Equine gastric ulcer syndrome

Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS) is an increasingly common problem in the Thoroughbred racehorse, causing a range of symptoms from depression to aggression, and often impacting negatively on performance.

Diagnosis is sometimes difficult, although there are methods by which they can be swiftly identified and treated. Equine gastric ulcers are graded on a scale of 0 to 4 where 4 is the most severe. A grade of 2 or more is clinically significant and usually warrants treatment. The primary objectives of treatment of equine gastric ulcers are to facilitate healing and relieve symptoms.

This can be accomplished by the use of antacids, histamine receptor antagonists or acid pump inhibitors. Ulcers are an issue - especially for racehorses- as they can be a source of chronic pain, leading to reduced appetite, loss of condition and sometimes colic. The clinical signs of the problem are often intermittent, and can vary tremendously depending on the horse and the types of discipline they compete in.

Two types of tissue line the equine stomach. The bottom of the stomach is lined with a pink glandular mucosa which constantly produces concentrated hydrochloric acid, whilst protecting itself with a sticky mucus and bicarbonate secretion.

At the top, the squamous (or non-glandular) mucosa is found – this tissue has no useful role in the stomach as it does not produce acid nor any protective mucus - squamous mucosa is therefore very susceptible to acid injury.Racehorses are more prone to ulcers in the squamous mucosa.
 


A pairing of equine vets that regularly diagnose and treat equine gastric ulcers are Rachael Conwell and Richard Hepburn, who are based in England. Hepburn estimates that 80% of ulceration is found in the top part of the stomach and Conwell's experience in practice also supports this. She explains: "With increasing intensity of exercise, it is thought that acid splashes up to cause ulcers in the squamous region.

This can vary from low grade to quite significant degrees of ulceration". "Quite often there can also be glandular ulcers at the exit from the stomach into the duodenum so it's important to look here," says Conwell.

Hepburn explains: "Horses may exhibit poor exercise tolerance, be reluctant to gallop and have slower race times. Post-race heart rates are higher when ulcers are present." Conwell adds: "A problem with ulcers is that they can manifest as low grade colic or failure to maintain bodyweight, particularly in racehorses." They may also have reduced exercise tolerance, refuse to gallop, and have poor jumping performance.

Poor coat hair can be another indicator. "Generally trainers are pretty good at spotting the signs. They may notice that feed doesn't get cleaned up in quite the usual hungry way. They also know their horse's character and so will notice small changes in attitude. The horse might become more grumpy, look miserable, resent being groomed or having their girth done up.

Perhaps they are just not the happy horse they used to be. It can be as subtle as that."  "In some situations there are no outward signs at all, only that the horse's performance is reduced." Says Conwell. 

According to Hepburn, the incidence of EGUS may be up to 100% in racehorses, with ulcers most severe in horses that are in full training or have just raced. 
Conwell and Hepburn regularly use gastroscopy as a method of ulcer detection. Gastroscopy is a visual examination technique through which a veterinarian will assess the stomach health of an animal using an endoscope, determining the presence and severity of ulcers and monitoring the success of prescribed treatment. Moreover it is a non-surgical and relatively simple procedure which takes less than fifteen minutes.

The same kit can also be used for airway examinations looking at the larynx, trachea and bronchi for respiratory problems, and inside the guttural pouch to check for infections such as strangles. This is useful as it means horses do not need to be sedated on more than one occasion to assess both airway and stomach health. 

Using gastroscopy to diagnose ulcers is a relatively simple procedure. The horse is starved for 8 hours but is allowed free access to water. It is then given a short acting sedative, and an endoscope is passed up the nose, down the esophagus and into the animal's stomach.

The stomach is inflated with air using a pump attached to the endoscope and any food is washed off with water- squirted through the endoscope. Once the end of the endoscope is in the stomach, it can be ‘driven' by the vet using hand-held controls to move it up or down, to the left or right. In this way the inside wall of the entire stomach can be examined.

A key difference between regular endoscopy and the specialist gastroscopy kits now available is that there is 3m of length to enable full examination of the entire stomach. Endoscope diameter is another difference, with 9 or 11mm being better tolerated by the horse for gastroscopy work than the standard size of 13mm.

Conwell has been using a 3m video-endoscope for two years now for diagnosing and treating racehorses. She says "I don't normally scope all horses in a training yard, only the ones where there is a suspicion that gastric ulcers could be affecting them. That said, it's rare that we don't find any ulcers in the racehorses we investigate." 

Other methods of detecting ulcers within the digestive system, anywhere from the stomach to the intestinal tract, are also proving effective. Kits which allow the handler to test for blood in the feces of the horse, an indicator of possible ulceration, are becoming more widely available, and may be a cheaper and less invasive method of diagnosing digestive health issues. 

In treating gastric ulcers, most vets will turn to a licensed acid suppressant product for equine use.

Treatment will vary in duration and intensity depending on the individual case, taking into account a number of factors including severity of ulceration and importantly, the horse's training regime, as there is some evidence that treatment effectiveness of some medications vary when the horse is still in full work. Antacids (which neutralize acids in the stomach), omeprazoles in paste and suspension (which suppress acid production) and histamine receptor antagonists are commonly used to reduce symptoms, heal lesions and reduce the likelihood of future problems.

Acid suppressants fed once a day are an effective remedy, believes Conwell, who adds: "Alternatively, histamine receptor antagonists, such as ranitidine, can be used. I normally re-scope horses about four weeks after treatment. If the problem has resolved then I recommend a quarter dose of an acid suppressant to prevent recurrence of ulcers during training." 

Trainers often notice a character change in their horses once treatment is started, according to Conwell.

Hepburn reports that some owners are ‘amazed' at the difference in horses given treatment for their ulcers: "Even though they may have been performing well before, resolving the problem makes their performance consistently good."

In addition to prescribing medication, ulcers can be reduced and in some cases, totally resolved by changing the feeding and/or stabling routine. High grain diets and a limited access to forage - which buffers stomach acid - are a factor in the prevalence of EGUS in racehorses. Ideally, horses should be given more access to a selection of forages, just as they would in the natural wild.

Conwell and Hepburn both recommend putting several haynets up, some with hay and others with haylage, to allow the horse to browse for forage. 
Hepburn says: "Turning horses out every day may help, although ulcers are just as common in NZ racehorses that are trained from pasture. Interestingly, some ongoing Danish work has shown that giving horses the choice of staying in or going out can reduce stress and associated gastric ulceration."

Various feed supplements are also available which help to maintain digestive health, both in horses which have received treatment for ulcers and are recovering, and in horses showing no symptoms of ulceration, in order to lessen the chance of digestive problems.

This is especially useful where it is not possible to radically change management practices, such as with horses stabled at the racetrack.
Hepburn concludes: "Some horses are more prone to ulcers than others – hence the need to assess each individual case. Also some ulcers heal more quickly depending on their location in the stomach."

Rachel Queenborough
 (10 July 2008 - Issue 9)

At home with Tom Busteed in his "nursery" for young racehorses

When I visited Audra and Tom Busteed in Cork freak gales were ravaging the coastline. Tranquil was hardly the best word to use; yet down at the bottom of the steep four furlong woodchip gallop, set within a wooded glen, was a peaceful stream in which many a Cheltenham hero had paddled as it carried its first ever rider. Slow, calm, meandering; oblivious to the storm of the outside world. This is indeed the tranquil nursery of Tom Busteed, the master tutor of the horse.

There is nothing rushed about Tom's preparation of a horse. "We do a lot of driving," Tom explains, "groundwork is so important. It keeps horses balanced and they can tell you when they're ready. We take our time. We like to have them for twelve weeks and those weeks are the most important of their career. We ride them like showjumpers, improving their head carriage, which helps to keep a horse well-balanced.

"These are tried and trusted traditional methods. I was fortunate enough to work with very good horsemen such as Tommy Ryan, Eddy O'Grady's head man, Tim Finn and Fergie Sutherland. Fergie is a great man, great patience with a horse, I rode many point-to-point winners for him." Tom puts his experience and knowledge to good use. "We assess the horses and also advise the owner whether they should go straight into training or have a break. It's usually better to give a horse a rest after breaking. The whole process is very stimulating for them and to then go straight into another new environment can be stressful. They mature so much quicker if they go away for a break between here and training.
"I'll ride eight or nine myself a day. It's not like work, it's a passion. And I feel very proud to have taken such a decent part in shaping these horses. Good horses are few and far between so it's rewarding to see them and know that I helped in some way. Sizing Europe, for example, is a serious chaser in the making. People say his jumping is a problem. It's not a problem at all, he's just such a natural big jumper, he's in the air for that extra bit of time."

"We are so lucky," agrees Tom's wife, Audra, "we see them arrive as ragamuffins straight from the field and then they're transformed into glossy muscular racehorses." Keen Leader, Asian Maze and Sizing Europe are just some of the illustrious names to pass through their academy. "It's very rewarding to change a horse around, to smooth out awkward traits. We start them over trotting poles. They haven't a clue when they first start, then after four sessions they're so clever. Loose schooling is vital, they learn how to correct themselves, when to shorten and when to lengthen. It's a natural progression for them then to fences."

Tom ensures that the horse progresses at its own pace, but there is one vital factor that can make an immense difference to his work. "If a horse arrives with us very well done it stands them well. The weight falls off them when they begin to work. If they've simply been left grazing in the field they are very backward and wouldn't usually be ready to race at their best until six or seven. A two year old that has been well fed as a yearling would have been in training in September and cantering by December. If they're broken in December they've no chance of a summer run. It's easy for a backward horse to get lost in this system. By April or May they'll start to fall away and they'll be dismissed very early on the Flat. It's good to break National Hunt horses early at two and then bring them back each year to educate them further, it matures them quicker. It's a method they've always used in France."
When it comes to formative education, Tom has just as rich a pedigree. "I started in ponies and hunting; my first venture into racing was in Newmarket with Gavin Pritchard-Gordon. That same summer Eddy O'Grady was looking for an amateur to replace Mouse Morris who'd turned professional. I started riding for him in 1973 and rode my first winner at Mallow on Prolam that year. In five or six seasons I rode 60 or 70 winners " point-to-pointers and bumpers. My fondest memories are of the very nice people I was lucky enough to ride for. Your first winner is always special, but another highlight would be riding a winner at the Curragh on The Arctic. It was one of the very first bumpers to be run at the Curragh so to ride a winner there was very special."

Tom also had a couple of spins for Nicky Henderson in Britain before finally finishing up with Eddy O'Grady in 1978, when returning home to Ireland. In 1979 Tom married Avril Hitchmough, who sadly lost her battle with cancer seven years ago. "I started training point-to-pointers," Tom says of those early years, "we had our first son, Desmond, three years later. Desmond is a keen showjumper." 
Tom himself is very much an all round horseman. "I did a lot of showing for Captain Tom Morgan and his wife Elsie, who have hunted with the West Waterford for thirty years. It has all helped to make me a better horseman." It's this natural skill that gradually established him in a niche market in which he has been happy to settle. "I was asked to take a lot of horses to break. I had work from J P McManus, young horses to break and quite a few in training recovering from injuries. Horses could be here for up to three months recuperating from tendon injuries. We recently started to break horses for Yorkshire owner Alan Potts. It's been widely documented how Alan travelled around the west of Ireland buying horses. His trainer, Henry de Bromhead, approached us and asked if we'd break them for him. And one morning they all arrived in a large lorry, Sizing Europe among them.

"If we built more boxes we could fill them, but I made the decision from the start that I wasn't going to pack them in and just put them on the walker," Tom says, "so we have twenty-one boxes, for pre-training and mature horses, with a maximum of nine at any one time to be broken. This week six or seven were ridden for the very first time. We had tried to cut down on the number of horses for breaking, but demand has shifted the emphasis back, with about half the horses coming in to us requiring breaking. We always have a waiting list and the business has been very busy for about eight years now. I'm happy that I've found a niche. Racing is so competitive and it's difficult to get a start in training, I've never really been tempted to go down that route."

Through his good friend, Enda Bolger, Tom met Audra six years ago and they've been married four years. Their first child together, Joshua, was born at the end of April. Audra is an accomplished horsewoman in her own right, competing in eventing and point-to-points, and has recently taken out a restricted licence, which means she can train for up to four different people. "That's useful for horses who are settled and their owners don't want them to leave here," Tom explains. Looking around, it's very easy to see why.

"Our facilities have improved a lot over the last year, we have a four furlong woodchip gallop on the hill, a sand arena and both an indoor and outdoor school. We also have a very good team working with us. Jordan Reidy from Mallow has been with us seven years and really knows the art of driving and breaking horses. Michael O'Connor and Melanie Forbes are very important to us, and Tom Drynan comes in regularly to ride for us, he is a very good horseman." In this respect Tom is lucky. "Yards are under pressure for staff and horsemanship is a quality that has become very rare. This means that the bigger yards need the young horses straight in and broken. I can see no point in this shuttle system of breaking."

Surprisingly, Tom reveals that the Flat horses are much easier to pre-train than National Hunt horses. "They don't need half the work and are much easier to handle. The National Hunt horses are strongly built, bullish and very unpredictable. We do a lot of groundwork with them to encourage calmness. When it comes to breaking in, Tom does things slowly, gently and traditionally. "Everything is devoted to care and attention and safety. I've broken over five hundred horses and I can count on the fingers of one hand the horses who have given us problems. We back them for the first time indoors. We get up on them for the first time, just lying across their backs, in the coral, which has very high rubber sides and deep sand. Safety for horse and rider is very important. We then take them down to the glen and they're ridden for the first time in the stream. It's the first time they're taken down there, so it's all new and interesting for them. The stream runs through a lovely wooded glen, so it's very peaceful and calming. They're so fascinated at watching their feet in the water that it takes their attention off the rider. They're given two or three days in the stream, then their first trot and canter is up the woodchip.
"You do sometimes ride a horse for the first time and be given a great feel. It's very exciting and it's lovely to give an owner that news, I'll often be picking up the phone just after getting off! Many live abroad and can't visit their horses, so we like to keep them involved and enable them to stay in touch. We take plenty of photos - the first time they're driven, the first time they're ridden, photos of their trips away, the ‘picnics'." Tom is a great believer in taking the horses out in the box for a change of scenery. "We take them to the sea. Fergie Sutherland calls them ‘picnics'. Pat Breen has a jumping facility at Ardmore, which is invaluable to point-to-point people, and we'll sometimes take horses there." A high priority for Tom is good head carriage in a horse. "And the first thing I do when they arrive is have their teeth checked. It's amazing the number of horses who have never had their teeth checked and they're not eating right."

Not every horse will go on to racecourse success and Tom's pre-training assessments are vital to owners. "Racing at all levels is so competitive now, you can't even expect to pick up a point-to-point with a moderate horse. It's a bad situation, with maiden races for seven year olds and up, and even they are being split into three divisions. The abolition of low grade races is a very good thing, over-production will have to end when there is no longer a market for moderate horses. It's ludicrous that owners fail to win with a filly then have a go at breeding from her instead. Lots of hopeful owners send us some poor horses and we recommend they go in a different direction.

"It's lovely to see horses successful in other roads," he says, "it's good to see owners giving them a chance elsewhere. We do a lot of restructuring for showing, it takes a lot of work. There are no shortcuts. They need to be perfectly balanced and a good ride. But it's good to see owners allowing them the time and work and channelling these horses in a new direction." And that really sums up the ethos of Tom's academy. His horses are educated not just for the racecourse, but for life.

Are racecourses selling their customers?

The world has gone gambling mad, and perhaps it will hit us harder than most people anticipate in coming years. Quite how it hits us, will be crucial to the future of horseracing. Or, perhaps one should say, quite how it does not hit us will be of great importance.

There is fierce competition out there, for the betting pound, the gambling euro and the wagering dollar. Therefore, this is not a good time for horseracing to lose its share of the gambling pot. This is not the time to "sell our customers". This is the time make some shrewd business decisions and draw up some productive long term strategies. These are also days when we are heading into a global recession. Believe it or not, that will not necessarily slow down the betting market. Studies have shown that people are quite likely to bet more when times are hard. Gambling becomes the only way to put a little bit extra in the pocket. So, this is the time for racecourses, racing publications and racing communities to be competitive to promote racing as a betting product. To promote the sport as the best betting product.

Are they taking this opportunity? To a certain extent yes', but unfortunately in many cases no', and seemingly never very well. Many courses are today promoting sports betting, online poker betting and online games. Yes, sponsors and advertisers from these sectors of the betting market plough money into racing, in the short term, but it is my guess that long term, racecourse managements and racing editors will be regretting taking that carrot in the first place. Why are companies taking bets on sports, such as football, golf and tennis, eager to advertise at our racecourses, in racing publications and in our racecards in the first place?

The answer is very simple, they are trying to move gambling money across from horseracing to their own betting products. That is the only reason they promote their products at the racecourses. And, to our astonishment, the racecourses allow it. What is happening is as absurd as it would be if all McDonald's restaurants in this world had huge posters promoting Kentucky Fried Chicken. "No, hang on a bit" you might think. But that is actually quite a good comparison to what is going on in horseracing these days. Let's take a premier European racecourse as an example. Why not look at Newmarket, and their Guineas weekend last year. Stan James Bookmakers sponsored the Guineas meeting, and over the two days this company had 14 full pages of advertisements in the racecards (plus the four cover pages on both days). This is how they decided to make use of the 14 pages: 8 pages promoted online poker and online games. 4 pages promoted Stan James Bookmakers only. 2 pages promoted betting on horseracing (although as free bet competitions). To put this another way, 57% of the sponsor's advertising space was used to promote forms of betting which is in direct competition with horseracing. Only 14% of the space was devoted to horseracing alone. The two most strategically placed advertising pages, immediately preceding the 2,000 Guineas pages and immediately before the 1,000 Guineas pages, were both used to promote online poker. This is a typical example of how bookmakers use a sponsorship deal with a racecourse these days. They are clearly not going into such an agreement solely to get people to bet more on racing. They are not even primarily trying to get people to bet more on racing.

Quite the opposite. The Stan James Guineas meeting is not the only example. On Saturday August 11, the opening day of the Football Premiership season in England, Newmarket's card was sponsored by the bookmaking firm Skybet.com, and their four sponsored races on the day had the following titles: The Skybet.com for all you football betting handicap The Premiership kick off with Skybet.com handicap The Skybet.com Sweet Solera Stakes (g3) The interactive football betting with Skybet live stakes Only the feature event, the Sweet Solera Stakes, was not used to promote betting on football. Again, the bulk of the sponsor's advertising went towards attracting punters to bet on others sports not on horseracing.

There can be no doubt that racecourses need their sponsorship revenue quite badly but this is probably not an ideal way to earn it. When a racecourse with a high profile like Newmarket can be dictated to in such a way by sponsors, what about the smaller tracks? Don't forget that sponsorship deals like those described above are, in effect, a case of horseracing "selling their customers". For every pound or euro bet on other sports, casinos, or poker, there will be one pound or euro less bet on horseracing.

Why does a company sponsoring a classic horserace choose to devote nearly 60% of the advertising space included in the package to promoting non-racing betting products? It is hardly because the company sees a great future in horseracing, is it? Nor is it as a result of their care for the future of horseracing. It is simply a business decision - and it is part of a long term plan. When you go to a big football match, or watch a match on TV, do you see many adverts, banners or boards promoting horseracing and betting on horseracing? If you do, please let me know, as I believe it would be a rare sight indeed. If you decide to try your luck in online games or online poker, you enter a web site offering such products. How many ads or banners promoting horseracing will you see on these sites? Having done a quick test, looking at ten poker sites, my discovery was, to no little surprise, "0-from-10". As touched on in my piece on the Global Superbet in Trainer Issue 20 (Winter 2007), one big danger for horseracing is that these competing products are so, so much cheaper to operate, which puts horseracing at a great disadvantage. Should horseracing break loose altogether from these other forms of gambling, or should racing people work towards making these relationships closer, and hopefully healthier for racing?

The current state of affairs is not a case of horseracing in a mutually beneficial co-operation with other betting markets. It smacks more of a case of other betting markets exploiting horseracing. And the powers to be in horseracing seem to be happy to let this to continue. The installation of slot machines has generated revenue for racecourses in North America; that is a fact. It is also a fact, however, that at many of these courses, the betting turnover on the races has gone down since the slots arrived. The horse is becoming less and less important.

Take a look at this cutting, from an article published on the web site videopokerslots.co.uk last year: "Maryland racing industrialists were curious and apprehensive about the potential impact of their new nemesis: Delaware Park's slot machines. But after several weeks of operation, the apprehension between Marylanders has disappeared - now it has become an all out hysteria. The reason: slots have overtaken horse racing. Delaware's slot machines have become a hit that any business would consider phenomenal. Imagine, they're making $300 per machine, and they have a total of 715 slot machines - that's more than $200,000 a day. As stipulated, slot machines should earn $10 million as additional revenues for the Delaware's racing season, consequently grabbing the thoroughbreds from Maryland. Delaware's minor league harness track has quintupled since the installment of slots in the area and is now a major competitor with other race tracks. If this were any other industry, Maryland's tracks would also install slot machines. But slot machines are a hot political debate, while the racing tracks are so strictly regulated that minor changes needs a state-wide approval. These are troubled times for the thoroughbred industry. If racing tracks continue to lose revenue, they would have to ask for slot machines. If legislators won't approve, they'd ask to at least give them economic relief to help them commercially survive." Betting on slot machines has overtaken' betting on horseracing, but at least this North American course operates their own casino-like betting products.

Many racecourses in the USA do have the opportunity to take a "if we can't beat them, let's join them" stand. Still, while the gamblers are taking an increasing interest in betting on slots and other games, they seem to be losing interest in horseracing. US racecourses do not, unlike courses in England, allow extensive advertising from companies in direct competition with their own betting products.

In England the financial muscle of non-racing betting operators is making an all-round mark on racing, not just by ambushing the racecourses with seemingly lucrative sponsorship deals. The media is another side to this, with TV channels and publications offering advertising opportunities. This is all black and white The Racing Post, Europe's principle horseracing daily, and one of the biggest in the world, has developed in a similar way to the racecourses over the past ten years. This paper has a daily "sports betting section" at the back, typically taking up 20 to 24 pages, including the greyhound racing coverage. On Saturdays, the sports section is a separate paper in the middle, often up to 40 pages thick. Now, that may not seem too bad, as the main paper will have 100 pages. What is interesting though is to take a look at the proportion of editorial pages and advertisements. Taking a randomly chosen Saturday, I discovered that the paper had 11 editorial pages on horseracing (excluding the racecards) yet as many as 10 editorial pages on football and other sports. This balance, or imbalance if you will, is simply driven by market forces. Of course the paper needs advertising revenue, and they therefore need to cover the areas their advertisers are interested in.

This is all so easy to understand, it is all "black and white". To the accountants, that is. Examining the same Saturday issue of The Racing Post reveals the facts about how the advertising space for betting was sold. The chosen day was January 26, with the Festival Preview day at Cheltenham, and racing at six courses in all in England and Ireland: Approximately 10 advertising pages exclusively devoted to betting on horseracing Approximately 11 advertising pages exclusively devoted to betting on other sports When looking at the full-page advertisements on the same day, it is interesting to note that the paper carried four full-page ads promoting betting on racing (including one for a betting system), compared to six full-page ads promoting betting on other sports. When watching horseracing on TV, the situation is very similar. On big days, a large proportion of the commercial breaks are promoting non-racing betting products. We have all seen them, the online games commercials, the commercials promoting betting on football, or playing poker online, nicely positioned before a Group One race is due to go off. This happens also on the TV channels originally devoted to and backed by horseracing. In England, the channel At The Races last year decided for a trial period to end its North American program at 11pm GMT (when the pubs are closing), in order to make room for a poker program lasting three hours. What did this mean? It meant that the racing went off air before many of the big stakes events are run in the USA. So, lower grade racing was being shown, and competing with high profile football matches and other TV programs, before eventually making way for poker. What this also means, and this is the most interesting side effect: that horseracing has lost control over its own product.

It seems bizarre that while horseracing authorities and racecourse managements have been fighting long and hard for their control over the rights of live pictures from the racecourses, they have accepted broadcasting schedules that include loads of commercials promoting betting products that are in direct competition with horseracing. They may believe that they have indeed protected the rights to live pictures, and technically they have, but they have absolutely no control over the end product being offered to the viewer. In the TV world, it is sometimes a bit difficult to say who makes the crucial decisions, but it is fair to say that in many cases it is the sponsors. Perhaps you will now be saying, yes, this article is interesting but there is precious little here that we did not already know'. Well, that may be. But don't forget, sometimes stating the obvious is the best way of saying why is nobody doing something about this?'

The further you drive down a narrow dead end street before realising your mistake, the more troublesome it will be to reverse all the way back out again and the longer it will take. And, in the fierce competition for the betting pound, euro and dollar, time is of the essence. Do not let it run out. If someone is going to instigate serious changes in this muddle, that someone will certainly have to come from within the horseracing industry. It is all in our own hands. For the time being.

The importance of warm-up and cool-down in the racehorse

Human athletes pay great attention to detail when warming up and cooling down for competition. Research studies have shown that warming up prior to competition is an important factor in preparation to enhance performance and potentially reduce injury risk. Both the physiological and psychological benefits have been investigated, although human physiologists are divided in their opinions as to the benefits of warming up.

When it comes to cooling down the research is more unified, showing that active cooling down is more beneficial than passive cooling down. There is limited research available into the benefits of the warm-up and the cool-down in horses and racing, and it is certainly an area that warrants further investigation.

The importance of a warm-up period before racing How a warm-up programme is developed depends on the sport. The main considerations in warming up prior to racing are how long before the race to start warming up, how long to warm-up for and the intensity of exercise. The two main reasons for warming up are to improve performance, and to reduce the risk of injury. A period of warm-up will have both physiological and psychological effects; with direct effects on the respiratory system, the cardiovascular system and the neuromuscular system. Warm-up consists of an activity or series of exercises that raise the total body temperature, preparing the body for vigorous activity. As well as raising temperature, muscle blood flow and oxygenation are also increased. This enhances the ability of the muscles to work aerobically and to reduce lactic acid build up. Therefore a good warm-up should delay the onset of fatigue due to lactic acid accumulation. However, there may also be some negative physiological effects that can be attributed to excessive warm-up, so too long spent on it can be just as detrimental as too little. Increasing muscle temperature over its working optimum can result in dehydration and electrolyte imbalance, as well as lactic acid production and therefore the onset of fatigue before the race. Warm-up can also increase the horse’s range of motion by lengthening the stride and improving gait coordination, resulting in a decreased likelihood of tears, sprains and strains. Warm-up should be adjusted depending on the environmental temperature. In cold weather it may take longer for muscles to reach their optimum working temperature than in hot weather.

Active warm-up prior to racing An active warm-up programme will begin with aerobic exercise such as walking and trotting, to raise heart rate (but to remain under 170 beats per minute) which will increase the muscle temperature. Most racehorses will routinely have an adequate period of aerobic warm-up prior to racing consisting of walking in the pre-parade and parade ring. This is followed by cantering down to the start which equates to the sports specific warm-up, and has the effect of preparing the muscles for the exercise ahead. Passive warm-up and products available Active warm-up is more beneficial than passive warm-up as it increases the heart rate. However, in some circumstances it may also be beneficial to use passive warm-up prior to active warm-up. Massage will increase the muscle temperature and will change the muscle tone. It will also have a relaxing effect, so it is important to get the timing right, and not to massage immediately prior to racing, although it does provide an opportunity to check that there is no muscle soreness that could have occurred during travel to the racecourse.

Massage is used extensively in human professional sports as part of warm-up, but there is very little research available into the effects of massage on injury prevention in the horse. However, there is some evidence from small studies that massage increases stride length and range of motion, and therefore potentially has a positive effect on performance. Stretching can be performed after massage (when the muscles are warm), but this is an area where research is available to show that although there are benefits from stretching, there are also some negative effects. New technology has recently been developed which uses the body’s own heat to enhanced physical performance and provide effective prevention and treatment of injuries.

For example, the Mirotec and Back On Track rugs can be used as a warm-up aid prior to exercise (and can also be used post-exercise to ease any muscle soreness), but are not a substitute for active warm-up. These rugs contain a heat reflective layer of metallic material, which can maintain body temperature and boost circulation. This is a relatively easy and cost effective way to warm up the muscles prior to any exercise, and may therefore a useful aid to warm-up, especially in colder climates. The aims of a cool-down period Active cooling down has been shown to be more beneficial than passive cooling down, therefore maintaining a slow trot or canter for a few minutes or so will have greater benefit than walking or standing still.

The aim of a cool-down period is a progressive reduction in exercise intensity allowing a gradual redistribution of blood flow, enhanced lactic acid removal from the muscles, and a reduction of body heat through convection and evaporation. If a horse is inadequately cooled after competing, any residual lactate in the system will affect performance if the horse is required to compete again within a short space of time. The application of cold water will result in heat loss by conduction from the skin to the water, thus reducing body temperature. The active cool-down will also result in an effective return to normal breathing and heart rate.

Actual post-race cool-down regimes These routinely consist of a slow canter back around the course to the exit, followed by a period of walking to where the saddle is removed. After this a horse will be washed with cold water and continually walked until heart rate and breathing return to normal. Shower systems are increasingly being used to aid quick and effective wash down. In hotter climate conditions the cool-down may include the application of iced water and iced blankets to ensure a return to normal body temperature in the shortest possible time. Products such as Equi-N-ice, cooling rugs and bandages are available to speed up cool-down. They use a combination of coolants and specialist fabrics to cool the skin and evaporate moisture more effectively. It is important that the horse is kept walking during the cool down period. When the horse is sufficiently cool many trainers will apply a cooling product to the legs before travelling home. The Zamar system is a portable system which provides thermostatically controlled cold therapy (or heat therapy) via insulated pipes to specially designed leg and body wraps. This particular product consists of a specially adapted refrigeration system that circulates a glycol liquid to produce the required temperature.

It maintains a pre-set consistent cold temperature for the required treatment time. The system also provides cyclical compression to the area treated. The application of Game Ready wraps after racing or a strenuous workout will minimise the inflammatory reaction and subsequent tissue damage that can result from strenuous activity. The technology behind this portable system is the continuous rapid circulation of ice water through circumferential wraps, thus providing ice treatment and compression. Post-race practical applications of these cold systems may be most effective when used on the tendons. The core temperature of tendons after racing is known to be over 40°C which can have a detrimental effect on the physiological function associated with the maintenance and repair of the tendons.

The immediate application of cold treatment can quickly and effectively cool the tendon core, returning the temperature to normal. The above mentioned cooling systems also have many other uses in the treatment of various injuries, and can provide more consistent colder temperatures than the application of ice or a cold hose, although these practices are still very popular and widespread within the racing industry. The combination of ice and compression causes capillary vasoconstriction and pressure on the connective tissue to restrict blood and fluid leakage from damaged tissue. The first 48 hours after injury are critical in the restriction of development of oedema or swelling. A simple but efficient way of applying immediate cold and compressive therapy post-race is to soak polo wraps in iced water before applying them.

The application of immediate cold and compression will minimise post-race inflammation and swelling. Cold water hosing is a cheap and effective way of applying cold treatment to the horse’s body and legs, but although this method will provide cooling of the skin surface, the temperature may not be low enough to affect deeper structures. There are also many other ice gel packs and ice boots available for cold therapy, which often provide a cost effective and simple way to provide cold treatment to the tendons and other structures. The application of ice is a well researched and excellent treatment modality in the prevention of swelling and inflammation after exercise.

Massage to aid recovery after racing Muscle soreness often develops 24 to 48 hours after racing or strenuous exercise, and is thought to be largely due to microtrauma. Until this pain disappears, the muscle is in a weakened condition, predisposing it to injury. Massage and stretching can be used to release muscle tension and reduce soreness. It may be beneficial to treat the horse with massage immediately post-race (when sufficiently cooled and with heart and breathing rate returned to normal). This can then be followed up with further regular massage treatments to restore suppleness and range of motion. The next issue of European Trainer will feature more detailed analysis of how the application of ice and cold therapy affects the horse both pre and post-race, including its benefits and physiological effects.

KER Nutrition Conference - management of gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases

Kentucky Equine Research (KER) has maintained a prominent international presence in the nutrition research community for the past 20 years. Research trials have been conducted at the company’s research farm since the late 1980s, and results of this research have been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals and proceedings of scientific conferences.

More importantly, findings from these studies have been put to use in the formulation of feeds for KER’s global network of feed manufacturers. The KER Nutrition Conference, held on the 16th and 17th of April in Lexington, Kentucky was attended by 130 guests, including feed manufacturers, sales representatives, veterinarians, nutritionists, and academics from 16 countries.

This year’s conference focused on the management of gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases. Founder and President Dr. Joe Pagan began by introducing Dr. Larry Lawrence, senior nutritionist at KER, who presented an in-depth review of the development of the gastrointestinal system. Dr. Lawrence addressed the changes that occur as a foetus grows within the womb and as the foal matures and begins to digest a diet of forages and concentrates.

A thorough explanation of the physical, enzymatic, and fermentative changes that occur to the gastrointestinal tract during gestation and growth gave conference attendees a better understanding of the importance of proper feeding. Colic, the most pervasive disease of the gastrointestinal tract in horses, was the next topic of discussion.

Dr. Nathaniel White, the Jean Ellen Shehan Professor and Director at Virginia Tech’s Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center and a world-renowned expert on equine gastrointestinal disorders, reviewed the prevalence of colic in today’s equine population.

He mentioned several risk factors: breed and gender predilection, dietary management, and other environmental and management practices. Additional risk factors such as previous colic episodes, parasitism, cribbing, gestation, transport, and anesthesia were touched on as well. In addition, he chronicled measures to prevent the syndrome. In a related lecture given later in the day, Dr. White addressed standard treatment protocols for colic including decompression of the stomach or intestine, use of systemic analgesics, strategies to promote gut motility and hydration, and treatment of impactions.

He then discussed proper nutrition of the horse after an episode of colic. A review of enteral (traditional) and parenteral (intravenous) nutrition followed. The speaker noted that although enteral nutrition is preferred, parenteral nutrition can provide long-term nutritional support, and stated that horses have been kept on complete parenteral nutrition for up to a month and have been able to maintain or gain weight. Dr. Frank Andrews, section chief of the department of large animal clinical sciences at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, spoke about the diagnosis and treatment of gastric and colonic ulcers in horses.

Gastric ulcers have been studied for several years and their prevalence among horses is well documented. Though colonic ulcers occur less frequently than gastric ulcers, Dr. Andrews listed several nonspecific signs including mild intermittent or recurring colic, lethargy, and partial anorexia that may hint at a problem.

As the problem worsens, so do the signs with complete anorexia, fever, diarrhoea and associated dehydration, and weight loss is common. Dr. Peter Huntington, the director of nutrition for KER’s Australasian branch, spoke to conference attendees about recent advances in laminitis research.

Despite the fact that a complete understanding of laminitis and its complex pathophysiologic processes remains elusive, laminitis seems to occur as a consequence of inflammatory, vascular, and enzymatic interactions. Dr. Huntington explained that a trend in laminitis research involves interest in metabolic or endocrine events that lead to laminitis. In regard to prevention, Huntington pointed out that genetic research could identify at-risk horses, and therapies such as intracecal buffering are helpful in preventing the shifts in cecal pH that can lead to laminitis.

In closing the first day of presentations, Dr. Joe Pagan spoke about gastrointestinal health, the foundation of which, he made clear, is good-quality forage. He identified four primary factors that affect forage quality: plant species, stage of maturity at time of grazing or baling, latitudinal effects (tropical versus temperate forages), and inhibitory substances that reduce digestibility of fibre and minerals.

The buffering capacity of certain forages is a burgeoning area of interest among equine nutritionists. Pagan explained that certain feeds and forages can counteract changes in gastric pH, thereby playing an important role in the prevention of gastric ulcers in horses. This ability to resist changes in pH is called buffering capacity.

Alfalfa hay has been shown to be effective in reducing the severity of gastric ulcers by providing superior buffering capacity when compared to grass hay. The second day of the conference featured several topics related to metabolic conditions. Dr. Anna Firshman, a large animal internist at Oregon State University, began the day with a thorough overview of insulin resistance, a problem that has been receiving much attention recently as it is thought to be closely associated with other diseases such as equine metabolic syndrome, equine Cushing’s disease, laminitis, hyperlipedemia, and osteochondritis.

Firshman reviewed the mechanisms of glucose transport in muscle and fat, and then described the tests that are currently available to assess insulin resistance in horses. Firshman concluded that though tests may become useful clinical means to assess the degree of insulin resistance and responses to treatments, there is no one ideal test that is both practical and accurate. Dr. Frank Andrews then settled onto the stage for a second presentation.

He presented a detailed outline of the metabolic-related conditions that most commonly affect horses: equine Cushing’s disease and equine metabolic syndrome. For each condition, he methodically outlined the clinical signs, diagnosis, course of treatment, and management goals.

For equine Cushing’s disease, Andrews stated that diagnostic tests, when coupled with clinical signs, will confirm the presence of advanced disease but may not be sensitive enough to detect early stages of the disease. KER has been instrumental in developing ideal growth curves for equine athletes. Dr. Clarissa Brown-Douglas reviewed the research compiled by KER over the last two decades, stressing the importance of properly feeding young, growing horses.

To fuel maximum growth, breeders often feed young horses large amounts of grain. However, rapid growth achieved by overfeeding energy has been implicated in developmental orthopedic disease (DOD). The source of energy may be important for many young horses. Those that experience an exaggerated and sustained increase in circulating glucose or insulin in response to a grain meal might be predisposed to osteochondritis dissecans (OCD).

Research conducted by KER suggests that hyperinsulinemia may influence the incidence of OCD. Based on the results of this research, young horses should be fed concentrates that produce low glycemic responses such as feeds in which energy is provided by fat and fermentable fibre sources (beet pulp and soy hulls). Once the audience had an understanding of the metabolic disorders that affect horses, Dr. Joe Pagan identified a commonality among them.

All of the problems are either triggered or aggravated by excessive starch and sugar intake. After a brief review of carbohydrates in horse feeds, Pagan gave general feeding recommendations for each disorder, noting that high-fat, low-starch feeds are appropriate for certain disorders such as tying-up but may not be recommended for others such as equine metabolic syndrome.

Once a horse has been diagnosed with a metabolic disease, an equine nutritionist and veterinarian should team up to formulate a suitable diet. Maintaining appropriate body condition is usually a trick for those who own horses diagnosed with a metabolic condition. These horses are often too thin or too fat. Dr. Laurie Lawrence, a professor at the University of Kentucky, addressed energy balance and methods to increase or decrease body condition.

She presented reasonable timelines for weight gain and emphasised management programs that allow ample time for weight gain so horses are not fed extremely high levels of concentrate. Lawrence also noted that as a horse is adapted to a diet with increased feed intake, there may be a fairly immediate increase in body weight due to changes in gut fill and/or gastrointestinal tissue mass, followed by a period of slower body weight change. Change in condition score will frequently lag behind change in body weight. Lawrence classified obese horses into two groups: those that have become fat temporarily because of a change in management or food availability, and those that have been fat for a long time.

Adjusting the body weight of the first group, Lawrence explained, is usually much less complicated than reducing the body weight of the latter group, and she gave a step-by-step approach to helping these horses lose weight. Kathryn Watts of Rocky Mountain Research and Consulting in Colorado gave the final presentation of the conference. She explained differences in the nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) content in various forages, and how stage of growth and environmental factors might significantly alter the amount of NSC present. Watts advised that all of the most commonly recommended varieties of grass have the potential to contain high levels of NSC under certain conditions, but stands of these grasses can be managed for lower NSC concentration.

This year’s Kentucky Equine Research Nutrition Conference offered valuable information about gastrointestinal and metabolic problems affecting horses today. For those individuals unable to attend the KER conference, proceedings are available by logging on to www.shop.ker.com. This 150-page booklet contains a detailed paper for each of the lectures presented. As part of its dedication to world-class nutrition, KER has been recruited to help formulate and distribute feeds for the equine athletes of several international competitions.

In 2004, KER was named the official nutritionist of the United States Equestrian Federation. In this capacity, KER nutritionists use their knowledge to sort out nutritional challenges encountered by the world’s most elite equine athletes, those that represent the United States in international competition. For more information on KER, visit www.ker.com.

Feed Contaminants - how big a risk are they?

For all professionals associated with the training and competition of horses under the rules and regulations of racing the choice of which feed products to use has never been greater, and the range appears to grow on a daily basis. This is especially true of the plethora of dietary supplements (otherwise known officially as complementary feeds) available. Feeds and other contemporary nutritional supplements are not pure products in the same manner that veterinary pharmaceuticals are and thus they will, in a traditional sense, contain foreign substances, even though this is commonly only at trace levels that will have no discernable effect on the horse.

Numerous harmful or undesirable substances can potentially contaminate the equine diet, whether manufactured feeds and supplements, or grazing and preserved forages. These dietary contaminants can be divided into groups including heavy metals, non-metallic toxic elements, pesticides, mycotoxins, plant toxins, and pharmacologically/physiologically active substances that are considered prohibited substances under racing rules and regulations.

There is some cross-over between plant toxins and prohibited substances, but it is the latter category that concerns us within this article. Prohibited substances Under the rules of racing commonly applied across Europe, a prohibited substance is defined as - a substance originating externally, whether or not it is endogenous to the horse, which falls into one of the following categories :

1. Substances capable at any time of acting on one or more mammalian body systems

2. Endocrine secretions and their synthetic counterparts

3. Masking agents Substance includes the metabolites of the substance and the isomers of the substance and metabolites. In broad and simple terms, a prohibited substance can be described as any substance (usually but not exclusively drugs/medicines) that has been given to a horse in its feed, or by any other means, that can exert an effect upon the horse.

Certain factors make the presence of prohibited substances as contaminants in the production of equine feedstuffs almost inevitable. Analytical techniques employed are increasingly sophisticated and sensitive and this latter fact serves to increase the likelihood of the detection of contaminants at levels that have been historically unattainable. Furthermore, the increasing diversity of dietary supplements leads to the introduction of unusual components into the equine diet.

This is particularly the case with products that contain herbs or plant derivatives or extracts. Additionally, there is increased sourcing of feedstuff raw materials from previously unaccessed regions of the world where quality control measures may be below the desirable standard and where novel crop infesting plants may be found. Contamination in compounded equine feeds and raw materials is varied, but the major sources can be categorised as follows:

Endogenous, natural feed constituents Salicylates, DMSO Ubiquitous environmental contaminants Arsenic Transport contamination of raw materials Caffeine, theobromine Manufacturing cross-contamination Antibiotics Crop contamination by invasive plants Morphine, atropine Racing yard feed contamination Veterinary medication The most commonly encountered prohibited substances in equine feedstuffs include salicylates, dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO), caffeine and theobromine, morphine, hyoscine, atropine and hordenine.

There are however, a considerable number of pharmacologically active compounds potentially present in manufactured feeds, grazing and preserved forages that will be viewed as prohibited substances. Examples of these are listed in the table below, however the list is indicative rather than exhaustive. Prohibited substances potentially present in feedstuffs and grazing: Prohibited substance Feedstuff Salicylic acid Alfalfa (Lucerne), willow Dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO) Alfalfa, others Caffeine Coffee Theobromine Cocoa Theophylline Coffee, Cocoa Morphine Poppy Codeine Poppy Hordenine Germinating barley, Phalaris grasses Hyoscine Belladonna plant species Atropine Belladonna plant species Lupanine Lupin seed Bufotenine Phalaris grasses Valerenic acid Valerian Dicoumarol Spoiled sweet clover Borneol Carrots, wood shavings Camphor Rosemary In the UK, the Horseracing Forensic Laboratory (HFL) offers an equine feed testing service that screens for the presence of six commonly recognised contaminants, whereas in France a similar service provided by the Laboratoire Des Courses Hippique (LCH) includes an additional four contaminants in its testing procedure: Morphine UK/France Hyoscine UK/France Atropine UK/France Hordenine UK/France Caffeine UK/France Theobromine UK/France Theophylline France Bufotenine France Methylbufotenine France Dimethyltryptamine France Natural feed constituents Salicylates and dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO) are present in numerous feed ingredients and pasture species. Salicylates are particularly abundant in grazing and forage legumes, such as clover and alfalfa respectively, and in willow-containing herbal supplements. Plant salicylates are metabolised in the body to salicylic acid, a mild pain killer (analgesic) and anti-inflammatory. Salicylic acid is a metabolite of Aspirin.

DMSO occurs at high levels in alfalfa and is also a weak analgesic and anti-inflammatory. DMSO can be used to enable other drugs to penetrate the skin. Owing to their widespread occurrence and pharmacological properties, international racing jurisdictions have established thresholds for their presence in post-competition urine and blood samples. In itself it is unlikely that feed-related salicylate load will cause testing thresholds to be exceeded and feed products are not tested to identify the presence of these substances. Hordenine and bufotenine are recognised as occasional contaminants of equine feedstuffs. Both substances are constituents in Phalaris grass species (Reed Canary grass), and hordenine also occurs in germinating barley and other cereal grains.

Hordenine and bufotenine affect the central nervous system (CNS) of horses and are thus are regarded as prohibited substances under racing rules. They have both been detected in post-race urine samples across Europe and Australia. Feed crop contaminants Morphine and codeine present a less common but significant feed contamination issue. Their presence in post-race samples is a breach of prohibited substance rules as they can exert a significant stimulatory effect in the CNS of horses even at low doses. Feed contamination with material from opium poppies (Papaver somniferum ssp. somniferum), wild poppies (P. somniferum ssp setigerum) or Oriental poppies (P. Orientale), resulting in post-race urine samples testing positive for opiates occurred in Australia in the 1990s and the UK and Ireland in 2002.

The spate of morphine positives in the UK and Ireland arose through the importation of contaminated raw materials; however it is possible that a home-grown problem could evolve in the near future as recent research has shown that the opium poppy grows quite widely in the wild in Ireland. The alkaloids hyoscine (scopolamine) and atropine are also known contaminants of horse feed that derive from contamination of growing cereal crops by Solanaceous plants including Deadly Nightshade, Henbane and Jimson Weed. Deadly Nightshade (Atropa belladonna) contains predominantly atropine, whereas Henbane (Hyoscyamous niger) contains primarily hyoscine.

Owing to their potent pharmacological effects within the central nervous system and cardiovascular system, the presence of hyoscine or atropine in post-competition urine samples is regarded as a breach of the rules relating to prohibited substances. Manufacturing and shipping contamination Caffeine and theobromine are recognised contaminants of feeds and numerous instances of feed contamination and post-race positives occurred globally during the 1980s and 1990s.

In the past, cocoa husk was used as a bulking agent in feed manufacture however, more recently its presence in feeds is believed to have arisen from contamination from other feed residues, such as biscuit meal or from contamination of raw materials, usually grains, during transport. We are all aware of caffeine as a constituent of coffee and tea, whereas its chemically similar cousin theobromine is found naturally in tea and cocoa (chocolate). When ingested, both substances can act as stimulants to the heart, lungs and brain, and may also exert some degree of diuretic action (increased urination).

As a consequence of the prevalence of caffeine and theobromine in the feed production chain and the difficulty in removing them, racing's regulatory authorities ultimately implemented a threshold for theobromine in post-race urine samples. In the recent past in the US mepyramine, an antihistamine, has been identified in post-race samples and its appearance on these occasions was attributed to contaminated vitamin preparations. Procaine, a local anaesthetic, has also been implicated in post-race positives on a number of occasions where on further investigation the source was discovered to be horse feed cross-contaminated at the mill with pig feed containing the antibiotic procaine penicillin. Environmental contamination Arsenic is a prohibited substance under equine competition rules, but as it is a ubiquitous environmental substance, a threshold level has been established for its presence in post-competition samples.

Additionally, arsenic levels in the racing environment can be increased by contamination from the use of pesticidal arsenic compounds, the most commonly encountered being wood preservatives used to treat construction timber and fencing materials. Cross-contamination Many veterinary drugs used therapeutically in a racing environment are formulated as powders so they can be administered mixed in with normal feeds. Although this is a convenient method in contrast to a reliance on injections for example, it can present a significant risk of dietary contamination to horses other than the animal under treatment if shared feeding equipment is not kept scrupulously clean. Dusts from some drug formulations can contaminate and linger on surfaces in feed rooms, mangers or stables. Certain drug formulations including isoxsuprine, clenbuterol and flunixin, can present a particular problem in this regard. Dietary supplements Racing is first and foremost a business, with the end-point being to maximise race wins and prize money and hence hopefully to increase future income from training fees.

It is consequently understandable that any legitimate dietary approach which might benefit race performance and training capacity, or reduce the incidence of illness and injury, and accelerate recovery both from racing and ill health, might at the very least be evaluated. This search for an edge' is common to business and sport. Indeed, the perceived beneficial effects of dietary supplements in human sports have been to some extent translated to equine sports including racing. The increased availability of dietary supplements for horses can often be supported by sophisticated technical marketing and detailed scientific research.

But, whatever the motivation for the use of such products might be, whether backed by rigorous evidence of efficacy or not, the reality is that complementary feedstuffs are also potentially at risk of contamination. Although there has been no comprehensive survey of contamination in equine feed supplements, three such surveys have been conducted on human sports supplements, the results of which indicated that up to 20% of supplements tested contained prohibited substances (under IOC rules), principally anabolic steroids including nandrolone and testosterone. As the levels of contaminants found were generally low and variable it was assumed that their presence arose through poor manufacturing practice on the part of the manufacturer or the ingredient supplier(s). Undeclared stimulants, such as caffeine and ephedrine, have also been identified in human sports supplements and these findings suggest deliberate adulteration to improve efficacy.

A recent doping case suggests that equine supplement contamination may become an issue for the feed and supplement industry and regulatory authorities, but on this occasion this post-race positive for the presence of the anabolic nandrolone seems to have arisen through the use of a human sports supplement in the horse, rather than a contaminated equine product. The use of dietary supplements in racing is becoming commonplace. Products containing herbal or other plant based or nutraceutical ingredients are increasingly popular, possibly through a belief that these are not drugs and thus do not infringe the rules relating to prohibited substances.

A useful example here would be products containing Devil's Claw powder or extracts. Devil's Claw is a plant related to Sesame and is native to southern Africa. It has recognised pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory properties in people and has been offered as an alternative to established over-the-counter pain relief medicines, such as Aspirin, paracetamol and ibuprofen, for many years, and is currently undergoing clinical trials. Widespread promotion of Devil's Claw as an herbal alternative to phenylbutazone for horses began at a time when the continued approval for the use of this veterinary pain-relieving drug was in doubt.

It is worth pointing out that the French racing laboratory, Laboratoire Des Courses Hippiques, have recently published methods for the detection of harpagosides, the active components in Devil's Claw, in equine post-race samples, and thus is it reasonable to assume that the regulatory laboratories will be screening for these substances on a pan-European basis. The irony here is that when viewed within the strictures of the rules and regulations of racing if a supplement, or more accurately one or more of its constituents, has efficacy, by extrapolation it must affect one of the horse's body systems and is therefore prohibited, whether or not the laboratory is able to test for it. Trainer protection We should not be complacent on this issue and it would be prudent for trainers, wherever practical, to retain representative samples of all batches of feeds and supplements that they use, indeed the regulatory authorities proffer just such advice. This is certainly a worthwhile exercise, as in the event of a failed post-race test a defence of feed contamination will be strengthened by such physical evidence which can be subjected to analytical scrutiny. In practice, a successful demonstration of contaminated feed or supplement will not exonerate the horse's connections from a regulatory offence, but may well be a persuasive argument in mitigation concerning subsequent sanctions.

In addition, being fully aware of the ingredients within feeds or supplements and of the nature and extent of any pre-sale quality assurance analysis by a manufacturer for the common contaminants (prohibited substances) should afford trainers some further protection and allow them to make informed purchases. Chris Gordon, Chair of the Feed Committee at the British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA), states that, BETA is at an advanced stage of discussion with individual feed manufacturers, the National Trainers Federation and the British Horseracing Authority in seeking to establish a Code of Practice for the production of feeds intended to be used in racing. It is anticipated that this will take the form of an appendix to existing accreditation through the UFAS feed safety system. Furthermore, in conjunction with our French and Irish counterparts, the CNEF and the Irish Grain and Feed Association (IGFA) and the European Horseracing Scientific Liaison Committee (EHSLC) we are attempting to establish a harmonised approach to feed testing for common contaminants across the major European horseracing jurisdictions. Within this framework we are hoping to establish common reporting levels or thresholds. 

Sir Mark Prescott - a racehorse trainer completely comfortable in his own skin

Love him or hate him - odds are against indifference - trainer Sir Mark Prescott needs little introduction. The unapologetic Prescott isn't bothered whichever the sentiment, as he is very much his own man and comfortable - some might say all too much so - in his own skin.

Frances Karon (European Trainer - issue 22 - Summer 2008)

A day in the life of Todd Pletcher

THIS IS A SCANNED IN ARTICLE - FROM OUR PRE DIGITAL DAYS!

This article first appeared in North American Trainer - May 2008 - issue 8

Pilates for horses - enhancing performance and reducing injuries

By Nicole Rossa

Pilates is increasingly used amongst professional athletes as a method to enhance athletic performance and to reduce injuries. It is also used frequently as part of a post-injury rehabilitation program, as the exercises are performed in a slow and controlled manner, targeting specific muscle groups - the core stability muscles.

An important aspect of fitness training is ‘cross-training' – so as not to only concentrate on developing the key muscles used for the sport, but also in developing the stability muscles required for postural strength. The Pilates Method was established more than 50 years ago by Joseph Pilates (1880-1967) and was designed to help the quality of movement.  One of the key principles of Pilates is ‘centering,' which refers to the concept that all movement of the human body originates from the center or core of the body.  The Pilates method endeavors to strengthen the core muscles.  Research in human athletes has shown that strengthening these muscles enhances athletic performance and reduces the incidence of injury.  It has also been shown to be a very effective exercise program in accelerating the post-injury rehabilitation process in humans.
 The principles of Pilates exercises are relaxation, body alignment, coordination, centering, concentration, breathing and good quality of movement.  It is therefore, strictly speaking, not possible to apply the word ‘Pilates' to any equine exercises.  More correctly, when referring to horses, it is more appropriate to equate Pilates to exercises to improve ‘core stability,' ‘flexibility' and ‘coordination.' 
 The presence of incorrect movement techniques can result in the inability to undertake a movement with maximum efficiency or with the least expenditure of energy. 
Muscles can be categorized by their role either as stabilizers or mobilizers.  Muscles with a stabilizing function are usually mono-articular (moving one joint), have broad insertions, provide leverage for static holding and joint compression, and with a postural role.  Muscles with a mobilizing function are usually bi-articular or multi-segmental (moving two or more joints), superficial, have tendinous insertions, provide leverage for range and speed and joint distraction, and have a repetitive or rapid movement role.

Form follows function, and horses in their natural environment travel long distances, often sustaining a trot for hours.  The horse's spine is designed to aid efficient locomotion.  So while trotting is a very efficient gait with minimum movement through the back, much more flexion of the back is required in canter and gallop.  This demand, especially if over a distance, can sometimes strain the system.
 The spine or vertebral column forms the core structure of the horse.  It consists of cervical vertebra (7), thoracic vertebra (18), lumbar vertebra (6), sacrum (5 fused vertebrae) and the coccygeal vertebra (18 to 20).  The horse's spine acts like a suspension bridge, a connective structure between the uprights of the front and the hind legs, rigid but somewhat flexible.  At the front is a highly mobile neck, and at the rear a highly mobile tail.  The horse's spine operates like a ‘bow string.'

A substantial portion of the neck musculature is located above or next to the cervical spine and includes splenius, serratus ventralis cervicis and trapezius.  These muscles act to raise or extend the neck.  The muscles of the lower neck, located beneath the cervical spine, are the brachiocephalic and sternocephalic. 

 Overdevelopment of these muscles is undesirable and will result in an ‘upside down' neck.  Neck movements affect the horse's balance and weight distribution, and its position and length directly affects the biomechanics of the back.
 In the front of the horse the forelimb is attached to the vertebral column, ribs and sternum by way of a muscular thoracic sling.  The muscles of the thoracic sling suspend the trunk between the shoulder blades.  These muscles include the pectoral muscles, serratus ventralis, trapezius and subclavius.  
 The pelvis is attached to the vertebral column at the sacrum (at the sacroiliac joint), with the stability of the pelvis and hip being controlled by the pelvic stabilizing muscles.  The hindlimb attaches to the pelvis at the coxofemoral joint.  The pelvic stabilizing muscles are the powerful hindquarter muscles – biceps femoris, middle gluteal, superficial gluteal and tensor fascia latae.  The hindquarters are an area of great propulsion, and any instability in the pelvic region will result in a loss of power and balance to the hindquarters.
 

The spinal musculature is important for movement, posture and flexibility.  The superficial spinal muscles are usually more dynamic and play a role during regional vertebral motion, energy storage and force redistribution during locomotion.  Deep, short spinal muscles have more of a static function and are active in segmental stabilization, proprioception and posture.
 There are numerous muscles that provide stability and flexibility to the spine.  They are divided into superficial and deep muscles.  The longissimus dorsi and the iliocostalis (long back muscles) are the most superficial of the epaxial muscles (the muscles that lie dorsal to the transverse processes of the vertebrae).  The superficial muscles span large regions of the spine and ensure coordinated back movements.  They produce spinal extension and lateral flexion.  The deepest of the epaxial muscles is multifidus.  It has short fibers that span two to four vertebrae and act to align or stabilize each individual vertebra.  
 The hypaxial or sublumbar muscles lie ventral to the transverse processes, attaching to the front of the pelvis and the femur.  They produce spinal flexion and lateral flexion, and also assist in flexing the hip and stabilizing the spine and pelvis.  They include the iliopsoas muscle and the psoas minor.  
 The abdominal muscles stabilize the trunk. When actively contracting, the abdominal muscles also lift the back.  The abdominal muscles include rectus abdominis, tranverse abdominals, internal obliques and external obliques. The function of these muscles is to protect and stabilize the spine.  These muscles together with the sublumbar muscles control the posture of the horse.

Core stabilization exercises help to stimulate and strengthen the postural muscles and to stabilize the spine and pelvis.  
 Withers or thoracic lift – by applying pressure with your finger starting at the sternum, sliding back over the pectoral muscles to an area to behind the girth.  The horse will respond by lifting through the withers.  This will activate the thoracic sling and the abdominal muscles.  The lift should be held for about 5 seconds, then released.  Can be repeated 3 to 5 times.  
 Lumbar or lumbosacral lift – by applying downward pressure along the horse's center line, starting immediately above the tail, continuing forward towards the tuber sacrale.  This will stimulate flexion of the abdominal and sublumbar muscles, causing lifting of the lumbosacral joint and through the lumbar spine.
 Again the lift should be held for about 5 seconds to give a sustained isometric contraction.  Can be repeated 3 to 5 times.
 The above static exercises can be compared with going to the gym and doing abdominal curls in a Pilates session.
 

Neck flexibility exercises can be carried out with simple carrot stretches to facilitate the neck musculature.  This would include neck extension and lateral bending of the neck.  These mobilizations activate the deeper neck muscles.
 Exercises on the lunge, especially with the aid of a Pessoa lunging aid, can also help to stimulate collection and abdominal strength. 
 During ridden exercise the use of transitions (walk to trot, trot to canter, canter to trot, trot to walk) can also be effective in strengthening the abdominal and back muscles.  If these ridden exercises are to be effective, then the horse must be ridden with normal to low neck positioning.  
 A Thera-Band can also be applied in a loop or figure of eight pattern from the girth to behind the hind legs.  The stimulus to the back of the thighs (compare with the Pessoa while lunging) helps to stimulate collection and abdominal strength.
 Hill work carried out in a collected gait will also strengthen the abdominal and back muscles.  
 If exercises are to be carried out as part of a post-injury rehabilitation program then it is important that these should be approved by your vet or your physiotherapist.

Research into back pain in humans by Moseley-Hodges (2002) identified that the multifidus muscle plays a key role in the stability of the lumbar spine.  Hides et al (1994) showed a reduction in size of multifidus in back pain patients, and also an alteration in functional activation patterns.  Restoration of multifidus function and muscle bulk is an important factor in the prevention of recurrence of back pain in people with acute back injuries (Hides et al, 1996).
 Back pain in horses and associated epaxial/hypaxial muscle dysfunction, imbalance and atrophy often results in loss of performance.  However, back pain syndromes are difficult to diagnose in horses due to the variability of signs – pain on palpation, lameness, gait alterations and behaviour changes.  Chronic back pain can prevent proper use and development of both the abdominal and back muscles, and recent studies using ultrasonographic measurement have shown asymmetry of the epaxial muscles in horses with back pain (Stubbs et al, 2006). 
 The use of ‘Pilates' type exercises for horses to strengthen the core stabilizing muscles can therefore not only be used as part of a regular training program to enhance performance and reduce injury, but may also help to prevent the recurrence of back pain in some horses.

From Synthetic prep race to the Kentucky Derby dirt

By Bill Heller

Street Sense’s dramatic, decisive victory in last year’s Kentucky Derby restructured a lot of perceptions about winning the Run for the Roses. Not only could a Breeders'Cup Juvenile winner return the following spring to capture the first leg of the Triple Crown, but he could make his final prep for Churchill Downs' dirt track on a synthetic one.

Street Sense wasn’t alone in switching from synthetic to dirt. Six Derby starters last year had their final preps on synthetic surfaces: the top five finishers in the Blue Grass Stakes on Keeneland’s Polytrack - Dominican, Street Sense, Zanjero, Teuflesberg and Great Hunter - as well as Hard Spun, who won the Lane’s End Stakes on Turfway Park’s Polytrack.

Trainer Carl Nafzger had no reservations about using Polytrack as Street Sense’s springboard to the Derby because he’d done exactly that the year before when Street Sense followed a third in the Lane’s End Breeders'Futurity at Keeneland with a resounding 10-length victory in the Breeders'Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs.

Nafzger, however, said he would not have used the Blue Grass as Street Sense’s final Derby prep if Street Sense hadn’t already raced on dirt. "Even if he had worked on dirt, there’s a lot of difference between working and running,"Nafzger said. "I would definitely want to see my horse in a dirt race first. I don’t care if it was an allowance race; I’d want to see him in a race.”

Sedgefield did not have that luxury, finishing fifth last year as the first North American-based starter since at least 1955 to run in the Kentucky Derby without a previous dirt race.
He won’t be the last.

In mid-March, it appeared that at least three of California’s top Kentucky Derby prospects – Colonel John and El Gato Malo, the 1-2 finishers in the Sham Stakes, and San Vicente and San Felipe victor Georgie Boy – will also be making their first dirt start at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday of May.
"I don’t think it’s going to be a problem for the California horses,"said Darrin Miller, who trains both Sedgefield and Dominican. "I don’t think it’s a disadvantage at all.”

Obviously, the California trainers of those three Derby hopefuls – whose final race before the Derby figures to be the Santa Anita Derby – agree, as will other trainers who use the Blue Grass or the Lane’s End for their horses' final Derby prep.

"My concern is just getting to the race,"El Gato Malo’s trainer Craig Dollase said laughing. "That’s the objective of the synthetic track. The whole point is to keep your horse sound. We just want a healthy, sound horse going into the first Saturday of May. So be it if it’s on dirt.”

That’s the approach Miller took with Sedgefield. The 36-year-old native of Verona, Missouri, began training at Canterbury Park in Minnesota in 1995, and splits his year between Florida and Kentucky. He did an admirable job of getting both Sedgefield and Dominican to the Derby for Tommy and Bonnie Hamilton’s Silverton Hill Farm in Springfield, Kentucky.

Silverton Hill purchased Sedgefield, who is a full brother to 2007 Turf Champion English Channel, for $300,000 at Keeneland’s Two-Year-Olds-In-Training Sale in April, 2006. A month earlier, the Hamiltons purchased Dominican at the Ocala Two-Year-Olds-In-Training Sale for $150,000.

Sedgefield began his career late in his two-year-old season, finishing seventh on Polytrack at Keeneland on October 27, 2006. After running fifth on grass at Churchill Downs, he won a maiden race easily on Turfway Park’s Polytrack.

Miller asked a lot of Sedgefield in his next start, the Grade 3 Tropical Park Derby at Calder on grass, and Sedgefield fought it out on the lead the whole way, finishing second by three-quarters of a length to Soldier Dancer. "After the Tropical Park Derby, we decided that the Kentucky Derby was an option for him," Miller said. "The plan was this: we run in the Hallandale Beach (on grass) and the Lane’s End.”

First, though, Miller gave Sedgefield a confidence builder. Dropped to allowance company on grass at Gulfstream Park, Sedgefield won handily. Then, in the Hallandale Beach, Sedgefield again displayed his grittiness, finishing second by half a length to Twilight Meteor despite breaking from the 10 post. Sedgefield drew even worse in the Lane’s End: the outside post in a field of 12. Regardless, he finished second by 3 ½ lengths to Hard Spun.

Trainer Larry Jones chose not to give Hard Spun another race before the Kentucky Derby because Hard Spun’s graded stakes earnings were already enough to ensure he’d start in the Derby. Sedgefield’s weren’t.
So Miller, after considering the Blue Grass Stakes, sent Sedgefield back to turf instead in the Grade 3 Transylvania at Keeneland just 13 days after the Lane’s End. Sedgefield again battled on the lead, but this time he tired late to fourth as the 7-5 favorite. 

"I messed up,"Miller said. "I raced him back too quick. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. We thought it was an easy spot and it would give him the earnings he needed. We were right on the cusp there.”
With the fourth-place finish, though, Sedgefield did have enough earnings to break into the Derby field of 20. And Miller wasn’t worried about the switch to dirt. "He’d been on dirt as a two-year-old,"Miller said. "We didn’t see dirt as a problem for him at all.”

To prepare him for his first dirt race, Miller, who was stabled at Keeneland, worked Sedgefield four furlongs twice at Churchill Downs. Sedgefield breezed in: 49 (15th fastest of 35) 13 days before the Derby and in :48 2/5 (11th of 52) four days before. "After the first week, we moved the two horses to Churchill Downs,"Miller said. "He trained really well when he went there. He really stepped up to the plate. He was doing everything right. Then we had a lot of rain that week. He relished it. He trained very well on it.”

Dominican, who had two thirds from four previous races on dirt, including a fourth in an allowance race and a third in a Grade 2 stakes at Churchill Downs, worked just once after his gutsy victory in the Blue Grass. Five days before the Derby, Dominican breezed a bullet five furlongs in :59 2/5, fastest of 26 that morning.
Miller had both Sedgefield and Dominican primed for top efforts, but their preparation was seriously compromised the morning the selection order for post positions was drawn for the 20 Derby starters. "Our picks were 17th and 19th,"Miller said. "It was a pretty bad go. It left us in a pretty tough spot."Miller chose the rail for Sedgefield and the 19 post for Dominican, who finished 11th after a rough trip. The lack of a previous dirt start didn’t impact Sedgefield, who was dispatched at 58-1 from the highly disadvantageous rail.

Forwardly placed from the outset under Julien Leparoux, Sedgefield worked his way up to second midway through the mile-and-a-quarter classic. "I was just hoping he’d keep coming,"said Miller, who had never started a horse in the Derby before. Sedgefield tired late to fifth, nine lengths behind Street Sense, but just a length off third-place finisher Curlin, who subsequently was Horse of the Year and Three-Year-Old Champion.
Miller was proud of Sedgefield’s effort: "He gave us everything that day. He put it all out there.”

Some 10 months later, Miller said of his first experience in the Kentucky Derby: "It’s life-changing, for sure. It’s certainly a special opportunity and I’m grateful for it. It makes you want to do it again, searching for the next one."

Colonel John’s trainer, Eoin Harty, knows the feeling – kind of. The 45-year-old native of Dublin, who began his career as an assistant trainer for John Russell, was an assistant to trainer Bob Baffert when he nearly won three consecutive Kentucky Derbies. Cavonnier lost the ’96 Derby by a nose to Grindstone, then Silver Charm and Real Quiet took back-to-back Derbies. "It’s going to be my name on the program this time,"Harty said. "I’m going to bear full responsibility for the action of myself and my horse.”

He is perfectly comfortable with his decision to not give Colonel John a dirt start prior to the Derby. "I won’t because I’m a firm believer in training on synthetic courses,"Harty said. "I just think they’re so much kinder to the horse. You avoid the constant pounding, the bone on bone. The carnage rate of horses [on dirt] is unacceptable.”

Harty has had success training his horses on synthetic surfaces and then racing them on dirt. "From my own experience, I had a very good year at Churchill Downs last year, and my horses had worked on synthetic,"he said. "I did it with quite a few. I brought horses over [from Keeneland] the morning of the race at Churchill Downs, and that was it. It’s better for your horse. They stay sounder. If they’re sounder, they’re around to race longer and it’s good for the sport.”

Harty says he’s frequently asked about the difference between training horses on dirt vs. synthetic surfaces. "These are my opinions; they’re not facts,"he said. "From my own experience and from watching other trainers training on synthetic tracks, I wouldn’t say that training on synthetic is an advantage, but it gives a horse a different level of fitness. Every horse I’ve worked on a synthetic track who had been training on a dirt track, the first work is terrible. The second and the third are better. When I was at Santa Anita before they put in the synthetic track, and took them to Hollywood on synthetic for the first time, the horses seemed to be at a major disadvantage. When you look at synthetic tracks, they don’t have to work as hard to cover ground.”
Colonel John has been covering ground just fine on synthetic tracks. His victory in the Sham Stakes was his third in five starts. He was second in the other two races, one of them a Grade 1 stakes.

If he goes into the starting gate at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday of May, it will be his first dirt race, but not be his first time on dirt. "I’ll probably work him and gallop him at Churchill Downs,"Harty said. "It probably won’t hurt.”

Like Harty, Dollase, whose El Gato Malo had won his first three starts, including the Grade 3 San Rafael Stakes, before finishing second in the Sham, will also work his horse on Churchill Downs'dirt track before he starts in the Derby. Dollase’s only previous Derby starter, Wilko, finished sixth in 2005.

"My routine is usually to get a work over the track,"said the 37-year-old Dollase. Unlike Harty, Dollase has a different opinion regarding training on synthetic vs. dirt tracks. "I think you get a lot more fitness out of the synthetic,"he said. "You have to work harder. I used to train at Hollywood Park when it was the only cushion track, then run on Santa Anita when it was dirt, and what an advantage I had. I had a good meet a year and a half ago. So did a lot of the guys who trained at Hollywood Park. We were the guinea pigs starting out. Our horses trained on it, and I trained them hard at Hollywood Park and they ran well on Santa Anita’s dirt track. It might be harder the other way. A lot of guys who trained at Santa Anita didn’t do that well at Hollywood Park.”
Will a horse who has never raced on dirt win this year’s Kentucky Derby? "I think ultimately it comes down to the best horse wins the Kentucky Derby,"Harty said. "Look over the past 133 Derbies; usually the best horse wins. I think if the horse is good enough, he’ll overcome not racing on dirt.”

And if Harty’s horse doesn’t overcome that? "It would be a convenient excuse,"he said. "Based on my own experiences and the feelings of my owners, this is the route I take.”

Undoubtedly, as synthetic tracks grow in popularity, more trainers will take that route. Ultimately, the question won’t be can horses who have raced exclusively on synthetic surfaces win the Derby, rather which synthetic surface - Polytrack, Cushion or Tapeta - is more conducive to making that transition. 

Nuclear scanning - the next stage in diagnosing lameness

Nuclear scintigraphy or 'bone scanning' attempts to take lameness diagnosis one stage further by predicting rather than just diagnosing fractures. It is an imaging technique that searches for an increase in bone production and thus can often pinpoint the cuase of minor lameness problems before they become catastrophic injuries.

Nuclear scintigraphy works via the highly ingenious idea of linking a mildly radioactive substance to bone turnover so that it can be measured.  A radioactive substance called technetium is joined together with a phosphorous compound and then injected intravenously into the horse. The bones of the horse use this phosphorous compound to make more bone cells at different rates depending on what is going on in each individual bone. A ‘normal' bone in an adult horse will therefore only take up a small amount of the phosphorous compound and thus only emit a small amount of radiation.  However, a bone with a stress fracture in it will take up lots of the phosphorous compound and therefore emit a large amount of radiation as it attempts to make lots of new bone cells to try and ‘fix' itself.  As a result, the amount of bony remodeling taking place in the equine skeleton can be measured by the amount of radiation emitted from a particular site using a sophisticated radioactivity measurement device called a gamma camera.
After the intravenous injection, providing that the horse is not too lame, it is exercised gently to distribute the compound evenly before its radiation is measured.  Thirty minutes later, the injection leaves the blood and soft tissue and heads for bone, therefore radioactivity readings are taken two to five hours after administration.  Horses must stand still long enough to obtain good readings and so they receive a standing sedation but no general anesthetic is required.  Although simple handheld ‘point' radioactivity scanners can be used to measure the radioactivity, large expensive gamma cameras are much better as they are situated on a steady crane, move all around the horse smoothly and take more accurate readings in a shorter period of time, thus reducing the risk of movement errors.  Bone scans can easily be carried out and analyzed in a day, although horses must remain in controlled areas overnight as they remain slightly radioactive until the next day. This does lead to slight practical disadvantages of nuclear scintigraphy – the safety precautions required when working with radiation and the necessity to stop the horse's work whilst it resides at a nuclear facility.
Nuclear scintigraphy allows for the evaluation of the entire equine skeleton, although specific regions can be imaged as required.  A computer then processes the information from the gamma camera and generates an image of the horse's bones.  Areas of increased radioactivity, which reflect increased bony remodeling, are represented as ‘hot spots.' Although these can simply reflect a normal area of increased bone turnover such as a growth plate in a young horse, a large uptake in a certain place may signify a ‘stress fracture.' A stress fracture is simply a very early fracture that is not displaced in any way.  The bone turnover is high because the bone is trying to ‘fix' itself.  Once a ‘hot spot' has identified where the problem is, x-rays and ultrasound scans can be brought in to further investigate the specific area.
Due to the expense of the equipment and the practical safety issues associated with bone scanning, it is not the sort of equipment that is found at every training center or racetrack.  Even though the radioactivity of the substance is very short-lived, many safety precautions have to be taken. The syringe containing the radioactive injection is protected from the veterinarian administering it by way of a lead shield.  All those coming into contact with the horse from that point onwards wear protective clothing, and the horse's dirty bedding is stored and then disposed of in accordance with strict radiation regulations.
Although many veterinary centers may own a handheld point scanner, the superior gamma cameras are generally found at universities and large veterinary hospitals.  The result is that bone scans are not carried out as routinely as some other less expensive, more readily available imaging techniques.  However, when ‘conventional' imaging techniques such as x-rays and ultrasound scans either fail to find abnormalities or more serious fractures are feared but not seen, then horses should undergo a bone scan.  They are most useful in young horses with severe, acute lameness and they have a number of important uses.
Firstly, their most common use is in the case of a lame horse whose specific problem has not been found by conventional veterinary medicine.  For example, ‘nerve blocks,' which ‘freeze' the leg in specific locations, may have found the area of pain but x-rays and ultrasound scans have not revealed a specific problem. If the bone scan reveals a hot spot in, for example, the lower cannon bone, then the horse is likely to have a stress fracture here. Stress fractures can be so small that in the initial stages they are not visible on x-ray and it is only when the bone has remodeled around the small fracture line that some changes can be seen.  In fact, sometimes a fracture line is never seen at all on x-ray and so nuclear scintigraphy really is the only method by which it can be diagnosed.
Nuclear scintigraphy is also useful in horses with suspected spinal or pelvic pain where x-rays and ultrasound images are inconclusive.  A bone scan can reveal a hot spot that proves the activity of the bone at the suspected location, thus confirming it as the source of pain.  The horse's back is a very difficult area to assess both clinically and using x-rays and ultrasound scans, hence the gap in the market for an influx of miraculous ‘back manipulators' and chiropractors, many of whom have very little scientific basis behind their technique.  A bone scan can prove whether there really is any bony problem behind the horse's pain, for example, a ‘kissing spine' where a horse's back vertebrae ‘rub' together or a pelvic stress fracture.
Trainers also send horses that are moving and performing poorly for full body bone scans as these animals can have multiple sites of pain.  Rather than freezing joints one by one with nerve blocks to try and ascertain which joints hurt most, the bone scan can highlight several mild hot spots, which might be troubling that particular horse.  Following assessment of these areas either clinically or using x-rays and ultrasound scans, some trainers may then choose to have several joints ‘medicated' with anti-inflammatories, lubricants and substances to increase joint health in an attempt to make the horse move more fluently and win more races.
The only drawback with using scintigraphy in this way is that bone turnover does not necessarily correlate perfectly with painful joints. Nuclear scintigraphy has a tendency to over-diagnose problems and label ‘normal' bony remodeling as injuries.  Some joints have lots of bony changes in them but actually cause very little pain or reduction in performance, whilst some very painful joints are actually caused by inflammation of the joint capsule, joint fluid and joint ligaments and thus bony turnover may not actually be increased. Therefore, proving the site of pain by nerve blocking may have in fact been more effective.  When a horse is diagnosed with two sore knees and a sore hind fetlock, we will probably believe it.  However, when horses are diagnosed with three sore joints and four stress fractures, I personally find it hard to believe.
The final important asset of nuclear scintigraphy is the speed with which it can diagnose a fracture.  Sometimes it is urgent to find out immediately whether or not a horse has a fracture. The veterinarian dealing with the horse suspects a fracture but cannot see one on x-ray. Whilst it would be possible to wait and re-x-ray the horse in a few days or weeks, the bone scan gives an instant answer and thus connections know what the problem is with their horse and how it should be treated – as a mild lameness or a fracture that must be rested in order to prevent a catastrophic injury.
At this point, readers are probably wondering why there are not more bone scanning facilities and why they are not used more regularly. This again brings us back to the fact that nuclear scintigraphy measures bone turnover and unfortunately this does not always correlate with fractures.  Whilst a bone scan is highly unlikely to miss a fracture, it may diagnose one when there is not one there. Examples of this include areas of ‘normally' high bone turnover such as growth plates in young horses (bone remodeling associated with growing), ‘bucked' shins that are remodeling but should not be treated as fractures, and some changes associated with large bones such as the radius and the tibia.  The tibia is the equivalent of the human shinbone and in the same way as we can get sore shins, horses can get sore tibias.  When horses begin training, tibias may be remodeling at quite a high rate (and thus will be picked up by a bone scan) but they should not always be treated as fractures. If I were to start road running tomorrow, my shins might become slightly sore after a few days and start to remodel to the increased work. However, rather than stopping, it would actually be better for me to carry on with my running until my shins adapt to their new work. Similarly, bone scans can make us stop training some horses fearing a fracture when they are actually at no higher a risk of fracturing than the horse in the next stall, and in fact, we are just making their bones ‘softer' for when we recommence their training.
In summary, nuclear scintigraphy may be hard for many of us to pronounce but by measuring bone turnover in the equine skeleton, it has become a very useful tool in equine lameness diagnosis. As legendary Breeders' Cup winning trainer Michael Dickinson (my uncle) says: "the phrase that sums up bone scanning is ‘peace of mind.'" There are numerous examples of horses that have had potentially fatal fractures prevented by undergoing a bone scan, which revealed that a minor lameness was actually being caused by a potentially catastrophic fracture.
Thanks to the late Dolly Green, the Southern California Equine Foundation was able to build a nuclear scintigraphy facility at Santa Anita racetrack.  It was this facility that enabled 2007 Kentucky Derby hopeful Ravel to be diagnosed with a stress fracture that could not be found on x-ray.  As trainer Todd Pletcher said, "…it would have turned into a condylar fracture if we had breezed him." Similarly, Halfbridled, the Champion two-year-old filly of 2003, was diagnosed with a stress fracture in a cannon bone and is now safely undertaking her new role as a broodmare.  Nevertheless, bone scans are not perfect.  They can over-diagnose stress fractures, they do come with certain practical safety disadvantages and they are perhaps not one hundred percent accurate at diagnosing joint pain. However, despite these limitations, they have been a great addition to veterinary medicine. They may prevent one or two horses from being trained when they are actually fit to work, but they also prevent great horses like Johar, Ouija Board, Ravel and Halfbridled from fracturing on the racetrack and for this we should be grateful. 


James Tate (26 June 2008 - Issue 6)

TRM Trainer of the Quarter - Judi Hicklin

The TRM trainer of the quarter award has been won by Judi Hicklin. Judi and her team will receive a TRM product portfolio worth in excess of $1,500.  
The portfolio will consist of TRM tack bags and saddle pads as well as a large selection of the world famous TRM product range.

Two months after her 94-year-old mother died, trainer Judi Hicklin saddled the star of her 14-horse stable, Wayzata Bay, for his third start in the $295,000 Grade 2 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Breeders' Cup Handicap June 28th. The six-year-old had finished eighth and fifth in the stakes the two previous years, results the 54-year-old Hicklin didn't regret. She has a deep appreciation for racing in Nebraska. "I can remember when I was a little kid going over to Ak-Sar-Ben to watch the races," she said June 30th. "We had to go to the Kiddies Corral. That's where the kids had to stay. I was six. The Cornhusker has always been the premier race in the Midwest. Even to be in the race was exciting."
Hicklin, a 54-year-old native of Des Moines, Iowa, showed horses initially before getting involved with Thoroughbreds. "Then Prairie Meadows opened (March 1st, 1989)," she said. "I bought a race horse, Clusterplan. I had a friend of mine train her. She won a race and she was third in a stakes. It was pretty amazing. It wasn't like show horses. You got paid instead of a ribbon."

Hicklin quickly acquired her trainer's license and has been racing at Prairie Meadows ever since, spending her winters at Tampa Bay Downs. Before Wayzata Bay, Hicklin's best horse was Madam Riley, a two-year-old filly who won a few minor stakes.

Wayzata Bay's fondness for Prairie Meadows is documented. His record before the 2008 Cornhusker was seven-for-15 at Prairie Meadows and three-for-26 everywhere else. But his owner, Gene Phelps, who named Wayzata Bay after his hometown in Minnesota, decided to attend the Cornhusker. He hadn't seen Wayzata Bay race live since he won the Prairie Mile three years earlier.
 
Bettors weren't impressed and sent Wayzata Bay off the longest shot in the field at 38-1. Perhaps they knew no local horse had ever captured the Cornhusker, whose previous winners include Star de Naskra, Gate Dancer, Black Tie Affair, Sir Bear and Roses in May. Hicklin, however, thought Wayzata Bay was sitting on a top effort. "He was going into it as good as he possibly could," she said.

Then, after an anxious moment, the race unfolded beautifully for her deep closer. "He stumbled at the start; I wanted to throw up," Hicklin said. "He recovered. Then two horses (Temporary Saint and Encaustic) hooked up in front and he laid third down the backside. Usually, he comes from way back. I thought, `Wow! He's laying real close.'"
Then jockey Israel Ocampo moved his hands and Wayzata Bay shot past the dueling leaders. "He was in front at the eighth pole, and I was screaming," Hicklin said. "And he just widened."

Wayzata Bay won by 3 ½ lengths in 1:48 47 and was greeted by a tearful Hicklin when he came back to the winner's circle. "I still can't believe it," she said two days later. "I can't stop crying about it. It was amazing. To win the Cornhusker is unbelievable, unbelievable."
Wayzata Bay's victory pushed him past half a million dollars in career earnings. His next start will likely be in the Prairie Meadows Handicap at the end of July. He's won it the past two years.

Would another victory tempt Hicklin to try and up the ante in a major stakes? "Wayzata is going to tell us where we want to go," she said. "Everybody else in our stable will follow him."

They should. He's the leader of the pack in Nebraska and he has given Hicklin a moment she'll treasure the rest of her life, forever validating her ability to train Thoroughbreds.

She is quick to point out that she's been helped the past 10 years by her assistant trainer Rafael Sanchez. Maybe somebody else was helping her the night of the Cornhusker. "I know she was watching, and screaming as loud as we were for him to win," Hicklin said of her mom. "She loved the races."  



By: Bill Heller
 (10 July 2008 - Issue Number: 9)

TRM Trainer of the Quarter - John Balding

The TRM Trainer of the Quarter goes to John Balding. The success at the Meydan Stakes was remarkable on many different levels, not least because it was the first British victory of the 2008 Dubai International Racing Carnival at the 53rd attempt.

James Crispe (European Trainer - Issue 21 / Spring 2008)

Alec Head & Criquette Head Maarek - we talk to the extraordinarily successful father and daughter

The Head family has a history steeped in horseracing, just as horseracing has a history steeped in Heads. Their dominance began in France in the late 1800’s with Alec’s jockey-turned-trainer grandfather Willie, a British expatriot. Alec’s father, also Willie, was a highly successful jumps jockey and dual purpose trainer in France. Willie trained six individual classic winners as well as Le Paillon who won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and was second in the 1947 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham when ridden by Alec. Alec stopped race riding that same year and transitioned into five-time leading trainer, breeder and owner extraordinaire. Say what you will: the clichés are plentiful, the headlines unoriginal, but the claim that the family is “at the head of the class” has been consistently accurate for over a century.

Their story is inextricably connected to the land on their idyllic Haras du Quesnay near Deauville, France, which has equally been at the epicentre of racing for many generations. During the tenure of W.K. Vanderbilt, the undefeated Prestige was France’s leading sire in 1914. An influential resident when the stud was owned by Kingsley Macomber was Rose Prince, the sire of Belgian Triple Crown winner Prince Rose who was in turn the sire of Princequillo.
World War II interrupted the tranquility of Normandy, and the Germans seized Quesnay only to flee when the Allies landed. To put it into context, Rose Prince’s son Prince Rose was killed 75 miles up the road from Deauville in the 1944 bombings. Although Deauville was spared from the fighting, Quesnay bore signs of occupation, so its American owner abandoned it and the property remained vacant until after his death. Chantilly-based Alec Head, with the eye that later enabled him to spot the potential in Lyphard and Riverman, found Quesnay and, with his parents, bought and restored it to beyond its former glories. The list of horses bred, raised at and/or retired to Quesnay is extensive – among the first was French Derby winner Le Fabuleux, trained by Willie Jr. – but Alec and Ghislaine Head (a member of the van de Poele racing family) also reared their four children in the idyllic 16th Century chateau. Three of them – champion trainer Criquette; champion jockey Freddy, now a trainer; and Quesnay’s manager Martine, who oversees the stud careers of Anabaa and Bering, among others – went into the family business.
At the conclusion of the 2007 French racing season, the Head’s homebred colt Full of Gold, sired by Quesnay’s stallion Gold Away and trained by Criquette, won the Group I Criterium de Saint-Cloud, in a now-typical display of family unity: when Criquette was a fledgling trainer, she conditioned her mother’s filly Three Troikas to win the 1979 Arc under Freddy. That was Freddy’s second Arc, after Ivanjica, trained by Alec, in 1976. Alec-trained Beaugency lost the 1969 Prix du Jockey Club by (what else?) a head to Goodly, trained by Willie and ridden by Freddy. With this family, there is a myriad of these examples.
From racing as well as historical perspectives, sitting down with the father-daughter team of Alec Head and Criquette Head-Maarek at Quesnay is a humbling yet singular experience.

Criquette, what kind of difficulties have you met in becoming the most successful woman flat racehorse trainer in the world?
Criquette: Well I’ve never had any problem. I was born with all my background so it was easier for me. Even after I started training for the Arabs, you know, being a woman, it’s unusual. I still train for Prince Khaled Abdullah, who is a fantastic owner, and until the death of Sheikh Maktoum al Maktoum I had horses for him and it was the same, it was absolutely fantastic for me. I think they see you as a trainer and not as a woman if you win races, and I was lucky to have good horses. So, that’s all. But I was the first licensed female trainer in France.

And the first to win a classic race in France, and officially in England, and the first to win the Arc…
Criquette: Of course, because I started before the others. You need horses in this job. If you have good horses it helps you a lot. I had good teachers in front of me. My father, my grandfather – they taught me everything I know and that I’m doing today.

After returning home to France from Spain you started in bloodstock and bought Three Troikas, who you trained to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, as a yearling in 1977. Was that a big turning point for you?
Criquette: I came back because I was missing horses, and then I was a bloodstock agent for a while and I started training when I bought Three Troikas at Newmarket, that’s the year I started training. It was lucky. It’s like the link of a chain. If everything goes together it’s easy. So that’s how I started. At the beginning I won’t say they didn’t say, “Ah, it’s the daughter of Alec Head and he’ll be behind her all the time,” so I just plugged my ears. I didn’t want to listen to them. I knew what I was doing. I knew that I was training my horses and whatever people would say I didn’t mind, so it didn’t bother me.

Either way, it’s not a bad thing to have Alec Head there behind you.
Criquette: Exactly. Yeah, that was a big help. On top of that, when I was making a mistake they wouldn’t say anything to me because they thought Papa was making the mistake. You need time when you start training. You can’t be a super trainer in one or two years even if you have good horses so you need a bit of time, and it did help me to get through everything because people were thinking that my father was the trainer. So for me, it was easy.

And you’ve probably reached the point now that when something goes wrong they don’t look at your father anymore.
Criquette: Well no, no, they still look at my dad. In November when I won the Group I, with Full of Gold, we won on Sunday and Papa had come back on Friday. He’d been away for nearly six months because my mother was sick. And people said, “Ah, we can see you’re back,” you know, like they were saying that was why we won…I don’t mind. For me, I am so pleased when I win races for him or for any client of mine of course, but when I win races for Papa and my mother it’s something special for me, absolutely. When I see my brother, or [son-in-law] Carlos [Laffon-Parias] winning, it’s rewarding.

I think it’s fair to say the Heads have had quite a monopoly in the French horseracing ranks for many, many years.
Criquette: Well, I’m not sure, but we’ve been very close together and we’ve worked together for a long time because Freddy was a jockey. He was the jockey for my grandfather – he started with my grandfather, then my father, then me. It’s a big help when the family is all close together.

How does winning the Criterium de Saint-Cloud with homebred Full of Gold last year compare with Three Troikas in the Arc?
Alec: That was nice. I was delighted. So was Criquette! But he is not Three Troikas yet. You couldn’t compare because Three Troikas, she didn’t run much as a two-year-old.
Criquette: She won just a maiden, by a nose at St Cloud.

Not so much the horses themselves, but as proud moments in Head racing lore.
Criquette: Oh but you are always proud when you have horses like that. To win with a horse that you raised is fantastic. I think it’s better than to buy it.
Alec: Of course. It’s your baby. It is your baby. It’s like your children.

Full of Gold brings everything full circle, in a sense. Criquette trained his sire Gold Away who now stands at Quesnay, and Alec, you trained his grandsire Goldneyev and won the Arc with Goldneyev’s dam Gold River in 1981. Your family also bred and raced his broodmare sire Sillery and was involved with Full of Gold’s first five dams spanning 50 years. Full of Gold is 4x4 to Riverman and his dam is 4x3 to Lyphard, probably the two best horses you bought. Just about the only horses in the pedigree you weren’t involved with were Nureyev and Blushing Groom!
Alec: I was underbidder on Blushing Groom when he was a yearling.

Ouch!
Criquette: As you say, ouch. And Vaguely Noble, and Arazi – Arazi as a foal and as a yearling. Remember, Papa?

Has training changed much since the days of your grandfather?
Alec: I don’t think so. Maybe a little bit in the way of feeding horses. I don’t think there’s been much change in the training. There may be a lot of changes in the veterinary world. That’s improved quite a lot, but the training itself is more or less the same I would say.

And the horses?
Criquette: Maybe they’re more fragile than before, Papa, no?
Alec: Yes, possibly. The cross of the American breeders brought us more fragile horses, that’s for sure.
Criquette: And maybe because of the medication they can use over there.
Alec: Yeah of course. You get unsound horses that go to stud because of medication and they will produce their problems.
(Watching as a horse sells for a big price at the ARQANA sale)
Alec: I’m getting to know less and less in this business. I suppose that at one age, the thing is, you go up, up, and then when you get to a certain age you start going down. And I’m halfway down – not completely. I wouldn’t give 300,000 euros for that. I understand less and less!

I wonder if, since you’ve been breeding your families for so many generations, you have less of these problems, the fragility, unsoundness?
Alec: It’s difficult to know where the lightning is going to strike, in every way. I know I’m lucky. If you’re not lucky in life you’re in trouble. You need a bit of luck, but you’d better help it. We’ve all got a bit of it, but some pick it up more than others. And that’s the point.

So I gather you’re anti-medication.
Criquette: Ah yes, that’s terrible. That’s one thing that we have to fight in this country. You can’t give any medication, and that’s very good. Nothing.

And when you do get a bleeder you have to send it somewhere like America, where it can race and will usually go to stud afterwards.
Criquette: Yes, it’s like that. It’s terrible for all the matings. Here in this country we’ve got less stallions maybe, but they’re all sound. We’ve got much more sound horses than they do in the States. I think they should be stricter on medication. Mind you, they race on dirt, and it’s hard on horses to train on dirt. Without any medication they would have no runners. But me, I’m in favour of no medication. I think a trainer should train. The trainer shouldn’t be a chemist. I’m against everything. A lame horse shouldn’t run. A sick horse shouldn’t go on the racecourse. It’s so simple – those horses should not run.

Where does the breeding industry stand today?
Alec: I’m a bit sad at the moment to see these two big operations. That’s what Miss Kirsten Rausing said the other day in a speech. In my opinion she was right, because it’s not good when you have too big a monopoly. There’s a lot of other breeders that would like to buy a stallion and try to make a living. They cut them off, and they don’t have a chance.
Criquette: That’s why there’s less and less breeders.
Alec: Luckily, for the moment in America, it’s such a strong country you have other people. You need people to spend and buy. That’s our problem today in France, we don’t have many young new breeders to come in. We used to have quite a number. Now you can count them on one hand. It’s like breeding those stallions to 200 mares. It stops other horses from having a chance to make it.
Criquette: And it’s bad for racing. It’s no good.
Alec: Everybody criticised [Rausing]. I congratulated her. I said, “You had the courage to say what you thought.” She didn’t say anything bad. It’s not because you say that it’s not good that you’re saying anything bad.
Criquette: It’s like me saying the bookies are bad for racing. It’s true. The bookies, they won’t agree with me. I had a call from England saying, “How dare you say things like that?” and I said, “I’m going to say it again and again and again.” I can have that opinion, that I think they kill racing. But Rausing said what she felt.

As the newly elected Chair of the European Trainers Federation you will have to deal with many touchy agendas. I know the bookie situation you just referenced is very important to you.
Criquette: I’m very against the bookmakers and I’ll do everything I can to stop them. The system that we’ve got in France, the pari-mutuel, is very well organised and it gives a lot of money back to racing so it helps a lot of the people who work in racing. We don’t want to see the bookies taking all the money from us and not giving anything back.

So what can you do?
Criquette: I don’t know, but we’re going to fight. I’ve seen things, where the bookies have a big horse with a lot of money on his back and you find that horse doesn’t run exactly to what was expected, and you could always think that something was funny. In Germany there’s no racing because of them, in Italy racing’s gone down, in Belgium there’s no more racing – all because of the bookies. They came in very nicely saying they would help, and then after time they took everything from them, so I think it would be unfair to force a country to change. It’s unfair to try to put everyone on the same level. There are 34,000 people working directly from racing and 162,000 people working around racing. So that’s a huge amount of people, a huge amount of money goes into your country for your country. You’ve got the proof all around that every country who has them went down, and we’re not going to let the country go down because, the EU internal market commissioner, Mr McCreevy wants to have everyone on the same level. It’s impossible.

And the tie-in with the prize money?
Criquette: In England the prize money’s going down, it’s getting worse and worse. In France we’re going up, and they’re going down and down, and we don’t want to see that. In France we haven’t got all those sponsors who put money in. In England they’re better off because they’ve got big sponsors, and that’s not our case; here the money goes back because the pari-mutuel is organised like that and it puts all the money in. We’ve got premiums for breeders, for French owners, for French horses even if the owner is from America or wherever. They wouldn’t do that if they didn’t have the money, and the day the bookies come in it’s over, there won’t be any more money. We won’t drop in one year. It’ll take time, but it will decline completely and we’ll be like all those other countries. Look at America: they’ve got the pari-mutuel. That’s why it’s working.

What about other problems, like home-grown staffing shortages?
Criquette: We’re not allowed in this country to bring people in like they do in England. It’s hard to find people. Our government is trying to make us employ French people who haven’t got any jobs, but it’s difficult to find people who are good enough to work with horses, so it’s quite complicated. We’re going to ask the government to let us import people from countries where they like horses. So far in France we’re not allowed to employ them. It will change, I suppose, in 2008. They’ll open something to let us bring people to work in France.

Alec, you yourself have overseen some major changes or improvements during your time as a trainer.
Alec: My jockey was the first one to wear goggles in Europe. There were big headlines in all the papers about the French jockey wearing goggles. I think in the States they were already wearing them. It’s like the helmet. That came gradually. I used to ride with a helmet over jumps in my day, but we didn’t used to have them on the flat. I was one of the ones who got the French to use the starting stalls. I pushed very much for that. We used to have a couple of jockeys that were better than the others at the start, so it was important to bring the stalls in. It was a big fight because lots of trainers found excuses, they were against them. There’s always somebody.

This year marks 50 years since you bought Quesnay. How did you acquire it?
Alec: I bought the farm with my dad. He was away because he used to go down to the south of France with his horses in the winter, and I bought the farm in December or January. I did the whole deal, and he said, “Okay, I’ll go in with you.” So we bought it together and he came back from the south in February. And of course the first thing he said was, “Let’s go and see that farm we’ve bought.” We opened the gates, drove in and he said, “You must be crazy. We’re going to ruin ourselves in this place.”

So you didn’t tell him the extent of how what bad condition it was in when you asked him to go in on it with you?
Alec: No, no. No! My mother was a lovely lady, and when I asked him, she said, “Listen, if he buys it, let’s go, it must be okay.” I told them when we bought it, “It’s in bad shape. We’re going to have a lot of work to put it back to being a good looking place.” So he said okay but he didn’t realise it was that bad. Imagine a farm untouched for ten years, the roof, trees, broken fences.
Criquette: Since the war, Papa, there was no one there.
Alec: In 1940 the war broke out. We bought it in ’58. It was in a terrible state, my God.
Criquette: Going up the main alley the grass, the weeds were very tall. It was incredible.

How did the farm survive its Nazi occupation duing World War II?
Alec: We didn’t have any fighting in this area because the Allies went straight to Paris. And when the Germans started retreating they had to get out quickly, because they were all going to be trapped. That was very lucky because the German general commanding the whole of Normandy used to live in the house. It was camouflaged, the whole place, the yard, everything. In the boxes you can still see some of that green stuff. We found the bunkers that they built. I blew up quite a number of small ones, but there’s three big ones we couldn’t. We’d blow the whole place up. They’ve got walls as wide as this table.
Criquette: And they’re very close to the house.
Alec: It was lucky because behind what Vanderbilt built there were still a lot of good things that the Germans couldn’t break up.

What has been your greatest success?
Alec: On the racecourse, the greatest success was Three Troikas, because she was owned by us, trained by my daughter, ridden by my son. You can’t do much better than that, unless the stable boy that looks after it is your grandson or something. That was a great thing.

The biggest challenge?
Alec: To try to keep on top in this business. That’s a big challenge, because it’s tough to be always near the top. I’ve had my bad days and my problems. I had a great jockey who died in my arms. That was a very sad moment. Terrible. On top of it all he was a nice fellow. I had to call his wife to tell him that her husband had been killed on the racecourse. And that’s no fun. That was one of the worst times of my life. I sold the horse straight away, and I changed my colours. They were my grandfather’s colours.
Criquette: You wouldn’t like to see those colours again on someone.

And you Criquette, your biggest challenge? The cancer?
Criquette: Yes, yes of course.

Another battle you won.
Criquette: Yes, I hope so. You never know if you win it really. But anyhow, that could be one but let’s think about things nicer than that.

Your greatest success, then.
Criquette: I don’t know which one. There’s a few. Let’s say the first horse you win a Group I with. That was Sigy in the Prix de l’Abbayé. She was very, very fast. When she won the Abbayé she was a two-year-old [against older horses]. I think the first Group I is something that you remember always. And the Arc of course, and then all my wins, I would say, all the wins I can get. It’s a big achievement, whatever you win, a small race, a big race. You remember the big ones, but it’s hard to bring a bad horse to the racecourse and win with it.
Alec: You know what I say, a winner a day keeps the doctor away.

How do you stay so young?
Criquette: He works hard, that’s why.
Alec: No, not these days I don’t work very hard. I don’t know. Good genes.

What do you want to be your lasting legacy?

Alec: The one thing I’d like to be remembered for? That I raised a nice family. I mean, that’s the best thing in the long run, all the family – the children, the grandchildren, the great-grandchildren, because I’ve got quite a number of them.

TRM Trainer of Quarter - Steve Hobby

Steve Hobby's breakout meet at Oaklawn Park this spring may not include a training title, but Hobby was conceding nothing in late March when he trailed defending Oaklawn champion Steve Asmussen, the runaway national leader in both victories and earnings, by just two wins, 21-19.

"I would love to be leading trainer, but realistically, he's just so powerful right now," Hobby said with 2 ½ weeks left in the Oaklawn meet. "I'm going to try to beat him."
Even if he doesn't, Hobby's Oaklawn meet was dazzling right from the start when he posted five wins, 11 seconds and four thirds in the first 11 days, validating his decision to nearly double his stable size from 25 to 40.
"This is home for us," the 51-year-old trainer said. "A lot of our clients live in this area. They're in the stands every day. So it's a big deal for us to do good. We gear up for this meet."
It shows. On March 15th Isabull finished third in the $300,000 Grade 2 Rebel Stakes, stamping his ticket to the $1 million Grade 1 Arkansas Derby for Hobby's biggest client, Alex Lieblong, the president of a financial advisory firm in Little Rock. Lieblong and his wife Joann continue to purchase well-bred yearlings and two-year-olds hoping to latch onto a Kentucky Derby starter.
The very next afternoon, Hobby recorded his first training triple at Oaklawn Park, winning with Real Officer and Wolf Branch for the Lieblongs and with Mama's Lil'Mon, one of five horses Hobby claimed at the meet for Bill Hardin, a retired FBI agent, and his wife, Jane.
Hobby's other major owner is Carol Ricks, who campaigned the retired million-dollar earner Chindi and now concentrates on breeding, though she also races. "Right now, I've got a nice situation," Hobby said. "Alex is a high-end buyer, Bill Hardin likes claiming and Carol is a breeder."
Chindi, who retired three years ago at the age of 11, has discovered a second career as Hobby's stable pony. "He likes that," Hobby said. "He's really happy. He raced for nine years. It's the only thing he knows."
Hobby, too. He grew up in Englewood, Colorado, where he learned the horse business from his dad, Gerald, a trainer who became a steward. Hobby worked for his dad, then rode for four years before turning to training in 1976. He started out with Quarter Horses in the late 1970s in Colorado and New Mexico, then transitioned to Thoroughbreds thanks to Ricks'late husband, Ran. "I got fortunate and hooked up with Ran Ricks," Hobby said. "He got me out of New Mexico and into this part of the world."
 
Hobby ran Ricks'farm and trained his stable for several years before adding on new clients. After training at Oaklawn Park from 1985 through 1988, Hobby raced at Remington Park in Oklahoma when it opened in 1988 and returned to Hot Springs in the early ‘90s. He and his wife, Metzie bought a house in Hot Springs seven years ago.
Hobby has trained multiple major stakes winners Brush With Pride and Belle of Cozzene, and hopes to add Isabull to the list. "He's still very immature; he's still learning," Hobby said. "I think he's got a lot of room for improvement."
If he improves enough to make an impact in the Arkansas Derby, Hobby could have a starter in this year's Kentucky Derby. "I hope I have that decision to make," he said.
He is not weighing a decision to move away from Oaklawn Park. "I love it here," he said.
When Oaklawn closes in mid-April, Hobby shifts his stable to Arlington, then to Churchill Downs and Prairie Meadows.
If his stable continues to prosper, he may be moving to higher-profile meets. "When you win, people notice you," he said. "My wife and I can go anywhere. We'll go anywhere our horses take us."

By: Bill Heller- (26 June 2008 - Issue Number 6)

Eco-trainers - turning a profit from manure

Chantilly trainers have gone green and are soon to be the envy of their contemporaries around the world with a ground-breaking manure-disposal project. Faced with piles of manure, the bane of all trainers’ lives, Chantilly professionals are working together to launch a pioneering scheme which looks set to solve all their problems and at the same time reap both environmental and financial rewards.

The 10-million euro project, which should be operational towards the end of 2009, is at the cutting edge of technology and consists of using a process of methanisation to convert the waste into electricity which will then be sold to the EDF (French Electricity Board), and into heat which will be used locally.

CHANTILLY TRAINERS LEAD THE WAY

With some 2500 thoroughbreds currently in training in and around the towns of Chantilly, Gouvieux and Lamorlaye, the region is France’s leading training centre and among the most prestigious sites for preparing racehorses in the world. A further 700 polo ponies and 800 riding horses are stabled in the area to make a grand total of 4,000 equine inhabitants. Slightly less glamorous than the haul of Group 1 victories which the four-legged stars of Chantilly bring home each season is the waste they produce. Each horse creates one tonne of manure per month. The muckheaps of Chantilly are overflowing and a solution is urgently needed.

Dual-purpose handler Richard Crépon was one of the first to react to the issue, and in early 2006 he became president of the Lamorlaye Bio-Resources Association. “We started to research ways to deal with our large quantities of manure and initially came up with the idea of converting it into compost, or incineration. Local farmers made a small contribution by spreading shavings-based manure on their land. But none of these systems were perfect and we realised that we needed to take control of the situation ourselves”. It was then that the current CUMA (Co-operative for the Utilization of Agricultural Material) was born, again under the presidency of Crépon.

All of Chantilly and the surrounding area’s hundred or so licence holders, as well as the towns’ riding school, livery and polo proprietors, have been invited to invest the modest sum of 100 euros to join the co-operative which, as Crépon explains, “needs manure in order for our project to be feasible”. The CUMA’S methanisation project offers a mutually-beneficial solution to a relatively new problem.

Until recently trainers had been able to rely on the abundance of mushroom producers in Chantilly to dispose of their troublesome “by-product”. The farmers had chosen Chantilly for its combination of an unending supply of the horse manure necessary for their fungus to grow, and the geological characteristics of the surrounding area. Chantilly is built on valuable limestone which has been excavated over the centuries, notably to construct the spectacular Grandes Ecuries and Chateau which give such charm to France’s Classic racecourse. The quarrying left vast underground caves perfect for mushroom cultivation and thirty years ago the area was home to around 25 mushroom farms. “They used to pay us to take away our manure. Nowadays, the industry has largely moved to Eastern Europe, leaving only 4 mushroom producers in Chantilly. We have trouble to get anyone to empty our manure pits and it costs more and more”. In Chantilly it now costs 15 euros per tonne for trainers to dispose of their organic waste.

TRAINERS WARY OF CURRENT POLLUTION RISK

Aside from the purely practical inconvenience of evacuating the tonnes of waste produced weekly, fellow trainer Tony Clout, making a regretful gesture towards a steaming skip full of manure, comments, “we don’t realise it, but we contribute to the greenhouse effect every day with all this manure”. Clout is another board member of the French Trainers’ Association who is an active player in the CUMA. Like all his trainer colleagues, he is primarily concerned by another form of pollution. “Horse manure is officially considered as a waste product and we are responsible for it until it has been completely destroyed. At the moment we have no control over where it ends up. In the current crazy situation, our manure is transported the length and breadth of France. It is always worrying to see piles of manure left standing in fields across the countryside, as they could easily have originated in our stables. There is a real risk that effluent from the waste will pollute the ground water in these instances and the trainer will be held liable and fined”.

PERFECT MOMENT TO ‘GO GREEN’

The increased environmental awareness on the part of the authorities, aside from making them more likely to take trainers to task for inadequate disposal of their waste, has another more beneficial side for the CUMA. “The timing has been ideal for us”, explains Crépon. “We started to think about environmentally-friendly ways to recycle our manure at the same time as the government was creating grants and finance schemes for exactly this type of project”. One such policy is that proposed by EDF, who pay a special tariff of 140 euros per megawatt hour (compared to usual rate 60 euros MW/h) for electricity produced by renewable sources. This price operates on the basis of a 15 year contract, which the CUMA has secured. “All this is possible thanks to our contract with EDF”, states Clout.

Although the finer details have yet to be settled, the principle behind the Chantilly project is the same as that used in Germany by around 4,000 methanisation plants for pig slurry. Nevertheless this will be the first time the technology has been used for horse manure. Bruno Battistini, consultant to the Lamorlaye Bio-Resource Association, explains, “We are setting a European and worldwide precedent. The pig manure operations are common in Germany and function in the same way as sewage processing plants as the slurry is highly-concentrated and in liquid form. However this is the first time anyone has attempted the process with dry matter, although it is similar to that used for household waste”. In France there are two such plants, in Calais and Lille, for recycling household waste but there remain a number of unknowns concerning Chantilly’s innovative project and the CUMA is still conducting research in conjunction with the INRA (National Institute for Agronomic Research) of Narbonne. “Our primary concern is to verify that our horse manure is compatible with the anaerobic breakdown process. We must also be sure of the levels and composition of the biogases produced, and finally that the equipment will stand the test of time”. At the current time, around 18 months before the project is due to leave the starting stalls, Battistini and the trainers are certain that the process will work with straw-based manure and are expecting confirmation from the INRA that shavings will be able to be recycled in the same conditions.

WHAT IS METHANISATION?

Methanisation is an anaerobic fermentation process through which the waste is decomposed by bacteria in an air-free environment. The manure will therefore be collected in giant sealed silos, where it will ferment to give off biogas consisting largely of methane and carbon dioxide. These gases will in turn be used to drive turbines which produce the electricity destined for EDF. “While EDF is our guarantee of income”, explains Battistini, “we have a legal obligation towards them according to which, in order to benefit from their favourable rates, we must not waste potential energy”. The latent heat generated during the methanisation process therefore becomes a secondary resource. In addition to its utility in heating the plant’s reactors, which need to be maintained at an operational temperature of 55°C, it will also be sold locally for heating purposes. A 1 ½ hectare site has been chosen for the plant, on land owned by the Institut de France and subsidised by France Galop. Its central location at Mont de Po, between the training centres of Chantilly and Lamorlaye, while being practical for trainers, is of vital logistical importance for the sale of the heat. Within just a few hundred metres of the site are the AFASEC jockeys’ school and the Bois Larris Red Cross Hospital, the two major clients whose heating systems are to be supplied by the warmth created by the turbines. Their proximity means that a minimal amount of heat will be lost during transfer. Another bonus with the location is that there is already a 20,000 volt cable running underground across the site to cater for the hospital, which means that no unsightly pylons will be required.

VALUABLE WASTE IS LEFT OVER FROM METHANISATION PROCESS

After the three-to-four-week methanisation process has been completed, around 60% of the initial volume will remain as biologically stable residue. “Our profitability is also dependent upon the use we make of this residue”, says Battistini. “The heat we sell to the hospital and the AFASEC will be running at 100% of its potential in December and January, however that will be reduced to 10% in the summer months. This seasonal issue will affect our global efficiency and in order to qualify for the subsidies on offer, we need to prove that we utilize at least 75% of the energy produced”. The solution to this final conundrum is to recycle the residue a second time to create fuel briquettes. The latent heat which is surplus to requirements over the summer will be used to dry, and then carbonise, the waste from the digestors at temperatures of up to 400°C. The resulting matter will be compressed into briquettes for use either in households or possibly by the AFASEC or the hospital if their boilers could be converted to use this type of fuel. The CUMA are also keen not to leave the remaining mushroom-growers in the lurch and are working together to determine whether the farms can make use of the residue.

A WELL SUPPORTED SCHEME

The project is expected to cost in the region of 10 million euros. “We have yet to finalize a finance plan as we are still awaiting the various technical validations from the INRA. When we have these we will be able to make an accurate evaluation of the cost of the plant and then source funding for our operation”. However Battistini does not have any concerns on this score. In addition to the EDF contract, a whole range of grants and support dedicated to the development of biomass projects and the recycling of waste are proposed on regional, national and European levels, including Grenelle Environment and Brussels. The scheme is supported by the government ministries of agriculture and environment as well as by Minister of Budget, Public Accounts and Civil Service Eric Woerth, who is Mayor of the prestigious racing town.

Indeed the town of Chantilly itself, thanks to its status as a Pole d’Excellence Rurale (Centre of Rural Excellence), is eligible for European money dedicated to this type of project. Another source of income could quite simply be a bank loan. This may be more simple than it first appears, as Battistini confirms, “According to a law which was passed five or six years ago, all the major French high-street banks offer loans called ‘Sofergies’ which are dedicated to the financing of this type of equipment. The interest rate is negotiable but the real advantage of the idea is that banks must give priority to innovative projects such as ours which will produce renewable energy”. In the future, carbon credits may be recuperated by the CUMA, although there is still work to do on this front as they are currently only available for porcine and bovine schemes. Battistini intends to change this state of affairs. “We are lobbying the CITEPA (Technical Interprofessional Centre for the Study of Atmospheric Pollution) to convince them to change this ruling and hope to benefit from carbon credits within a year or two”.

OUTLAY WILL BE REPAID WITHIN A DECADE

Richard Crépon and Tony Clout aim to have written off the cost of the factory within seven or eight years, whereas Battistini offers the slightly more conservative estimate of ten years. Whoever is right on this minor issue, the CUMA seems assured of success on both economic and ecological levels. “Once we have repaid the cost of the plant, the trainers, who are the shareholders in the CUMA, will reap the financial benefits”, says Clout. “In the future we should be able to return to a situation in which trainers are paid for the removal of their manure, and not vice versa”. While the renewable energy supplied to EDF and local services will make a small impact on country-wide electricity production, the project is also advantageous in cutting down on primary pollution which currently originates from the currently steaming muckheaps of Chantilly.

The CUMA will seek to standardize manure storage for all the region’s trainers so that all waste is kept in covered pits or containers prior to transportation to the plant’s closed fermentors, thereby considerably reducing current methane emissions. While the project is far from completion, the ensemble of favourable circumstances mean that the members of Chantilly’s CUMA can be confident of a cleaner, cheaper future in which they will be in control of the manure their horses produce. Their progress will be followed with interest by trainers around Europe and the world.

Stabling and health specifically for racehorses

In looking at this subject, it is important to see the needs of the racehorse as being different from horses kept for any other sporting purpose. Its management, feeding, training and stabling are all critical and unique. For racing, all body organs must function efficiently and, in so much as these can be affected by stabling conditions, it might pay to take a critical look at the elements involved. Our discussion is particularly about the way stabling and stable management influence lowgrade or ‘sub-clinical’ disease. It is not about major diseases like flu or strangles, although aspects of stabling can affect the degree of illness as well as recovery times in these conditions too.

VARYING NEEDS Stabling standards differ from country to country and from season to season. Horses racing in a UK winter, for example, face more climatic fluctuations than in summer or than others might in warmer places, like Dubai, or Florida. Yet the principles of management are similar for all. The horse’s needs vary with prevailing conditions and change has to be recognised and accounted for. To limit infection, it is necessary to understand how organisms set up disease as well as how horses resist infection. In my lifetime, there has been a seachange in stabling ideas generally and it is appropriate to ask why and with what degree of logic. 1 An increased racehorse population from the Sixties onwards meant bigger yards, a movement towards barn-type buildings on economic grounds. The importance (and difficulty) of controlling temperatures and airflows was overlooked until problems arose and these were reflected in results on the track. 2 Condensation in old damp buildings, where water ran from walls and ceilings, was resolved by radically increasing ventilation. This reduced dampness – but the negative consequences brought an increase in lowgrade infection. 3 Vets treating horses with severe respiratory disease, like COPD, saw a need for more air. Bigger holes were made in stable walls, even between individual stables. No one asked if the fit racehorse, not being ill, might be unique in not tolerating this.

DEFENCE AGAINST THE ENVIRONMENT It is essential to the health of racehorses that their stables are clean, warm and draft-free. The defences against infection operate best when environmental conditions are stable and unchanging, when there is warmth to maintain body temperature without a need to burn-off stored energy to combat the cold. Consider that the stabled horse cannot generate heat from movement and cannot remove itself from unhealthy or unpleasant conditions. In fact, with certain variations, the horse’s resistance to infection runs very close to that of humans in similar conditions. Having a thick skin and hairy coat does not prevent disease; besides, we are obliged to clip coats, automatically reducing the insulating influences of fat through the training programme. Furthermore, warm clothing cannot compensate for drafty airflows and a cold horse loses weight as well as the fuel it needs for work. It also loses some of its ability to resist infection at a cellular level. Add to this how intensive training affects fluid balance and demands fine tuning of all body systems, and disease at even a sub-clinical level is easier to understand.

RESISTANCE Natural resistance in otherwise healthy horses decides the length of time from infection to recovery and this, with most known organisms, is never open-ended. Resistance is, in fact, a measure of normal health that can be lost through disease, malnutrition or age. While recovery from debilitating conditions may be slow, sub-clinical infections should be overcome in days rather than weeks. Where this is not the case, external influences are likely to be involved. Stabling factors are a common cause. In recent times, all sorts of ‘medicines’ have been used to bolster resistance, but with little effect – because the answer frequently lies in the stable, not the horse.

ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE In horse management generally, many ideas and accepted facts are anecdotal and always have been. That is, they have come by word of mouth, from the trial and error investigations of individuals rather than through scientific research. Racing history suggests our ancestors knew as much about the horse as we do today, that despite talk of new levels of fitness, modern training methods are superior to those of the past. Many old ideas came from people who relied on their horses for work, transport and enjoyment. They were never backed by science because it was never possible to do so. But poor science, based on assumption, is no better than anecdote and there has been much of that. Technology hasn’t helped either and we should never dismiss knowledge as ‘unscientific’ unless there is solid evidence against it. For example, some today keep their horses in Arctic-cold conditions while others speak of heating stables. Both cannot be right.

SUB-CLINICAL DISEASE The term ‘sub-clinical’ describes any disease condition where the symptoms are obscure, whatever the cause. In the main, it refers to viral and bacterial conditions where the affected animal is not obviously ill, but racing performance suffers. The organism, when isolated, might not be thought capable of causing disease. That it becomes so is a reflection of stress, something in the horse’s management that favours infection. There have been numerous examples in modern times. One reason acceptable research is lacking is because medicine has no fool-proof way of identifying sub-clinical infections, especially when the final measure is the racecourse. A negative laboratory finding is worthless if the horse runs badly and, in fact, no research into performance-related problems can ever be fruitful if lowgrade conditions are not accounted for. In the absence of science, of course, anecdotal evidence is all there is. But, to be acceptable, it must come from informed sources, from volume experience and the studied observation of people educated to see and know. It won’t come from those who interpret tests and machines, or from the experiences of those in non-racing areas.

DECISIONS ON BUILDING Stables are often built with cost a first priority, even with the comfort of humans put before horses. Then, when disease appears, questions are raised about whether or not building design might be a cause. Opinions have often been provided by individuals with no understanding of the elements involved. ‘Experts’ emerged from areas like pig management, which was novel. The needs of sedentary animals reared to produce fat are not the same as those in whom fat is distinctly unwanted. Ultimately, disease has to be dealt with by professionals. Any infection needs to be investigated to provide understanding and control. In an ideal world, organisms are isolated and identified. But, as we know, unexplained outbreaks – loosely described as ‘the virus’ - have ruined the careers of both horses and trainers. Their true cause might never have been defined, but a list of the victims contains some distinguished names as well as many who never got off the ground.

‘THE VIRUS’ In relating health and stabling then, we are addressing a problem that has plagued UK racing for years. Inevitably, busy yards are exposed to organisms that arrive from different sources and can cause disease at any time, sometimes leading to outbreaks that last long periods, belying accepted patterns. Mixed or sequential infections are a feature of this and one organism may simply follow another, or become re-activated, as appears to happen in herpes infections. Actually, the term ‘the virus’ means nothing specific. It can represent infection by a single virus, but more commonly reflects a lowering of resistance that gives opportunity to any organism going the rounds. The distinction between debilitating conditions and ‘the virus’ lies in the clinical effect. In a serious infection, a horse is sick and evidently so. With ‘the virus’, animals look healthy but are unable to show their form. A range of mild symptoms may be seen, but observers comment on how insignificant they are. Most eat and drink normally, look ‘big’ and well; others have dry coats, lose condition and seem to lack energy. The general view is that they are not sick, as trainers regularly insist. Some, that appear to work well, are only found wanting when raced. Looked at more closely, the lining membranes may be inflamed, lymph glands enlarged, there may be watery, or thicker, discharges from nose and eye. However mild, these are signs of disease. Lowgrade liver involvement may occur and is a serious impediment to racing. The horse will not return to form for months rather than weeks. Bleeding from the lungs is also more common in the presence of infection. It is likely to become chronic where the aggravating factors are not removed.

MEASURING FITNESS As a practising vet, I cut my diagnostic teeth on viral outbreaks that initially involved stud farms, then moved to racing with a view to defining the parameters of infection and monitoring horses as they returned from illness to full training. The task was to relate this to form on the course and, ultimately, to see if it was possible to diagnose with certainty and predict with any degree of accuracy. To do this, it was necessary to find a simple way of measuring health in a fully fit horse and to pit this against expectation, or effort on the track. An effective method had to give instant information, prove reliable and be consistent. It, ideally, needed to be effective the day before a race and would prove worthless if not accurate to a high degree. It was necessary, too, to recognise that a horse with no identifiable infection might have other physical problems, be unwilling or temperamental. So the exercise was complex and movement, for a racing animal, is as important as heart-beat or lung expansion. THE HEART An idea came after Roberto, an Irish Derby favourite trained by M. V. O’Brien, ran down the field; and the belief that such a performance had to be predictable through the heart’s action, which it would have been. While the technique doesn’t have a wide use, because of the complexity of issues and the difficulties of interpretation, it has proved extremely useful in evaluating management factors that influence health and stabling. The heart of a healthy racing animal is obliged to operate with ease and strength during work, the ability for which is best judged when at rest in the stable, preferably some hours after exercise. As training progresses, it adapts to its greater workload and strengthens; the resting beat-per-minute (bpm) rate also reduces. The sounds in a healthy horse are consistent and reliable, although there are many normal variations as well as changes that verge towards the clinical. They can, with experience, be interpreted to provide a reliable measure of health in a fit horse. There is a whole range of factors that might influence heart sounds, not just illness or infection, and the predictability of peformance relies as much on precisely how fit an animal is as on its state of health. The task of evaluating sounds is complex, too, and the variety of changes from normality is extensive. Any imposition on the heart’s working capacity (by infection, dehydration, anaemia) brings changes that are recognisable with a stethoscope, therefore open to interpretation; they can be related to performance capacity once all necessary information is included in the opinion. The extremes of heart function are heard in serious clinical infection (when the beat is usually loud and the bpm elevated) and with the least intrusive organisms (when changes are more subtle). The likely influence on peformance is often a fine judgment, especially so where infection is slight and the horse is overcoming it.

RESEARCH All this, of course, is subjective, therefore unlikely to satisfy scientists, but it works in the field and makes it possible to understand and differentiate between causes in a way that other systems cannot. Infection is probably the most common cause of performance disappointment. By using this kind of monitoring, it is possible to move affected animals from one stable to another and evaluate how they react and how quickly infection is overcome, the racecourse being a critical test of the decisions made. Thousands of horses in a variety of management conditions have provided private research facilities with material and are the basis of the opinions expressed here. Many horses were monitored on a daily basis, even through the course of a racing season. There are, sadly, no records, but the opinions have come from many years of working with both Flat and National Hunt animals, in yards that varied in size from a handful to a hundred-plus. As a general rule, no attempt was made to isolate organisms – mainly because of past problems with isolation and interpretation. At times, organisms were isolated which, on all the evidence, looked responsible for disease yet were considered at laboratory level to be insignificant. While this situation may have changed, the necessity clinically is to assess the situation and act; there is no time for delay. In most of my work, the diagnosis of infection was based purely on symptoms. Old and new yards were involved, old and young horses, old and modern buildings, barns as well as single-stable units. It proved possible to relate performance to specific conditions and origins. Once the complexity of the exercise was overcome, it was simple to assess infection and follow it through its course from start to return of full performance expression.

Distinguishing between the responses of horses kept in different stabling and environmental conditions became routine. Even in infected yards, some were kept racing while others about them were ill, as long as the management elements were understood and permitted it. The very successful jumps trainer Fulke Walwyn achieved great success at a time when very different attitudes pertained to today. Known as ‘a windows man’, it was common for him to be seen adjusting windows in an effort to control airflows as conditions and temperatures changed. His horses ran with great consistency, as did those of Tom Dreaper, who appears to have held similar principles, judged by pictures of Arkle in his stable. Perhaps both knew from instinct things we overlook now, or they may simply have followed the advice of their forebears without giving it too much thought. Finally, it needs to be stressed that this exercise was conducted on fundamentally healthy horses, to interpret and control performance on the track. For it to work, management generally has to be of the highest standard and that applies to everything that surrounds the life of a racing animal

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Pre-race deterrents - how its surroundings can affect a horse's race

It is an ordinary raceday at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile Racecourse. I am taking my notes by the pre-parade ring. This pre-parade ring is much better than the one over at the July Course, I say to myself. It is a relaxing place for the horses, not least for the young horses. Quite spacious, it is an inviting place. At the July Course, on the other hand, the pre-parade ring is charmingly embraced by tall trees. That, however, makes it a tight and enclosed place, not one for the claustrophobics among us, be it on two or four legs. Trees on all sides and a fence on the one side also mean that the horses cannot see what is making that odd sound, when a trolley is being pushed along on metal wheels on the tarmac just a couple of yards away. Or glass is being smashed into a bottle bank behind the fence.

No, the Rowley Mile is a much nicer place to stretch one’s legs before a race. It must be. Then, as a ten-year-old gelding walks calmly past me, something odd happens. And it makes me think. The old gelding virtually explodes. From having walked around so quietly, getting ready for his 39th race, he swirls round, then kicks out three or four times, hitting the plastic rail again and again. The rail goes to bits, the handler manages to control the horse with one hand, while the animal is still shaking and looking worried. Why with only one hand? Because the other hand is holding a mobile phone.

A couple of weeks later I see another horse who spooks violently from having been seemingly relaxed, as it is being led past a spectator whose mobile phone rings. Do racehorses react to mobile phones? Most people would probably say no, and perhaps these incidents were pure coincidences. However, they do lead us to an interesting thought: what are the most common deterrents in the preliminaries to a race? How can racecourses improve in this department, and how can a trainer best prepare to avoid, or at least minimise, the effects of various deterrents? Another question is, of course, is it in the best interest of safety to let handlers use mobile phones when leading up horses for races? Perhaps there are enough risk factors around them already.

Some trainers are noticeably good at delaying their horses, in particular their juveniles, on the way to the paddock, ensuring that the runner experiences as little stress as possible before the race. What is it that they are trying to avoid? Surely, letting the horse have a little walk, and loosen up, before he canters down to the start is a good move. Still, time and time again one sees horses that are deliberately late entering the paddock, making just one of two laps in front of the public, then leaves the paddock to go down to post. Many trainers also take a dislike to the parades prior to big races, as the walk in front of the stands can upset the horse, and make it nervous. This can be described as another ‘deterrent’ but some have voiced the opinion that a parade is a part of the test for a racehorse. Just like breaking smartly from the stall, travelling with ease through the race, and being able to quicken when it’s needed. What is the main difference here? The main difference is of course that racehorses are being trained to do all these things, they are given plenty of practice at home. But for one thing, they never practice a parade. Not even in the prep races leading up a big race, where a parade is required, offer the chance of practicing a parade.

Horses are animals of habit. Thoroughbred racehorses are much happier, more relaxed, when they know what is going on and what is expected of them, than when they are faced with a new scenario. A racehorse with some experience knows that, when he is led out of the paddock onto the track, he is expected to canter down to the start. Is it then so peculiar that he gets worked up on the day when the handler does not let him go, the jockey takes a hold of the reins and both humans try to make him keep walking. Could this have the same effect as it has on a dog to take a strong, firm grip on the lead when a stranger approaches? To most dogs, this is a bad signal, and they normally assume that the stranger represents a danger. Hence the owner’s strong grip.

Horses are not as intelligent as dogs but it is my guess that many of them do get extra anxious when they are asked to do a parade before a race. It is something new, it is something unexpected, and the horse simply wonders why this is happening. Can we put it on our list of deterrents? Yes, doing a parade can probably be called a deterrent. On a normal raceday, however, there are no parades. There are other phases the horse needs to negotiate, before the race is off and running. From travelling to the racecourse, being saddled, going to the paddock, to eventually being loaded into the starting stalls. When asking a keen paddock watcher which deterrents are observed the most in the preliminaries, we get this short list as a reply: Loud intermittent noise (like car alarms), windy rain, children running towards the paddock screaming and musical bands too close to the paddock area. It is a varied mix, don’t you think? One common denominator is simply, something the horse did not expect.

Yorkshire trainer Mark Johnston has some interesting views. “There will always be deterrents when a horse goes racing”, he says. “In my opinion, the most unnecessary of these are the bands many racecourses have. Often they are far too close to the paddocks, and this causes a risk. Also, the big screens at the racecourses can be a problem. Don’t get me wrong, I think these screens are good, and we all like to have them, but when they put a screen up at Goodwood the horses seemed never to able to take their eyes off them. It is too low. There is also a big screen close to the horses in the paddock at the Newmarket Rowley Mile course, but this one is higher up and does not bother the horses at all. In the pre-parade ring at the same course, there is big statue of Brigadier Gerard in the middle, and some horses get scared by it. There are many things that can be called deterrents. “I think the whole idea of saddling boxes sighted by the public is misplaced, and this can cause problems”, Johnston continues. “It is an attraction for the racegoer but not in the best interest of the horse. It is almost like letting fans into the dressing room at Old Trafford before Manchester United play a match. Of course, everyone would agree that would be ridiculous. All we want is to get the horse to the race in the best possible way, and to saddle in a poor, uninviting saddling box, with lots of people quite close, is not ideal.” Sir Mark Prescott takes the same view: “The one thing you can do to avoid that the horse ‘chucks it away’ before the race is to saddle in the stables, when you can get permission and when it is feasible to do so. I think it is interesting to note that Aidan O’Brien always saddles his horses outside, obviously thinking that they are then less likely to be upset. We all have our little ideas, which may or may not help.” When we talk about paddocks, pre-parade rings and saddling boxes, which are the better courses? “The paddock at Longchamp must be one of the best in the world”, Johnston says. “You know how packed it is on Arc day, and how noisy it can get, yet the horses are always calm and relaxed there. I believe that is because the crowd is higher up, and also because the horses cannot see open spaces. Horses don’t like seeing unfamiliar open spaces. When it comes to saddling arrangements, the best courses in Britain are Haydock and Ayr, where we saddle in the stables right next to the paddock”.

The issue of upsetting factors for horses prior to races are obviously related to young horses, more than older and experienced horses. “Yarmouth, for example, is a good place for a juvenile to make his debut”, Johnston says. “We saddle in the stable, there is no pre-parade ring, the paddock is right next to the course and there is not a walk out to the racecourse.” Yarmouth is 240 miles away from Johnston’s base in Middleham but he often sends juveniles to the seaside course, which is just 70 miles away from Newmarket. It is easy to see why trainers Newmarket trainers like Henry Cecil, Sir Michael Stoute and John Gosden run many of their debutants at Yarmouth. “One bad place for juveniles, however, is the July Course in Newmarket”, Johnston comments. “The pre-parade ring there is dangerous, sooner or later someone will get kicked. It is too tight, there are too many people there and the area is often very noisy.” Johnston is not at all keen on another place either, the much closer to home racecourse at York, where a long walk is required before racing. “This is the worst place”, he says, “we need to walk the horses all the way across the Knavesmire from the stables to get to the paddock. One can get special permission and take them around in the horsebox, but that is not at all practical, with parking problems and so on. Horses often get upset when walked across the track like this”.

When we mention parades, Johnston’s opinion is that they should be “scrapped altogether”. He continues, “cantering the horses down in racecard order should be fine and become the standard”, he says, “but parades are not good. I do not feel it is right to expect a racehorse to parade for big races. They are not used to it and many get stirred up. It can also give you an advantage, though, as I found out when I trained Bijou d’Inde. Nothing fazed him and he was like a big, old police horse. Other horses, like Quick Ransom and Yavana’s Pace, always got upset in a parade.”

Racecourses allow music, crowds quite close to the horses in the saddling areas and pre-parade rings, but virtually every racecard has a warning about flash photography – something they do not allow. “This is quite interesting”, Johnston says, “as I have never seen a horse being bothered by a flash from a camera.” Camera flashes are very quick, probably much quicker than most people would guess. Mostly they light up for only between 1/800 second to 1/20,000 second (though there are some high-speed mode cameras giving out series of flashes, each of about 1/300 sec.). Can horses catch these flashes of light? According to Rayetta Burr, a two-time Eclipse Award winning photographer working for Benoit & Associates at Santa Anita and Hollywood Parks in California, where they stage some twilight meetings, the use of flash is not upsetting horses. She says, “Regarding flash photography in the paddock or winners’ circle, this has never been a problem here on the West Coast”. It seems that racecourse managements are focusing on something that really is no problem, while totally overlooking other risk factors.

Henry Cecil has an interesting comment, when we ask him about deterrents in the preliminaries. “I feel that the most incidents occur due to horses being upset in the paddock by umbrellas”, he says. Of course! An umbrella cannot be a good thing to swing around a racehorse, not least since they are in use on wet, sometimes windy days, when the horse will be a bit on edge anyway. My suspicion of mobile phones, on the other hand, does not get professional support. Mark Johnston is not too concerned. “I have no experience of horses getting upset by phones”, he explains. “Obviously, we are not too happy if the handler is on the phone when leading up the horse, but I do not think the sounds from phones are a risk. Our senior riders always carry a mobile phone”.

So, my theory that the old gelding smashing that rail at Newmarket did so because his handler was answering the phone may not hold much credence. Johnston must have seen thousands of horses close to ringing and active mobile phones. Other than distracting the handler, which can be bad enough, they do not cause a risk. A crowded saddling box, a loud band, the sight of an umbrella, a big screen or the prospect of a rather bouncy parade, are factors far more likely to put the thoroughbred off balance prior to a race. And, different as they are, these factors have one thing in common: unlike wind and rain, they should all be easy to eliminate.

Pilates For Horses - enhancing performance and reducing injuries

Pilates is increasingly used amongst professional athletes as a method to enhance athletic performance and to reduce injuries.

Nicole Rossa (European Trainer - issue 21 - Spring 2008)

Eoin Harty - profile of the former assistant to Bob Baffert

Therewas always an air of levity at Bob Baffert's barn when Eoin Harty worked there. Not that the game they played wasn't serious. It was. Preparing 1,000-pound equine athletes with spindly legs to perform at their peak on the world's stage is not a job for anyone in short pants.

During the seven years Harty was Baffert's assistant, they won the Kentucky Derby twice–with Silver Charm in 1997 and Real Quiet in 1998–and missed by a heart-breaking nose with Cavonnier in 1996. But in between the regimented tedium, there was always time for a good hoot. Fact is, it was and still is part of Baffert's DNA.
"He's got a sense of humor," Baffert said of Harty. "He has a good disposition and we liked to have a lot of fun, so he fit in well."

But work came first, and Harty had his priorities in order. His foundation was ingrained. Lean and sinewy with chiseled features, Harty hails from a family of Irish horsemen that extends back at least five generations. His grandfather, great grandfather, and great-great grandfather were trainers in their native Ireland. Eoin (pronounced Owen) began to hone his craft under the learned wing of the late John Russell before joining with Baffert, who saw a master in the making.

"Eoin showed up every day," Baffert recalled. "He works hard and he's passionate about what he does, and I like that in all my assistants. He made sacrifices that have to be made in this business. He loves what he does."

Not that Harty doesn't have a touch of rebel in him. In fact, it was his streak of independence and his flair for adventure that brought him to America, not loyalty to convention. His sense of humor, indigenous to the Irish, helped, too. Asked how his clan developed their wit, Harty said it was "a case of poverty and depravation." Still, it was not mandated that he follow in his forebearers' footsteps.

"No, it was not pre-ordained that I would train horses," Harty said. "I left high school and came over here. I can't say I graduated; my time in high school was up, so that's why I ended up here. There was nothing going on in Ireland. Jobs were really hard to find. It was pretty much a third-world economy at the time, and America's the land of opportunity."

Following one year working for the Irish National Stud, Harty came to the United States at the age of 17.
"I had always worked around horses as a kid, so when I came here in 1981, I got a job at the track and worked for John Russell for a long time," Harty said. "He was winding down and Bob was starting up and I was lucky enough to get a job.

"I learned common horsemanship and basic training methods. Both were very good trainers, just different. John trained a lot of European grass horses and was kind of old school. Bob was more into developing 2-year-olds and 3-year-olds. They had different philosophies."

Harty struck out on his own in 2000 and was hired by Godolphin to take over the Darley Stud Management arm of Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum's racing empire, with emphasis on developing young runners, an undertaking termed Godolphin's "American project."

In his second full season, he saddled Tempera to win the 2001 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. She earned an Eclipse Award for her achievement, but in 2002 was euthanized due to colitis and laminitis. Training her was a challenge.

"We tried to work together on Tempera," recalled David Flores, who rode her in the Juvenile Fillies. "She was not an easy filly and Eoin did a great job getting her to settle down, because she was one that wanted to run off. She was kind of flighty, but he got her to relax. I was so pleased when she was ready to go to the Breeders' Cup, and it was mainly due to Eoin's perseverance."

Now, if the fates allow, the clock of destiny will click Harty towards the Kentucky Derby on May 3, thanks to a robust 3-year-old named Colonel John, one of 25 horses Harty has in training at Santa Anita. A bay son of two-time Horse of the Year Tiznow owned by the Versailles, Kentucky-based WinStar Farm of Kenny Troutt and Bill Casner, Colonel John was preparing for the Santa Anita Derby at press time and was a leading Kentucky Derby contender. The colt looked like a million bucks in the post parade for the Sham Stakes on March 1 before winning that race, handing El Gato Malo his first defeat in the process.

In measured terms, Harty discussed the possibility of Colonel John capturing the Run for the Roses, a race in which Harty has never flown solo.

"I think Colonel John is good enough to run well, but I don't know if he's good enough to win," Harty said. "He's certainly good enough to show up and I feel pretty confident that he's a contender."

Winning the Derby would be a crowning achievement, of course, but not necessarily one that would perpetuate the Harty family custom to the next generation. Eddie, the 15-year-old son of Eoin and his wife, Kathleen, is not destined to be a horseman.

"Racing is a 24-7 business, with no days off, no vacations and no benefits," Harty said. "You have to love it and I wouldn't want him to do it unless he wanted to. I wouldn't push him. It's a tough life. There's got to be a better way to make a living."

Not that Eoin Harty is looking for one, especially if he wins the Kentucky Derby.

Then he can laugh all the way to the winner's circle.

26 June 2008 - Issue Number: 6