Hoof Matters - concentrating on the foot rather than the shoe

By Caton Bredar

In 1889, for the fourth edition of his book “The Racehorse in Training with Hints on Racing and Racing Reforms”, the English jockey turned horse trainer William Day added a chapter on shoeing, his preface stating 
“…one topic, highly important to all owners of horses, ‘Shoeing’…might advantageously be added…the aim to deal with facts and to avoid speculation.”

Day wraps up by adding that he hopes “it will be found…that the best method of shoeing and of the treatment of the foot has been not only discussed but actually verified… that the prevention which, in the diseases of the feet…is better than cure and has been placed nearer the reach of all.”
If only.

Nearly 120 years after Day and his book, the “cure” for many horsemen plagued regularly by a variety of hoof ailments and issues seems as far out of reach as ever. With quarter cracks as common as quarter poles, horsemen particularly in North America continue to play out a modern day version of Cinderella, looking for the shoe that leads to happily ever after, or at the very least, to happy and sound on the racetrack.   Among farriers, veterinarians and trainers there appears to be little agreement and much speculation when it comes to the shoeing of Thoroughbreds.

With no “best method” at hand, everyone can, in theory, agree with the familiar adage “no foot, no horse”.  But there is great controversy surrounding how to go about improving horse hooves and preventing injury, or even why horses have so many hoof-related problems in the first place.  When it comes down to the sole of the matter, at the end of the day, hoof care may well turn out to be the Achilles Heel of the Thoroughbred racing industry.

Most recently, the break-down and subsequent death of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro brought the topic of equine injuries, and, more specifically, laminitis, to the forefront.  Since Barbaro, American racetracks have spent millions installing synthetic surfaces, all espoused to be safer and more cushioned for horses.  A record $1.1 million distributed this year by the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation to numerous equine research projects may also be a direct result of the late champion’s demise.
Last autumn, the foundation designated a Hoof Care and Shoeing Task Force, another possible throw-back to Barbaro and the subsequent focus on equine injuries. In the task force’s first official report this past April, prominent owner and breeder Bill Casner outlined one possible cause of injuries in “The Detrimental Effects of Toe Grabs: Thoroughbred Racehorses at Risk”.  Endorsed by the Jockey Club, the Grayson Foundation and the Kentucky Horseshoeing School, the report placed the lion’s share of the blame for catastrophic injuries - and hoof-related issues - on the use of toe grabs in horse shoeing. Thoroughbred anatomy plays a role, according to the report: the fact that bone structure and hoof walls aren’t matured in the average racehorse; also the length of pastern or the type of hoof. The report also briefly mentions harder racetrack surfaces. But the overwhelming research revolved around the link between injuries and toe grabs.

Such thinking, according to at least one long-time farrier, may be what’s keeping the industry from finding Cinderella’s shoe. A self-proclaimed maverick, “as far out there as I can be,” North Carolina-based farrier David Richards believes rather than looking at the shoe, researchers should look at the foot.
Richards has been shoeing horses for the last 30 years.  When asked what type or breed of horse he specializes in, the farrier replies “lame ones”. According to Richards, around 20 to 30 percent of the horses he works on annually are Thoroughbreds.  Seventy to 90 percent of all the lameness problems he sees, according to Richards, are related to the hoof wall.
“We need to look more at hoof wall as a site of failure,” the farrier says, a principal which has become the backbone of “Equicast,” a product Richards has been developing and marketing for nearly 20 years. The cast, a tape-like, fiber-glass blend, covers the hoof, extending up to the hairline at the coronet band, with a shoe attached either on top of, or beneath, the cast.  Its creator likens it to a walking cast in humans, with the event that Thoroughbreds are able to exercise while wearing it, although “there’s a big difference between hoof and human bone.”

“The key is managing lateral expansion,” Richards elaborates, “to prevent an overload of the hoof wall, causing hoof problems and pain. The hoof wall is the point of least resistance.”  The cast “provides additional support and relieves pressure on the hoof wall,” he says, adding that his product minimizes heat and moisture, factors that also play a role in weakening hoof walls.
“When you adhere a shoe to a foot, you are frequently encapsulating bacterial materials,” the farrier offers. “Also, most apoxies are heat generating, and the hoof wall is already a great conductor of heat.”

Common solutions such as vitamin or feed supplements have a minimal effect at best, according to Richards.  “The huge problem with any of that is that horses have very poor circulation to their feet.”  Circulation issues cause problems all of their own in terms of growth and healing, but they also minimize the effect of anything ingested making a difference. 
Richards believes a host of factors contribute to a general weakening of the structure of the hoof wall, “a complex and sometimes contradictory” situation that covers nearly everything wrong with feet, from quarter cracks to long toe-low heel to medial lateral imbalances and White Line Disease.
“There’s actually no problem in growing feet,” he offers.  “The problem is in growing strong feet.
“We definitely see a more volatile foot today,” he concedes, citing feeding programs that cause quicker growth, synthetic surfaces that don’t stress the feet enough, and trends in commercial breeding as just a few of the possible contributing factors.
“One of the things we’re doing wrong, we’re not stressing the feet enough,” he says.  “From the day that they’re born we’re coddling the foot.”

“I’ve never heard of a breeder breeding for feet,” Richards adds. “I can think of one really prominent sire that’s a classic example.  I have four young horses by the same sire. Four babies right now that already have conformational issues. The sire has a great mind, tremendous ability.  But his foals aren’t known for their feet.”
“You can’t knock it,” he continues.  “But you have to accept the ramifications.”  And figure out how to deal with them.
Richards looks to external factors as much as internal as a source of the problems. “Horses who run almost exclusively on turf don’t have half the problems as horses who run on sand,” he says. “They don’t have the shock factor.  It’s unfortunate, but if something doesn’t stimulate feet to get harder, they get softer.”

Another factor Richards feels may contribute to weaker hoof walls is moisture.  “Feet problems are something plaguing all horses evenly, from coast to coast,” he says.  “Very little else is constant.  Feed differs East to West, other things are different. One thing that’s constant, moisture.  And variables of moisture.” Richards laments the fact that little has been done to research the effect of moisture on feet, or whether different parts of the hoof, or different types of hooves, absorb water differently. He’s currently doing his own research on white hooves to see how they react to moisture and believes it may lead to some answers for common problems.
“The industry is very grand-fathered in mentality,” he says.  “It’s ‘my father did it that way, and his father did it that way.’  There’s a resistance to new products,” he continues. “The diagnostics now have surpassed the treatment. We’re always working with the result of the cause, rather than looking for the cause itself.  We’re looking through the answer, for the answer.” 
Looking down, rather than up, is another part of the problem according to Richards, “The goal is to balance the horse,” he offers.  “It doesn’t matter what the sport, you’re ultimately judged on symmetry.  There are times when I’m trying to figure out what’s wrong with a horse’s feet, instead of looking down at the foot, I look up to see which shoulder is higher. I’m one of a very few who are cognizant of the whole foot - not just the heel and the toe,” and just as important, how the whole foot fits with the rest of the horse.


Richards explains that the majority of the horses he looks at have one leg longer than the other, either from birth or wear and tear.  He goes on to explain that the average 1,000 lb horse exerts 54 lb’s per square inch on the hoof wall with every stride.  When that horse is shod, Richards says, the weight on the hoof wall is nearly doubled, to 95 lb per square inch. A typical racing plate exacerbates the problem even more.
“We need to transition out of the conventional shoe,” he says. “We are overloading the coronary band.”
“One of my criticisms of the industry,” he continues, “there is a total misunderstanding of what foot issues really are.  Feet are no man’s land.”
“Shoes haven’t changed much over the years,” he adds. “They’re prettier, but they’re going the wrong way.  They mask the problems rather than reverse them.  The horse may have a longer life on the track, but not a more productive or sounder one.”
“It’s a horrible misnomer to say shoes are corrective,” Richards continues. “They’re not corrective.  They are totally protective,” a line of thinking which supports the barefoot practitioners, who believe in eliminating shoes entirely at least part of the time.
“I’m a huge proponent of it,” he says.  “A horse should be totally comfortable doing his respective sport barefoot. The foot is much better at managing us than we are at managing the foot with conventional methods.”
And while at least a few trainers are known to place blame on farriers, Richards holds veterinarians just as accountable, as they are generally the ones who actually diagnose the problems.
“They know what’s wrong, but they often don’t know how to treat it,” he says.  But in defense of the vets, “there’s a lot of misinformation and a lack of communication.”   
Perhaps the biggest culprit, from Richards perspective, is a close-mindedness and lack of commitment to the finding the cause of the problem and fixing it.

“There are a lot of things we need to do as an industry,” he says.  “As an industry, we need to set a standard.  There should be an orthopedic certification program, for example, that’s taught to both vets and to farriers. The vets will have to dummy down a little and the farriers will have to bone up.” “But a lot of this is just common sense.  A horse with a foot bothering him is like having a tire with too little air in.  You wouldn’t drive a car with less air in one tire, you’d fix the tire.  You wouldn’t sit in a chair with one leg shorter than the others.”
Richards believes we ask our horses to perform that way all the time.  He believes at least some of the money for research should be re-allocated, or new money dedicated specifically to hoof issues.  “What we need is to fix a flat.”
“How much more does New Bolton really need?” he asks referring to the clinic that treated Barbaro through his final days and has since received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations for research.  
“Problems evolve for a reason,” says Richards, who believes the reason almost always rests in the hoof wall.  “If we find an effective way to address the problem, it will make a difference that could be revolutionary.”
A difference hundreds of years in the making.

Who is Controlling Racing's TV Signals?

By Howard Wright

For all the differences between the horseracing and betting landscapes in Britain and North America - size, history, administration and race and bet types, - one similarity of principle has emerged over the last five years. The live televised racing scene has crystallised into two entities, and the impact on both the foundation and prosperity of the sport and the availability of its betting facilities has been thrown into the blender.

 In Britain, the 60 racecourses have lined up equally between the two cable and satellite broadcasters - Racing UK (RUK), with 30 tracks on board, and At The Races (ATR), with 29, but soon to become 30 when the new venue of Great Leighs attains its long-awaited completion.

In North America, the dominance and extensive exclusivity of TVG has been challenged by the major corporate racetrack owners Magna Entertainment Corp. (MEC) and Churchill Downs Inc., which have jointly formed the cable and satellite broadcaster Horseracing TV (HRTV), shutting out TVG from coverage of their many high-quality courses.

Into the mix have been catapulted bookmaking, advance deposit wagering and online betting facilities, the biggest attraction for the public and the most significant cash provider for racing outside the deep pockets of racehorse owners.

What will come out at the other end, and when, is impossible to say with any certainty. Interested parties have their own views, based on which side of the divide they sit, but it would take someone akin to a soothsayer, let alone an experienced industry observer, to imagine where the path will lead.

The road-makers are still at work, using different maps to plot their separate ways, and sometimes giving the impression they are making up the journey as they go along.

Two examples of intricacies that can only ripen confusion and spread uncertainty are worth recording, before attempting to untangle the web spun by rights-holders seeking to manage content to best advantage.

Ascot, Britain’s best-known international venue, lined up with At The Races when the second coming of that daily satellite broadcaster emerged from the ashes of a failed venture known as Attheraces in June 2004. At the time, as Ascot negotiated with its bankers over loans to service a £200 million redevelopment scheme, huge uncertainty surrounded previous rights, which may have meant Ascot having to repay a significant sum. Partly to allay the fears of financial institutions, Ascot fell in with ATR, and was given a five per cent stake in the company for its allegiance.

However, the contract, which runs until 2012, did not include pictures supplied to betting shops, and when these came up for renegotiation earlier this year, Ascot decided to jump on to the back of another media rights horse. It sided with Amalgamated Racing - Amrac for short - which had set up a joint venture with the stock market-quoted betting-shop services provider Alphameric to introduce a new channel, Turf TV, offering pictures from aligned courses to off-track bookmakers.

Until then, for 20 years the betting industry had had only one company to deal with, Satellite Information Services (SIS), which took pictures from Racing UK courses under contract, and by sub-contract from At The Races’ courses through an organisation called Bookmaker Afternoon Greyhound Service (Bags).

Bags has outgrown its title by owning horseracing rights and covering evening racing, while ATR controls no betting-shop picture rights in Britain, but it does use SIS to produce its programmes on a daily basis, and has a contract with it to distribute pictures into betting shops in overseas territories such as Sri Lanka.

Confused? You soon will be…

Explaining the decision to go with Amrac, Ascot’s finance director Janet Walker says: “We believe Amrac is the best vehicle for racing’s commercial relationship with the betting industry. And the decision has no impact on our separate satellite media rights arrangement with ATR, and should in no way be interpreted as a negative reflection on our relationship with that company.”
In North America, the picture began to get decidedly murkier in March this year, when Churchill Downs bought a 50 per cent stake in HorseRacing TV, which had previously been owned wholly by Magna.

It was the biggest in a series of deals that the two sides concluded at the time, and out of the arrangement came the formation of another joint venture called TrackNet Media Group, through which one partner’s horseracing content would become available to the other’s various distribution platforms - Magna’s advance deposit wagering (ADW) site XpressBet, Churchill’s similar newcomer TwinSpires.com.

TrackNet would also deal with providing content, from pictures to betting availability, for third parties, it emerged. These were to include racetracks, OTBs, casinos and other ADW operators - but not TVG, it seemed; well, not without a groundbreaking change of heart.

HRTV immediately took over coverage of Churchill Downs, and as contracts run their course, it picked up exclusive rights to Arlington Park on August 6, Fair Grounds in November and Calder on January 3, 2008.

It was not long before the consequences became clear. The 2007 Kentucky Derby was shown exclusively on HRTV and bet on through TwinSpires and winticket.com (whom Churchill Downs subsequently purchased). TVG and its wagering partner Youbet did not get a look-in. The same applied to the second races in the US Triple Crown, the Preakness, run at Magna-owned Pimlico, but come the last leg, the Belmont, exclusivity returned to TVG, under its contract with the New York courses.

Just before the Kentucky Derby, a contributor to the Turf’n’Sport website was moved to remark: “At the best possible time of the year for generating positive horseracing buzz, the industry has succeeded in turning on itself and creating negative headlines. At a time when online racebooks that offer betting on all major Thoroughbred tracks continue to make inroads, and at a time when the World Trade Organisation has ruled America must open up horse betting to offshore racebooks, the existing companies are bitching at each other.”

The punchline summed up: “How long will it take horseplayers to catch on and simply move their accounts offshore?”
He clearly is not the soothsayer identified earlier, who might supply the answer to what will come out of the mix. But he does have a point.

A similar observation holds good in Britain, though with a different emphasis. At times the two sets of particular circumstances in Britain and North America do run along parallel lines, but at others they are subtly interlinked and completely separate. The differences, and some of the connections, can be seen in the betting arena, where HRTV and TVG have their own direct outlets, but Racing UK has a joint venture and At The Races remains corporately aloof while relying on bookmaker partners to provide one of 30 income streams.

The key in Britain is Turf TV, the betting-shop channel set up in part by the Racing UK courses, which flickered into life with six exclusive members (including Ascot) and a small percentage of betting-shop supporters, mainly small independents until the Tote joined up, but none of the four majors, which account for 80 per cent of the UK estate.

On January 1, Turf TV will be bolstered by 25 other RUK courses. The split will be equal - just as it is in the choice facing satellite viewers, who need two TV accounts to cover the field - and the dominant bookmakers, who have lined up solidly behind SIS and the status quo, will have to decide whether they can survive on half rations for their horseracing coverage.

On that decision could depend a large slice of British racing’s future prosperity. The situation in North America depends on whether racecourse and betting operators choose TrackNet or TVG. It seems they cannot have both.

In each case, the participants have made their positions clear.

Robert Evans, president and CEO of Churchill Downs, told a shareholders’ meeting: “I understand our objectives on occasion may ruffle a few feathers. That is one of the things about competition. It is not really our intent just to go out and be disruptive. Our intent is to compete aggressively and to attract more customers to our business. There are always a few potential consequences when you challenge the status quo.”

In response to the Kentucky Derby impasse, TVG general manager David Nathanson said: “We attempted to negotiate with TrackNet Media and its owners in good faith, but thus far have not seen any terms from them indicating a strong desire to reach a mutually beneficial long-term agreement. We remain open to negotiating an agreement that is in the best interest of the racing industry, the respective parties and, ultimately, the racing fan.”

In Britain, Turf TV has become the dividing line between broadcasters and rights-holders Racing UK and At The Races.
RUK executive chairman Simon Bazalgette reflects: “Historically British racing has not been good at being commercial about negotiating its media rights, and has allowed third parties, such as BSkyB (the satellite provider) and the bookmakers, to get a lot of the economic benefit. Now racecourses can manage the business themselves, keeping more of the commercial benefit in racing and having greater control over the presentation of the sport. Turf TV is a great deal for the racecourses.”

ATR chief executive Matthew Imi takes a dispassionate view of Turf TV, since betting-shop rights do not figure in his company’s portfolio. “It will be interesting to see how it works out, but we’re not threatened by Turf TV,” he says. “The most fascinating aspect is not whether Turf TV gains any material traction among the big bookmakers, but what the net effect will be on British racing. For us, though, it’s a valuable opportunity to concentrate on our core business, which is to exploit our partners’ rights. Getting together in the UK with Racing UK is not on our radar.”

It might not be war, but for the moment, and maybe for the foreseeable future, it clearly is every man for himself.

HOW THE TELEVISION BROADCASTERS LINE UP

NORTH AMERICA
HORSERACING TV (HRTV) 
Owned by: Joint venture of Nasdaq-listed Magna Entertainment Corp. (MEC) and Churchill Downs Inc.
Operates: Subscription national cable and satellite TV horseracing network. Live racing content is acquired by sister company TrackNet Media Group. Estimated coverage 11 million homes.
Racetracks covered: 70-plus Thoroughbred, harness and Quarter Horse tracks, including Santa Anita Park (California); Churchill Downs (Kentucky); Gulfstream Park, *Calder (Florida); Lone Star Park (Texas); Arlington Park (Illinois); Pimlico (Maryland). International: UK tracks on Racing UK.
MEC operates off-track betting network, and national account wagering business XpressBet. Churchill Downs recently opened online national account wagering service, TwinSpires, and more recently acquired account wagering operator AmericaTAB and affiliates.
Overseas coverage: Racing World channel in Britain, joint venture with Racing UK.
*effective January 3, 2008

TVG
Owned by: Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc., global multi-media and technology company, including loss-making TV Guide magazine, in which Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has 41 per cent stake.
Operates: Subscription national cable and satellite TV horseracing channel, and online betting network. Estimated coverage 50 million homes.
Racetracks covered: Turf Paradise (Arizona); Del Mar, Fairplex Park, Hollywood Park, Los Alamitos, Oak Tree (California); **Calder (Florida); Prairie Meadows (Iowa); Ellis Park, Keeneland, Kentucky Downs, Turfway Park (Kentucky); Meadowlands, Monmouth Park (New Jersey); Ruidoso Downs, Zia Park (New Mexico); Aqueduct, Belmont Park, Saratoga, Yonkers Raceway (New York); Emerald Downs (Washington). International: Japan, UK tracks on At The Races. Some contracts with tracks owned by HRTV partners due to expire over next year. Has arrangement with online account wagering operators Youbet and The Racing Channel.
Overseas coverage: At The Races in Britain, through arrangement with TRNi and the Dubai Sports Channel in the UAE.
**through January 2, 2008

BRITAIN
RACING UK (RUK)
Owned by: 30 British racecourses, split Jockey Club Racecourses (50%), Chester, Goodwood, Newbury, York (sharing 25%), 11 smaller courses (sharing 25%). Owns all rights, including terrestrial TV, except for licensed betting offices (belong to Amrac, see below and facing).
Operates: Subscription national cable and satellite (via BSkyB service, part of Setanta Sports package) TV horseracing channel, with links to small number of bookmaker partners; international channel, Racing World, in partnership with MEC and Churchill Downs; licensed betting-office channel, Turf TV, set up by Amalgamated Racing (Amrac), joint venture between Racecourse Media Services (separate company owned by RUK courses and Ascot) and betting-office provider Alphameric; overseas delivery of pictures and data from RUK courses in association with South Africa-based racetrack and betting operator Phumelela. About 200,000 subscribers (including Setanta, forecast to grow to 1 million when Premiership football comes on stream in Autumn 2007).
Racetracks covered: Aintree, Ayr, Bangor, Beverley, Carlisle, Cartmel, Catterick, Cheltenham, Chester, Epsom, Goodwood, Hamilton, Haydock, Huntingdon, Kempton, Ludlow, Market Rasen, Musselburgh, Newbury, Newmarket, Nottingham, Pontefract, Redcar, Salisbury, Sandown, Thirsk, Warwick, Wetherby, Wincanton, York. International: France, Dubai, occasional other major races;  HRTV (see above) coverage of North America on separate channel, Racing World.
Overseas coverage: North America, joint venture with HRTV; Australia, jointly with At The Races; other territories, partnership with Phumelela (South Africa).

AT THE RACES (ATR)
Owned by: broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting (46%), racetrack owners Arena Leisure (46%) and Northern Racing (2%), and racecourses Ascot (5%), Newton Abbot, Plumpton and Ripon. Owns all media rights of participating courses except licensed betting office and terrestrial TV rights.
Operates:  National cable and satellite (part of Sky Sports package) TV horseracing channel, with links to bookmaker partners. ATR courses shown in betting shops through agreement with Satellite Information Services (SIS), which sub-contracts rights from Bookmaker Afternoon Greyhound Service (Bags). BSkyB subscription platform covers 8.5 million homes in UK.
Racetracks covered: Ascot, Bath, Brighton, Chepstow, Doncaster, Exeter, Fakenham, Folkestone, Fontwell, Hereford, Hexham, Kelso, Leicester, Lingfield, Newcastle, Newton Abbot, Perth, Plumpton, Ripon, Sedgefield, Southwell, Stratford, Taunton, Towcester, Uttoxeter, Windsor, Wolverhampton, Worcester, Yarmouth. (Great Leighs will become 30th on opening). Plus all 27 Irish courses. International: France, Dubai, Germany, occasional other major races; TVG (see facing) coverage of North America.
Overseas coverage: North America, arrangement with TRNi, through to TVG; Australia, jointly with RUK; other territories, distribution by SIS.

Should sales catalogues include information on medication?

By Geir Stabell
​

Not too long ago, I saw a TV interview with Terje Haakonssen, three times World Champion snowboard rider. When talking about his lifestyle, and that of the general public, he made an interesting point; “Look carefully at what you eat, take it seriously”, he said, “People don’t. You know, a man is ever so careful about what quality of petrol and oil he gets for his new car. But when he has filled it up with the best he can find, the most expensive, he buys a full fat cheese burger and a large coke for himself.” Perhaps many of us value our cars more than we value our bodies. Look around you. It certainly appears to be the case, doesn’t it.

Haakonsen is a man obsessed with quality and image. In 1998, he boycotted the Nagano Games because he felt the Olympic image was not good enough for his sport. Can you imagine a leading owner boycotting a high profile race meeting, or a top thoroughbred breeder boycotting a leading sale, for similar reasons? Probably not. Haakonsen’s world is different to the horseracing world. He is a bit of a loner, but has many admirers way outside the circles of his minority sport, simply because he talks a lot of sense. The racing industry could do with someone like him.

Labelling of food products have become more of an issue lately, and when going to the supermarket I actually notice some reading these labels. On the other hand, I have also been stared at when taking a minute to compare the amounts of energy, fat, salt and sugar in, say, various breakfast cereals.
“Looks almost like he is studying a pedigree page”, I once heard a man say to the other as they passed behind me while I performed such a study. Living in Newmarket has its charms. I found the remark amusing too, until I began thinking about it on my way home. Actually, a pack of breakfast cereals costing less than three pounds is better labelled, by stricter regulations, than any million-dollar yearling passing through the ring at any public auction.

When studying sales catalogue pages, it strikes me more and more how much of the crucial information has been left out. It will never happen but I can assure you that if I did consider purchasing an expensive yearling, I would not base my decision on what has been printed in the catalogue. Of course, one has to do proper, independent research, but what exactly is the point of these sales catalogues, if they are not even able to give you half the story, half the truth, about this fragile four-legged product on offer? Using the sales catalogue as your source of information, you do not get the official ratings of horses that have run, nor of their relatives. You very seldom get any information about the races these horses have won or been placed in, such as distance, surface, were they handicaps or weight for age races, if in England were they ‘banded races’ and so on. There is no information on whether horses have raced with blinkers or cheek-pieces, or whether they have been bandaged when running. And, more importantly, there is absolutely no information on any use of any medication. Believe you me, that is the one piece of information that, according to common sense and law, absolutely should be included. Having run in blinkers has never made a horse less valuable to a future owner. A history of medication, and a pedigree elevated to black type status with the help of medication, certainly has. In particular in Europe, where one does not allow racing of horses on medication.

A friend of mine bought a horse at a public auction in Europe. The horse had performed well in Listed events, and he was going to Scandinavia, where his level of form would make him one of the top performers. Since the horse also had a nice pedigree, a good conformation and was consigned by one of the bigger operations in Europe, my friend was quite excited when getting the final bid. So was his trainer. Until he raced him. One run revealed why local bidders had not gone higher when he went through the ring; the horse was a bleeder. Could not win a race even in Norway, and how he had been able to perform so well for his previous owner on a few occasions remains a mystery. My friend wrote to the vendor, explaining the situation and suggesting that they should take him back. That never happened of course. So, my friend decided to send the horse to USA where, surprise, surprise, he won quite a few times, even in nice allowance races at principal tracks, when racing on Lasix.

At most major international sales, they have established a repository facility for x-rays, allowing vendors to lodge x-rays applicable to the sale of their horses. This is one step in the right direction.  When you buy an expensive horse, or any horse for that matter, is it so much to ask, if one also demands accurate information on its medical history? I don’t think so. Nor do I think it is too much to ask, if someone wants the simple information on the horse’s closest relatives; did any of them, at any point in their careers, run on medication? Let’s get briefly back to the man with the car and the hamburger. Would he buy this expensive car, if he was informed that “this is a real classic, a beautiful car, with elegant interior, sexy seats and a powerful engine, but, mind, you, the engine tends to switch itself off from time to time… it seems to be genetic and we can’t do much about it.” When you buy a horse at public auction, part of the “engine” may already be a bit dodgy. If you buy a young horse with an American pedigree, the chances are very high that you also buy a horse from a family that has, for generations, been racing on medication. If you plan to race the animal in a jurisdiction where such medication is allowed, that may be just fine. If you plan to stand the horse at stud, in a jurisdiction where medication is allowed, that is also fine. If not, you could soon be in trouble with this horse. Thus far only Germany has taken a strong stand on medication in their breeding stock. No stallion is approved if he has raced on medication. That is some difference, compared to the situation in North America. Change may be coming there also though.

There is a will in USA to do something about medication. As explained in Trainer, Spring Issue 2007, the Jackson’s Horse Owner’s Protective Association is lobbying hard for a marketplace which 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. The association’s lawyer Kevin McGee says: ”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.”
Exactly. Three key words; “reduces the mystery”. These words can hardly be used too often, in too many contexts, in this industry. Where better to start, than with the sales catalogues?
 
Achieving a better image, that of a clean, honest, open and transparent bloodstock market place, will not be quick process. There can be little doubt, however, that addressing the problem with medication in a serious way, and make some progress in this field, will help speeding up such a process. If you believe fallers and fatal injuries at Aintree and Cheltenham creates about the worst possible publicity horseracing can get, think again.  In the wake of any death on the track in North America, one often sees a flood of letters, articles and opinions posted and published on the internet, almost exclusively pointing the finger sharply at the use of medication.

Too many bad write ups will make it even harder to recruit new investors to the game, but bringing the issue of medication into the sales rings, might help a lot. What does a bloodstock agent reply, to the wealthy ‘newcomer’ at the sales, if he expresses a wish to bid as a yearling enters the ring and says, “I like this one, let’s go to 200,000 or so, but, by the way, does this family have a history of use of medication?”
Print it in the catalogue and, provided the man has a copy of it and that he can read, he will know the answer. Regardless of where the lot was bred or has been raced. This is not at all a problem exclusive to the US market. American bred horses, and horses with American pedigrees, fill many a page also in many a European sales catalogue. When I was asked to do this article, posing the question, “should information on medication be included in sales catalogues”, it is was so tempting to give a reply like; “Yes, do it” or perhaps one like; “Should health warnings remain on the tobacco packaging?”

Common sense does not always win through in this world, especially not when up against commercial interests. Horseracing and breeding is a global industry, and herein lies the problem. Not that it is global, but that it is an industry. More than it is a sport. It may have set out as a sport, but commercial factors are at the forefront and more and more dominant these days. Therefore, some breeders, consigners, sales companies, perhaps even bloodstock agents, may be opposed to the idea of publishing information on medication in catalogues.
In one corner of Europe, there is no need for any catalogue information on any use of medication for any of the country’s stallions. Germany is the nation where you cannot stand a stallion at stud if he has been raced on medication. That’s a good policy, and it should help improve the breed. Provided, of course, that none of these stallions have been trained on medication. And provided that all the mares bred to these stallions have also been trained and raced without the aid of medication. Not trying to complicate matters even further here, only trying to point out what a jungle this actually is.
Racehorses are bred from sires who raced almost exclusively with the aid of medication. Horses are being bred out of mares who also raced on medication, but a vast number of horses are out of mares that never raced. Disclosing the reason why these mares failed to make it to the racecourse, is probably quite impossible. One thing can be said for certain though, that any man or woman who spends a considerable amount of money on a yearling, is hoping that the animal will one day be physically capable of taking part in a race.
Everyone who buys a yearling should know that about one in five yearlings actually never become racehorses. Therefore, deciding how good the chances are for one particular individual is important. Disclosing all information about any use of raceday medication in the family, gives the purchaser a better chance of assessing a yearling’s chances of making it to the racecourse, than information on, for example, how many races a couple of grandsons of the third dam managed to win.

I would suggest that information about any use of medication, going back three generations, should be included in all sales catalogues, even if it means pushing some information low on the page off the page. With catalogues published online, even that should not be a problem – an extra few lines, or even an extra page, means nothing in this way of publishing. “Still not possible”, I hear some say.
I see. How about this line of thought then; that such steps would actually help the thoroughbred industry in its so-called strive at “enhancing the breed”.

The way things are going now, that is not exactly the case is it.

What does the future hold for Great Lakes Downs?

By Troy Ruel

Shane Spiess invested his future in the Michigan Thoroughbred industry nearly a decade ago when Great Lakes Downs opened in Western Michigan.

The veteran trainer bought an expansive ranch and moved his breeding and boarding operation across the state following the closure of Ladbroke DRC in Detroit.

“GLD has been good to us and I love this area,” said Spiess, who won the inaugural training championship at GLD in 1999. “I have put everything I have into this place. This is home now.”

For John Drumwright, his expense might be even more. Drumwright came to Michigan in 1940 — and has devoted the last 67 years to the state’s horse racing industry. It’s decades of time spent in a business he loves. “This is all I’ve ever done and all I know,” said Drumwright, 84. “You put a smile on your face and pray for the future, but I’m not sure what I’m going to do.”

As the midway point closes in on Great Lakes Down’s 100-date season, both trainers — along with the hundreds of other horsemen on the GLD grounds — face an uncertain future as the 74-year-old history of Michigan Thoroughbred racing could come to an end when the season concludes on Nov. 6.

Magna Entertainment Corp., which owns the meet license through MI Racing Inc., announced last January that this would be its final meet in Michigan unless there were “significant changes in the regulatory environment that restricts horse racing from competing at a level playing field with other forms of gaming and entertainment.”

The MEC release came early enough with a standing offer that lease agreements on the facility were possible, however, as self-imposed deadlines continue to pass, nothing has been done yet to save Michigan’s only Thoroughbred racing facility.

“It’s frustrating, and even depressing at times, but we’re doing everything we can for the future of Thoroughbred racing here in Michigan,” said Gary Tinkle, executive director of the Michigan Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. “It’s a tough sell, but I believe it’s vital to maintain dates in 2008.”

A rich traditionThoroughbred racing kicked off in 1933 with a 31-date meet at the Michigan State Fairgrounds in Detroit and has since grown into a $1.2 billion industry statewide.

The industry was riding an emotional high in 1998 with a record-setting combined wagering handle of over $145 million at DRC, but track owners carried out a threat that they would shut its doors if casinos were allowed to be built in downtown Detroit.DRC did just that on Nov. 8, 1998, ending a run of 48 years in the state’s major metropolitan area and leaving the Thoroughbred horsemen in limbo.

The horsemen found some relief when a group of private investors re-opened Muskegon Race Course — a former Standardbred track near the shores of Lake Michigan — and eventually sold the facility to Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach, who was in the process of adding strategic venues across the country to his growing stable of MEC facilities.

The move to Muskegon was thought to be temporary as MEC won the licensing rights to build Michigan Downs, a proposed multi-million dollar entertainment complex in metro Detroit. However, the legislative climate cooled across the state and those plans since have been placed on hold.

The primary reason for the pessimism was the 2004 passage of Proposal 1 — an anti-gambling measure primarily funded by the state’s casino interests. The vote added a law to the Michigan constitution requiring statewide and local voter approval before additional gambling opportunities were added, eliminating the opportunity to add slot machine-like video lottery terminals at the state’s seven pari-mutuel facilities.

Since then, the figures have been staggering as the tracks struggle to keep pace with other states.

The combined wagering handle at GLD dipped to $14 million last year — 90 percent off the final figures from Detroit — and numbers statewide are down an additional 12.4 percent already this year. The purse pool continues to be affected as well, as last year’s total was $6.1 million, half of the 1998 numbers. The first casualty came with the closure of Saginaw Harness Raceway to begin the 2005 season, while GLD appears to be next.

Magna Entertainment Corp. estimates its annual losses to average $1.8 million and stated prior to the current season that it “can not continue to subsidize horse racing in Michigan with no prospect of future profitability.”

“We’re aware this could be the last year,” said GLD general manager Amy MacNeil. “It’s business as usual. We’re striving to make this the best year ever.”

“In a sense, we’re lucky to have Magna’s support even for this one last year,” said five-time GLD track training champion Gerald Bennett. “But, it’s tough not to think about the future. Everyone, so far, is doing their part to make the races go.”

What lies ahead?

The news was devastating — albeit not surprising — to the Thoroughbred horsemen at Great Lakes Downs.

However, the decision could create a crippling ripple effect through the state’s entire agricultural community. Horse owners and trainers are already looking to sell off a majority of their stock — creating voids in filling fields and putting a pinch on the local economy.
According to numbers supplied by the track, GLD generates $3.7 million into West Michigan through its vendors, while the horsemen generate millions more through temporary housing, feed and other job-related expenses.

As the season nears the halfway point, the effects have been noticeable. Trainers already are lightening work loads and jockeys are looking to ride elsewhere.
“You’re starting to see people cutting back or selling off, that’s what I intend to do,” said Spiess. “It’s too expensive to keep them. The drought this year isn’t helping and the cost for feed and fuel has increased. It’s a vicious circle.”

Gerald Bennett, who led the field with 430 starts and over $1 million in earnings last season, is nowhere near the leaders in starts for 2007, while former champion jockey Mary Doser chose to return to Kentucky to be closer to her family farm.

The future of the industry is in jeopardy as horse breeders also are getting out of the game. Rick McCune, who has been breeding horses since 1980 in Michigan, has witnessed the decline firsthand. “The uncertainty is killing the sales and hurting the farms,” said McCune, the acting president of the MHBPA. “When I got into the business, there were 26 farms that do what I do. Today, there are only five in Michigan. There is no market for our animals.”

McCune said he bred just 12 mares last year, down 75 percent from past years. The auction prices for the annual yearling sale saw a decrease of 66 percent from a year ago — averaging just $2,700 a head.

“No one knows what’s going to happen with the track, so a lot of people are cutting their losses and getting out of the business,” added McCune. “They’re cutting back because they just can’t afford to keep the babies.”

If Great Lakes Downs does close its doors, many of the state’s horsemen will leave in search of greener pastures. However, their options remain limited. It’s tough to break into new racing circles, while getting granted stall applications late in the game will be difficult as well.

Many may not have the stock to compete against horses from Kentucky and the East coast. Some trainers and owners are expected to ship horses to established tracks in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Louisiana and the fall meet at Fort Erie. Once they leave, it will be hard to draw them back. Meanwhile, others will choose to get out of the business altogether.

“It’s tough to say how many would get out of horse racing here in Michigan,” said Dr. Robert Gorham, the leading trainer at this year’s meet at the midway point. “The smart ones got out of it a long time ago.”

“When you get the horse racing business in your blood, it’s hard to get out,” added McCune, 60. “That being said, there’s absolutely no way I would start all over again. I am 60 years old now and it’s just too much work and a lot of time.”

Guarded optimism

Many of the trainers at Great Lakes Downs continue to go about their daily business and try not to think about the future. Whether it’s a 
case of denial or unbridled optimism is a reason for debate.

“It’s like we have our heads stuck in the sand,” said one horse owner. “We don’t want to believe this is happening to us.”
Unfortunately, deadlines are coming quickly on the status of the track. Race date applications must be on file with the Michigan Office of Racing Commissioner imminently.

“We’re all beginning to realize we have to do something soon,” added Gorham. “It’s beginning to get more and more pressing for the horsemen. At some point, we need to all stick together and come up with a solution for the future.”

There are ideas that could impact the track’s status. There’s controversial talk about the possibility of adding instant racing — video game-like machines that offer betting on taped races — while many believe a ballot proposal to add slot machines may not be too far out in the future — even as early as 2008. There’s a growing belief that Magna Entertainment Corp. wants to be around when that happens as they still hold the license for Michigan Downs.

Other possible proposals on running a shortened season or even move to a different Michigan racing facility don’t seem realistic to many horsemen. Purse revenue this year is already down nearly 10 percent, so the track would need to run a minimal amount of dates to make it cost-worthy for Michigan horsemen to remain. And the cost of transforming an existing Standardbred facility into a Thoroughbred track would be too much.

“There’s just too many loose ends out there,” said Tinkle. “We’re trying to do something, but we’re limited in what we can do. We’re willing to work with anyone willing to put a meet on, unfortunately, there’s not a lot of people able to do that.”

Many people believe that if Thoroughbred racing went on hiatus — even for a year — that it would be a crushing blow to the industry.
“Absolutely devastating,” added Tinkle. “We lost a lot of people when we went from Detroit to Muskegon and it would be magnified if we took a year off.”

In addition, the Michigan breeders fund — which helps supply nearly $2 million to the purse pool for state-bred stakes races — is in jeopardy if the track comes to a close. Horsemen groups have petitioned ORC Commissioner Christine White to place that money in escrow, but with the financial troubles within the state, all bets are off.

The Michigan Harness Horsemen’s Association, a group that has been at odds with the Thoroughbred track in the past, has also vocally supported the efforts to keep GLD open. Many people feel that without Thoroughbred racing within Michigan, simulcast signal opportunities, as well as wagering, will fall dramatically.

The key ultimately could fall at the hands of the state legislature.“We’re still wagering the way we did in 1933 — basically it’s win, place and show and that’s it,” said Tinkle. “It’s sad to say, but horse racing has a deep tradition in Michigan and it’s in serious, serious trouble.

“And, so far, nothing’s been done in Lansing to allow us to compete fairly for the gaming dollar.” Jim Griffin, a prominent state owner and breeder, said, “In order to salvage the industry, we’re going to need a minor miracle here. “We need some cooperation from the state to give us something to survive.”

''Jarred Up'' horses - observations by a racecourse farrier

At the height of the flat racing season how many different terms are used to describe horses that lose their action? The description depends very much upon those that are explaining the condition and what is perceived to be the cause and the effect; the animal simply becomes scratchy and non free flowing in its movements. The exciting cause reveals itself as being “JARRED UP.”

At this early stage no observable foot specific secondary condition is presented. The physical condition I have become aware of horizontal striation of the dorsal wall which is rarely present in two year olds, but as a condition is fairly common in the older three year old plus groups, specifically when the animals have raced the previous season on firm ground. I feel there are several diagnostic constants which mix the primary causes of being “jarred up” with the secondary effects to form the description and source of the discomfort, these can be incorrectly described.

I feel the primary cause of the loss of action often relates to horses’ feet and acute inflammatory changes. The conclusions are drawn from physiological changes noted and only recently considered as being relevant to a loss of action some six to ten months earlier. The early foot changes are demonstrated by irregular growth patterns in the development of the dorsal surface of the hoof wall and related voids within the actual structure of the hoof. The above features progress downward locked in the structure of the hoof wall during normal growth from their area of formation, which was initially located within the tissues of the coronary crown down towards the hoof’s bearing surface. Voids are only revealed physically and visually when the attendant ridging and grooving reach ground level.

Without doubt the observations, when applied to flat racehorses, relate to an incident or repeated incidents of athletic output during the previous racing season on ground conditions unsuitable for the specific animal or its specific physiology. The animal often simply presents as not being free moving without any observable unilateral lameness. Often a few days on “The Walker” at rest and an analgesic course of medication will enable the animal to keep racing throughout the season and without any apparent loss of form, yet the animal’s action is changed and varies from slightly off to quite uncomfortable. To continue to race demonstrates just how adaptable a racehorse is.

I will attempt to describe the primary action modification most commonly noticed. My peers have long since suggested horses prepare their feet to land by lateral and medial adduction and abduction prior to their foot planting, a flaccid lower limb state, probably seeking out the nature of the ground surface and what adjustment the horse has to make to avoid injury. I have noted that the landing preparation aspect of the stride of sore / jarred up horses is dramatically visually bi-laterally exaggerated and the animal instead of abducting/adducting its feet actually assumes a base wide flight and its feet immediately prior to landing describe circular movements away from its axis, the left foot anti clockwise, the right foot clockwise. The movement described is bi-laterally matched, symmetric, which is felt is abnormal and forwards progress for the animal is somewhat mechanical [not free flowing], yet the animal is not exhibiting any unilateral [single leg] lameness. The above is felt is an outline of the noted condition, but what is actually happening? I feel there is strong evidence of coronary shunting, effected by the concussive forces transmitted through the dorsal wall of the hoof into the sensitive tissues of the coronary cushion due to a firm racing surface. It is these concussive forces that cause the coronary corium to lay down a protective fluid barrier, a “CORONARY SEROMA” [blister] or even in the most severe insults “HAEMATOMA” [blood blister], the fluids protect and buffer the vital horn growth area. It follows that this fluid area effectively becomes locked within the growing structures of the dorsal wall. The lymphatic system fairly rapidly mops up the fluid, a cellular, sometimes bloodstained and often linier void remains [non cellular] within the structure of the wall. The severity of the initial physiological insult determines the extent of the fluid, seroma/haematoma and the resultant defective area/void. The weakened hollow area now below the coronary ring is, I feel another of nature’s ways to effect an additional buffering/flexibility to dissipate any future or ongoing shunting trauma, firstly protected by a hydraulic action then an air buffered flexible space which remains within the horn tissue, a perfect and natural response for concussive protection.

The problems of shoe attachment to defective horn are at this stage are effectively still latent. How it affects the tradesman “Abraded feet” is a fairly loose term to describe the ultimate nightmare for the racetrack farrier. The distal edge of the hoof capsule has become flaky, cracked, underrun with cavities, to a greater degree loose from its underlying and adjacent supporting structures. The sole is consistently doubled, one of nature’s processes to protect the solar surface of the distal phalanx [P3] and its related soft tissues. This thickened sole is often not sufficiently matured to be mechanically exfoliated, yet it hangs below the level of the wall.

Nature takes no account within its physiological blueprint for the need of the farrier to attach a metal shoe as a base plate. The increased thickness of the double sole creates stressing forces of its own, demonstrated by the perfectly natural sideways loading on the weakened wall and to complete natural the separation of the already partly separated base structures prior to rebuilding them, which often is further demonstrated by the presence of a dorsal depression in the wall.

This is saying nothing of the now inflexible nature of the doubled sole constricting the natural processes of the sole connective tissues. It must be remembered in the wild state this horse would be somewhat in a recovery state and acutely in danger of predation. The problem is these feet seldom support a shoe in a satisfactory way. Racing plates tend to become easily detached especially during transit to the racecourse. This is a headache for the racetrack farrier, as in order to reattach a shoe, which he is employed to do, the loose unviable horn and great deal of the remaining poorly integrated glue has to be removed, just as is outlined as one of nature’s processes in the above paragraph in order to get a satisfactory layer to load a shoe onto and re-attach, nail the plate into. The problem here is that often after the defective horn is removed there is left insufficient wall horn, both in quantity and quality, into which a nail can be driven, certainly other than in the most forwards toe area and maybe one nail in each heel area. Otherwise, no viable nail supporting wall horn remains.

The thickened solar plate can in the very short term be used by a farrier to assist with a semi-secure nail attachment, as is demonstrated by the system of very low nailing and close shoe fitting sometimes seen in US stock. With ingenuity, stealth a great deal of luck and some skill a failure to reattach a shoe for the purpose of a single race is extremely rare, in my case twice in twenty six years, once due to the extreme stroppy nature of the patient not permitting re-attachment without displacing the re-attached shoe by immediately kicking it off again. The other occasion the animal was still as lame after re-attachment as it had been with the shoe absent when it arrived at the track!

Just out of interest, occasions have arisen when horses have gone to post with the nailing supported with electrical insulating tape, a very useful tool to have in the van and at other times the shoe and nailing supported in place with multiple layers of vet wrap. What happens after the animal returns to the care of its yard is fortunately another’s worry. I have these problems at home in my own daily practice when time is not of an essence. This is why it has been necessary to attempt to understand the specified racetrack scenario.

I will attempt to suggest how the condition of voids within the horn structure described in part one lead to abraded feet. It is actually a simple matter where the voids represent a wall detachment/lock up cavitation, which when the affected wall area reaches the level of bearing is imperfectly attached so as to have a loss of integrity with the underlying and surrounding horny tissue. The remaining wall structure gradually and simply fractures away from a defective basal connection and then further disintegrates under the loading associated with the stresses of athletic performance and when any attempt is made to nail into it.

There is a complicating factor in feet containing dry seroma cavities which I will attempt to explain. The integrity of feet which are affected in this way remain fine, and SEEM to remain thus until the separated area grows down to a level of the white zone junction, when the farrier’s nails penetrate into the cavity in order to attach a racing plate. The action of nail penetration seems to trigger a secondary effect, an influx of bacteria and yeast infection, associated with loose wall, seedy toe and/or white line disease kick-off, all of which assist the weakening conditions related to shoe loss and separation of the hoof wall from its junction with the solar plate. The author feels infection in itself is an induced condition and secondary to the original insult. The breakdown of the wall sole junction is without doubt related to environment and compaction by the racing/training surfaces.

To identify the onset of the syndrome takes very close observation as the initial indication is masked by the covering racing shoe and is not unusually seen as an extremely thin linier fissure, on many occasions detected by little more that a gut feeling. Having said this, if the fissure is missed at a very early stage, during the course of a full shoeing cycle great horn destruction in the area of the white zone will take place. A seedy toe, yeast-induced wall separation will happen and will unless effectively dealt with, migrate up the bi-sulphide junction more quickly than the wall can grow downwards, creating a chronic and accelerating condition. This horn decay is fortunately something that can be today easily controlled and/or reversed with recently and specifically developed products which condition hoof horn and destroy hoof related infection. I have trialled a conditioning gel product over the past two years with fantastic results.

There is when addressing problem feet today a distinct move towards the early use of hoof rebuilding materials and the attachment of alloy plates with glue products, from my viewpoint somewhat of a cop out and the equivalent of a band-aid exercise, undoubtedly. “Glue destroys the integrity of viable and healthy hoof horn.” This rebuild/attachment method is a nightmare to the racecourse farrier as these rebuilt feet and shoes attached with glue seem to be easily rejected. During the course of a year several reinforced feet / glue-on shoes are lost at the racecourse prior to racing; in fact it is fair to say the majority of front feet presented have evidence of glue/rebuild materials present. The shoes seem predisposed to falling off for many reasons. When this happens most of the lower hoof wall falls away with the polymer and /or acrylic. There is never sufficient time for the racecourse farrier to re-glue or rebuild a foot so the retained farrier has to find a way to replace the glue-reinforced/attached shoe using the traditional nailing method. There is no crisis more critical than getting a horse to the starting gate sound once it is at the racecourse premises. It is a very stressful time for everybody involved, and damaged feet are conditions best avoided wherever it is preventable.

So how can feet be made to regenerate sufficiently after having been subjected to treatment with re-enforcing material? The basic conclusion seems to be getting back to common sense methods, good diet, working on suitable surfaces (sea sand is not one of these), good husbandry, a regular shoeing cycle, sufficient hygiene, suitable bedding, pre-racing foot conditioning and the essential observant farrier. I feel a most important aspect is conditioning of the animal and its limbs in a way to assist sufficient horn keratinisation, which possibly is effected by training on suitable surfaces.

Steeplechase horses subjected to an element of road work in their preparation seem to have less hoof problems, yet this may simply be that they do not race on very firm ground, a seasonal influence. For the future, should we consider fitting a rolled toe shoe when animals are going to be asked the perform on really hard ground? There seems to be no place for the square toe being used on racehorse due to a lack of traction during the acceleration phases, but a very light roll, who knows? We will, in the next couple years no doubt! I feel there will be a niche for the rolled toe during the recovery stage from this condition but as a preventative measure? As a training aid? I will undertake such a study now that it has been suggested.

Current research on Pelvic Asymmetry in Racehorses

Steeplechase racing in particular is a high risk sport for the horse. There is currently some fairly extensive research into racehorse injuries and fatalities on the racecourse, with previously published scientific reports on the subject being widely available. The racing industry is aware of the need for such reports, as the industry itself is very much in the public eye with regard to injury rates on the racecourse. Lameness is one of the main reasons for wastage in the racehorse industry, and was the reported cause of 68% of total horse days lost to training in a study of racehorses in England (Rossdale et al. 1985).

This study also suggested that 10% of all diagnosed lameness cases were caused by tendon injury. Overstrain injuries to the superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) are amongst the most common injuries observed in the athletic horse (Goodship, 1993). It is therefore important to determine all possible causative factors of SDFT injury so that methods for preventing injury can be implemented as part of a training programme.

HINDQUARTER ASYMMETRY

The hindquarters of the horse provide the propulsion, and the forelimbs support 60% of the horse’s weight. Problems affecting the pelvic structure in the horse can lead not only to poor performance, but also to an unlevel gait and to lameness of the hindlimb. There are to date very few scientific reports on the frequency of hindquarter asymmetries in the horse, although Bathe (2002) found that most hard working horses were likely to have some degree of pelvic asymmetry.

This factor may not always affect performance, as many successful horses have been found to have asymmetry of the pelvis. Dalin et al. (1985) investigated the hindquarter asymmetry in Standardbred Trotters for any correlation with poor performance. He measured differences in height between the left and right tuber sacrale when the horse was standing square. Of the 500 horses measured 39 of them showed marked hindquarter asymmetry. In 30 horses the tuber sacrale was lower on the left, and in 9 horses it was lower on the right. The asymmetric horses had significantly inferior performance (measured by total earnings) compared to the symmetrical horses.

All the horses were trained and raced in Sweden on a left handed track. The asymmetrical horses were also of significantly larger body size than the symmetrical horses. In a recent study undertaken by Stubbs et al. (2006) in conjunction with the Hong Kong Jockey Club, a number of racehorses were presented for euthanasia (for injury and/or lameness). Racing and training details were examined in detail, and a clinical examination was carried out before the horses were euthanased. Following post mortem the thoracolumbar spine and pelvis were dissected out and examined. Although not part of the study it was noted that asymmetry of the pelvis was prevalent in many of the horses that had been dissected, the reason probably being due to a natural torsion of the pelvis as a result of training and racing on right handed tracks only.

It is suggested that asymmetrical loads on the pelvic structure caused by external factors (such as racetrack), and by internal factors (such as locomotor apparatus pain) may lead to a higher stress being placed on one hindlimb, and as a result lead to the development of pelvic asymmetry which may be apparent as pelvic rotation. Improper movement patterns of the hindquarters, due to pain caused by overuse or from fatigue, may also result in abnormal alignment of the pelvic structure.

This in turn may then cause overloading on the forelimbs (by off loading the hindquarters) and therefore predisposing the forelimbs to injury. If this can be proved then surely this would emphasise the importance of correcting pelvic misalignments using manipulation techniques such as chiropractic, osteopathic and myofascial release approaches. There is some unpublished material available to support the use of McTimoney manipulation methods and other soft tissue manipulation in the correction of pelvic rotation. Hindquarter asymmetry is often associated with sacroiliac joint lesions or with chronic hindlimb lameness.

The tuber sacrale can appear asymmetrical in clinically normal horses as well as in horses with misalignment of the sacroiliac joint (Dyson, 2004). Horses with longstanding poor performance attributed to chronic sacroiliac damage were investigated by Jeffcott et al. (1985). The majority of these horses showed some asymmetry of the hindquarters with the tuber coxae and tuber sacrale lower on the same side that the animal was lame on. Hindquarter asymmetry may be due to some tilting or rotation of the pelvis in addition to muscle wastage of one quarter, usually the side the horse is lame on.

ABNORMAL ALIGNMENT OF THE PELVIS

Pelvic rotation or abnormal alignment of the pelvis to the thoracolumbar spine can be measured by the level of the tuber coxae to the ground. If the horse is unable to produce the propulsion from its hindquarters due to discomfort in the pelvic region, then the forelimbs may be required to provide more horizontal propulsion. The horse will in effect be pulling himself forward with his forelimbs, rather than pushing from his hindquarters. This may result in over development of the shoulder muscles, thereby reducing the efficiency of the forelimb movement by adding unnecessary weight. Unpublished data has suggested a positive relationship between injury to the forelimb stay apparatus and pelvic asymmetry, particularly where the presence of functional asymmetry in the hindquarters was found to be due to pelvic rotation, and not as a result of differences in individual bone lengths of the hindlimb.

LAMENESS AND COMPENSATORY MOVEMENT PATTERNS

The compensatory mechanisms of horses with lameness have been extensively researched and reported. The potential for secondary injuries resulting from a horse’s attempt to compensate for lameness by altering its gait pattern are still unclear. Clayton (2001) found that when a lame limb is supporting body weight, the horse minimises pain by decreasing the load on that limb, resulting in a compensatory increase in the vertical forces in other limbs. The compensating limbs are therefore subjected to abnormally high forces, and these may lead to lameness in the compensating limbs. Uhlir et al. (1997) found that in all cases of diagnosed hindlimb lameness that true lameness of the left hind caused a compensatory lameness of the left fore, and that true stance phase lameness of the left fore caused a compensatory lameness in the right hind. TENDON INJURY The SDFT is the most frequently injured tendon in horses. In a recent study of steeplechase horses diagnosed with tendon and ligament injuries sustained during training, 89% occurred in the SDFT (Ely et al. 2005). It has been suggested that an optimum level of exercise is required at an early age for tendon adaptation to training, but with increasing age accumulation of microdamage and localised fatigue, failure to the tendon will occur with increasing exercise (Smith et al. 1999). The induction of injury to the SDFT occurs when loading overcomes the resistive strength of the tendon. Factors which increase the peak loading of the SDFT, such as weight of rider, ground surface, shoeing, conformation, incoordination, jumping, and speed will act not only to increase the rate of degeneration, but will also increase the risk of the onset of SDFT strain (Smith, 2006). Therefore the prevention of tendon strain-induced injuries by reducing some of the risk factors that increase loading on the tendon may provide the most satisfactory answer.

ANIMAL MANIPULATION TECHNIQUES

McTimoney Animal Manipulation aims to improve asymmetries through manipulation. There has been much anecdotal evidence for the benefits of McTimoney Manipulation Techniques on animals (Andrews and Courtney, 1999). There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that McTimoney and other manipulative therapies can make a difference where veterinary medication has failed (Green, 2006), although the application of manipulation techniques in veterinary medicine may be dependent of further research into the clinical effects of manipulation. Manipulation techniques are thought to cause muscle relaxation and to correct abnormal motor patterns which may be the result of muscular imbalances and restricted joint motion or altered joint mobility (Haussler, 1999). There is some unpublished material to support that there are significant changes in the symmetry of the pelvis after the application of McTimoney manipulation techniques, and that there is continued improvement one month after initial treatment.

CURRENT RESEARCH INTO PELVIC ALIGNMENT

In a recent unpublished study a group of 40 steeplechase horses in training, all using the same gallop, were measured for pelvic asymmetry. The measurement technique used was a somewhat simple (but reliable) method. Each horse was measured on flat, level concrete while standing completely square and weight bearing on all four limbs. Measurements were taken vertically using a horse measuring stick with a spirit level, from the most dorsal aspect of the lateral wing on the ilium (the tuber coxae) to the ground, on the left and right sides. Various data was collected on each horse, regarding race history, how many races run, whether “bumper” (flat races for steeplechase bred horses), hurdle or steeplechase, prize money earnings, handicap rating, and also brief veterinary history. The aim of the study was to compare pelvic rotation in 20 sound horses to the incidence and degree of pelvic rotation in a group of 20 horses with SDFT strain in either one or both forelimbs. Both the sound horses and the injured horses were in training with the same trainer, and therefore had used the same gallops, and underwent the same training regime. Although no significant difference was found in the number of horses with pelvic rotation in sound horses compared with the number of horses with tendon strain, there was a high incidence of pelvic rotation in the group as a whole, with a predominance towards pelvic rotation on the right.

This could have been due to training methods or gallops used, and certainly warrants further research. There was no significant association between side of pelvic rotation and side of forelimb tendon strain, but again warrants further investigation using a larger number of horses. Due to the prevalence of right side pelvic rotation it would not have been possible to show any significant associations anyway between left and right forelimb injury. The study did present some trends for age of horse, sex, and race history; showing that the number of horses with pelvic rotation and tendon injury increased with age. Geldings tended towards a higher incidence of tendon injury, and mares tended towards a higher incidence of pelvic rotation. There were equal numbers of sound and injured horses for each race type, but the degree of pelvic rotation in horses that had fallen was notably larger than in the horses that had not fallen.

FUTURE STUDIES INTO PELVIC ASYMMETRY

The preliminary investigation as described above has formed the basis for further research into abnormal pelvic alignment in racehorses, and whether or not there is any association between side of misalignment and side of forelimb injury. Further research is due to be carried out with a larger sample of horses, and from different yards, to investigate whether there is any prevalence as to the side of misalignment, or if pelvic alignment is affected by training methods and the use of different gallops.

Max Hennau on life as a trainer in Belgium

Max Hennau, a founding member and current chairman of the European Trainers Federation (ETF), used to train between 50 and 60 horses in Belgium. In 1973, he campaigned the colt Commodore to a domestic Triple Crown.

Ten years later he handled the Belgium champion Little Vagabond. Bought for 1,000 guineas at Tattersalls in Newmarket, the small horse with a big engine won six races on the bounce at home and ran third in the Prix du Petit Couvert (Gp3) before being sold on to France. 
“Those were the days…,” he says. Things have changed for Belgian racing. Things have changed for Hennau. Today, he has more committee seats than he has racehorses. What exactly has happened here?

“This will be my last season as a public trainer as I’m going to concentrate on the horses we breed to race,” Max Hennau states as we meet on a rainy day. The weather is quite similar to the atmosphere in this country’s horseracing circles. Sunny days have been hard to come by also in Belgium this summer, and sunny days for racing seem to be a thing of the past. “I will continue working for racing, and hope the sport has a future,” Hennau explains. “For myself, I want to focus on my business. Yes, I regret that I did not make a move abroad 20 years ago though, you see, things were going well for racing here then. One saw little point in moving.”

Little point indeed. Hennau was a top trainer winning most of the big races on a regular basis. During 36 years in the profession, he was never champion trainer, but that was mainly due to numbers, as his arch-rival, Jerome Martens, trained twice as many horses. When discussing the current state of affairs, Hennau backs his views with key figures, and they really do look bleak. From having nearly 60 horses in his care, Hennau is now training just six. Still, his training establishment in Les Isnes and his stud in Temploux, some 5 km away, do not have any empty boxes. One even holds two animals, but since they are sheep it is a social arrangement.

Hennau and his wife Greta have a full day working with horses, so that side of the business not a problem. At their stud, the Haras de l’Escaille, they have 40 horses, including 20 for the famous showjumping breeder Nelson Pessoa, father of the Olympic and World Champion Rodrigo. Pessoa lives nearby, “but I only see him a few times a year and he is not involved in racing,” Hennau explains before he presents a few more of the key figures, figures that quickly tell the story. 
“Twenty years ago, Belgian racing employed around 10,000 people. All told, today the sport employs around 500. Fifteen to twenty years ago, we had five racedays a week,” he adds, “and each day with Thoroughbred racing only. Today, we have one raceday per week, and these days are mixed, with four Thoroughbred races and four trotting races.” 

If some readers are not too familiar with the English phrase “next to nothing,” they should be by now, as that is the best way to give a brief description of Belgian racing. Hennau is not depressed about this decline, he says, but calls it tiring. How could it not be, to someone who has no plans for giving up? “We still have hopes for the future,” he says and it shows that he means what he says, “but changes must come, if not Thoroughbred racing will be history in my country.”  Moving on to what ought to be funding racing - the turnover on the PMU - we are presented with more figures, telling exactly the same tale.

“Twenty years ago, the turnover on a daily Tierce race was equal to 2.5 million euros,” he continues. “Today it is only 25.000 euros. While the bookmakers can afford to give 90% back to the punters, the PMU gives back just 80% and that is not good enough. The solution should be very, very simple; give a better return on the PMU and a bigger slice back to racing. Also, we have a situation where bookmakers can take bets on races abroad, while the PMU cannot. It is an impossible situation. Remember also that bookmakers take bets on racing in France and England, without paying those jurisdictions any money. They pay for live pictures, that’s all. And Belgian racing is losing out.”

So, the bookmakers have seem to have a lot to answer for, in this country where horseracing appears to be on the verge of being wiped out. “I think so,” Hennau says firmly. “Bookmakers have not contributed enough to the sport, and while it may seem that they give punters a good deal, very often they don’t. For example, when they take bets on a race in France, something they do every day, a big outsider may win. We often know that there were only ten winning tickets in France, and for a bookmaker in Belgium the situation can then be that nobody had a winning ticket. Where does the money go? Into the bookmakers’ pockets, of course. If we have a race with no winning tickets on the PMU, punters are not victims of ‘daylight robbery’. There will be a carryover, a jackpot pool the next day, so eventually the money does go back to the punters. Though that slice is way too small,” Hennau concludes, “something that, combined with the bookmakers’ stronghold on the betting market, is creating a double negative effect for the sport.”

Racing jurisdictions lucky enough to still have escaped the jaws of the bookmaking industry should take note. “Oh they are,” Hennau’s wife Greta says quickly, “In France, they are scared, very scared.”

It is a well-known fact that horseracing has been going steeply downhill since Ladbrokes moved in. There may be other factors, and this is a little bit more complicated than just pointing the finger at one big, international company taking a lion’s share of the annual betting turnover in the land. Then again, and quite interestingly, horseracing is doing a lot better in small racing nations like Sweden and Norway, where the climate is not exactly as kind to equestrian sports as it is in Belgium. Surviving despite long spells of ice and snow can only be done with one assurance: a Tote monopoly. While the Swedish Derby was this year worth 53,000 euros to the winner, the Belgian Derby winner earned just 5,000 euros for his classic success!

Hennau touched on the return to punters from PMU betting in Belgium, which is 80%, and ten per cent lower than what bookmakers can afford to offer. Does this really affect the turnover? Yes it does. Look to North America and you will find the answers. At a track like Churchill Downs in Kentucky, the “takeout” on the trifecta is 25%. This has always been considered a bad deal among punters in USA, and it rivals the worst odds of any casino game. Still, when the new ‘Global Trifecta’ was introduced in Europe this year, it was done with a lousy takeout of 29%. Racing authorities are hoping this new international bet will be a success. One can be excused for having doubts about that. Hennau agrees, as he says again and again; “the betting products must be attractive, and give a fair return.”
“Racing in Belgium is also losing its battle with other forms of gambling,” Hennau explains, “mainly the lottery, but also casino betting - though that seems to be a different market, going into a casino is more for the snobs.”  

Racecourses are wonderful melting pots. Snobs enjoy it, so called ordinary men and women enjoy it, unemployed enjoy it, girls and boys enjoy it, retired people enjoy it. Some make a living from the sport. Trainers must make a living from it.

“This is why I feel that the ‘ladder’ is totally upside down in our sport,” Hennau says, “the trainers are near the bottom, and very seldom heard, while owners, breeders and members of the Jockey Clubs are high on the ladder. This despite the fact that while trainers have this as a living, owners, Jockey Club members and breeders often have it as a hobby. Even some of the biggest breeders treat racing as a hobby. “

Ten years ago, Hennau decided to try and do something about this, and help trainers across Europe. “We got the idea of a trainers’ federation,” he says, looking at his wife, secretary and translator, Greta. “So, we wrote off to the Jockey Clubs in France, Ireland, England, Sweden, Germany, and Belgium of course, inviting delegates from each country to a meeting in Brussels.” The response was positive from all six countries, but this would cost money. “I managed to get sponsorships,” Hennau tells us. “Some owners helped us financially, in particular Monsieur Bervoets, who owns the excellent Hotel Metropole. He gave us a very good price, so we could arrange the meeting there. We also received some money from the PMU.”

The meeting in Brussels in 1996 went well, and a few months later all nations confirmed their commitments to form the European Trainers’ Federation. This happened in 1997, and the ETF will thus be celebrating ten years in existence when they have their annual meeting in Italy in December. Appropriately, the federation now has ten membership countries, with Spain joining this year.   
“You have to bear in mind that everyone involved is doing this as voluntary work,” the chairman points out, “and we are now at a phase where it is important to keep the ETF going, and make it more recognised, better known. We have achieved many things already, as for example the change that a trainer who has held a license in one country for five years can get a license to train in another country. We have a very good relationship with trainers in all countries, and it is in everyone’s interest that we work for Europe offering a level playing field. It is not good that every country has its own set of rules and regulations. There has been some harmonisation but there is some way to go yet and it is my hope, and this is my biggest hope, that all countries in Europe will one day operate under the same set of rules. I think this is the most important, immediate, task for the ETF.”

Hennau steps down as chairman this year, and a new leader will be elected when representatives meet in Italy. “Most countries have had new representatives over the years,” he tells us, “which is probably normal. It is just me and Valfredo Valiani who have been part of the ETF from day one. Maybe we need more stability, and it would be a dream if we could establish an office and afford a full time position for a manager or secretary. Today, that is not financially possible, but the ETF would become so much better known, and so much stronger, if we did have a person who could work for us, travel around and meet people, and so on. Trainers have little time, we are all trying to survive.”

Max Hennau may be about to close the final chapter of his training career, “though,” as he says with a smile, “if I get a phone call from a wealthy owner who wants me, I may reconsider” - but he is not turning his back on horseracing. “I will still be representing the trainers on the Jockey Club board,” he assures us.  He has trained somewhere over 500 winners. “Not sure,” he tells us, “but it is minimum of 500.”  A considerable number in a land like Belgium, and he has also saddled winners in France.
His son, Elie, is also now a Jockey Club board member, having been a very successful amateur rider with over 100 winners. “He is a good pilot,” his father says, “after all, he rode winners just about everywhere he went, from Epsom Downs to Dubai, St Moritz, USA and Scandinavia…”

His son is no longer riding races but still heavily involved in horseracing. The situation for amateur riders is, of course, closest to his heart.

“Did you know,” Elie asks, “that in England most amateur riders are in fact assistant trainers working full time in racing, while here and in France, that would not be allowed.” We have just been given another example of European racing badly in need of harmonising. “Not sure what you think,” the trainer’s son who is now working in insurance says, “but maybe someone in England ought to look up the word ‘amateur’…”

That is not a word his father, now 60, needs to relate to. Since his time as an ‘officer’ at the Haras du Pin (the National Stud in France), back in 1966, Max Hennau’s approach has clearly been that of a thoroughly professional horseman. Having worked his way up, he is still very much a down-to-earth man. Horses tend to like those. As a youngster, he was selected as the one Belgian student to join the stud and to be an ‘Officer Haras.’

“The system was for eight students each year,” he explains, “six from France, one from Belgium and one from Switzerland, and the selection is made by the Minister of Agriculture.”  Did many apply for this position? “I don’t think so,” Hennau says in his typical modest way, not the least bit tempted to exaggerate the importance of being the selected student. “Later on, I went to work for Philippe Lallie in France,” he continues, “we had high class horses like Irish Bold, Pyjama Hunt and Miss Dan at the time.”

Lallie trained over 100 horses, and after learning at this big yard in Chantilly, Hennau returned to Belgium and took out his license. He was just 23 years old, and a few years later he had over 50 horses, training jumpers as well as flat horses. “I had two yards,” he recalls, “in Steerebeck and Groenendael. My two best horses were Commodore, who won the Triple Crown and Little Vagabond. After he ran third in a Group 3 in France, Criquette Head bought Little Vagabond as a lead horse to Sicyos. After that he was sold on to the USA, as sire of Quarter Horses! I had bought him for just 1,000 guineas.”

None of the six horses Hennau trains this year have a value as low as that, or even the equivalent at today’s rates, but none of them have anywhere near the same class. Little Vagabond was a cheap horse, bought by a shrewd man from a small racing nation, named Hennau. He turned the vagabond into a king and a champion. Rather than use the success as a stepping stone for an international career, Hennau stayed at home, and he turned many of his days into voluntary work for Belgian and European horseracing, which he loves and knows so well. Knowledge is power, we are all being told in this world.

“Yes it is,” Hennau says with his typical, quiet smile, “but financial muscle wins when it comes to lobbying and, sadly, horseracing does not have that. I hope one day we will.”

The Equine Heart - Anatomy, Function and Performance

Exciting new advances in ultrasound image technology have provided a better understanding of both the anatomy and function of the heart at rest and during exercise. In the last 30 years many veterinary clinics and universities with equine departments that study equine physiology are able to study the heart of the equine athlete in their own sports performance laboratories, while exercising on a high-speed treadmill. Considering that heart rate is one of the most frequently measured physiological variables in exercise tests, Thoroughbred racehorse trainers have largely failed to take advantage of the heart rate monitor as standard equipment. However, heart rate monitors are commonplace in eventing and sport horses. Understanding the heart’s function, and its response and adaptation to training, can provide trainers with a competitive edge.

ANATOMY AND FUNCTION

The heart of a Thoroughbred weighs about 1% of the horse’s bodyweight but can be as high as 1.3-1.4% in elite animals. Therefore an average 1000 pound horse has a heart weighing between 8-10 pounds. The horse has a proportionately larger heart per unit of body mass as compared to other mammals. The horse’s heart rate is 20-30 beats per minute at rest and may have a maximal heart rate of 240 beats per minute during maximal exercise. The fact that the horse is able to increase heart rate by nearly 10 times the resting heart rate is a contributing factor to their athletic superiority. As in all mammals, the heart consists of four chambers with valves that open and close as the heart muscle relaxes and contracts to insure blood flows in the right direction. The two pumping chambers are the left and right ventricles, and the two receiving chambers are the left and right atria. The left ventricle is larger than the right ventricle.

Specialized cells within the heart conduct electrical activity that coordinates the muscles of the heart to contract in order to optimize blood pumping. Electrical impulses of both the atria and ventricles are isolated by a fibrous ring; preventing them from contracting simultaneously. The only point at which electrical activity can pass between the atria and the ventricles is via the Purkinje fibers found in the wall between the left and right ventricle. When the atria contract, blood is delivered to the larger volume ventricle that lies beneath. The right side of the heart receives unoxygenated blood from the body and pumps it to the lungs to allow the red blood cells to uptake oxygen. Oxygenated blood returns to the left side of the heart, and the left ventricle pumps it out the aorta to the rest of the body. The cardiac cycle consists of a contraction/ejection phase (systole), and a relaxation/filling phase (diastole). Stroke volume (SV) is the volume of blood pumped in each beat, and is influenced by the muscular contraction of the ventricles, their resistance to flow during systolic ejection, and their ability to fill during the diastolic relaxation. The structural integrity of various anatomic components of the heart such as the valves and septa between the chambers affect heart function. Stroke volume in a 500 kg Thoroughbred is approximately 1.3 litres and can increase by 20-50% during exercise. Cardiac output (CO) is stroke volume (SV) multiplied by heart rate (HR); therefore CO = SV x HR. At rest the cardiac output is approximately 6.6 (25 litres) gallons per minute and increases to an amazing 79 (300 litres) gallons per minute in elite athletes during exercise. A horse’s total blood volume is approximately 10 gallons, representing 10% of its body weight.

At rest 35% of the horse’s blood volume is red blood cells, however they can amazingly increase their red blood cell count on demand to 65% of their blood volume during a race, with up to 50% of the total red blood cells stored in the spleen. The horse has a proportionally larger spleen per unit of body mass as compared to other mammals. The red blood cells are void of a nucleus and have the large protein haemoglobin that transports oxygen. The horse’s heart is able to handle the increased viscosity of the blood. During exercise blood is diverted away from internal organs such as the intestines and kidney to working muscles used in motion.

THE HEART AND VO2 MAX

The heart is a major determinant in VO2 max, 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. Sydney University studies have shown that training can increase a Thoroughbred’s VO2 max by 20% or more, with this improvement highly attributable to the heart’s pumping capacity. VO2 max expressed as millilitres of O2 per kilogram of bodyweight per minute (or second). At rest the horse absorbs 3 millilitres of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute. Maximal rates of oxygen intake vary within breeds and training state, but fit Thoroughbreds have a VO2 max of 160-170 ml./min./kg and elite horses can achieve 200 ml./min./kg. By comparison elite human athletes have a VO2 max of about half or 85 ml./min./kg. Pronghorn antelopes have a VO2 max of 210-310 ml./min./kg. 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). The ability of the horse’s muscle mass to consume oxygen far exceeds the ability of the heart and lungs to provide oxygenated blood. Therefore cardiac output is a limiting factor in performance. Conditions that improve cardiac output positively impact VO2 max.

HEART RESPONSE TO TRAINING

The heart has two initial responses to exercise, a rise in blood volume pumped and dilation of the blood vessels. The heart rate increases, and beats stronger. The stroke volume may increase from 20-50% above resting rates. Through training the heart becomes more efficient at delivering oxygenated blood to exercising muscles. Heart mass has been shown to increase with training. This hypertrophy (enlargement) in the heart comes in two ways, a thickening of the heart walls, and an increase in the size of the chambers, especially the left ventricle. Although the effects of training on the heart are not clearly understood, 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% in as little as 10 weeks of training (Thomas et al, 1983).

Although not yet proved, it is likely that in addition to the strengthening, improved filling capacity of the pumping chambers when the heart is relaxed may contribute to the increases shown in stroke volume. Interestingly, maximal heart rate does not increase with training, and resting heart rates (unlike humans) do not decrease with training. Training can improve VO2 max from 10-20% in the first 6-8 weeks of training, after which further improvement is limited. The relationship between VO2 max and velocity is highly correlated, but the differences found in speed and performance of two Thoroughbreds with equal VO2 max can be explained by differences in biomechanics and economy of locomotion. Although the heart plays an important role in determining several physiological factors related to performance, it is merely one variable in the whole physiological equation that describes the equine athlete. Not only does the heart change and adapt with the rigors of training, but a myriad number of adaptations take place in the muscle fibers at the cellular level. As a result of training, oxidative enzymes in the muscles increase, along with the size and density of mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell. 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. An improved network in the number and density of capillaries provides more efficient blood flow and transit time to working muscles, which also become more efficient in buffering lactate in anaerobic exercise. Muscle, bone, tendons and ligaments modify their structure with the stresses of training. Depending on the event, the horse develops “metabolic specificity” and neuromuscular coordination for his chosen discipline.

EVALUATING THE HEART - ULTRASOUNDS

When evaluating the equine heart, ultrasound has become an extremely valuable non-invasive tool, revolutionizing equine cardiology. The heart’s anatomical structure and physiology can be readily determined as well as measurements in heart size, wall thickness, and identifying defective cardiac valve function. Findings can determine pathology of the heart and the cause of poor performance. The ultrasound examination of the heart (echocardiogram) is now considered an integral part of cardiovascular evaluation of equine athletes. An ultrasound machine works by emitting a beam of high frequency sound waves (>20,000 Hz) from an ultrasound transducer into the body tissues. In general, the waves can penetrate to a maximum of 15 inches (40 cm) and they interact with various tissue types in different ways. The waves can be scattered, refracted or attenuated. The reflected waves are transmitted back to the ultrasound transducer. This information is interpreted by the ultrasound machine which produces a two-dimensional black and white image called a sonogram. The frequency of the ultrasound waves emitted by the transducer markedly influences the quality of the image, depending on the depth of the tissues. Higher frequency ultrasound waves have a shorter wavelength and yield better resolution of small structures close to the skin surface. However, more energy is absorbed and scattered with high frequency, therefore high frequency transducers have less penetrating ability.

Conversely, a lower frequency transducer will have greater depth of penetration but poor resolution. The transducer selected for echocardiography should be the highest frequency available that will penetrate to the depths needed to image the heart in its entirety. Frequencies generally used for veterinary echocardiography range from 2.25-3.5 Mhz for adult horses. The three main types of ultrasounds available to veterinarians and researchers are the M-Mode, Two-Dimensional (2-D), and Doppler. Although M-Mode yields only a one-dimensional (“ice pick”) view of the cardiac structures, it can yield cleaner images of cardiac borders, allowing the researcher to obtain very accurate measurements of cardiac dimensions and critically evaluate cardiac motion over time. Two-dimensional echocardiography allows a plane of tissue, with depth and width, to be imaged in real time. This makes it easier to appreciate the anatomic relationships between various structures. 2-D echocardiography makes available an infinite number of imaging planes of the heart. Doppler echocardiography records blood flow within the cardiovascular system when blood moving toward or away from the transducer causes a Doppler shift. From this shift, it is possible to calculate the velocity of the moving blood.

ELECTRO-CARDIOGRAM (ECG)

An ECG (electrocardiogram) is another tool commonly used in evaluating the heart. It measures the heart’s electrical conductivity can identify a part that is not contracting properly. It is the tool of choice for diagnosing arrhythmias. The ECG provides information to the researcher about the quality and rhythm of the heartbeat. The appearance of the ECG changes dramatically from rest to exercise. Cardiac contractions are the result of a well-orchestrated electrical phenomenon called depolarization. In the myocardium are specialized fibers that are very conductive and allow rapid transmission of electrical impulses across the muscle, telling them to contract. There is uniformity in the sequence and force of both the filling and ejecting chambers, relying on a single impulse initiated by the sinoatrial (S/A or sinus) node. Another node is the A/V node (atrioventricular node) situated between the two chambers. The ECG measures electrical activity from the P-Wave, QRS, and T-Wave.

The P-Wave represents the electrical impulse measured across the atria, whereas the T-Wave measures the repolarization of the ventricles. The QRS represents the electrical impulse as it travels across the ventricles. Measurements between these impulses include the PR and ST segments and the PR and OT intervals, all of which can reveal abnormal heart function. Electrodes are placed in strategic positions on the skin surface to pick up the heart’s electrical activity. In clinical practice, 12 leads may be used in a diagnostic ECG, but usually there are three standard leads, I, II and III, placed at different areas around the ribcage and chest. Placement of the electrodes are critical, and can change the size and shape of the ECG. HEART MURMURS AN ARRHYTHMIAS Vascular diseases in horses, such as atherosclerosis, which contributes to strokes and heart attacks, are rare. Two of the most common heart abnormalities are heart murmurs and arrhythmias. A heart murmur is the sound of turbulent blood flow, usually caused by an abrupt increase in flow velocity. This turbulence is caused by increased velocity due to a leak or obstruction in one of the heart valves or because of abnormal communication between different parts of the heart. Heart murmurs, which are fairly common, occur in horses of all ages. They are called “innocent” when they are soft, short and variable without any other cardiac pathology. One study detected cardiac murmurs in 81% of 846 Thoroughbred racehorses (Kriz, Hodgson, and Rose 2000). Congenital heart defects are abnormalities that are present at birth, the most common being ventricular septal defect (VSD) where a hole is found between the two ventricles.

Oxygen-rich blood from the higher pressure left ventricle passes through to the lower pressure right ventricle and pulmonary artery during ventricular systole. Because some blood bypasses the lungs, it is not fully oxygenated and will have an adverse effect on cardiac function. Depending on the size of the hole, the horse may be fully capable of moderate activities without fatigue or shortness of breath. VSD is usually detected on the right side of the chest over the cranial part of the heart, and can be fully diagnosed with 2-D ultrasound and Doppler echocardiography. Atrial fibrillation is an electrical disorder of the heart rhythm, also know as an arrhythmia. Associated with diminished performance, the normally regular, organized atrial waves become irregular, disorganized and chaotic, and the atria fail to contract normally, leading to an unpredictable and irregular heartbeat. Accurate diagnosis using an electrocardiogram can determine type and severity, and often an oral or injectable drug such as quinidine can be administered to establish a normal rhythm. An arrhythmia can sometimes be caused by myocarditis, where part of the heart muscle tissue has died due to an infectious disease such as strangles, influenza or an internal abscess. Toxic damage to the heart muscle may occur from a severe deficiency of vitamin E or selenium. The most commonly recognized acquired structural heart disorders are degenerative valvular deformities. These defects, involving a thickening and deformity of the valve leaflets, cause inefficiency of one or more heart valves, resulting in dilation of the chambers trying to handle the regurgitated blood on either side of the damaged valve. If the leak is severe enough, the pressure in the veins leading to the affected side of the heart increases until fluid accumulation (edema) occurs.

HEART SIZE AND PERFORMANCE

For centuries, owners, breeders and trainers have been captivated by the idea that the horse’s heart may be the proverbial “Holy Grail” to understanding athletic performance, and predicting the future elite racehorse. The large hearts found in elite human athletes are well-documented. In the 1920’s the “Flying Finn” Paavo Nurmi, who won 12 Olympic medals in track including 9 Golds and set world records from 1500 meters to 20 kilometers, had a heart three times larger than normal (Costill). At postmortem, the legendary 7-time Boston Marathon winner Clarence De Mar was shown to have an enlarged heart and massive coronary arteries (Costill). In 1989, it was believed that Secretariat, American Triple Crown winner of 1973, had a heart weighing over 10 kg (22 lbs.), and may have had a VO2 max of 240 ml./kg./min. Autopsies showed that the great Australian racehorse Phar Lap had a heart weighing 6.4 kg. (14.1 lbs), 20% larger than normal, and Key to the Mint, American champion 3-year old of 1972 and excellent broodmare sire, had a heart weighing 7.2 kg (15.8 lbs). Secretariat’s rival and runner-up Sham had one of the heaviest hearts recorded, weighing in at 18 lbs. (8.2 kg). Some of the first studies that scientifically attempted to correlate heart size with race performance were conducted in the 1950’s and early 60’s.

The Heart Score concept was first discovered and developed by Dr. James D. Steel, a professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Sydney in Australia in 1953. Using ECG (electrocardiography) to studying herbivores, he began studying the occurrence of heart disease in racehorses. His examinations led him to the development of the “Heart Score” which was his term to describe the correlation between the QRS (intraventricular conduction time) complexes and the performances of several elite versus average racehorses at the time. He believed that the higher heart score number based on the QRS duration using the standard bipolar leads must be correlated with the larger heart size and weight found in superior racehorses. Steel developed a ranking system that placed male horses with a heart score of 120 or more (116 or more for fillies and mares) in the large heart category, between 103-120 in the medium to normal category, and 103 or less in the small heart category.

His conclusion was based on the assumption that the QRS represents the time required for the electric wave to spread and depolarize the ventricular mass. He believed that the QRS interval corresponds to the beginning and end of ventricular depolarization. As the ventricular muscle mass increases, a longer time will be necessary for the ventricular depolarization to take place. Therefore, he believed the higher the heart score the larger the heart mass (and size) Unfortunately, Steel was wrong! Steel’s conclusions seemed logical at a time when equine cardiology was in its infancy. But in the horse (and hoofed mammals) the depolarization process differs from that of small animals because of the very widespread distribution of the Purkinje network. These fibers extend throughout the myocardium and ventricular depolarization takes place from multiple sites. The electromotive forces therefore tend to cancel each other out; consequently, no wavefronts are formed, and the overall effect of the ventricular depolarization on the ECG is minimal. (Celia 1999) Today, we know that ECGs provide little or no information about the relative or absolute sizes of the ventricles.

An ECG cannot measure heart size and cannot be used to correlate its size and / or mass. In several studies, heart score showed a relationship neither with body weight nor with ventricular mass, as determined by echocardiograph. Heart score did not correlate with heart size and cannot be regarded as an index for predicting potential performance (Lightowler et al 2004). Although a study using Danish Standardbreds showed a correlation between heart score and Timeform ratings, using these scores to determine heart size has largely been disproved.

HEART SIZE AND PERFORMANCE

Current research in the field of equine exercise physiology continues to investigate the heart and cardiac output. The size of the heart is a key determinant of maximal stroke volume, cardiac output and therefore aerobic capacity, and several new studies have proved this relationship. A recent breakthrough study demonstrated a significant linear relationship between British Horseracing Board Official rating or Timeform rating and heart size measured by echocardiography in 200 horses engaged in National Hunt racing (over jumps) (Young and Wood, 2001). It is the first study that positively correlates heart size to performance. Additionally, a significant strong relationship has been found between left ventricular mass (and other measurements of cardiac size) and VO2 max in Thoroughbred racehorses exercising on a high-speed treadmill. (Young et al 2002). Interestingly, no such relationships have been reliably been found when horses employed in flat racing were examined, suggesting that, as might be expected, VO2 max and heart size are more important predictors of performance for equine athletes running longer distances. It must be emphasized that these research studies were conducted on older racehorses that were already racing and training, very different from an untrained yearling.

CONCLUSION

Understanding the equine heart and its role in equine physiology will remain of great interest to breeders, owners and trainers. Future use of heart rate monitors and heart evaluations using ultrasound technology to identify heart pathology and abnormality will undoubtedly contribute to future breakthroughs in training and racing. The equine heart still remains just one variable in the elusive equation that makes for a great racehorse.

Should sales catalogues include information on medication - it's a case of black and white!

Not too long ago, I saw a TV interview with Terje Haakonssen, three times World Champion snowboard rider. When talking about his lifestyle, and that of the general public, he made an interesting point; “Look carefully at what you eat, take it seriously,” he said, “People don’t. You know, a man is ever so careful about what quality of petrol and oil he gets for his new car. But when he has filled it up with the best he can find, the most expensive, he buys a full-fat cheeseburger and a large coke for himself.”
Perhaps many of us value our cars more than we value our bodies. Look around you. It certainly appears to be the case, doesn’t it?

Haakonsen is a man obsessed with quality and image. In 1998, he boycotted the Nagano Games because he felt the Olympic image was not good enough for his sport. Can you imagine a leading owner boycotting a high profile race meeting, or a top thoroughbred breeder boycotting a leading sale, for similar reasons? Probably not. Haakonsen’s world is different to the horseracing world. He is a bit of a loner, but has many admirers way outside the circles of his minority sport, simply because he talks a lot of sense. The racing industry could do with someone like him.
Labelling of food products have become more of an issue lately, and when going to the supermarket I actually notice some reading these labels. On the other hand, I have also been stared at when taking a minute to compare the amounts of energy, fat, salt and sugar in, say, various breakfast cereals. 
“Looks almost like he is studying a pedigree page,” I once heard a man say to the other as they passed behind me while I performed such a study. Living in Newmarket has its charms. I found the remark amusing too, until I began thinking about it on my way home. Actually, a pack of breakfast cereals costing less than three pounds is better labelled, by stricter regulations, than any million-dollar yearling passing through the ring at any public auction. 
 
When studying sales catalogue pages, it strikes me more and more how much of the crucial information has been left out. It will never happen but I can assure you that if I did consider purchasing an expensive yearling, I would not base my decision on what has been printed in the catalogue. Of course, one has to do proper, independent research, but what exactly is the point of these sales catalogues, if they are not even able to give you half the story, half the truth, about this fragile four-legged product on offer?
Using the sales catalogue as your source of information, you do not get the official ratings of horses that have run, nor of their relatives. You very seldom get any information about the races these horses have won or been placed in, such as distance, surface, were they handicaps or weight for age races, if in England were they ‘banded races’ and so on. There is no information on whether horses have raced with blinkers or cheek-pieces, or whether they have been bandaged when running. 
And, more importantly, there is absolutely no information on any use of any medication. Believe you me, that is the one piece of information that, according to common sense and law, absolutely should be included. Having run in blinkers has never made a horse less valuable to a future owner. A history of medication, and a pedigree elevated to black type status with the help of medication, certainly has. In particular in Europe, where one does not allow racing of horses on medication.
A friend of mine bought a horse at a public auction in Europe. The horse had performed well in Listed events, and he was going to Scandinavia, where his level of form would make him one of the top performers. Since the horse also had a nice pedigree, a good conformation and was consigned by one of the bigger operations in Europe, my friend was quite excited when getting the final bid. So was his trainer. Until he raced him. One run revealed why local bidders had not gone higher when he went through the ring; the horse was a bleeder. He could not win a race even in Norway, and how he had been able to perform so well for his previous owner on a few occasions remains a mystery. My friend wrote to the vendor, explaining the situation and suggesting that they should take him back. That never happened of course. So, my friend decided to send the horse to USA where, surprise, surprise, he won quite a few times, even in nice allowance races at principal tracks, when racing on Lasix. 
At most major international sales, they have established a repository facility for x-rays, allowing vendors to lodge x-rays applicable to the sale of their horses. This is one step in the right direction.  
When you buy an expensive horse, or any horse for that matter, is it so much to ask to also demand accurate information on its medical history? I don’t think so. Nor do I think it is too much to ask, if someone wants the simple information on the horse’s closest relatives: did any of them, at any point in their careers, run on medication? Let’s get briefly back to the man with the car and the hamburger. Would he buy this expensive car, if he was informed that “this is a real classic, a beautiful car, with elegant interior, sexy seats and a powerful engine, but, mind, you, the engine tends to switch itself off from time to time… it seems to be genetic and we can’t do much about it.” 
When you buy a horse at public auction, part of the “engine” may already be a bit dodgy. If you buy a young horse with an American pedigree, the chances are very high that you also buy a horse from a family that has, for generations, been racing on medication. If you plan to race the animal in a jurisdiction where such medication is allowed, that may be just fine. If you plan to stand the horse at stud in a jurisdiction where medication is allowed, that is also fine. If not, you could soon be in trouble with this horse. Thus far only Germany has taken a strong stand on medication in their breeding stock. No stallion is approved if he has raced on medication. That is some difference, compared to the situation in North America. Change may be coming there also though. 
There is a will in the USA to do something about medication. As explained in North American Trainer, Spring Issue 2007, the Jackson’s Horse Owner’s Protective Association is lobbying hard for a marketplace which 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. The association’s lawyer Kevin McGee says:
”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.” 
Exactly. Three key words; “reduces the mystery.”  These words can hardly be used too often, in too many contexts, in this industry. Where better to start, than with the sales catalogues?
 Achieving a better image, that of a clean, honest, open and transparent bloodstock marketplace, will not be quick process. There can be little doubt, however, that addressing the problem with medication in a serious way, and make some progress in this field, will help speeding up such a process. If you believe fallers and fatal injuries at Aintree and Cheltenham creates about the worst possible publicity horseracing can get, think again.  
In the wake of any death on the track in North America, one often sees a flood of letters, articles and opinions posted and published on the internet, almost exclusively pointing the finger sharply at the use of medication. 
Too many bad write-ups will make it even harder to recruit new investors to the game, but bringing the issue of medication into the sales rings might help a lot. What does a bloodstock agent reply, to the wealthy ‘newcomer’ at the sales, if he expresses a wish to bid as a yearling enters the ring and says, “I like this one, let’s go to 200,000 or so, but, by the way, does this family have a history of use of medication?”
Print it in the catalogue and, provided the man has a copy of it and that he can read, he will know the answer, regardless of where the lot was bred or has been raced. This is not at all a problem exclusive to the US market.

American bred horses, and horses with American pedigrees, fill many a page also in many a European sales catalogue. When I was asked to do this article, posing the question, “should information on medication be included in sales catalogues?” it is was so tempting to give a reply like: “Yes, do it” or perhaps: “Should health warnings remain on the tobacco packaging?”
Common sense does not always win through in this world, especially not when up against commercial interests. Horseracing and breeding is a global industry, and herein lies the problem. Not that it is global, but that it is an industry more than it is a sport. It may have set out as a sport, but commercial factors are at the forefront and more and more dominant these days. Therefore, some breeders, consignors, sales companies, and perhaps even bloodstock agents may be opposed to the idea of publishing information on medication in catalogues.

In one corner of Europe, there is no need for any catalogue information on any use of medication for any of the country’s stallions. Germany is the only nation where you cannot stand a stallion at stud if he has been raced on medication. That’s a good policy, and it should help improve the breed. Provided, of course, that none of these stallions have been trained on medication. And provided that all the mares bred to these stallions have also been trained and raced without the aid of medication. Not trying to complicate matters even further here, only trying to point out what a jungle this actually is.

Racehorses are bred from sires who raced almost exclusively with the aid of medication. Horses are being bred out of mares who also raced on medication, but a vast number of horses are out of mares that never raced. Disclosing the reason why these mares failed to make it to the racecourse is probably quite impossible. One thing can be said for certain though, is that any man or woman who spends a considerable amount of money on a yearling is hoping that the animal will one day be physically capable of taking part in a race. 
Everyone who buys a yearling should know that about one in five yearlings actually never become racehorses. Therefore, deciding how good the chances are for one particular individual is important. Disclosing all information about any use of raceday medication in the family gives the purchaser a better chance of assessing a yearling’s chances of making it to the racecourse than information on, for example, how many races a couple of grandsons of the third dam managed to win.

I would suggest that information about any use of medication, going back three generations, should be included in all sales catalogues, even if it means pushing some information low on the page off the page. With catalogues published online, even that should not be a problem – an extra few lines, or even an extra page, means nothing in this way of publishing. “Still not possible,” I hear some say.

I see. How about this line of thought then, that such steps would actually help the Thoroughbred industry in its so-called strive at “enhancing the breed.” 

The way things are going now, that is not exactly the case, is it?

Racing power - supporting muscular effort through nutrition

The powerhouse for a horse in training is found in its large muscle mass. Whilst genetic makeup within the Thoroughbred breed has a large impact on a horse’s innate racing ability, dietary factors will also influence subsequent performance. There are many elements found in a racehorse’s diet that will help to support muscle function. Hydrolysable carbohydrate (sugar and starch), assisted by fermentable fibre, will help to maintain important muscle stores of glycogen (a carbohydrate fuel).

Dietary electrolytes, which are integrally involved in muscle contraction, are essential to offset electrolyte loss in sweat. Key dietary antioxidants such as vitamins E and C and also antioxidant co-factors, such as copper, manganese, zinc and selenium, are also important as part of the body’s antioxidant team which strives to reduce the formation of free radicals or reactive oxygen species, and to limit their damaging effects on the body. Free radical damage has previously been implicated in the process of exercise induced muscle damage.

GLYCOGEN STORES MUST BE REPLENISHED FOLLOWING EXERCISE

One of the most important functions of the diet is to replenish the horse’s energy stores in muscle on an ongoing basis. A racing ration needs to support the synthesis of glycogen to maintain the store of this important fuel, which is used in increasing amounts during exercise. Glycogen, which consists of a large branched chain of glucose units, is stored in both skeletal muscle and the liver and it represents one of the largest potential energy stores in the body. Horses being natural athletes, have a relatively large muscle glycogen store when compared to other species. As the glycogen content of horse muscle is influenced by the proportion of different muscle fibre types present, this means that there is a genetic influence on the overall glycogen content. Fast twitch fibres (Type IIb), which are found in increased numbers in talented sprinting horses, store relatively more glycogen than the slower type I and type IIa fibres. However, both diet and training can influence the level of glycogen stored in muscle. Exercise training for example has been reported to increase muscle glycogen content by 30-60% in horses. Logically, diet should have a significant effect on the storage of muscle glycogen as it provides the building blocks for glycogen synthesis. Glycogen can be synthesised efficiently from dietary starch, which is another polymer of glucose found in cereals. Glycogen can also be produced from certain glycogenic amino acids, released from the protein content of feed. In addition, propionic acid, which is a significant volatile fatty acid produced in the horse’s hindgut during the fermentation process, can also ultimately be converted to muscle glycogen.

In terms of the day to day diet, starch is by far the most direct and most efficient precursor for glycogen and so it is therefore not surprising that cereals, which are high in starch, have been the mainstay of racing diets for many years. In recent years we have seen the introduction of racing feeds that are lower in starch and sugar than traditional racing rations, with a greater emphasis being placed on digestible fibre and oil as energy sources. Whilst there are many health benefits attributable to this type of diet, the effect of changing the level of starch in the diet on muscle glycogen should always be considered.

MUSCLE GLYCOGEN - AN IMPORTANT FUEL BUT NOT THE KEY FACTOR IN FATIGUE

Muscle glycogen is a major source of energy (ATP) to working muscle during intense exercise, which is characteristic of racing. The amount of muscle glycogen used during training or racing will depend on its rate of utilisation, which in turn is affected by the speed and duration of the exercise undertaken. In general terms, the higher the speed, the faster muscle glycogen is broken down and used.

The duration of fast exercise is normally curtailed, which limits the overall amount of glycogen used. During slower work, although the rate of glycogen utilisation is much lower, exercise can usually be continued for a much longer time allowing more glycogen to be utilised overall (see figure 1). Total muscle glycogen content can be reduced by about 30% during a single bout of maximal exercise in horses. However, as muscle is a mix of different fibre types, the depletion of glycogen in individual fibres may be greater than this depending on the pattern of fibre recruitment during the exercise. Studies, however, have shown that even the IIB muscle fibres, which use glycogen at the fastest rate, are not totally depleted of glycogen following racing.

This supports the notion that although glycogen is an important fuel source for racehorses, glycogen depletion is not the most important factor in fatigue. However, exercise studies do suggest that power output and exercise performance can be decreased in horses where muscle glycogen has failed to be adequately replaced following a previous race or piece of hard work. This was the conclusion drawn by Lacombe and co-workers (2001) who reported that horses with replete muscle glycogen stores were able to run for longer periods during a maximal exercise test compared to horses whose muscle glycogen level remained low following a previous exercise bout. Whilst there are always horses that will buck the trend, this research emphasises the need to allow a suitable period of time between races, but also between bouts of fast work and subsequent racing to allow muscle glycogen stores to be replenished.

In contrast to human athletes, muscle glycogen replenishment in horses is relatively slow. Following racing or a hard work, research suggests that muscle glycogen can take up to 72 hours to return to pre-exercise levels when a traditional high cereal racing ration is fed. Certainly research carried out in the past 3 years would suggest that a high glycemic racing ration would be better placed to support glycogen replenishment more quickly following racing or hard work. There are many factors that affect the glycemic response to feed, which in simple terms describes the relative rise in blood glucose following feeding.

The starch and sugar content of a feed, however, is one of the most significant factors affecting glycemic response. Feeds that are high in starch and sugar e.g. a high cereal-containing mix produce a greater glycemic response compared with feeds that are very low in starch and sugar e.g. a forage only ration. Rate of glycogen synthesis following a glycogen depleting exercise bout was significantly higher in horses fed a high glycemic diet compared to those fed a very low glycemic control diet (Lacombe et al 2004, Lacombe et al 2006). In addition, absolute glycogen concentration in muscle was significantly higher both 48 and 72 hours following exercise in the high glycemic group compared to the control horses and muscle glycogen concentration had returned to pre-exercise levels following 72 hours. The benefit of a high glycemic diet for glycogen repletion does, however, appear to be time dependent. Jose-Cunelleras (et al 2006) reported a minimal difference in glycogen repletion in the first 24 hours following a glycogen depleting exercise bout between horses that were fed a high glycemic feed compared with a group where feed was withheld for 8 hours and another group of horses where only hay was fed.

A recent study also concluded that the route of administration of carbohydrate given post-exercise significantly affects the rate of glycogen replenishment. Horses that were given an intravenous infusion of glucose following exercise exhibited significantly greater glycogen storage rates and glycogen concentration in the first 6 hours following exercise compared to horses fed a similar quantity of glucose orally. In fact, the repletion of glycogen in response to oral glucose was minimal over this time period compared to the unsupplemented control horses (Geor et al 2007). Whilst it is difficult to draw direct comparisons with feeding practices used in racing, it is worth appreciating the possible differences in the rate of glycogen repletion when very high glycemic feeds are fed compared to very low glycemic feeds. The reality in many training yards I would suspect lies somewhere between these two extremes.

LOW GLYCEMIC DIETS CAN OFFER RACEHORSES MANY BENEFITS

There are many health-related benefits to feeding a ration that is lower in starch and sugar. However, one should be mindful of muscle glycogen when considering horses that are consistently fed a low glycemic diet. Specifically horses may be fed this type of ration because they are behaviourally more manageable, or because a specific condition such as the muscular disease recurrent exertional rhabdomyolysis (tying up) (RER) is present. A low starch diet is actively encouraged for horses that suffer from RER. McKenzie (et al 2003) reported that plasma creatine kinase activity (CK), elevations of which can indicate muscle damage, was significantly reduced following exercise in RER horses fed a low starch high fat diet versus a high starch low fat diet. In addition, lower resting heart rates have also been reported in horses fed a low starch high fat diet compared to the reverse.

A lower resting heart rate may be beneficial especially in RER horses where it reflects a calmer horse as stress has been implicated as a trigger factor for the condition. The current thinking on feed for horses with RER continues to be a low starch and sugar diet supplemented with oil. It is also important that the diet is well balanced, especially with respect to calcium and phosphorus. Adequate electrolyte provision is equally important, as is the intake of antioxidants such as vitamin E and other related trace minerals such as selenium. Any potential individual limitation in mineral or electrolyte absorption and retention should be investigated further with veterinary assistance in order that individualised adjustments can be made to the diet.

A SUPPORTING ROLE FOR PROTEIN IN MUSCLE RECOVERY

Whilst we are all no doubt aware that the amino acids that make up protein are important for muscle development and repair, protein and its constituent amino acids have received very little attention in horses in terms of their potential to limit exercise induced muscle damage and aid muscle recovery. In human athletes, co-consumption of a protein and carbohydrate drink during and after exercise appears to limit exercise induced muscle damage, ultimately allowing faster recovery (Baty et al 2007; Saunders et al 2004). Recent introduction of ingredients containing partially hydrolysed protein may improve absorption of these amino acids and peptides possibly offering further benefit. Finally, some nutraceutical ingredients including carnitine and creatine have been hailed as being beneficial to muscle function and recovery in human athletes. Creatine, which has been studied in the horse, has failed to offer any great advantage, largely due to its poor absorption. Likewise, carnitine has been reported to improve muscle blood flow during exercise in humans, helping to reduce muscle damage. However, this aspect has not as yet been investigated in horses and previous dietary studies with carnitine were not unequivocal about the ability of oral carnitine to increase muscle carnitine content.

Transitions in California Racing

Warren Stute has changed barns. If he can hear me, I know he will smile. I always took his smiles as more than just smiles. They were messages of approval.

 Warren exercised horses for as long as he was able. When he no longer could do that, he rode his pony until he could no longer do that. For the last few months, he would walk back and forth to and from his barn. Near the end, his son, Glen, would almost have to carry him to the track and back. But Warren wouldn’t give up. He was a horse trainer. Nobody who gives up is a horse trainer. Everyday with every horse is a new challenge and a new inspiration to keep trying.
 
He lived his life quietly and, unless you had horses in his care, he would let you have your say. Warren had very firm convictions, but he had the grace and wisdom to silently accept that others also had a right to their opinions. And, so long as you didn’t try to get him to change his mind, he allowed you the latitude to speak your mind. He learned to be that way because he came through the University of Horse Training. You don’t impose your will on a horse. You accept that a horse has legitimate reasons for the things it does. If you want a horse to change, you join with it in finding acceptable reasons to change. If you can’t come to a mutual understanding with a horse, you find it a new home. Warren dealt with people in the same way. If he disagreed with you, he didn’t have to say anything, but you knew it. His silence forced you to take a critical look at your own beliefs. Warren Stute was a very wise man, and I’m a better person for having known him. I shall miss him.
 
Warren lived through an era in horse racing when training was an art. He leaves at a time when training involves as much science as art. Modern chemistry, new medical procedures, and new technologies trump modern art. New surfaces dictate new training and racing strategies. And, in California new racing venues are soon to replace Hollywood Park and Bay Meadows. Where we go from here is the subject of continuing discussions between the CHRB, existing racing associations, fairs, the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC), and the California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT). The most pressing of these discussions involve how to orchestrate successful and painless transitions out of Hollywood Park and out of Bay Meadows.
 
The industry will have to create modern facilities to fill voids in the Northern and Southern California racing calendars. Those facilities will also have to handle the housing and training needs for over two thousand horses that will be displaced when the current facilities close. In the world of professional sports, public financing and contribution by local government have become the methods of choice for creating new stadiums and arenas. We find ourselves in the same situation. The high cost of land and the continually skyrocketing cost of building make it impossible to create new privately owned urban racetracks. In the North, there are no currently existing facilities that can adequately replace Bay Meadows. In the South, the only existing alternative on private land is at Los Alamitos, but plans to expand that facility have been dropped. Fortunately, the fairs are willing to come to the rescue.
 
Both the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton and the California State Fairgrounds in Sacramento have indicated a desire to become the new second home for Northern California racing. In the South, Fairplex at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds would like the opportunity. Extensive remodeling plans have been created and expanded barn areas are planned. Racing on a year-round basis will survive, but guarantees need to be made. Bonds must be floated that would finance the new facilities. Fairplex, Pleasanton and/or Sacramento can only start construction if they are guaranteed sufficient racing dates to create enough income to pay off the anticipated debt. Thirty months from start to finish is the estimated time necessary to complete a new facility. We cannot afford to wait. One never knows how long these offers to create new facilities will remain on the table. If we don’t accept the offers soon, they could be withdrawn and we will find ourselves without alternatives. Sooner or later Bay Meadows and Hollywood Park are closing. Both the CTT and the TOC Boards of Directors have agreed that now is the time to move forward. We are asking Terry Fancher, who controls both Bay Meadows and Hollywood Park, to assist in an orderly transition. If he doesn’t, it’s going to be a complicated three-year transition. But trainers make a living by solving problems on a daily basis, so a few more problems are just part of the daily life of a trainer. Mr. Fancher has often said that he truly cares about racing. Now is the time for him to prove it.
 
In another transition worth noting, Jenine Sahadi has completed two-terms on the CTT Board of Directors. She has been President of the CTT for the past five years. During her tenure and with her guidance, the CTT has played a part in all of the major changes that have taken place within the industry. The two most notable of those changes were the requirement of the installation of synthetic surfaces and the elimination of the use of alkalizing agents. The former will allow hundreds, if not thousands, of horses to have longer and healthier careers, and the latter has helped to ensure an even playing field for all trainers and owners. As important as those accomplishments are, her dedication to the Edwin J. Gregson Foundation is likely to have the most long-lasting effect. She could but will not take credit for raising well over one million dollars for the Foundation. That money is being used to provide scholarships to the children of backstretch workers and will change lives for generations to come. It is in Jenine’s nature not to accept praise or gratitude, but both are hereby extended.

Edward I. Halpern, CTT Exec - (01 October 2007 - Issue Number: 5)

Northern California Report

As the summer fair racing circuit of 2007 starts to wind down, the anxiety as to what Northern California’s overall racing circuit will look like starts to grow. By all indications, Bay Meadows will not race after 2008.

While many horsemen held out hope that Bay Meadows would be spared of their development plans and continue to race, that scenario looks less likely each day. In fact, the Bay Meadows Land Company (BMLC) is telling the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) that they would only like to race until July of 2008. It is very disappointing that BMLC has taken this position, as they made such an issue of not originally being granted an exemption for the synthetic surface mandate. The CHRB granted the waiver, with BMLC now saying they can’t race past the summer months. Go figure! The CTT is very involved in negotiations in trying to get Bay Meadows to commit to a stabling program through the fall if they do not race after July of 2008.
 
There will be plenty of discussion surrounding the experiment of Vallejo and Santa Rosa running a combined meet this summer. Unfortunately, the handle figures did not increase, but rather decreased from previous years. Many on the circuit felt figures may have been different if Santa Rosa ran the first week of its meet without the carnival and then finished with its traditional fair meet the last two weeks. I’m sure that will be considered for next year.
 
After weeks of waiting for the City of Albany’s approval, the installation of the Tapeta racing surface at Golden Gate Fields (GGF) finally started on July 22. Horses were moved out to Vallejo, Pleasanton, and Bay Meadows during the construction time. The GGF management has set a tentative October 12 date as to when the horses can move back into the barn area. Besides the new racing surface, GGF is spending approximately $1 million to refurbish and paint all the stalls in the barn area. The areas between all the barns have been leveled off to improve drainage as well. In addition, the CTT is working closely with GGF to renovate its recreation hall for our backstretch workers.

Charles E. Dougherty, Jr. CTT Deputy Director
 (01 October 2007 )

TRM Trainer of the Quarter - Jean-Marie Beguigne

The TRM Trainer of Quarter goes to Jean-Marie Beguigne. To make it to the top of the tree in your chosen profession once is quite an achievement. To do it, fall to rock bottom and then rise to the top again is quite remarkable.

James Crispe (European Trainer - Issue 19 / Autumn 2007)

Meet the Cauthens - a horseracing dynasty

By Frances Karon

At the end of a shady road in Walton, Kentucky, in the land that time is just beginning to remember, sits the farmhouse that saw the scraped knees of Tex and Myra Cauthen’s three children: Steve, Doug and Kerry. As his nickname suggests, Tex is a transplant from Texas, while Myra was raised on a horse farm in Kentucky.

He was a very good blacksmith, and she was a successful racehorse trainer. On paper, the boys’ parents are as unflashy as Storm Cat is flashy, but their simplicity stops short of their minds. Those gears are always turning. Any pedigree expert will tell you that theirs is an A++ nick.

It has been 30 years since Steve garnered three Eclipse Awards in the U.S. as the first $6-million dollar man when he was still a boy and nearly that long since he rode Affirmed to win the 1978 Triple Crown. In the interim, Steve won classic after classic in Europe and was champion jockey in England on three occasions. These days, Steve owns Dreamfields Farm, a breeding and training facility in Northern Kentucky, living in removed harmony but frequently appearing to lend his support to a good cause. Doug, three years younger than Steve, is President and CEO of WinStar Farm. Kerry is the managing partner of Four Star Sales and Doug’s junior by six years. Doug and Kerry, both attorneys, also have high-profile roles in organizations aimed at improving and uniting the Thoroughbred industry.

The Cauthens are remarkably approachable, and you never would guess there was anything out of the ordinary about them from their demeanor. Walk around England with Steve, however, and you can get an idea of what it must have been like for this private family thrust into the eddy of rock star fame. Shameless bragging is not a Cauthen trait and they are reluctant to discuss their own accomplishments, but talking about each other’s successes is okay.

What are your first memories of each other?
Doug: When Kerry was first born, Dad got Steve and I cigars and said, “Smoke it.” It took three days to smoke and I’ve never had any interest in a cigarette since. That’s my first Kerry memory! I was six.
Steve: My first memory of Kerry was when Mom told us that she was pregnant. Remember when Mom said, “I’m having a baby?” And we wheeled her around in the wagon. That lasted a day.
Myra: They were going to take really good care of me, yeah. For one day! Then they forgot all about it.
Tex: The day before she had Kerry she was out in the barn up on the ladder putting up boards on the wall. We had an old boy working here and he just couldn’t understand how anybody could do it.
Myra: We finished the last stall.
Tex:  And then he was born.
Myra: It was like I couldn’t have him until I was done.
Doug: One of my great memories of Steve is…
Steve: You can’t tell the giraffe story!
Doug: This was one of many educational experiences that I got.
Steve: That’s why he went to law school!
Doug: I had gone to the zoo when I was in like kindergarten and I was all about giraffes and rhinos. So something got broken in the house and Dad’s method was, “Hey, who did this?” Steve broke it – of course!
Steve: Dad said, “I’m coming back in a few minutes. You guys decide, I want you to tell me what happened when I get back here.”
Doug: Nobody fessed up the first time and he gave us five or ten minutes to decide.
Steve: He left us down there so I said to Doug, I said, “Look, there’s no point in both of us getting whipped. Why don’t you take this one and it’ll be my turn next time?”
Doug: I didn’t want to do it, so he said, “Well I’ll give you a giraffe.” He figured that was my soft spot. I said, “Are you sure you have a giraffe?” and he said, “Yeah, yeah I’ll get a giraffe.” I said, “Okay, I’ll do it.”
Steve: He took the fall.
Doug: I took the fall and I went out to look for my giraffe. I was like, “Where is it, which barn is it in?” and he says, “Oh wait, I have to go get it.” He comes back with a little stir stick…a plastic cocktail stir stick.
Steve: It’s been a great thing for us all these years. Memories…
What’s the most important thing that your parents have taught you, that’s stuck in your mind all these years?
Steve: For me, it was just to find something that you like to do and to work hard at it. They taught us not to be afraid of work.
Kerry: That’s a good one.
Doug: That’s pretty good.
Kerry: Can we all adopt that one? They gave us the best examples of how to live a good, honest life.
Steve: And to treat people like you want to be treated.
Kerry: No matter who they were, they always treated everybody equally.
Steve: To this day, when you run into people everybody knows my mom and dad. And they have nothing but good stuff to say about them.
Doug: It ties into what you said, but Dad and Mom always told us to keep busy and work hard. When things aren’t going right, when you’re down in the dumps, things aren’t going exactly like you wanted, get up and get doing something.
Steve: The other good thing is, too, that we always knew we had a home, we had a place to come back to, to heal our wounds. That’s part of growing up, things going wrong, but you always knew you had people you could talk to that would love you no matter what. One of the things that I think helped me in the Triple Crown, especially going into the last race, was that I knew whatever happened I had support from my family, whether I won or lost or even if I screwed up and lost it wouldn’t have mattered. That’s a very comforting thing, to know you’ve got a good support system behind you.
Steve talks about having a home to come back to. You still live in the farmhouse in which you raised your boys.
Myra: It was a good place to grow up. That’s why we moved here. Been here 42 years, and we’ve been working on it ever since we bought it. Tex is fixing the cellar door right now, I’m working on the flowers. We’ve still got a couple of horses.
Tex: The boys used to build these forts up there in the barn with tunnels through the hay.
Doug: And Steve fell out of a hayloft.
Kerry: Right into a wheelbarrow full of manure.
Steve: Luckily.
Kerry: So you can call him lucky. Mom didn’t miss stride, she launched herself out of a window to get to Steve.
Myra: Doug came in screaming, so it was the logical thing. That was funny, he landed in the wheelbarrow. He must have been walking on the board across the loft. He was probably about 10 or 11.
How were your life experiences different?
Doug: Steve was truly a big brother and unfortunately I lost him when he went away and started riding.
Myra: When he started going away, it was more difficult. It was…stressful. But it also was wonderful. It was good, it was very good, just a totally different life than the peaceful life here. Which was fine with me – peaceful, that is. It was a great thing, Steve enjoyed it and it was certainly nothing I ever thought was going to happen. I thought he would be a good rider, but…
Steve: When I went to New York, Dad went up with me. Of course, he still had to make a living, these guys were still growing up, he had to run the farm. So after four or five days he dumped my ass in a hotel room and said, “Bert Sonnier will take care of you.” For a month I was living like that. Then luckily Chuck Taliaferro sent his stable up there, because it’s no fun living there by yourself that far away when you’re that young. You have to grow into what comes your way. And as it was in my career things just fell the right way for me. I was lucky when I went to England; the first people that I rode for were Barry and Penny Hills and they were fantastic, they basically treated me like I was their son. Whenever you have success there is a ton of people that are involved. There’s always a lot more than one person, for sure.
Myra: Steve would get homesick for a long time but we were always going over to see him.
Doug: We’re really lucky we don’t hate him because if we did, because, “Hey, how’s Steve?” is the first question anybody asks. I think it just broadened our experiences, to get to go to England and South Africa and all different places. When I was 15 I worked in New York, we lived together one summer. I wouldn’t have gone and worked there if it hadn’t been for Steve. I’d have worked at River Downs, which I’d already done, but to get to go to Belmont Park and work for Dr. Jim Prendergast and trainers like P.G. Johnson and Laz Barrera was great. Later in England, Clive Brittain.
Kerry: This was a problem, being six years younger, they used to go on all these fun trips. They’re over in South Africa and we had the coldest wind chill in Kentucky in the last recorded 75 years. I think the wind chill was thirty below. Mom and I would go out and muck one stall then come inside and warm up for half an hour. Then we’d go back outside and muck one more stall, come back inside and warm up for half an hour.
It must have been difficult to see your oldest child leave home so young.
Tex: That was one of the hard things I had to do, trying to decide whether he should ride or go to school. It looked like he could ride some so we took a whack at that. We took some time off and spent some time with Steve and there’s many questions in choices but I stayed here and kept doing what I was doing and helped him and helped Doug and Kerry when I had the opportunity, still do. Because you can always use help, regardless of whether you’ve got a good job or a bad job.
Myra: It was hard. It was really hard. But we did go up and see him. And we talked to him nearly every day. The whole thing was hard for me. It was just, trying to keep your balance. It was unbelievable…

It’s well documented that you slept in a sleeping bag the night before Affirmed’s Kentucky Derby, Steve. How did that happen?
Steve: I don’t even think it was a sleeping bag. I just slept on the floor. I might have had a blanket.
Tex: There were two beds. Mom and I had one, Doug and Kerry had the other.
Steve: If I had wanted to sleep in the bed I think they probably would have let me but I just wanted to get a good night’s sleep. I don’t really even remember but I think it was self-inflicted.
Now, I love this, the Derby winners’ circle photo with 9-year-old Kerry in the way, taking his own picture!
Myra: That was a great day. Kerry and the camera… We had to kneel down because of the photographers and I thought, “Boy this is weird! Are we kneeling down for the horse?”
So then Kerry just walked out there and started directing everybody?
Myra: Probably!
Tex: He told Steve, he said, “Smile.”
Steve: That was Kerry back then, he was already running things. That night at the Wolfson’s dinner party, Kerry walked up to Mr. Wolfson who told him, “Kerry, we’re really proud of your brother. He sure did ride a great race for us.” And Kerry said, “Mr. Wolfson, anybody could have won on your horse.”
Kerry, I remember you telling me about Mom visiting Steve in England and Tex having to cook beans for you and Doug every night.
Kerry: What do you mean, having to cook beans every night? That was all he could cook.
Doug: Beans, or stir-fry or sardines and crackers.
Kerry: And the response, if the beans were too salty, was, “Well fine, then go cook your own.”
Doug: “If the beans are too salty, you’re the new chef!”
Do you eat beans anymore?
Kerry: About once a year or so.
Doug: But not sardines.
So Doug and Kerry, what made you go to law school?
Doug: I did a lot of the groundwork and made my mistakes – all the mistakes I made, I short-circuited so he didn’t make them.
Kerry: He wants that in print so bad! That’s what he’s been telling everybody.
Doug: I took all these different paths to make it back to the horses. The main reason that I went to law school was that I’d seen a lot of people that did other things in life but had law degrees and thought I could add a skill set to separate myself from other people that were in management, then as a safety net if the horse business went to hell it was something that I could do. Thankfully, it’s been a great training because in the horse industry you’re doing tons of deals, tons of contracts and above all else you’re trying to avoid problems. I think law school teaches you to think of the possibilities and maybe avoid deals going wrong because you’ve thought about it in advance and worked it out.
Kerry: And I followed the path of the mighty and the righteous! One of the reasons why I went to law school is, see Dad had a basic theory that he taught us all from about age 2 on probably – as soon as we could understand English he was teaching us, now, if I teach you how to muck a stall, at the very least you could earn a minimum wage and be a stall mucker all your life. So when I went to law school I figured alright, I’m raising the bar, at least I won’t have to muck stalls.
Steve: He only paid five bucks a week, too!
Doug: Four bucks!
Steve: Four bucks, that’s right.
Doug: You gave me a dollar to do yours.
Steve: I guess I had a lot of law qualities myself!
Tex: People go through the normal problems in life. Early in life people tend to start making their own choices. And they might listen to you if you say this is a terrible choice, but basically they figure it out. Doug figured out about going to law school and so Kerry followed him, and that got them to where they’re at. The getting there wasn’t as forthcoming quite as quickly as Doug thought it might be.

What do you think about where the industry has been going?
Myra: Steve’s success is a gift that was given and at the time, thank God, it did lift racing somewhat. Now it needs another lift. It needs something else. But there’s always exciting things happening in racing. I just don’t think people love their horses the way they did then. It’s so much more commercial.
Tex: I think it’s changed an awful lot, because of government, primarily, and more money that’s gotten into the business. Like always, good horses will have value and I think it’ll unfold as it should. All you have to do is realize where it is unfolding and go with it. Real good horses are hard to find. It’s a lot of fun if you get one. I think you’ve got to work out some way of what you’re going to do with the horses that don’t fit what they were bred for. And certainly some of them’d make good riding horses, jumping horses, they have a place but what could you do with the ones that don’t have a place? So I don’t know. Those things concern me but I’m convinced that it’ll turn out alright at the end of the day when they get all these brains figuring out what to do.
Steve: It changes every day. This is a tough business. I was a jockey obviously, and now I’m into the breeding side and I’ve been doing this now for almost ten years. It’s given me a great appreciation for owners and breeders, because unlike the jockey who gets off one horse and gets on the next you rely on what the mare does, you breed, you produce, and you have to try to make a living out of what you produce. I’m one of the lucky ones because I’ve got these guys, they’re both really closely involved. Doug looks at zillions of horses, and Kerry does, and they help me try to make a better decision about what to breed to and different things. But even so, you can have the greatest breeding in mind and it doesn’t work like you think it will. Obviously on the grander scale of where racing is going it’s like everything, when you get overproduction, too much supply and not enough demand, it’s tough for it to work. I’ve still got a lot of optimism that things are going to hopefully get better. I think that Kentucky racing should be the best in the country. Seems to me that the government could help try to boost up an industry that’s so vitally important to the state.
Doug: I have a lot of optimism for it to actually become a very viable business across the board if certain things happen. We have to have Magna and Churchill get together like they are at least starting to do with the TV programs and you’re going to have to be able to bet from your phone, from your computer, from wherever – you’ve got to get the product everywhere. Every person whose kid’s name is Alex should have been betting on Afleet Alex, just for the fun of it during the Triple Crown.
Kerry: There’s a lot of people out there trying to do positive things, but every time you try to make a positive step there’s 20 people who want to say you should have done it a different way. I worked on the Breeders’ Incentive Fund and you couldn’t imagine the number of fights. A lot of times people don’t realize that what they have in common is far greater than what’s not in common. It’s much easier to focus on the differences.
Doug: I’ll brag on Kerry a little bit. The Breeders’ Incentive Fund would not have happened in a positive way, I don’t think, without all the work that he put in, hundreds of hours understanding it, getting the records, creating his own database to understand how the money could and would be split up and then bringing the people together to get the solution, and there’s also his involvement in CBA (Consignors and Commercial Breeders Association) and KEEP (Kentucky Equine Education Partnership), probably the two most important organizations that have been formed in the last couple of years to get people to the table so disagreeing opinions can come up with a direction instead of just throwing arrows. He’s also on the Kentucky Racing Authority and has had to deal with all kinds of different dilemmas there. Kerry’s people skills and his ability to mediate and negotiate have been great. I’m proud of what he’s doing. A lot of it’s behind the scenes. People see him at the sales but with the workload that he’s taken on, he’s owed a huge debt because that’s a pain in the ass, especially the political side. It’s nice to be proud of your brothers. And your parents. But overall, we’re fighting so hard so we’ve got to improve our platform. It appears people that have the power to do that are trying to and if that doesn’t happen we’re in position for a real correction because there is overproduction, there is too much.
Steve: More than that is the steady decline of the whole business. You’ve got to be able to compete.
Doug: The product has to be fun and exciting. At Keeneland the product’s great. I’m happy to see the ten cent bet, I’m happy to see Trakus; Keeneland’s becoming a test market for a lot of good things and I hope they keep doing it. But even there, I’d like to see continued, different and simpler betting opportunities. In Australia, if you’ve got $20 you can bet the trifecta with that $20 split between eight horses, it’ll fractionalize the bet instead of having to have it exactly. Simple things like that are smart moves.
Tex has his own brand of sayings, or Texisms as we call them. What are your favorites?
Doug: When someone comes up and says, “Hey Tex, you are looking good,” his kidding response is, “You can’t kill bad grass.” Translation: “I’m lucky to be here.” It’s all self-deprecation, which I like about Dad. He’s done a lot, but he’s always humble, in a humorous way. A lot of his Texisms are like Yogi Berra’s – they are so obvious or even sometimes conflicting that we have to laugh about it. Like Yogi would say “It ain’t over till it’s over,” Dad comes up with similar ones, unintentionally of course which makes it a bit fun for the rest of us to tease him about!
Tex: They’re always giving me stick about the way I talk.
Kerry: I like, “You’d complain if they hung you with a new rope.” No translation needed!
Doug: If we are working on a project, let’s say raking up leaves in the yard, one of us might say, “Boy, this is taking a long time to do all this work.” Dad would respond, “It’s taking long enough to finish,” or something like that. And when someone says, “How are you, Tex?” he’ll say, “I’m on the right side of the grass!” Translation: “I’m alive and well, good to see you, too.” A lot of Dad’s phrases are really interpretable to a common theme: “I’m so lucky to be here, and I’m thankful to God.” He’s always instilled that in us. We didn’t always hear it or listen as we grew up, but we come back to it and realize how right he is. He’s a very spiritual person, really. And he’s a great role model. We are all lucky to have him, and we are thankful to God for every day he’s with us.
Of what are you most proud?
Tex: Being able to raise a good family and make a living shoeing horses, doing something that I like. I enjoyed it. And doing what I thought was the honorable thing. I’m feeling very fortunate because we’ve built a family together that works relatively well. Some of it’s from effort but sometimes you put a lot of effort into something and it doesn’t happen.

Myra: Our life has been a good life. I’m grateful. From the bottom of my toes! I am.

Equine Exercise Physiology - understanding basic terminology and concepts

By Robert Keck

Equine exercise physiology is defined as the study of the horse’s body systems in response to exercise. A relatively new scientific field, equine exercise physiology provides an incredible amount of information that can be used to maximize performance, and extend the health and longevity of the athletic horse.

Understanding basic terminology and concepts that researchers commonly use in measuring equine performance, the modern trainer can design a training program that enables the horse to reach the limits of its genetic potential.

The study of equine exercise physiology can be divided into several broad categories including:
• the cardiovascular and respiratory systems
• the muscular system and energenics
• biomechanics and gait analysis
• Thermoregulation
• hematology
• nutrition

The Heart and Lungs


 
The horse’s heart weights between 4-5 kg., or about 1% of their body mass. At rest the horse heart beats 30-40 beats per minute. At full speed however, the maximal heart rate (HR max) in a 2-3 year old racehorse can reach 240-250 beats per minute. The heart pumps .8-1.2 liters in each beat. Cardiac output is calculated by multiplying heart rate (HR) x stroke volume (SV). At rest the heart cardiac output is approximately 25 liters per minute and increases to an amazing 300 liters per minute in elite athletes during exercise. Therefore, a horse’s heart is capable of pumping a 55 gallon barrel of blood per minute!

A horse’s total blood volume is approximately 40 liters, and accounts for 10% of a horse’s body weight. At rest 35% of the horse’s total blood volume is red blood cells, however they can amazingly increase their red blood cell count, on demand, to 65% of their blood volume during a race, with up to 50% of the horse’s total red blood cells stored in the spleen. The red blood cells are void of a nucleus and have the large protein hemoglobin that transports oxygen. The horse’s heart is able to handle the increased viscosity of the blood. During exercise blood is diverted away from internal organs such as the intestines and kidney to working muscles used in motion.

The combination of the horse’s powerful respiratory and cardiovascular system, enable the horse to have a tremendous oxygen consuming capability. The normal ventilation rate at rest is about 80 liters of air per minute at rest, and at a fast gallop can reach up to 1800 liters, with a ventilation rate of 150 breaths per minute.
Because horses are only able to breath through their nostrils, they must have a clear upper airway with little air resistance. Partial paralysis of the muscles that abduct the larynx reduces airflow, therefore justifying the reliance and importance of pre-sale endoscopic examinations.
Termed as respiratory-locomotory coupling, a horse’s breathing is in synch with their stride, taking one breath per stride when at a canter or gallop. Therefore, stride length and frequency is highly correlated with oxygen intake.

Aerobic and Anaerobic Power

During exercise oxygen is supplied to working muscles at the cellular level to produce energy for the muscles. Aerobic work is performed at a heart rate below 150 beats per minute (BPM), and includes low intensity activities such as walking, trotting and slow galloping. In the Epsom Derby run over 1 ½ miles about 80% of the energy would be aerobic, with the remaining 20% being derived anaerobicly, achieving a high cruising speed and accelerating at the finish in the last few furlongs. When exercising aerobically carbohydrates, fats and protein are used as fuel and broken down into energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in the presence of oxygen.

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% anaerobicly 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 fibers 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 fibers. Each nerve branch communicates with one muscle fiber at the motor end. The nerve and all muscle fibers that it supplies are together termed a motor unit. Each time that a nerve is stimulated all of the muscle fibers under its control will contract. One motor nerve will supply from 10-2000 muscle fibers.

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 fiber 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 Fiber Types

The horse has three basic muscle fiber types: Type 1, Type 2A, and Type 2B. These fibers have different contractile rates and metabolic energy characteristics.
Type 1 fibers, also known as “slow twitch” or “red fibers” and 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 fiber types.   
Type 2A are the “intermediate fibers” in terms of both contractile speed and metabolic properties between Type 1 and Type 2B. These fibers 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 fibers that can produce speed and still utilize large amounts of oxygen and resist fatigue.
Type 2B “fast twitch” fibers 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 fiber type distribution in a number of breeds of horses, heavy hunters had a very large proportion of Type 1 fibers, while Thoroughbreds and Quarter horses had few Type 1 fibers and a large number of the faster contracting 2A and 2B types. The percentage of each fiber type that a particular breed has in its muscle depends on the type of performance the breed is selected.
Thoroughbreds have the highest number of the highly aerobic 2A fibers, illustrating the importance of oxygen utilizing pathways in the thoroughbred racehorse. Researchers also found that thoroughbred stayers have a high number of Type 1 fibers than either sprinters or middle distance horses. Unfortunately, within a breed, the spread in fiber type distribution is so small that fiber typing as a predictor of performance is probably of limited value.
Muscle strength, size and shape can be predictive of muscle fiber ratios. Although each muscle may have a fiber type mix, generally a higher percentage of the “fast twitch” (Type 2) fibers 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 milliliters of O2 per kilogram of body weight per minute (or second). At rest a horse absorbs 3 milliliters 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 utilize 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 it 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 refection 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

Thorough 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 a desired performance measures. The test can be designed as an incremental test, where horses are asked to perform and 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 liters / 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 and 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 (respiratory quotient) 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 1-1/2 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 weeks 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. K 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. Although each phase has a focus on training specific medabolic systems, a trainer must plan.

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.

Forage - So much more than just a filler

By Dr Catherine Dunnett

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 11lb of hay or a rounded 15.5lbs of haylage for an average sized horse (1100lbs).  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 11lbs of hay

Moisture Dry Matter Weight of forage Percentage Increase above hay
Hay (Average) 15% 85% 11lbs 
Haylage 1 30% 70% 13lbs 20%
Haylage 2 45% 55% 16.5lbs 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. 

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.”

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.

Nasal Strips - increasing performance, reducing EIPH

By Bill Heller

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. Regard-less, 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.comentitled “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.

Nutritional Ergogenic aids for horses - boosting performance

By Dr Catherine Dunnett

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.

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 below offers an overview of the global ergogenic aids ‘catalogue’ but is by no means intended to be an exhaustive list.

Ergogenic effects in horses and humans for dietary supplements marketed for use in performance horses

Proven* beneficial effect in horses Proven* beneficial effect in humans but not horses 

No unequivocal ergogenic effect in either species
  
ß-hydroxy-ß-methylbutyrate (HMB) Creatine Gamma-oryzanol
 Carnitine Dimethylglycine (DMG)
  Trimethylglycine (TMG)
  Ribose
  Chromium
  Stabilised oxygen
  Ubiquinone (Co-enzyme Q10)
  Branched chain amino acids (BCAA)
  Prohormones

* Based on data produced from scientific trials, rather than anecdotal evidence.

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 horses 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.
 

The growing influence of South Africa in the world Pari-mutuel industry

Trivia fiends interested in international horseracing and betting will have a field day with the combined question: Which country operates the world’s most extensive pari-mutuel system, and which company is the operator?

Many would probably go straight for Hong Kong and the local Jockey Club as the joint answer, given that Far Eastern punters are deservedly renowned for their fanatical pursuit of riches through horseracing and more recently football betting, and that Hong Kong has the best-known, most successful legalised system. They would be wrong.

A sizeable proportion of those who dismiss Hong Kong as being too obvious for a trivia question might plump for the United States, based on its size and well documented propensity for gambling. They would be wrong. A few might look to Europe, and suggest either the French PMU or Britain’s Tote as their solution. They too would be wrong. The answer is South Africa, and Phumelela Gold Enterprises. Surprised? I’m not surprised that you’re surprised, especially since Phumelela did not exist until April 1999, when a new dispensation was negotiated between the country’s horsemen and the South African government, which included the “corporatisation” of the several individual race clubs and totalisators, and a reduction in betting taxes.

The development led to the consolidation of South Africa’s racing and tote betting industries into two operators – Phumelela Gaming and Leisure, which immediately listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and became responsible for operating in seven of the country’s provinces, and Gold Circle, which takes in the remaining two provinces. As Brian Mehl, a well respected businessman who became Phumelela’s first chief executive and remains deputy chairman, explains, the new dawn was born out of sheer necessity.

Without it, racing and betting in South Africa would almost certainly have sunk into third-world status, drowned by the tide of new forms of legalised gaming, such as metropolitan casinos, bingo halls and the national lottery. He adds: “The situation was further exacerbated by South Africa’s re-entry to the international community, with renewed access to international sporting events, all of which resulted in industry decline and the chalking up of significant losses. The future was very bleak indeed.” Today, Mehl enthuses that both Phumelela, which also operates football and sports spread betting, and Gold Circle are viable and operating profitably; the South African breeding industry is producing record levels of sales, “and the future looks very promising.”

To get to this point in such a short time, though, has involved a deal of pain. Costs have been cut back ruthlessly, hundreds of jobs have been lost, racecourses have been closed - and are still closing - and the financial model has been changed. Mehl explains: “The turnaround can be attributed to the restructuring of the South African racing and betting industry into commercially orientated, professionally managed and focussed businesses, with successes - and failures - being enjoyed by all participants.” The two companies operate under different philosophies. Phumelela sets aside 30% of its income for race stakes, but has shareholders - the Racing Association (35%) and Black Empowerment Groups (27.5%) being the biggest - who can expect to earn dividends of around half of any profits after the payment of expenses for running racing on five courses and a major training centre – including the provision of transport from stable to racecourse at no cost to owners - staging events and operating the tote. Its 2005-6 operating profit, following a loss the previous year, was R9.7 million (£680,000).

Gold Circle essentially runs a non-profit making business, ploughing back income for the benefit of its racing constituents. Despite the differences, the two companies have worked closely together to achieve efficiencies, economies and scale. Mehl explains: “Wherever it makes good commercial sense, we have either combined our operations - for example in TV broadcasting, racing services and publishing - or we co-operate fully to try to achieve an optimal result, on race programming and fixtures for instance.”

The earliest most obvious example of co-operation was the co-mingling of tote pools, which came about in April 2002, when single national pools were created under the banner of Saftote. Growth in tote betting turnover was achieved for the first time in several years. More significantly, though, came the establishment of a joint venture company, Phumelela Gold Enterprises (PGE), which controls all media and information rights emanating from the two entities, owns and controls the industry’s broadcasting and publishing interests, as well as totalisator co-mingling activities and internet sites, and is responsible for developing the jointly-owned international business. This is the foundation on which South Africa’s worldwide reputation as a pari-mutuel facilitator has been built.

The first indication that the old colonial country at the tip of the African continent had a technological capacity that very few could rival came in October 2002, when Saftote betting pools on the Breeders’ Cup meeting at Arlington Park were co-mingled with those of the host tote operator. “That enabled South African punters to bet into the huge US pools, and demonstrated Phumelela’s ability to participate on the global horseracing and betting stage,” says Mehl, with justifiable pride.

However, the traffic is not all one way, and four and a half years on, this year’s Dubai World Cup experience demonstrated how far, and how fast, Phumelela has come in advancing its capabilities as a host for co-mingling bets. Over R36.7m (£2.57m) was bet in global tote pools handled by Phumelela, of which R32m (£2.24m) arrived via 56 individual tote sources in the US and Canada, compared with R17.43 (£1.22) on the same day the previous year. Other betting centres connected to the service in Johannesburg were in Holland, Austria, Germany, the Isle of Man (where Phumelela has a secondary hub), Spain, Russia, the West Indies and Tasmania. More than 400 outlets in South Africa also bet on the meeting through Saftote.

Remarkably, at least to those who can only look in from the outside, the UK Tote system does not penetrate the same internet language as Phumelela’s can. The UK Tote operated its own pool on the Dubai World Cup, which throws up a further irony, since many of Phumelela’s customers that day also co-mingled bets on the Kempton meeting that was going on almost simultaneously. Phumelela redirected win, place and exacta bets on Kempton to the UK Tote, but due to various limitations hosted trifecta and quartet bets itself, declaring its own dividends. John Stuart, Phumelela’s director of international operations, reflects: “Hosting the global tote pools on behalf of the Dubai Racing Club is a substantial undertaking, but it’s a responsibility that we’re immensely proud of.” Live pictures go with co-mingling like bread and cheese, and Kempton’s appearance on the same programme as Dubai came down a path trodden originally by Stuart’s energetic predecessor, the late Derrick Wiid, who was largely responsible for forging the link with Attheraces in 2003 that first brought UK racing into South Africa.

The following year, after the UK’s daily satellite racing coverage had fallen apart, Racing UK was born, with 30 tracks in the fold, and Phumelela joined as its international partner. Phumelela also retained rights to other UK meetings for showing, and, more importantly, betting on in the local market of 400 shops, three call centres, the internet and mobile phones, and race tracks. UK racing is the mainstay of South Africa’s imported product, but events also come in from Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, France and the US, as well as more local fare from Mauritius, Kenya and Zimbabwe. “Our growth strategy depended on international racing,” Stuart explains. “South African racing alone was boring for punters, with a race every 30 minutes. Now we have an event every ten minutes, and the aim is to provide a round-the-clock service. Our betting shops are open from 10am to 10pm, but the internet has no boundaries, and we recently had our first race, from Hong Kong, at 6.30am. “Simulcasting was our only option, and that feeds into everyone down the line. Our prize-money increases are earned from simulcasting, and that means the whole industry benefits, from local horsemen to jockeys and stable staff.”

The UK also presented South Africa with its first opportunity to export its racing pictures, when in the mid-1990s bookmakers realised they needed something to keep mid-morning punters in their shops on Saturdays, before the afternoon programme began. South Africa provided the answer, and proved the saviour when a foot and mouth epidemic closed much of UK racing for a period in 2001.

The Racing UK link prompted Phumelela to create Racing International, a pictures and data television product that now covers four-fifths of the world, by Stuart’s estimation, and is seen in 30-plus countries, fostered most recently by the introduction of a 48-hour declaration system in the UK. However, co-mingling is the key, and Phumelela works on the back of a tote system bought off the shelf from leading US supplier Amtote. It has net pool pricing capabilities, dealing with any major currency through exchange-rate software, and supports scan-type bets such as the Pick6 and Superfecta, while each country pays its own local tax rate, to avoid double counting.

Stuart says: “Our vision is to have the global switch, to provide connectivity to any legal betting operator anywhere in the world, with royalties being paid to the host track.” The development of a race every ten minutes on Racing International has produced a 50 per cent increase in turnover over the last five years to R4.8 billion (£336m) in 2005-6. Stuart explains: “There are two parts to our business. Exporting pictures abroad gives us the opportunity to earn a royalty from betting, traditionally a margin of 3-4%. At the same time, bringing bets into our own pools means we pay the royalty but earn the full margin from the tote, which on average in South Africa is 24%.”

Looking ahead, Stuart is working to make Racing International a 24/7 horseracing channel, with prime content supported by a global tote system. He reasons: “Without betting, there’s nothing, and we have to create the premiership of horseracing and tote betting to take on competition from legal and illegal bookmakers, the sports betting market, casinos and websites. “If we reach the ideal, racing will get its fair share out of the market, and a tote system delivers the money to ensure that racing is the survivor in the long term.”

Mike de Kock makes Newmarket his European summer base

Meeting Mike de Kock, I soon knew that he most certainly is a case of a horseman turned businessman, and remaining a horseman first and foremost. Strange really, when it comes to light that he was brought up in a Dutch / English family with no connections to horses. Well, probably not much stranger than the fact that one of his classmates in Johannesburg was a boy called David Ferraris. A son of a trainer. The two boys soon developed a common interest in racing. This March, some thirty years later, they both celebrated a big win on Dubai World Cup night. Same guys, same interest, but today they are men. Horsemen. With a global view.

Mike de Kock is breaking new ground as he takes nine horses to England this year. ”Not necessarily to race in Europe only”, he points out over a cup of tea in Newmarket, ”also because it is so easy to travel from here.”  Yes, de Kock has a wide horizon. When he takes up ten boxes rented from Geoff Wragg’s Abington Place, his intentions are not to experiment a bit with runners at the two courses on the other side of town. One might have guessed as much. How did he select the horses, by the way?
”I took the best from my team in Dubai”, he smiles, in what must be a relaxed manner deeply rooted in his pedigree. After all, the man is due at Heathrow Airport some three and a half hours after we meet – to fly back to Dubai. Missing planes is hardly his style. Getting edgy is probably even less so.

A son of Tim de Kock and Ann Tinkler, Mike grew up next to ”the other Newmarket” - the racecourse in South Africa. With two years’ service in the army, working with horses, his interest in the animals grew. ”When I got out of the army, I got a chance to work for David Ferraris’s father, who was a champion trainer”, he recalls. 
 
de Kock is now a family man, married to Diane and they have Matthew (15) and Kirsten (12) on the team. ”They will come to England in their school holidays”, de Kock says. ”Diane’s father, John Cawcutt, was a champion jockey”, he continues.  ”She was born and bred in racing. She works for me, pre-schooling all the horses”.
 
He became a trainer by accident. ”The third trainer I worked for, Ricky Howard Ginsberg, died of a heart attack at 44, and I took over. Quite frankly, I did not want to become a trainer – as it wasn’t paying much. I had actually been for an inteview for a job outside racing when this all happened. I was within weeks of leaving. The owners gave me this chance when I was only 24 years old, and I had around 50 horses. It was a good start, and I was lucky enough to have the owners sticking by me. I had my first Group winner in about four months.” He still trains for some of the owners who helped launched his career in 1988. ”My client base has expanded”, he says, ”but some owners have been there since day one.”

Good for South African racing that he didn’t leave the sport. Today, good for international racing also. A leading trainer in his homeland, de Kock has an excellent record in a competitive part of the racing world.  ”There are around 200 licensed trainers in South Africa”, he explains, ”and with 150 horses I have the second or third biggest string. About ten per cent of all trainers handle over 100 horses.”  To the question of which big races he has won, his reply sounds not far off a comment on yesterday’s weather, ”I have won pretty much all of them”, he says and finishes his tea. Not that it doesn’t matter. It just doesn’t show. There is no salesman like grin to go with the words, no politician like waving of hands. Remember, this is a horseman, and a very calm one at that. There can be little doubt that laid back men like de Kock are precisely what highly strung thoroughbreds prefer having around them to get the most out of a life at the races.

de Kock had his first runner outside South Africa in 2000. ”Horse Chestnut”, he recalls, ”he ran in the Broward Handicap at Gulfstream Park. He was a super horse. Super!” All of a sudden it shows on his face, Horse Chestnut was special to him, and he has never been willing to compare other horses to him. ”We wanted to go to the Dubai World Cup - it was the same year as Dubai Millennium - it would have been an interesting race. The only way out of South Africa was travelling via New York, then on to Gulfstream and go that way to Dubai. We had problems because of the African Horse Sickness and restriction on movement. You could do 60 days in quarantine in America, and get away. The plan was to go to the Donn, which is a good prep for the World Cup. Sadly, he was injured. He won the Broward though, and proved himself on dirt. Many of the Fort Woods go on dirt. He is a son of the great broodmare Fall Aspen, and she won on dirt.”
But for a third in a G3 over 1000 metres as a juvenile, Horse Chestnut would have retired unbeaten. He won nine of his ten races, including four at Group One level. 
When de Kock was offered to train Horse Chestnut, he soon knew the value of the task at hand, and the success with this champion means a lot still today. Horse Chestnut was bred by the Oppenheimer family, ”I train most of their horses now and they fill nearly half my yard”, de Kock explains, ”we have quite a few owner-breeders, and I do not go that often to the sales. I do, but I never go with an open cheque book. When buying, I look for the classic type, a horse that can show speed early and win me a mile then win over a 1 ¼ miles later on. I train juveniles, and had the champion last year – called Kildonan – but I do not enjoy pushing young horses. I am not a big believer in two-year-old racing, I know that can be a bit a of commercial suicide, but it’s just not for me. I have many unraced juveniles, and the rewards are there when they get older. I often take these young horses to Durban in the winter, by the sea level, where they can enjoy a better climate, then come back to ’Jo’burg’ to race.” 
His team in Johanneburg is big, he employs ”close to 70” and when US journalists called him the ”Todd Pletcher of Africa”, their readers quickly got the picture. The Yanks would have welcomed him with open arms and he would have fitted right in on the other side of the pond. Why did he choose England?

”Ah!! Look, racing here is fantastic, we have been watching it on TV at home for years. I find this a massive challenge. Let’s face it, we will be racing against some of the best horses in the world. I’d love to be a part of the big meetings, Royal Ascot, York and Goodwood. I am looking for this to be a yearly base, I am not coming just for this year. The Dubai Carnival is great, but it is also just ten meetings, and it is too hot to train there in the summer. You need to get out. If you’ve got good horses.”
And good horses he has. Based in England, South Africa’s champion trainer feels that he will be ideally positioned for international raids with them. ”Transporting horses is so easy from here”, he says, ”very professional, it’s like posting letters! So, if we want to race in France, Germany, Hong Kong or USA, we can.”

”I really have to get my head round different ways of training”, he admits, ”this is completely new, also compared to Dubai, where it’s all flat, we train and race on circular tracks, similar to South Africa”.  On the subject of training, in different countries and different climates, de Kock says ”you always have to adapt to what you have, and methods are therefore different around the world. Certainly, that is also part of this that I love. You can pick up things from colleagues when training in new places, and incorporate them into your methods, you know”. 
”We bought Asiatic Boy specifically for the Dubai Carnival”, de Kock explains as we switch to one of his best horses. ”We got lucky.”  
Will Asiatic Boy be suited to English turf courses? ”We don’t know”, the trainer admits, ”he is a big, long striding horse, and hopefully training on undulating tracks will help him adapt. One thing in his favour is that he is a very, very sound horse.”

de Kock is now taking his training experience to new grounds, after having moved successfully from South Africa to Dubai, where he also had to adapt. ”The dirt courses are much deeper in South Africa than in Dubai”, he says, ”so therefore we work less distances at home. In Dubai, I will be working my horses nearly twice the distance compared to South Africa.” Taking a glance up the Warren Hill, de Kock comments: ”I think it is possible to train too much, and too hard here”, but quickly continues; ”Look, I am fairly scientific in my training, I work with treadmills, I work with body weights a lot, and hopefully I will be able to piece it all together - to see how working up these hills affects the horses.”

Two key factors pop up when Mike de Kock talks about the prospects of running a global operation: ”I think it can be done”, he says, ”but only with the right staff, and with understanding clients. You must have the right people on the ground, who are straight and honest with you, and feed you the right information. It’s not easy though. It is very taxing on you, on your family, and on your staff and their families. Therefore I don’t think it is something that I would do for a long time. Certainly for a few years but I doubt it will be sustainable, at some point you have to settle somewhere. It is no problem to ”winter / summer” though, for instance in Dubai and England.”

This summer will be an interesting and busy time. de Kock really will be running up those air miles, as he is shuttling between his base in Johannesburg and what will be a small, but very exclusively inhabited, satellite yard in Newmarket. 
Assistant Trevor Brown, an ex-jockey who has been with de Kock for three years, will be in charge of the team from early May, and de Kock plans to come over early in July. ”Brown will have three of my grooms, one of them has been travelling with me since the first year we came to Dubai”.

He uses his own feed, supplied by Mitavite, ”an Australian feed”, he explains, ”they are very good, sending the food to me wherever I am in the world, so the horses will be staying on the same diet. But not in South Africa, as we can’t get it there – it’s just too expensive. But the diet I use is similar. I weigh my horses at least three times a week, that tells me a lot about each individual. When I am going for a big race I weigh every day, at exactly the same time of the day. It is very important, the weight ”talks to me”.

Different climates has always been a subject in international racing and ”horses do not mind the cold”, de Kock says, ”though some horses peak in the summer, some in the winter. I do not know what it is, maybe even genetic, but I have seen it many times. Also, there is no doubt in my mind that the thoroughbred is better at four than he is at three. When the horse is three or four, he is still growing, and can have little niggling problems. When he is five and six, his skeleton has settled down, there are no more pains, therefore he tries that little harder.”
If a horse is more likely to be at his best at four, should the classics be for that generation?

”Absolutely! Look, if you have a lightly raced, sound four-year-old, you can clean up. I wish we did everything a year later. I suppose financially it is not easy. But; on the flip side, how many horses are we losing because we have been pushing them at two? So maybe the financial implications will work in your favour if the horses are given more of a chance to mature, then able to race later. What is wrong with having a five or six-year-old still running?”

South African horses are quite tough, according the de Kock; ”they are hardy, in wintertime in Johannesburg the ground is quite firm. We are therefore breeding a horse that can race quite often. A lot of horses are also imported, from Australia, Brazil and Argentina.”

Connection with the rest of the world has not always been easy, however. The South African horse sickness issue has been suffereing from a ”lack of understanding”, de Kock says, ”the risk is actually very low, and it is not a contagious disease. We vaccinate and the risk for thoroughbreds is low compared to farm animals living 24 hours outdoors. In fact, little things like not taking the horses out to graze early in the morning or in the evening, when there is a dew, reduces the risks a lot. That is the time of the day they are likely to be bitten. South Africa is on top of this, as you know there will be a complete closedown if horses are affected, with no movement at all. It has been a problem for hundreds of years and not really understood. On this matter, I feel the rest of the world needs to be a little more sympathetic.”

That last word probably sums up the man, I decide as our talk comes to an end. Minutes later he is heading towards Heathrow and ”that dreaded M25”, another track he needs to adapt to this summer. I am sure he will.
Mike de Kock, who once gave quite a self-describing answer when tackling this question on a Personality of The Week Q&A:
Where is your ideal holiday location? 

”I can relax anywhere when I take a break from the stable and phones”, de Kock answered.

I am sure it’s true.