon have no effective means for controlling the internal parasites affecting their charges.
Resistance can occur when any chemical is regularly used to control an infective organism, hence the problem of bacteria resistant to several types of antibiotic found in hospitals e.g. MRSA. In some cases ‘operator error’ may be to blame for encouraging the development of resistance. Incorrect dosing (particularly under-dosing) with anthelmintics may promote the evolution of resistant worms.
Only three classes of anthelmintic are licensed for use in the horse and red worms resistant to the benzimidazole group are common in thoroughbreds. Pyrantel forms the second class. Strongyles resistant to pyrantel developed in the USA where it was used as a feed additive. They are increasingly recognised as a problem in Europe. More worryingly, resistance is developing to the third and final class of wormer, the macrocyclic lactones (ivermectin/moxidectin). Round worm control in foals is not guaranteed by their use and cyathostomins resistant to them are now present on a donkey sanctuary in the UK. Evidence for  cyathstomin resistance has also emerged from Brazil and Germany. It may be the case that resistance has not been detected in more countries due to lack of testing, rather than no resistant parasites being present.
Clearly, planning the worming regime is of the utmost importance and requires detailed knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of different worming products. However, in a telephone survey of English racehorse trainers in 2002, only 42% stated that their choice of anthelmintic was based on veterinary advice. Furthermore, the same study suggested that strategies used for the treatment of new arrivals were unlikely to prevent the introduction of resistant worms or the development of encysted red worms in the majority of cases.
It is also known that the parasite burden of horses in a yard is not distributed evenly. Most horses will be relatively worm-free. However, one or two ‘wormy’ individuals will be contributing the majority of eggs to the pasture. Identifying these individuals is done by performing faecal worm egg counts (FECs) regularly on all horses within the yard. This could also facilitate a change in the way wormers are used on training yards, moving away from pre-planned blanket dosing of the whole yard to treating only those individuals which require it. Current thinking would suggest that only horses with FECs in excess of 200 eggs per gram (epg) should be treated. An important point to make regarding FECs is that they do not detect encysted/immature red worms.
It is also possible to establish the resistance status of the worms in the horses on the yard. FECs are performed at the time of treatment and repeated afterwards to ensure that the wormers have worked, the faecal egg counts have been reduced and that the horses don’t harbour resistant populations of worms. In the case of pyrantel, the FEC should be repeated seven days later and resistance should be suspected if the FEC is reduced by less than 90%. For benzimidazoles, the count is taken 14 days later and the FEC should be reduced by over 95%. The interval for ivermectin is 21 days and FECs should be less than 1% of the previous level if resistance is not to be suspected. The persistence of Moxidectin makes it unsuitable for this type of test.
Tapeworms have been implicated as a factor in cases of colic. Work at Liverpool University has lead to the development of a test for the presence of tapeworm which can be performed on a blood sample. This indicates if treatment is necessary and can be repeated to check that anthelmintic treatment has been successful.
Although this monitoring may appear to be time-consuming, it would allow a very accurate picture of control programme efficacy to be established. The use of expensive anthelmintics is curtailed and selection pressure for resistance on the parasites is reduced.
As previously mentioned, a protocol for new horses on the yard is extremely important. Recent arrivals should be confined to their box, or allowed access only to a quarantine paddock. An FEC should be performed. It is best to assume that the animal is carrying encysted red worm larvae and to treat for these with moxidectin or five daily doses of fenbendazole. If later FECs suggest the presence of resistant worms, the horse should be assigned its own paddock, or returned to where it came from.
When worming any horse, it is important to follow some basic guidelines to ensure the correct dose is administered. Anthelmintics, or any other drugs, should only ever be given by the route prescribed on the data sheet. An accurate weight should be obtained for each horse to be treated and the full dose for that weight given. If there is any doubt about the accuracy of the weight i.e. obtained by measuring tape, then it is best to slightly overestimate the dose. Ensure that each horse ingests their full dose of paste by holding the head up until it is swallowed. Giving inadequate doses of wormer may hasten the selection of resistant parasites. Animals identified as requiring an anthelmintic treatment which share grazing should receive synchronised treatments. This will help to prevent an immediate major reinfection. It is now advised that, where more than one class of wormer is still effective, they should only be rotated on an annual basis.
Worm control is not all about the use of anthelmintics and these alternative strategies assume an even greater importance with the advance of resistant parasites. They mainly involve reducing the level of contamination on the pasture and so preventing the worms from completing their lifecycle in the gut of the horse. The most direct method is to remove faeces from the grazing, ideally twice weekly during the summer and once per week over the winter. This can be done manually or by machine.  Sheep and cattle will ingest the equine parasites, but are not themselves affected and so clean the grass for horses. Simply lowering the stocking density on the pasture will also help.
Thoroughbred breeders may also have a role to play in worm control. Faecal egg counts may not be the first thing that comes to mind when planning matings, but that may have to change. Resistance is developing to our third and final class of anthelmintic and no new wormers licensed for equines are likely to be on the market in the near future. We know the debilitating effects of an untreated, or possibly untreatable, worm infestation. A horse carrying a heavy infection would never be able to realise its full potential. So, without a major re-evaluation of anthelmintic use, it may be that the classic winners of tomorrow are descended from the innately parasite-resistant individuals of today.  

Dr Philip K Dyson BVMS Cert. EM and Barry Sangster BVMS MRCVS
 (19 May 2007)

Shockwave Therapy - uncovering new treatments

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Neil Drysdale - Hall of Fame racehorse trainer

By Margaret Ransom

He has seen the sport of Thoroughbred racing change drastically in the past few decades. Here, he discusses some of the important issues facing his fellow trainers both in his home state and across the country.
In Thoroughbred racing, the name Neil Drysdale is first and foremost synonymous with the concepts of integrity, honor and patience. Secondly, and only a shade shy of those personal standards, are his accolades as being a member of the sport’s elite Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 2000, and his guidance of such superstars of the game as Horse of the Year A.P. Indy, champions Princess Rooney, Hollywood Wildcat, Fusaichi Pegasus, and dozens of other standout stakes winners. He’s tightened the girths on the winners of million-dollar races in countries around the world, but has called California his home since taking out his own trainer’s license in 1975.

Drysdale, who began his own storied 32-year training career under the tutelage of the legendary Charlie Whittingham in 1970, is recognized among his peers as a true lover of horses and someone who always puts the well-being of the animal first.

You’ve been training Thoroughbreds for the better part of three decades. How do you think the game has changed most between when you started and now?

Well, off-track wagering and simulcast wagering has certainly increased. But there seems to be a change in marketing the sport correctly. It appears to me that on huge days, there’s big handle, bug crowds and the people come out. It’s what’s in between those days that seem to be the problem.
It doesn’t help that year-round racing has diluted the situation and effectively decreased the fan base. I’m not sure how best to go about reducing racing, but it is a diluted system today.

What are the biggest hurdles facing trainers today?

I don’t know whether there are significant hurdles, but I sincerely believe that synthetic surfaces are a huge leap forward. Now we just need marketing to complete the puzzle. If it’s not addressed there won’t be a whole lot of racing for trainers at all.

What do you think of the “supertrainer” concept? Can a trainer effectively maintain a stable of a couple hundred horses spread out over the U.S.?

In the old days it was impossible because you were limited by the number of stalls you received from the tracks. Now many trainers have different ways of approaching the sport and I don’t think any way is the wrong way. What I enjoy myself is having the horses with me and watching them personally, the old-fashioned way. At one stage I did have divisions and finished, I think, fourth in the country. But despite the outcome I didn’t enjoy it much.

What do you think of the current “bicarbonate” controversy and the testing procedures many states have adopted, including your home state of California?

The one major problem I see is dollars and sense. Is it necessary to test every horse in every race? The answer is no. It’s just not cost-effective the way things are done at this moment. There are more important things that money can be used for.
Obviously we all want a level-playing field and it’s my feeling that we, in this country, need to adopt international standards and we can start with no Lasix. I’ve raced in places where there’s no Lasix and it wasn’t a problem. But everything needs to be equal regardless of what’s eliminated.
And presumably the tests (for any illegal substances) would be more sophisticated which is a big issue that also needs to be addressed.

Do you believe that all racing jurisdictions in the U.S. should adopt uniform medication rules and regulations?

I don’t think it’s all that difficult, it’s just a matter of wanting to do it. So yes, I think so.

Do find steroids are acceptable therapeutic medications?

Yes, but it’s not necessary to race on them. They do have therapeutic value and do treat some horses with anemia or horses that have some weaknesses, but they’re not to be abused. And now we’re going back to international standards and uniform rules. In order to keep up in today’s climate where athletes in other sports are prohibited from using steroids, racing needs to catch up and that means also to abolish any racing on steroids.
All abolishing steroids will do is improve the sport’s perception in the public and the public’s acceptance of the game (as being fair.)

In your opinion, then, has medication clouded the public’s perception of the game?

I do believe all these medication issues and the fact they’re repeatedly brought up in the press are completely meaningless and does nothing but give racing a black eye. It all circles back around. It’s a simple concept; adopt uniform medication rules and international standards.

You’re at Hollywood Park where they’ve installed the state’s first synthetic surface, Cushion Track. Have your horses benefited from the new surface? And are new surfaces a positive step toward the long-term well-being and soundness of horse sin general?

Yes and in California it took a new racing commissioner, Richard Shapiro, to step up and say if tracks didn’t do it then they’d lose their license. I believe (synthetic surfaces) only increase and lengthen horses’ racing careers and in the long term it helps the sport. It may sound trite, but it’s about protecting the beauty and noblesse of the Thoroughbred. Because when you work with these animals every day you realize how unique the Thoroughbred racehorse, protecting them is obviously a very good thing.

Do you think the “Powers That Be” are doing enough to promote the sport and expand interest? Where do you see things in 10 years if things don’t improve? Will racing survive?

Obviously the sport is marketed much better in Australasia and Asia. There they market racing the way they market everything else – in a big way. If things aren’t improved here, the sport will be reduced to just a gambling vehicle and we’ll lose the pageantry and glory of Thoroughbred racing. I have no way of predicting the future, but if we can learn from tracks like Del Mar then that would be a good thing. That track is well-marketed and you’ve seen how it is there – it’s always packed with people. Keeneland is another one that does an exceptional job of marketing and has an excellent marketing team. The people go there as well. So something’s being done right there.
Both facilities run short meetings. Del Mar is seven weeks and Keeneland is six (three in the spring and three in the fall.) So you would think that following their example and reducing racing dates then interest in the sport could only increase.
Also the social aspects of the sport need to be reintroduced, which leads me back to the attendance problem. It’s a very social game and that needs to be promoted as well.


Do you have any advice for up-and-coming trainers? Will racing survive?

Racing has survived for more than four centuries. I believe that there will always be Thoroughbred racing in some context or another around the world. I don’t have any advice, but I will say I thoroughly enjoy what I do and I enjoy getting up in the mornings knowing that I get to do what I enjoy the most. And as long as I’m doing it I feel that I’m a very fortunate man.


The Asian Racing Conference – from a trainer’s perspective

By Howard Wright

Attending industry conferences and seminars, especially those staged overseas, as a media reporter can be hard work – honestly! – but when you come across speakers at the top of their game, who can put over concise points in layman’s language, the tedium of long days, and sometimes even longer nights, wafts away on a breeze of simple understanding.

 Derrmot Weld was invited to address the Asian Racing Conference, held in Dubai in January, in order to bring a horseman’s perspective to the session headed ‘Global series – what have we learnt and where to now?’ In ten minutes, he did far more than that. He gave an audience of 400-plus delegates – only a single handful who were or had been trainers - a master class in travelling horses around the world, and how to be successful along the way.

 No better presenter could have been found. From his base at the heart of Irish racing on The Curragh, Weld has created a unique record. He is the first overseas trainer to have annexed two Melbourne Cups, which alone would make the description fit, but he is also the only European trainer to have logged a winning run in a leg of the US Triple Crown.

What lies behind the success of this thoughtful, serious man, whose few words make more sense than some who have written whole chapters on their specialist subject? There is no single factor, he said. Rather there are nine aspects that he considers when assessing whether, and how, to travel a horse abroad. They are:

* Horse – “He has to have the ability to compete at the top level; he must be adaptable to ground and have the right temperament, and he has to be sound. It’s no good if you take an unsound horse, hoping it comes right on the day. In my experience, it rarely does.”

*Jockey – “Bring your own if he’s top class, or get the best locally.”

*Food – “Bring your own if at all possible.”

*Water – “Dehydration is the single biggest negative factor in travelling. Make sure you get it right.”

*Staff – “You need trained, experienced travellers, good work riders, and staff with the confidence and knowledge to report to you accurately.”

*Farrier – “Very important. Around the world there are some good farriers, but one false move can undo everything.”

*Veterinarian – “This is where dehydration will be reported, and he will watch all the tests and look at the blood picture. Make a mistake, and you pay for it.”

*Medication – “I agree with strict rules, but it’s important for the trainer to be aware of the rules from country to country, even from state to state in the US.”

*Quarantine – “Dubai has an excellent facility and is more straightforward than most. Australia has improved, but effectively it still takes nearly a month and could be brought forward. The US is a worry, and facilities at many tracks need to be improved.”

There, in handy-sized bites, is the check-list of a qualified equine vet who has climbed to top of the trainers’ ladder. There was, however, a bonus to the presentation, a bone of contention dug up when Weld was asked to nominate the single biggest improvement that would foster greater international competition.

“We’ve got to standardise the quarantine rules, which differ between Europe, the US, Asia and Australia,” he said. “With modern technology, it can be done, because blood testing for infectious diseases is far more efficient than in the past.”

In a moment, the theme was set, at least from the perspective of the go-ahead trainer with aspirations on the world stage.

The conference wended its fascinating way, discussing a myriad of topics of general concern to racing and betting administrators, from co-mingling bets in overseas pools and designing new racecourses, to standardising rules on stewarding and identifying the main threats to the success of horseracing in the future.

Virtually all impinged on the business of training to some degree, but none seemed to have the immediate significance of the quarantine issue, which came up again, and again.

Adrian Beaumont, director of racecourse services for the Newmarket-based International Racing Bureau, named “a shortening of the quarantine period for racing in Australia” among his three wishes to make life easier for horsemen tackling the global calendar.

Other areas came under Beaumont’s scrutiny – Dubai being one, with the impact of its Carnival on the length of time that horses are likely to be away from European stables – but Australia came in for special attention with regard to two new, high-value series, the Global Sprint and Asian Mile Challenges, which include legs in Australia.

Beaumont explained: “The quarantine rules pertaining to Australia are stricter than any other. For example, European runners have to do 14 days’ pre-export quarantine, and 14 days’ on arrival. That meant runners in the first leg of the Global Sprint Challenge on 3 February would have needed to be in quarantine no later than 28 December to allow for flight schedules. Thus, unless race clubs can persuade the Australian authorities to shorten the length of the quarantine period, it is difficult for their races to come anywhere other than at the start of a series, as quarantine could conflict with previous legs.”

The consequence, Beaumont explained, was that including Australian races from January to March in a series could mean trainers in the Northern Hemisphere considering them as being at the end of a campaign for their top horses, who may have started their racing season from the previous April to June. Not ideal, was his unequivocal message.

Beaumont, whose job involves helping trainers through and over the various problems thrown up by international travelling, turned his focus on to “governmental and racetrack attempts to thwart the spread of diseases,” pointing out that one of the methods was to ban the import of horses from affected countries.

“This is certainly true of countries with African horse sickness,” he said, “and restrictions were also put in place by countries affected by swamp fever and foot and mouth, even though the latter cannot be transmitted by horses. More recently, there have been problems with West Nile virus, which had implications in 2006 for horses with a multi-country itinerary. In particular it affected horses that ran at the Breeders’ Cup in Kentucky. Any horse who ran there before going on to Japan, such as Ouija Board, needed to be vaccinated twice, at an interval of three to six weeks. Similarly, horses that were due to run in Hong Kong after the Breeders’ Cup had to return to their home stables for 15 days, before a blood sample could be taken and sent to America to test for West Nile virus. Only when that was clear could they travel to Hong Kong.”

Weld’s reservations were becoming clearer by the minute. However, as any balanced reporter knows, there are two sides to a coin, and it was not long before the heads of Weld and Beaumont were being addressed by the tail-side of the argument from Dr Patricia Ellis, animal health advisor to the Australian Racing Board, a director of the racing analytical laboratory in Victoria and secretary of the international movement of horses committee, a body set up by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities.

A formidable array of appointments for an equine veterinarian with nearly four decades of experience, ranging from government to private sector, from racetrack to teaching. She does not mince words.

Dr Ellis, who was involved in the work that overcome obstacles enabling Weld’s pioneering Melbourne Cup winner, Vintage Crop in 1993, to set a new pattern, told delegates: “Yes, illogical, unscientific and inconsistent import conditions are causing problems that need to be resolved. But so do unrealistic expectations and perceptions.”

On the specific charges that had been thrown her country’s way, she countered: “Australia’s quarantine arrangements have attracted unfavourable criticism, but Australia is free from equine influenza, and its import controls reflect this. I make no apology for them.

“The Australian government and its racing authorities don’t want a flu outbreak that would shut down racing and other equestrian events for several months. They have understandable concerns for racing and non-racing stakeholders outside the international racecourse fence.”

On the broader issue, referring to the Dubai conference’s headline slogan, she said: “It’s time for a reality check. In the context of ‘Racing Without Borders’ what do you really mean, what do you want? As racing authorities, do you want to import foreign horses directly from their home stables without vaccinations, tests or official health certificates, and allow them to mix freely with local horses? Or do you want to ‘race across borders’ with science-based risk management, according to international standards, applied consistently, and which respects differences in country health status?”

There seemed to be only one answer from Dr Ellis’s tone, as she added: “Measures to prevent the spread of infectious diseases have to be a compromise between the need to conduct a successful event, with as wide a number of competing nations as possible, and the need to provide adequate safeguards to protect the health status of the animal and human populations of the importing country. In some countries, racing is not the only game in town. The safety and status of competition horses, and the need to prevent economic loss and unfavourable reflection on a country’s health standing and veterinary services, are as important factors as caring for the indigenous racehorse population”.

“Harmonisation of international issues such as handicapping, stewards’ decisions, rules of racing and race planning are directly under the control of racing authorities,” Dr Ellis explained. “Import conditions are not. They have to be negotiated government to government. Perhaps this is why the issue of ‘quarantine’ – thought I would prefer to speak about ‘import controls’ and ‘health safeguards’ – causes such angst.”

The target for change is clear, according to Dr Ellis. “For success in expanding international borders, co-operation with government is critical.”

However, she went on to warn: “Sometimes success has a very long lead time.” And using an even more stunning one-liner, “Success has a thousand fathers, and failure is an orphan,” as a preface, she added: “Persistent and polite requests from international trading partners engage the attention of governments, and assist local racing authorities to negotiate safe international exchanges of racehorses. The World Animal Health Organisation sets the minimum international standards for trade. If we want standardisation or harmonisation of quarantine procedures, we must engage in the development of these standards.”

Perhaps Dr Ellis should invite Dermot Weld to join her when she next tackles the World Animal Health Organisation.

Are purses restraining growth?

By Caton Bredar

In 1953, the average cost of a Cola drink at a U.S. racetrack was around ten cents; the minimum bet on a race, two dollars. In 2007 the average cost of a Cola drink at a U.S. racetrack is around a dollar seventy-five; the cost of a bet, in most places, still two dollars.

In 1953 John Ward, Sr., a respected Midwest horse trainer charged $13 a day to train a racehorse.  That thirteen bucks covered labor, feed and daily care of your horse…costs which ran Ward around $11.34 a day. 

Flash forward to 2007.  Trainers based on major racing circuits in the Midwest or East will charge between $85 and $100 a day to train your racehorse.  Even at one hundred dollars a day, most trainers say their actual costs run significantly higher.  The cost of just about everything is up, with the exception of the minimum wager.  And while wagering in the US, the vehicle which drives purses, is up over-all, purses have, with a few exceptions, remained stagnate. 

For most trainers in the United States winning may not be everything.  But it is pretty much the only thing keeping them economically viable.  And in order to survive, regardless of what level they compete at, trainers almost have to win every time.

Ward’s son, John, Jr., reached the pinnacle of American racing in 2001 with a win from John Oxley’s Monarchos in the Kentucky Derby.  Today, Ward and Oxley, one of the more dynamic stables in the Midwest and East, continue to pare down that stable, from, at one point, as many as 200 horses to the 40 they now have either in Kentucky, Florida or New York.

“It’s a purging process,” Ward explains, “We’re trying to be cost effective while not lowering the quality of the stable…or of the care they receive.”  The fifth-generation horseman says the goal is a “leaner, meaner” racing operation, where the average earnings potential of each runner is realistically taken into consideration, in relationship to the costs that runner will incur.  According to Ward, it’s a business plan most trainers have failed to develop.  And even if they have, it’s a plan very difficult to put into practice given the economics of today’s game.
“It’s tough,” he offers.  “Most trainers train below their actual costs, in the hopes of getting better horses.” 

Ward lists rises in employment taxes—major adjustments in workman’s compensation insurance post September 11th as just one cost, often absorbed by the trainer, that has gone up significantly, particularly in the last five years. Ward’s annual workman’s compensation bill runs approximately $250,000 a year.  That, for a trainer who modestly describes himself as “middle of the road”, at least as far as the size of the stable goes.   For the newly ordained “Mega Trainers” trainers like Todd Pletcher or Doug O’Neil, who deal in high numbers of horses, Ward says those costs are even greater.

Some obvious costs, according to Ward, have gone up.  Over the past two years, with rising gas prices, feed and van companies have to pass their added costs on to their customers.  While shipping is often paid directly by the owners, trainers generally pay for feed directly then recoup some of that cost through their daily rates.  With higher prices due to fuel surcharges, they recoup less.

And trainers aren’t immune to higher gas prices.  “If you spend $25 to $30 a day in gas,” Ward explains, “and you train 30 horses, that’s $1 a horse,” or one less dollar a trainer actually makes on that horse, or puts toward his out of pocket costs.

Those costs--gas bills, cell phone bills, even rental rates, both in terms of housing the human help as well as housing horses—have all gone up over the past few years and are all costs Ward considers “hidden”, and most of the time, for trainers, unrecoverable.  While labor costs (with the exception of workman’s compensation insurance) have remained fairly consistent over the past few years, it’s those “little” things that have actually driven up the costs of training.

“It’s really hard on the trainer himself, and the organization he runs,” says Ward.  “It forces him to be taking away from the available cash flow.  On the other side of it, we haven’t had purses go up to be commensurate with the costs.  Purses have been stagnate for the last five to six years.  Trainers are caught in a squeeze.”

A slow, steady squeeze, it would appear.  To the point about purses, an NTRA Wagering Systems Task Force report, released in 2004, titles Chapter 2 “Handle Up, Revenue and Purses Down” and goes on to state, in part, “Handle Up, Purses Down is not a new occurrence specific to 2003.  In general, purses have not grown as fast as handle for more than a decade…”

The lack of parity, between purses and handle, can be attributed, in part, to the boom in off-track wagering.  Tracks receive a significantly lower percentage of revenue toward purses, from dollars wagered off-track than they do from live, on-track wagers.  The effect on purses, and therefore, trainers, is profound.
The report goes on to say that, from 1995 to 2003, total Thoroughbred handle grew by 45 percent, while total purses paid to horsemen grew only 38 percent.  In some particular cases, the statistics are even more dramatic.  According to statistics released by the Jockey Club, in 1995, the average available money per race for 63 days of racing at Gulfstream Park in South Florida, was $27,941.  Ten years later, in 2005, for 86 days of racing, that number went up less than $2,000, to $29,561. 

Gulfstream Park may be an extreme example; many tracks, such as Keeneland, Churchill Downs, or Saratoga in New York, posted gains over the ten-year period of at least $20,000 more available in average purse money per race.  Still, over the course of ten years, that’s just a gain of $2,000 per race per year—and that’s the best-case scenario, and not the case for every category of race.

It’s actually at the lower end of the scale, that Ward, the nephew of a Hall of Famer, believes it’s possible to remain economically viable. “The guys who are making the most,” states the 61-year-old, “are the claiming horse trainers.  They don’t have the big investment in the horses, they can drop horses in for a cheaper price, they can keep churning out starts, to keep commissions coming in.”  And in theory, adds Ward, “there may be fewer expenses connected to running a claiming horse operation, because generally, although not in every case, the size of the labor force is smaller”. 
 
Purses, of course, are smaller, too, but it’s the differential, Ward claims, you have to consider.  The difference in a trainer’s ten percent commission on a win in a $15,000 claiming race at most tracks is only a few hundred dollars at the most, less than his stake for a win in a $7,500 claiming race.  A claiming trainer, therefore, has more flexibility, and stands to make almost as much for a win in either case, as opposed to a trainer of higher caliber horses running almost exclusively in allowance races or stakes.

“The quality guys, the trainers who deal primarily in better-bred, or higher priced horses…” says Ward, “The trainers who take their time, give their horses a lot of time in between races, those trainers either have gone out or are going out of business, because it’s such an investment, and they’re losing money every day.”
Regardless of locale, Ward says the economics are the same.  “In Eastern circuits, you make more money, but it costs more to operate and live there.  The squeeze is there.  Midwest, California, it’s all the same.  The same hidden, overhead costs have been driven up everywhere.”

And the same applies to the Mega-trainers.  While the trend is to blame at least a portion of the racing industry’s woes, on trainer’s who appear to have the lion’s share of the horses…and the majority of the purses, Ward doesn’t believe they are immune to the economic disasters striking so many in these difficult times.
“While Mega Trainers, to some extent, can do what claiming trainers can do,” says Ward, “but they operate on a much larger scale, which, in turn, costs a lot more.  Think what Todd Pletcher’s workman’s comp runs.  Mega trainers will feel it, too.”

Ward, like many in racing, believes casino wagering could be at least be a help to the present financial plight of the trainer, and the sport itself.  Case in point, Mountaineer Park, who was on the brink of closing in 1994, when the state passed video lottery legislation.  In 1995, according to the Jockey Club statistics, Mountaineer was down to an average $2,886 available per race.  Average daily purse distribution at Mountaineer was 22,000 dollars and at nearby Charlestown, thirty-six thousand dollars a day.  By 2005, both tracks were giving out more than $100,000 a day.  At Mountaineer, in 2005, the average daily purse was up to $15,728, and that number is sure to be even higher for 2006.  Still, Ward believes casino wagering is not necessarily a pancea.

“The slots have helped Gulfstream so far, somewhat,” he reports, “But it’s been an interesting phenomenon.  They had a tremendous opening.  Now they’re starting to lose those crowds.  More and more people are going to the dog track, or the other facilities with casinos.  So it can only help so much, unless it’s controlled completely by the tracks and there’s no competition.  It’s looking like slots and racing have to go hand in hand.”   
A few fundamental problems, according to Ward, remain and, if not addressed, may jeproadize everyone’s stake in the game…not just trainers. 

“In 1945, a coke was a nickel and the game revolved around the $2 bettor.  It’s 2007, and everything costs at least twenty times more.  But racing is still chasing that two-dollar bettor.  By today’s standards, the minimum bet should be forty dollars.”

“Racetracks are taking more and more of the things they used to give in the past.  Instead of a fifty-fifty partnership, it’s at the very best, forty-sixty.”

If it costs $50,000 a year to train an allowance horse, that horse should have to earn a minimum of $65,000 in that year to pay his way.  Even at a day rate of fifty dollars a day, for a claiming horse, a $20,000 horse according to Ward has to win around $26,000 a year.  Given the current purse structure of tracks across the nation, Ward sees the situation as bleak.

“You’re seeing people go out of business, and I think you’re going to see more and more leave, as the cost breakdowns go up every month.  If trainers don’t charge according to what it costs, they’re going to go out of business.  If money is lost, you’ll lose owners.  As there are fewer owners, you’re going to lose trainers.  It’s a free-fall inside the business over the next few years.”

“If you don’t win a five million dollar race, you’re out in the cold.  And there’s a whole lot of people who don’t even ever run in a million dollar race.  My father made a dollar fifty a horse per day in 1953.  Today, most trainers are losing twice that every day just in costs.  It all goes back to the purses.”

What’s happening at Hialeah?

By Bill Heller

There is action on Hialeah in 2007. On e-bay. You can buy a Hialeah glass graced by a pink flamingo for $6.99. Flamingos are also depicted on Hialeah Park linen offered at $7.99. Or maybe you’d prefer three Hialeah post cards for $3.99.

Just when you think the situation could not get worse for this majestic racetrack deemed a National Historic Landmark before closing in 2001, it does. Last December, Hialeah stopped booking weddings and private parties, its principal business since racing ended, and began demolishing its 60-year-old barns, which were ravaged by Hurricane Wilma 16 months earlier.

Yet John Brunetti, who has owned Hialeah Park since 1977, hasn’t completely pulled the plug. “It’s not over yet, but I’m not going to spend an inordinate amount of time on it if it doesn’t work,” Brunetti said in mid-January. “We’ll just try to keep pursuing a plan for development, mixed use, commercial and residential.”

But the flamingoes will stay, as well they should. Hialeah, the Seminole word for pretty prairie, was officially designated a sanctuary for the American flamingo by the Audubon Society as the only reproducing colony in North America. “We still have 300 or 400,” Brunetti said. “They don’t want to leave, and if we develop the property we’ll still keep a flock here to preserve the history and the wonderful memories of this great facility.”

And it was a great facility, the winter capital of racing, for decades. 
“There was nothing better than Hialeah in the winter,” Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens said. “You felt like you were in the best possible place for racing. It was a beautiful track.”

Few, if any, would argue that. The tree-lined entrance to the track; the 16th Century French Mediterranean architecture with vines of purple bougainvillea crawling on giant trellises all across the cream-colored walls; the Renaissance Revival Clubhouse; the grand staircases; two sensational fountains; the first turf course in the United States and the unique snapshot of Thoroughbreds racing against a backdrop of palm trees and flamingos combined to create a magnificent setting. “There was a great jockeys room and race secretary’s office, too,” Jerkens said. “And it was convenient. It was fun to stable there. It was fun to race there.”

Brunetti knows. “Certainly the magnificent turf course and main track we had really captivated horsemen,” he said. “The architecture, the layout of the facilities, the paddock, the box area and the expansive structures capped off by the flamingo colony made it a spectacular place to be at and to enjoy the sport of kings.”

Hialeah’s kingdom was predicated on exclusive winter or spring racing in South Florida from January through March or March through May depending on dates assigned by the Florida Legislature. When that changed in mid-2001, when the Florida Legislature decided to let Hialeah and its two nearby South Florida competitors, Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course, set their own dates, Hialeah’s fate was sealed. Gulfstream Park and Calder both extended their meets and Hialeah was left with one single day of exclusivity for the entire year.

Hialeah could not compete with either of its two sister tracks head-to-head. “I think everyone knows we tried desperately,” Brunetti said. “There was nothing we could do about it.” Except close.

What a monumental loss. Hialeah not only was a gorgeous track to view, but one that was used by trainers for decades to unveil their most promising and precocious two-year-olds in three-furlong races as early as January. 
Seabiscuit, Round Table, Sword Dancer, Carry Back and Cicada all debuted in three-furlong baby races at Hialeah. 
Foolish Pleasure, Forego and Gold Beauty also made career debuts there in longer sprints. Seattle Slew, Conquistador Cielo and Alydar won their three-year-old debuts at Hialeah, and Kelso and Spectacular Bid won stakes there, Kelso taking the Seminole Handicap and Spectacular Bid winning the Grade 1 Flamingo Stakes by 12 lengths. Citation captured his first four starts as a three-year-old at Hialeah, an allowance race, the Seminole and Everglades Handicaps and the Flamingo Stakes, before winning the 1948 Triple Crown. He is honored at Hialeah with a statue behind the clubhouse. “That was the whole story from a historic point, what it meant for the development of horses,” Brunetti said.

Now Hialeah will develop condos, unless the possibility of adding slot machines induces a revival of Hialeah. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with slots, but we were not included because we had not run for several years,” Brunetti said. It wouldn’t have mattered. Voters in Broward County passed a referendum allowing slots at its racetrack, Gulfstream, where they are up and running this year. Voters in Dade County voted against slots for its two tracks, Calder and Hialeah.

Brunetti, though, won’t give up. “Because I love racing and I love Hialeah,” Brunetti said. “I’m not going to say it’s over until it’s over.”

It began in the early 1920s. Hialeah’s development from a swampland of 220 acres to a signature racetrack mirrored that of the City of Hialeah, which now numbers more than 220,000 citizens.Hialeah Park Racetrack was developed by James Bright, a cattleman from Missouri, and Glenn Curtiss, an aviation pioneer, in 1921. Bright and Curtiss donated the land for community use and helped acquire land and building funds for the construction of public buildings and facilities, including a racetrack. Thanks to Owen Smith, the inventor of the “Inanimate Hare Conveyor” known as the mechanical rabbit, the Miami Kennel Club opened the first greyhound pari-mutuel track in America at Hialeah in February, 1922.

Two years later, Joseph Smoot, Bright and Curtiss established the Miami Jockey Club and constructed a racetrack and grandstand adjacent to the greyhound track. Hialeah Racetrack opened on January 15th, 1925, boasting a clubhouse, administrative building, a paddock and 21 stables. Nearby, the first Miami fronton for jai alai opened. An amusement park featuring a roller coaster and a dance hall was also developed, creating a great destination for tourists. But the Great Hurricane of September, 1926, cost the racetrack complex its roller coaster, jai-alai fronton and dog kennels.

In 1930, the racetrack was purchased by Joseph Widener, who undertook a mammoth renovation. Working with architect Lester Geisler, Widener replaced the wooden grandstand and clubhouse with concrete and steel structures. The stables, paddock area, walking ring were redone, and hundreds of royal palms and coconut trees were planted. A lake was created within the track infield and hundreds of pink flamingoes were imported from Cuba. The first flock of flamingoes flew back to Cuba the very next night, but another flock was imported and their wings were clipped. They thrived at Hialeah on a diet of shrimp, rice, ground dog biscuits and carotene oil which kept their bodies pink - they are born a grayish white and turn pink as they mature.

The renovated Hialeah Racetrack re-opened on January 14th, 1932, just 19 days after Tropical Park, a renovated dog track, opened its doors.

Tropical Park competed with Hialeah head-to-head for years until after World War II when Tropical Park switched its dates to November through Hialeah’s annual opening in early January. When Calder Race Course opened in 1971, Tropical Park switched its dates to that track.

In 1933, Hialeah opened the first turf course in America. Special trains from Palm Beach brought in fans who debarked at a special station built by Seaboard Airline Railway, and Hialeah began carving its identity as “The Track That Made Miami Famous.” Its visitors included John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, General Omar Bradley, George Raft, Count Basie, Jimmy Durante and Joe Louis. James Bassett, the president and board chairman of Keeneland Race Course, called Hialeah “the jewel of Southern racing.”

Brunetti purchased Hialeah in 1977 from Eugene Mori, who had acquired the track from Widener’s family following his death in 1943. Brunetti will never forget the thrill of opening day that March 8th. “It was pandemonium, but it was so uplifting,” he said. “The excitement, the thrill, the people.”

Hialeah was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 2nd, 1979, and on January 12th, 1988, designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.

But as the 1980s wove into the ‘90s, less and less people were coming to Hialeah, and Hialeah, Gulfstream and Calder engaged in what seemed to be an annual battle over dates, which were regulated by the Florida Legislature.

Hialeah couldn’t match Gulfstream Park’s figures when they raced on simultaneous dates from 1978 through 1987. In 1989, Hialeah went head-to-head for 27 days with Calder, which had a more accessible location just 10 miles from Hialeah. Hialeah averaged 2,447 fans and $208,490 in handle while Calder averaged 7,240 fans and a daily handle of $941,260.

Brunetti told reporters he was losing an estimated $68,000 a day competing with Calder.Yet Hialeah kept going. In 2000, Hialeah was allowed to hold its meeting at Gulfstream Park because of Hialeah’s poor track condition. When it was over, Gulfstream claimed Brunetti shortchanged the track.
Hialeah re-opened in 2001, and conducted racing through May 22nd, when a crowd of 3,280 watched the final day of racing there. Bugler Mike Ferrios played “Taps” to announce the arrival of horses on the track for the 10th and final race that day, captured by Cheeky Miss. “It was like going to a funeral,” Brunetti said.

Ironically, handle for the 2001 meet was a 17 percent increase from 1999, the last meet actually held at Hialeah. Track officials called the 2001 meet the best in Hialeah’s history.
Representative Rene Garcia, a Republican from Hialeah, tried unsuccessfully to pass an amendment which would have delayed the date of deregulation of the racetracks, which kicked in on July 1st, 2001. “I grew up around this track, and it not only means a lot to me, it means a lot to the people back home,” he said at the time. “This track is the gem of Dade County.”

It was until it closed. Hialeah’s ability to remain open for simulcasting was stripped because it had no live racing. Hialeah was finished. “Since that happened, everyone is saying, `What a shame,’” Brunetti said. “I keep telling people, `Where were you when we needed help?’ That goes to the horsemen, the patrons, the media. Everyone remembers how important Hialeah was.”

Jerkens does. He remembers how thrilled he was to be granted stalls for the prestigious Hialeah meet in 1952. “Most of the time before that we were stabled at Tropical Park,” he said. “Hialeah was all the big stables.”

Now Hialeah teeters on oblivion. Working in the track’s favor is that the zoning which would allow thousands of residential housing units to be built on the Hialeah site is not in place. Nor are the requisite regional approvals for large-scale retail development. And both the City of Hialeah and the state’s historic preservation boards have gone on record opposing massive retail development of the site.

So maybe there’s a faint chance of racing returning to the flamingoes.

“There’s always hope,” Brunetti said.

The Asian Racing Conference – from a trainer’s perspective

ATTENDING industry conferences and seminars, especially those staged overseas, as a media reporter can be hard work – honestly! – but when you come across speakers at the top of their game, who can put over concise points in layman’s language, the tedium of long days, and sometimes even longer nights, wafts away on a breeze of simple understanding.

Dermot Weld was invited to address the Asian Racing Conference, held in Dubai in January, in order to bring a horseman’s perspective to the session headed ‘Global series – what have we learnt and where to now?’ In ten minutes, he did far more than that. He gave an audience of 400-plus delegates – only a single handful who were or had been trainers - a master class in travelling horses around the world, and how to be successful along the way. No better presenter could have been found.

From his base at the heart of Irish racing on The Curragh, Weld has created a unique record. He is the first overseas trainer to have annexed two Melbourne Cups, which alone would make the description fit, but he is also the only European trainer to have logged a winning run in a leg of the US Triple Crown. What lies behind the success of this thoughtful, serious man, whose few words make more sense than some who have written whole chapters on their specialist subject?

There is no single factor, he said. Rather there are nine aspects that he considers when assessing whether, and how, to travel a horse abroad. They are: * Horse – “He has to have the ability to compete at the top level; he must be adaptable to ground and have the right temperament, and he has to be sound. It’s no good if you take an unsound horse, hoping it comes right on the day. In my experience, it rarely does.” *Jockey – “Bring your own if he’s top class, or get the best locally.” *Food – “Bring your own if at all possible.” *Water – “Dehydration is the single biggest negative factor in travelling. Make sure you get it right.” *Staff – “You need trained, experienced travellers, good work riders, and staff with the confidence and knowledge to report to you accurately.” *Farrier – “Very important. Around the world there are some good farriers, but one false move can undo everything.” *Veterinarian – “This is where dehydration will be reported, and he will watch all the tests and look at the blood picture. Make a mistake, and you pay for it.” *Medication – “I agree with strict rules, but it’s important for the trainer to be aware of the rules from country to country, even from state to state in the US.” *Quarantine – “Dubai has an excellent facility and is more straightforward than most. Australia has improved, but effectively it still takes nearly a month and could be brought forward. The US is a worry, and facilities at many tracks need to be improved.” There, in handy-sized bites, is the check-list of a qualified equine vet who has climbed to top of the trainers’ ladder.

There was, however, a bonus to the presentation, a bone of contention dug up when Weld was asked to nominate the single biggest improvement that would foster greater international competition. “We’ve got to standardise the quarantine rules, which differ between Europe, the US, Asia and Australia,” he said. “With modern technology, it can be done, because blood testing for infectious diseases is far more efficient than in the past.”

In a moment, the theme was set, at least from the perspective of the go-ahead trainer with aspirations on the world stage. The conference wended its fascinating way, discussing a myriad of topics of general concern to racing and betting administrators, from co-mingling bets in overseas pools and designing new racecourses, to standardising rules on stewarding and identifying the main threats to the success of horseracing in the future. Virtually all impinged on the business of training to some degree, but none seemed to have the immediate significance of the quarantine issue, which came up again, and again. Adrian Beaumont, director of racecourse services for the Newmarket-based International Racing Bureau, named “a shortening of the quarantine period for racing in Australia” among his three wishes to make life easier for horsemen tackling the global calendar. Other areas came under Beaumont’s scrutiny – Dubai being one, with the impact of its Carnival on the length of time that horses are likely to be away from European stables – but Australia came in for special attention with regard to two new, high-value series, the Global Sprint and Asian Mile Challenges, which include legs in Australia. Beaumont explained: “The quarantine rules pertaining to Australia are stricter than any other. For example, European runners have to do 14 days’ pre-export quarantine, and 14 days’ on arrival. That meant runners in the first leg of the Global Sprint Challenge on 3 February would have needed to be in quarantine no later than 28 December to allow for flight schedules. Thus, unless race clubs can persuade the Australian authorities to shorten the length of the quarantine period, it is difficult for their races to come anywhere other than at the start of a series, as quarantine could conflict with previous legs.”

The consequence, Beaumont explained, was that including Australian races from January to March in a series could mean trainers in the Northern Hemisphere considering them as being at the end of a campaign for their top horses, who may have started their racing season from the previous April to June. Not ideal, was his unequivocal message. Beaumont, whose job involves helping trainers through and over the various problems thrown up by international travelling, turned his focus on to “governmental and racetrack attempts to thwart the spread of diseases,” pointing out that one of the methods was to ban the import of horses from affected countries. “This is certainly true of countries with African horse sickness,” he said, “and restrictions were also put in place by countries affected by swamp fever and foot and mouth, even though the latter cannot be transmitted by horses.

More recently, there have been problems with West Nile virus, which had implications in 2006 for horses with a multi-country itinerary. In particular it affected horses that ran at the Breeders’ Cup in Kentucky. Any horse who ran there before going on to Japan, such as Ouija Board, needed to be vaccinated twice, at an interval of three to six weeks. Similarly, horses that were due to run in Hong Kong after the Breeders’ Cup had to return to their home stables for 15 days, before a blood sample could be taken and sent to America to test for West Nile virus. Only when that was clear could they travel to Hong Kong.” Weld’s reservations were becoming clearer by the minute.

However, as any balanced reporter knows, there are two sides to a coin, and it was not long before the heads of Weld and Beaumont were being addressed by the tail-side of the argument from Dr Patricia Ellis, animal health advisor to the Australian Racing Board, a director of the racing analytical laboratory in Victoria and secretary of the international movement of horses committee, a body set up by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities.

A formidable array of appointments for an equine veterinarian with nearly four decades of experience, ranging from government to private sector, from racetrack to teaching. She does not mince words. Dr Ellis, who was involved in the work that overcome obstacles enabling Weld’s pioneering Melbourne Cup winner, Vintage Crop in 1993, to set a new pattern, told delegates: “Yes, illogical, unscientific and inconsistent import conditions are causing problems that need to be resolved. But so do unrealistic expectations and perceptions.” On the specific charges that had been thrown her country’s way, she countered: “Australia’s quarantine arrangements have attracted unfavourable criticism, but Australia is free from equine influenza, and its import controls reflect this.

I make no apology for them. “The Australian government and its racing authorities don’t want a flu outbreak that would shut down racing and other equestrian events for several months. They have understandable concerns for racing and non-racing stakeholders outside the international racecourse fence.” On the broader issue, referring to the Dubai conference’s headline slogan, she said: “It’s time for a reality check. In the context of ‘Racing Without Borders’ what do you really mean, what do you want? As racing authorities, do you want to import foreign horses directly from their home stables without vaccinations, tests or official health certificates, and allow them to mix freely with local horses? Or do you want to ‘race across borders’ with science-based risk management, according to international standards, applied consistently, and which respects differences in country health status?”

There seemed to be only one answer from Dr Ellis’s tone, as she added: “Measures to prevent the spread of infectious diseases have to be a compromise between the need to conduct a successful event, with as wide a number of competing nations as possible, and the need to provide adequate safeguards to protect the health status of the animal and human populations of the importing country.

In some countries, racing is not the only game in town. The safety and status of competition horses, and the need to prevent economic loss and unfavourable reflection on a country’s health standing and veterinary services, are as important factors as caring for the indigenous racehorse population”. “Harmonisation of international issues such as handicapping, stewards’ decisions, rules of racing and race planning are directly under the control of racing authorities,” Dr Ellis explained. “Import conditions are not. They have to be negotiated government to government. Perhaps this is why the issue of ‘quarantine’ – thought I would prefer to speak about ‘import controls’ and ‘health safeguards’ – causes such angst.” The target for change is clear, according to Dr Ellis. “For success in expanding international borders, co-operation with government is critical.” However, she went on to warn: “Sometimes success has a very long lead time.” And using an even more stunning one-liner, “Success has a thousand fathers, and failure is an orphan,” as a preface, she added: “Persistent and polite requests from international trading partners engage the attention of governments, and assist local racing authorities to negotiate safe international exchanges of racehorses.

The World Animal Health Organisation sets the minimum international standards for trade. If we want standardisation or harmonisation of quarantine procedures, we must engage in the development of these standards.” Perhaps Dr Ellis should invite Dermot Weld to join her when she next tackles the World Animal Health Organisation.

Shockwave Therapy - uncovering new treatments

Doctors originally used shockwave therapy more than 20 years ago to disintegrate kidney stones in their patients, then learned that the therapy can also treat tendonitis, tennis elbow, heel spurs and other ailments. Equine researchers are still uncovering everything shockwave therapy can do for horses after it was initially and successfully used in Germany in 1996 to treat lameness. Shockwaves are high-pressure, low-frequency sound waves generated by a device outside the body and focused on a specific body site. When the shockwaves meet tissue interfaces of different densities, the energy contained in the shockwaves is released and interacts with the tissue, triggering natural repair mechanisms and stimulating bone formation and blood flow.

The shockwaves can lessen or eliminate pain and accelerate healing. New York trainer Rick Schosberg has a unique perspective on shockwave therapy. He’s used it on himself and his horses. “I’ve used it for myself for tennis elbow; it helped my elbow for 90 days,” Schosberg said. “With my horses I’ve used it a couple times on injuries and it did okay for minor injuries, soft tissue and saucer fractures. It probably knocked a third off the healing time but it’s expensive. You use it for at least three treatments over a month and a half, usually every two or three weeks. As long as it‘s not abused it’s okay. You can‘t run a horse within 10 days after you use it and you have to report it every time you use it (in New York) because it has an analgesic effect.” Shockwave therapy’s impact on horse racing could not have happened if it wasn’t developed for human patients first. And that happened by accident. During experiments with high-velocity projectiles, which were being used to smash ceramic plates, an employee at a company in Germany touched the plate at the very moment the projectile hit the plate. He felt something in his body akin to an electric shock, though measurements showed that there was no electricity present. That prompted German scientists to begin researching the possible effects of shockwaves on humans in the late 1960s. The first successful disintegration of a kidney stone in a patient by shockwaves was done in 1971. Fourteen years later, experiments were conducted regarding the effect of shockwaves on bones, leading to experiments on other parts of the human anatomy.

Today, shockwaves are the first choice of treatment for kidney and ureteral stones and has morphed into treatment for other medical conditions. Will equine medicine’s use of shockwaves follow a similar pattern? The first equine disease to be treated with shockwaves was proximal suspensory desmitis, an injury to the suspensory ligament which is a major cause of lameness. A year later, shockwaves were used on a horse with Navicular Syndrome, an ailment affecting the small navicular bone in a horse’s foot and the connecting ligament. The first use of shockwaves in the United States happened in 1998 with a horse with a distal hock joint and navicular pain. All the results were encouraging. “When we first started using it, it worked okay on lameness,” Iowa State University’s Dr. Scott McClure, DVM, a leading researcher of equine shockwave therapy, said. “At this point in time, it’s been well documented for tendon and ligaments.

A lot of people think it works for stress fractures. I think there are some joint applications which we’re learning more about. Soft tissue, too. It’s been shown to increase permeability of cell walls.” He believes that increased cell wall permeability could lead to drugs which are more effective attacking tumors. “There’s potential for a lot of applications,” McClure said. “I clearly don’t think we understand all of its uses.” There are two types of equine shockwave therapy: extracorporeal generated outside the body and focused on a specific area of a horse’s body, and radial pressure waves when an applicator is pressed on the horse’s body. “The two of them get lumped together, but they shouldn’t be,” McClure said. “They’re very different. Radial pressure waves have lower pressure and more shallow penetration.” According to Dr. Stephen Adams of Purdue University‘s Veterinary Teaching Hospital in a 2002 article, studies have shown that shockwave therapy is effective treating suspensory ligament disease, bowed tendons, ringbone, bone spavin, splints, fractured splint bones, sore backs, navicular syndrome and fractures not healing properly. “Initial studies show that about 75 percent of horses treated for these conditions show marked improvement following shockwave therapy,” Adams wrote, while noting that many conditions require a second treatment to produce optimum results. “Advantages of this treatment are that no drugs are used, and horses with chronic conditions such as bone spavin, chronic suspensory ligament disease and navicular syndrome can continue to exercise.

Frequently, improvement in lameness is achieved in horses where conventional treatments have failed. Shockwave therapy is used as an adjunct treatment for fresh injuries such as recent bowed tendons with the goal of reducing convalescent time and improving the outcome.” On its website, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital suggests using shockwave therapy on horses suffering from: suspensory ligament injury, tissue calcification, fractures or joint ankyloses, fatigue injury to bone, back pain, navicular disease and bone exostosis.

McClure documented the effect of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) on horses with unilateral forelimb lameness in a study he co-authored with Jessica Dahlberg, Richard Evans and Eric Reinertson which was published in the July 1st, 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. The study focused on five geldings and four fillies and mares with lameness.

Treatment by ESWT resulted “in a period of acute improvement in lameness severity that typically persists for two days. Thus, in horses undergoing ESWT, exercise should be controlled for a minimum of two days after treatment to prevent further injury.” The reason is that ESWT has an undeniable analgesic effect. “This has raised concerns that use of ESWT to treat musculoskeletal injuries in horses may, because of the analgesic effects, result in overuse of the injured limb, causing further injury to the affected part and posing a risk to treated horses and their riders,” the study said. “For this reason, racing jurisdictions in the United States and the Federation Equestre International have adopted regulations that require a 5-to-7 day period after treatment before the horse is allowed to perform.”

Regardless, the horseracing industry, one never known to embrace change and new products, has quickly come on board in using this non-invasive treatment on their horses. “Over the last five years, it’s dramatically increased,” McClure said. “The market is starting to saturate. There’s a lot of equipment out there. In 1988, I had the second machine in the country. I think the owners and trainers have taken the bit and run with it. They’ve been very aggressive with that.” Trainer Sanna Hendricks used shockwave therapy on her multiple stakes winning steeplechaser Praise the Prince after he suffered a soft tissue injury below the pastern while winning the 2003 Grade 1 New York Turf Writers’ Cup at Saratoga Race Course. “We used shockwave therapy on him, and he responded to it,” Hendricks said in an August 30th, 2004 story in the Blood-Horse. “I took the conservative approach with him. I gave him plenty of time to rest and recover and didn’t bring him back to training until February 5th with an eye on these races at Saratoga.” Praise the Prince not only made it back to the races at Saratoga, he won the 2004 Grade 2 A.P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase there as a nine-year-old. If that isn’t an endorsement for shockwave therapy, what is? But shockwaves should not be construed as a panacea.

Complications can occur with incorrect use, and McClure wrote, “The release of kinetic energy at interfaces of different acoustic impedances is crucial in planning ESWT. Shock waves must never be focused on gas-filled cavities like the lung or intestine.” Meanwhile, he’s back at work, doing new studies to see just what else shockwave therapy may help.