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ISSUE 48 – JANUARY TO MARCH 2015 £5.95
European
www.trainermagazine.com
THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE FOR THE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE THOROUGHBRED
THE RHYTHM OF LIGHT Does daylight affect raceday performance?
HITTING the ground RUNNING
The impact of intentional shoe interventions
Is racing success inherited?
Seeking perfection
ANDREAS WÖHLER
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GILES INTRO ISSUE 48_Jerkins feature.qxd 17/12/2014 10:22 Page 1
GILES ANDERSON A year to remember
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014 certainly was a year to remember on the international scene for some of our leading European trainers; the powerhouse stable of our cover profile trainer, Andreas Wöhler, claiming the biggest scalp, winning the Melbourne Cup and Jamie Osborne, interviewed in our feature on alternative ways of funding racehorse ownership, a nose from the richest prize in US racing – the Breeders’ Cup Classic. As always, we strive to cover a broad spectrum of topics and this issue is no exception. For this quarter you will find, over the coming pages, articles on the concept of “trickle feeding”, which ensures horses are fed little and often, as well as on lighting in the stables and how, in winter, a change in the type of lighting can do so much for the horses’ overall condition. We are also reporting on a recent study from Hong Kong asking whether racing success is inherited and sharing an article from our sister magazine, North American Trainer, which investigates the efforts being made to incentivise trainers across the pond to stop race day medication. In addition, we take a look at hooves and how different surfaces can affect the shoeing of horses, the common injuries that can be caused as a result and intentional interventions. We also cover the old chestnut of handicapping horses, posing the question whether it is about time to change the way races are framed for the lower grade of horses. Personally, I feel the industry should be looking at the possibility of introducing more “graded” races, similar to what is on offer in the USA, where horses run in a class of race depending on how many races or much money they have won. Graduating to handicap company only happens once they have run through the grades. This could well make traditional handicaps more competitive, perhaps exclusive, with horses running to their ability rather than just their rating. Many just want to run their horses in the right tier of racing and have fun at the same time, whatever the outcome. A more tiered approach would cater for this class of horse and offer the chance of at least being competitive. Whilst the foal crop is still decreasing but the amount of races programmed is increasing, the industry across Europe really does need to look at ways of giving owners more chances of running in the right grade, certainly within the lower echelons of the system. Let us not forget, however, this is racing and for every winner there is a loser; optimism in defeat is part of the charm of the sport. Wherever your racing takes you over the coming three months, good luck! n ISSUE 48 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 01
CRIQUETTE HEAD ISSUE 48_Jerkins feature.qxd 16/12/2014 22:08 Page 1
Chairman’s message
CRIQUETTE HEAD As 2014 draws to a close, I hope that some trainers will have time to take a rest and reflect back on some of the great performances of the season. I offer my congratulations to winners of all races, big and small, throughout 2014.
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F course, many of you will be busy on the all-weather and also over jumps as the National Hunt campaign is now in full swing. I wish you all the best of luck and hope that the weather is kind to us over the
winter months. . Turf Flat racing is winding down here in Europe, but there is still plenty to look forward to on the worldwide stage. International racing is now such an important part of our sport, and Europe has been well represented so far in both Australia and America. It is always fascinating to see different racing nations compete against each other, and I look forward to the international events in Japan, Hong Kong and the Dubai Carnival. All of these meetings, and many more, are now run in partnership with Longines, and I thank Longines for their support and promotion of racing as a world-class sport. On a personal note, I would also like to thank Sheikh Joann for the trust he has shown in me by leaving Trève in training for an attempt at an historic third Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe title. Trève’s victory in last October’s Arc was a particularly special moment for me after the difficult season she had endured. As trainers, we are the
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“Trève’s victory in last October’s Arc was a particularly special moment for me after the difficult season she had endured” ones who know our horses the best, and it was so satisfying for me to see her return to her best. I sincerely hope that her presence next year will be appreciated by fans and serve to raise the profile of racing. Throughout the year, I have been delighted to see the success registered by bloodstock sales across Europe and indeed the world. In these difficult financial times, it is so reassuring to see that established owners are continuing to invest and that new buyers are being attracted to the sport of thoroughbred racing. After all, breeding is the base of our sport, and if the breeding industry remains in good health, that is positive news for us all. Finally, I would like to thank Giles and all those who contribute to Trainer magazine. Each edition contains a fascinating range of articles and always something new for us to learn. A Merry Christmas to you all and my very best wishes for 2015. n
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CONTENTS ISSUE 48_Jerkins feature.qxd 16/12/2014 22:06 Page 1
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Issue 48
CONTENTS 12
Winning his way around the world David Connolly-Smith revisits top German trainer, Andreas Wöhler
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Let there be light
How daylight affects racehorse performance and safety, by Stacey Oke
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Alternative funding
Lissa Oliver investigates new ways for trainers to increase ownership
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Trickle treat
Dr Catherine Dunnett looks at new feeding devices which allow for a more natural feeding regime
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Trainer on the Up
Super Swede, Jessica Long, shares her recent triumph
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Incentives in the US
Incentivising American trainers to race medication free – is this the way forward? asks Denise Steffanus
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In the genes
Dr Brandon Velie, University of Sydney, looks at whether racing success is inherited
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Contributors
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European Trainers’ Federation
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Hooves and ground surface
TRM Trainer of the Quarter
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Product Focus
New HBLB research on the impact of intentional shoeing interventions, by Dr Thomas Witte
The handicapping system Is it a handicap to the industry?
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60 64
Stakes Schedules
CONTENTS ISSUE 48_Jerkins feature.qxd 16/12/2014 22:06 Page 2
CONTRIBUTORS ISSUE 48_Jerkins feature.qxd 17/12/2014 10:07 Page 1
CONTRIBUTORS Editorial Director/Publisher Giles Anderson Editorial Consultant Frances J. Karon Proof Reader Jana Cavalier Designer Neil Randon Editorial/Photo Management Louise Crampton, Harriet Scott Advertising Sales Giles Anderson, Scott Rion Circulation Louise Crampton Photo Credits: Frank Sorge, San
Sebastian Racing, Alan Crowhurst, Darren McNamara, Royal Veterinary College, Marc Reuhl, Shutterstock, Caroline Norris, Stefan Olsson/Svensk Galopp, Horsephotos, University of Sydney, Elina Bjorklund
Cover Photograph Frank Sorge
Trainer Magazine is published by Anderson & Co Publishing Ltd. This magazine is distributed for free to all ETF members. Editorial views expressed are not necessarily those of the ETF. Additional copies can be purchased for £5.95 (ex P+P). No part of this publication may be reproduced in any format without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the European Union For all editorial and advertising enquiries please contact Anderson & Co Publishing Ltd Tel: +44 (0)1380 816777 Fax: +44 (0)1380 816778 email: info@trainermagazine.com www.trainermagazine.com Issue 48
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David Conolly-Smith was born in Nottingham, but has lived in Germany for more than 40 years and for the past 30 years has been the leading English-language racing correspondent in the country. He used to run a bookshop in Munich, but is now a full-time freelance journalist and translator. Dr Catherine Dunnett BSc, PhD, R.Nutr. is an independent nutritionist registered with the British Nutrition Society. She has a background in equine research, in the field of nutrition and exercise physiology, with many years spent at The Animal Health Trust in Newmarket. Prior to setting up her own consultancy business, she worked in the equine feed industry on product development and technical marketing. Nick Higgins is the ex-IRB representative for Spain, founder of JockeysRoom.com, agent for Mike Cattermole and his website and now International Agent for San Sebastian racecourse. A former amateur jockey, he is currently training for his race-riding debut in the Greatwood charity race at Newbury on February 28th, 2015. Professor Celia Marr is an equine clinician at Rossdales, Newmarket. She is a RCVS and European Specialist in Equine Medicine and Honorary Professor at the Glasgow University Veterinary School. She previously worked at veterinary schools in Glasgow, Pennsylvania, Cambridge and London and in racehorse practice in Lambourn. She is Chairman of the Horserace Betting Levy Board’s Thoroughbred Research & Consultation Group and Editor-in-Chief of Equine Veterinary Journal. Stacey Oke is a licensed veterinarian and freelance medical writer and editor. In addition to writing for various horse publications, she also contributes to scientific journals, is an editor of an internationally-recognized, peerreviewed journal, creates continuing education materials for both human and veterinary medicine, and conducts biomedical research studies.
Lissa Oliver lives in Co Kildare, Ireland and is a regular contributor to The Irish Field and the Australian magazine, Racetrack. Lissa is also the author of several collections of short stories and two novels. Denise Steffanus is a freelance writer and editor based in Cynthiana, Kentucky. A longtime contributing editor for Thoroughbred Times, she earned the prestigious Michael E. DeBakey Journalism Award and the USA Equestrian (now the U.S. Equestrian Federation) Award for Media Excellence. Steffanus, a Pitttsburgh native, is a licensed Thoroughbred racehorse trainer and a member of American Mensa. Dr Brandon D Velie is a young geneticist who recently completed his PhD in equine genetics at the University of Sydney, Australia. He joined Professor Claire Wade’s medical and behavioural genetics and genomics group at the University of Sydney in 2010 with a B.A. in Animal Science (2005) and an M.S. in Animal Breeding & Genetics (2007) from North Carolina State University in the United States. His research interests include both genetics and behaviour with particular focus on improving the welfare of racehorses through the application of both modern and traditional genetic methodologies. Dr Thomas Witte is an Equine Surgeon and Senior Lecturer at the Royal Veterinary College. Recognised as an RCVS, American and European Specialist, his clinical interests include head and neck surgery and minimally invasive surgery. Tom gained his PhD in the Structure and Motion Lab at the Royal Veterinary College while completing a Horserace Betting Levy Board Research Training Scholarship. He trained as an equine surgeon in Kentucky and then Cornell University in New York. His research focuses on the biomechanics and control of the equine locomotor system and upper respiratory tract.
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EFT REPS issue 48_Jerkins feature.qxd 15/12/2014 19:31 Page 1
EUROPEAN TRAINERS’ FEDERATION AIMS and OBJECTIVES of the ETF: a) To represent the interests of all member trainers’ associations in Europe. b) To liaise with political and administrative bodies on behalf of European trainers. c) To exchange information between members for the benefit of European trainers. d) To provide a network of contacts to assist each member to develop its policy and services to member trainers.
ETF REPRESENTATIVES Chairmanship:
Criquette Head-Maarek Association des Entraineurs de Galop 18 bis Avenue du Général Leclerc 60501 Chantilly FRANCE Tel: + 33 (0)3 44 57 25 39 Fax: + 33(0)3 44 57 58 85 Email: entraineurs.de.galop@wanadoo.fr
Vice Chairmanship:
Max Hennau FEDERATION BELGE DES ENTRAINEURS Rue des Carrieres 35 5032 - Les Isnes BELGIUM Tel: Fax: +32 (0)81 56 68 46 Email: mhennau@gmail.com
GERMANY
Vice Chairmanship:
Christian von der Recke Hovener Hof 53919 Weilerswist Germany Tel: +49 (0 22 54) 84 53 14 Email: recke@t-online.de
SPAIN
Erika Mäder Jentgesallee 19 47799 Krefeld Tel: +49 (0)2151 594911 Fax: +49 (0)2151 590542 Mobile: +49 (0)173 8952675 Email: trainer-und-jockeys@netcologne.de
Mauricio Delcher Sanchez AZAFRAN, 5- 3ºM MAJADAHONDA 28022 Madrid Spain Tel: +34 (0)666 53 51 52 Email: mdelcher@hotmail.com
CZECH REPUBLIC
UNITED KINGDOM
Josef Vana CZECH JOCKEYS AND TRAINERS ASSOCIATION Starochuchelska 192/16 159 00 Praha 5 - Velka Chuchle Contact: Roman Vitek Mobile: +42 (0)606727027 Email: drvitek@email.cz
Rupert Arnold NATIONAL TRAINERS’ FEDERATION 9 High Street - Lambourn - Hungerford Berkshire RG17 8XN Tel: +44 (0)1488 71719 Fax: +44 (0)1488 73005 www.racehorsetrainers.org
SLOVAKIA
ITALY
Jano Cagan SLOVENSKA ASOCIACIA DOSTIHOVYCH TRENEROV MDZ 48 942 01 SURANY Slovakia Tel: +42 19 03 165 609 Email: zuzana.caganova@gmail.com
Ovidio Pessi U.N.A.G. Via Montale, 9 20151 Milano milano@unag.it paolapezzotti@libero.it tel. +39 02 48205006 mobile: +39 348 31 33 828
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Treasureship:
Jim Kavanagh IRISH RACEHORSE TRAINERS ASSOCIATION Curragh House-Dublin Road Kildare-Co.Kildare IRELAND Tel: +353 (0) 45 522981 Fax: + 353 (0) 45 522982 Mobile: + 353(0)87 2898213 Email: irishrta@eircom.net www.irta.ie
NORWAY
Sven-Erik Lilja Eventyrveien 8, 1482 Nittedal Norway Tel: +47 (0) 67 07 14 12 Mobile: +47 (0) 91 12 88 96 Email: svelilja@gmail.com
SWEDEN
Fredrik Reuterskiöld Swedish Trainers Association South Notarp 3228 S-243 92 Hoor Tel: +46 (0)413 55 00 65 Fax: +46 (0)413 55 04 95 Mobile: +46 (0)70 731 26 39 Swedish Trainers Association North Karlaplan 10 115 20 Stockholm Sweden Mail: worldracing@hotmail.com Tel: +46 (0)8 662 46 79 Mobile: +46 (0)708 756 756
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TRM EURO issue 48_Jerkins feature.qxd 15/12/2014 19:36 Page 1
Arkaitz (nearside) battles with Ziga on his way to victory in the Gran Premio Villamejor at the Hipodromo de la Zarzuela
TRM Trainer of the Quarter
Francisco rodriguez
The TRM Trainer of the Quarter award has been won by Francisco Rodriguez. Rodriguez and his team will receive a selection of products from the internationally-acclaimed range of TRM supplements worth â‚Ź2,000, as well as a bottle of select Irish whiskey. WORDS: NICK HIGGINS PHOTOS: COuRTeSy SaN SebaSTIaN RaCING
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a
T the close of the autumn season, a packed Hipodromo de la Zarzuela, watched the Francisco Rodriguez-trained Arkaitz triumph in a closelyfought Gran Premio Villamejor; a race which saw Ziga make things very difficult for the three-year-old and almost get his nose in front at the line. However, Triple Crown (Poule, Derby and Villamejor) glory belonged to Arkaitz and Rodriguez. Spanish racing people affectionately call Rodriguez ‘the diminutive’, or ‘Paquito’, because he was a child prodigy, beginning his apprenticeship four days before his 10th birthday in Madrid with trainer Emilio Ceca, who was from a long-standing racing family. In Spain an apprentice (or amateur) can start to ride in races at 14, which Paquito did, winning on his first two rides with Thermidor and Zulia. In 1976, at just 16 years-old, he was given the huge responsibility of riding one of Spain’s bestever horses, Rheffissimo, and together they lifted the Gran Premio de Madrid. "The horse was good, but I was very good as well," he laughs.
He carried on riding successfully for another 20 years until 1996, achieving a second place finish in the jockeys’ championship in 1994. During his last six years as a jockey he was consistently ranked in the top five in Spain. Although a tall and lanky rider, and admittedly a bit agricultural in a finish, he had a great sense of pace, winning the 1994 Copa de Oro at San Sebastian, then a Group 3, on King Cobra. It was a memorable victory as he lost his whip in the dying strides and had to slap the horse home. The celebrations went on long into the night. As a trainer, Rodriguez has been a regular top 10 finisher since 2006, and in the last five seasons has finished fourth and above – second this past season. He has big plans for Arkaitz, who he considers
potentially a Group 1 campaigner. With this in mind he plans to start him off in the Group 3 Prix Exbury at Saint-Cloud, France, in March 2015. The Group 2 Prix d’Harcourt and Group 1 Prix Ganay, both at Longchamp, next April will also be sure to be in his sights. n Rodriguez (left) with Arkaitz after his win in the Gran Premio Villamejor
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PROFILE
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ANDREAS WÖHLER
ANDREAS WÖHLER
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PROFILE Wöhler immerses himself in every aspect of day-to-day life at Ravensberg
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N 2004, Wöhler was still based in Bremen, at the stable previously run by his father Adolf, a top trainer. Wöhler senior had been one of Germany’s most successful dual purpose trainers, having been both champion jockey and leading trainer over jumps. But he also sent out two winners of the Deutsches Derby in Königssee (1975) and Surumu (1977) – the latter destined to become one of the most influential German stallions of all time. Wöhler junior had been a teenager at the time of these successes, but was soon heavily involved and was in fact the stable’s main jumps jockey while still in his teens. In 1983, at the age of 21, he was Germany’s leading amateur with 36 winners, most of them over jumps, and is especially proud of his success in the Altes Badenes Jagdrennen – Germany’s most prestigious steeplechase at that time – on Ariporo, trained by his father. Andreas was clearly being groomed to take
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Top German trainer Andreas Wöhler first featured in these columns ten years ago, but his career has reached such new heights with victories in two of the world’s most iconic races – Ascot’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in July 2013 with Novellist, and the Melbourne Cup in November 2014 with Protectionist – that he is certainly worth a second look now. WORDS: DAVID CONOLLY-SMITH PHOTOS: FRANK SORGE, ALAN CROWHuRST, DARREN MCNAMARA
over after his father’s retirement but that came much sooner than expected as Adolf suffered from heart problems and his health deteriorated to such an extent that it was decided his son should assume control at the end of the 1984 season; he was just 22. “I was dropped in at the deep end,” he remembers now, “and although I knew a lot about the racing business, I was
suddenly responsible for 20 employees and several million marks’ worth of bloodstock. The first year went well but then we had a rough patch and I was basically learning from my mistakes.” Things soon improved and by the end of the decade he was well established at the top table. “In 1990 we had some really good two-year-
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ANDREAS WÖHLER
olds,” he recalls, “and I knew that 1991 was going to be a good year.” So it happened, the brilliant Lomitas – despite his well-publicised problems – won three Group 1 races in scintillating style and was voted German Horse of the Year, while he also scored his first important successes on the international stage. Tao, trained for a Scandinavian owner, won the Danish and Swedish Derby while Martessa, who had previously taken the Preis der Diana (German Oaks), went on to win the Prix de l’Opera. The following year, Pik König gave him his first domestic Derby; he was on his way. At the turn of the century, those two highearning globetrotters Silvano (1996) and Paolini (1997) put him on the international map. Silvano, now champion sire in South Africa, had won two Group 2s in Germany but really blossomed when sent on his intercontinental travels, winning the Arlington Million, Audemars Piquet Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and the Singapore Cup at the age of five. Paolini
won even more prize money, mainly by dint of being placed in some of the world’s top races; he only actually managed to win one of them – the Dubai Duty Free as a seven-year-old, but in a dead-heat after finishing runner-up in the same event a year earlier. Silvano and Paolini were voted German Horse of the Year in 2001 and 2002, respectively (the award is chosen by public vote), even though they barely raced in Germany at all in those seasons. They also both ran in Australia’s Cox Plate, picking up some nice prize-money for minor placings, which also to a certain extent paved the way for Protectionist’s triumph in the Melbourne Cup. “I thought it was fantastic down under,” says Wöhler, “and the atmosphere at Moonee Valley was amazing. I was determined to come back when I found the right horse to go to war with.” It took a decade, but he found that horse this year in Protectionist. There have been plenty of changes since our last profile, written at a time when Wöhler was
expecting to leave his old stables at Bremen. The training centre there was to be closed, and Dr Andreas Jacobs (Gestüt Fährhof), one of Wöhler’s biggest owners, was building new stables at Mahndorf, about five miles away. However the Mahndorf project was continually delayed and Wöhler felt he could not wait any longer: “I had my staff; I had 90 horses; I had to get something organised.” He moved instead – and with the support of Fährhof – to the grounds of Gestüt Ravensberg, one of Germany s most historic studs about 80 miles to the south. Ravensberg had been founded in 1907, and horses had been trained there since 1926, when the racing stables were built, followed by gallops in 1934. Ravensberg was one of the most successful German owner-breeders of the 1950s to 1970s, and all their horses were trained at the stud up until the retirement of their last private trainer Heinz Gummelt in 1994. Another trainer, Peter Rau, had moved in
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PROFILE with considerable success – training among others the 1996 German Derby winner and now top French jumps stallion Lavirco – but he wanted to cut back and moved out at the end of 2004. The timing could hardly have been better; the leaseholders (Gregor Baum of Gestüt Brümmerhof and Dr Jacobs) came quickly to an agreement and Wöhler moved in at the beginning of 2005. “I really like it here,” he says. “We are in the country; it is calm and peaceful. There is very little distraction; the horses are happy. I changed a few things around when I moved in and renovated some more, but basically the facilities are excellent.” Things began well enough with Wöhler training the Brümmerhof filly Anna Monda to win the German 1,000 Guineas in his first year at Ravensberg, and later a Group 1 in Italy. He had 54 domestic winners that season, certainly satisfactory enough. He has always been more
“There is very little distraction; the horses are happy. I changed a few things around when I moved in, but basically the facilities are excellent” interested in quality than quantity, and the classics and Group 1 races, wherever in the world they may be, were the number one priority. He had another winner of the German 1,000 Guineas in Mi Emma in 2007 and she went on to be runner-up in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot. Italian Group 1s were a favoured target and Wöhler has an excellent record here; in this decade alone, Earl of Tinsdal has won two of them and Novellist, Querari and Sortilege one each. There was of course a slight hiatus in 2012/13 when it seemed that no prize money would be forthcoming for these wins, but all that seems to have been sorted out to everybody’s satisfaction. However, with all due respect, German Group 1s count for more; British and French ones even more so. Scalo was Germany’s top three-year-old in 2010, winning a Deauville Group 2 and at home the Preis von Europa. He was voted German Horse of the Year; Wöhler has had five so far and Protectionist obviously has a chance of capturing the vote this year. Waldpark did not get the award but did win the Deutsches Derby in 2011 in Ravensberg’s own historic colours. In 2009, Novellist was foaled; he was bred by Dr Christoph Berglar, who has a small but very select breeding operation. He was by Monsun and Wöhler has had plenty of success with the offspring of that German champion stallion, e.g., Anna Monda. Novellist won his only race at two by eight lengths, at Düsseldorf in August,
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and was then put away for the winter. It was clear that high hopes were being entertained here and he started his three-year-old campaign by winning his first three races, including the main Derby trial, the Union-Rennen. He started at odds-on for the Derby itself but was beaten half a length by Pastorius – in retrospect no disgrace as the winner went on to take two more Group 1s. He then ran in the Grosser Preis von Baden, finishing fourth behind Danedream, and again half a length behind Pastorius, before signing off for the season with an easy win in the Gran Premio del Jockey Club. “These were all good performances,” he argues, “but we felt that he had not realised his full potential; we also knew the reason, as he had been suffering from an allergy.” In 2013, Novellist showed his true ability, going through the season unbeaten. He put down a marker by winning the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, partnered by Ryan Moore and the King George was immediately announced as his next target. With Moore claimed to ride Sir Michael Stoute’s Hillstar, who finished third, Johnny Murtagh had the mount and said afterwards, “The hardest thing was pulling him up!” as the German four-year-old annihilated the field to win by five lengths in course record time. Wöhler commented, “I used to come to Ascot as a schoolboy to watch the race, but never dreamed I would one day train a horse good enough to win it!” After a workmanlike success in the Grosser
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Andreas and Susi Wöhler arm-in-arm after a full day’s work at the yard and on the gallops
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PROFILE Preis von Baden, Novellist was aimed at the Arc and was second favourite until he had to be scratched the day before the race after running a fever. Wöhler was at Longchamp, however, to saddle Altano to win the Prix du Cadran. “I was always convinced that he could take a topstaying race,” he said. “The Gold Cup was the race I had hoped to win – he finished fifth – but the ground at Royal Ascot was too firm.” Altano tried again in 2014 to win the Gold Cup but was well beaten and has now been retired; he is enjoying life as the hack of his owner, veterinarian Dr Ingrid Hornig, who is
Novellist wins the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 2013
“Melbourne was fantastic – absolutely mind-blowing. But I think that my best win has be Novellist’s King George in 2013”
Ryan Moore gives Protectionist a well-earned pat after storming home in the Melbourne Cup
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part of the Protectionist team. And Protectionist was, of course, the next highlight in Wöhler’s career. There are obvious parallels with Novellist, both sons of Monsun and bred by Dr Berglar, who originally owned him, both reaching their peak at four. Protectionist was also the stable’s big hope for the German Derby, but he missed the race after a freak accident at home; a deer ran out of the woods and spooked Wöhler’s string as they were on their way to the gallops. Protectionist was brought down and fractured his splint bone; he had an operation and had to miss the rest of the 2013 season. This is possibly the downside of training in the countryside. Protectionist started the 2014 season with two second places at Hoppegarten and BadenBaden. It was after the latter race that he hit upon the idea of training him for the Melbourne Cup. “I was convinced that there was a big international race to be won and it occurred to me while driving home what the race could be.” First the owner had to be brought on board: “I had dinner shortly afterwards with Dr Berglar and his adviser Ronald Rauscher, and it was agreed that we should go for it. It was quite an expensive undertaking and required a lot of planning and logistics. Luckily all went smoothly; I really wanted Ryan Moore to ride him and went to visit him at Stoute’s stables in Newmarket. I was able to convince him and he was also available. There is always a lot of luck involved as so many things can go wrong, but it went like a dream.” Five months after first having the idea, Wöhler saddled Protectionist to win the Melbourne Cup by four lengths in an extremely fast time. “Once we got him to the races safe and sound I was very confident, as I knew that he was the best horse in the race at the weights. But it was quite an achievement to get him there. It took a huge effort from my whole team, and I am extremely grateful to all of them – also of course to Dr Berglar who made the whole expedition possible, and to the officials of Victoria Racing who were always extremely helpful. I would say, looking back at my big winners, that this is the one of which I am most proud.” Is this also his biggest win? “No, Melbourne was fantastic – absolutely mind-blowing and for a European an incredible experience. But I think that my best win has to be Novellist’s King George in 2013.“ Wöhler has won all the top races in Germany and a large number of major events in France, the UK, the US and Canada, Hong Kong and Dubai. Is there anything missing from his CV? “There are lots of races I have not won, for example the Arc, in which we might have gone close last year with Novellist. Obviously I would love to win the Arc, just as I would every other big international event, but the one race I would really like to win is the Derby at Epsom. We had a runner in 2013, Chopin, but he failed to stay; but we’ll be back when I have identified the right horse!” n
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TRAINING
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LIGHT
LET THERE BE LIGHT
How daylight affects racehorse performance and safety
I
Recipient of multiple awards, including the Saratoga Trainer’s Title and the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer, Bill Mott is no stranger to travelling with his horses. For example, Mott was trainer and chaperone of Cigar, winner of the inaugural Dubai World Cup in 1996. How do Mott and other elite trainers consider the impact of jet lag, light-dark cycles and other factors associated with shipping across times zones on their horses’ performance?
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WORDS: STACEY OKE DVM, MSC phOTOS: MARC REuhl, ShuTTERSTOCK
N general, travelling by plane to places like Dubai isn’t that much different than taking a van between New York and Florida. They both take about 22 hours but I find that flying internationally turns a horse’s biological clock upside down and does seem to throw them off for a day or two…but they do seem to turnaround quicker than we do,” shares Mott.
Rhythm is a racehorse In reference to biological clocks, Mott is of course referring to circadian rhythms – near 24hour cycles of behavioural, physical and biochemical processes that ebb and flow like ocean tides. The sun that rises and sets every day is the centre of our universe and drives the internal clocks of all organisms, including horses. “The light-dark cycle in a 24-hour period is one of the most important environmental cues – referred to as zeitgebers – that coordinate an animal’s internal clock to the earth’s 24-hour rotation,” explains Barbara Murphy, BScEq, PhD, from the School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin; Murphy is an expert in the field of circadian rhythms in horses.
According to Murphy, physical activity, body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, hormone levels, sleepiness, among other body functions, undergo rhythmic undulations over the 24-hour period in response to a number of external cues including light, temperature, feedings and social interactions. She adds, “Synchronisation between an animal’s daily rhythms and their environment helps ensure optimum survival by allowing them to anticipate activity, feed availability and predation pressure.” Thus, even slight alterations in an organism’s daily cycle or ‘rhythm’ can negatively impact a large variety of body systems, including athletic performance.
International travel, jet lag and racehorse performance As Mott has learned through experience, horses do experience jet lag but Mott inherently concludes that a horse’s jet lag doesn’t seem to affect horses as profoundly as it affects us. Mott’s personal experience is actually quite astute and one published study – dubbed the ‘jet lag study’ – confirms Mott’s assertions. According to the jet lag study (published in a 2011 edition of the Journal of Neuroendocrinology), crossing
several time zones in a short period of time results in a mismatch between an individual’s biological clock and the ‘new’ solar time. As many of us know, classic signs of mismatch (i.e., jet lag) in humans include disturbances in sleep and gastrointestinal, cognitive, and psychomotor function, including athleticism. For example, it is reportedly disadvantageous for human athletes (e.g., tennis players) to travel eastward prior to competitions. Considering how common it now is for horses to travel internationally for athletic competitions, the research team from Bristol University, led by Domingo Tortonese, DVM, DrVetSci, PhD, simulated jet lag in former racing thoroughbreds using light-controlled stables and a high-speed treadmill. The study found that horses, unlike humans, are capable of rapidly adapting to changes in their photoperiod and that their body responds to jet lag in such a way that enhances their physical performance. Specifically, the horses were able to run at a full gallop on a treadmill for an additional 25 seconds before reaching the point of fatigue. The study authors concluded that horses are exquisitely sensitive to sudden alterations in light-dark cycles. They also suggested that a
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TRAINING Vernal Equinox March 21-22
Arctic Circle Equator
Incoming solar energy equal in both hemispheres
Summer Solstice June 21-22
Sun Winter Solstice December 21-22
Incoming solar energy greatest in Northern Hemisphere Autumn equinox September 22-23
horse’s ability to adapt to changes in light-dark cycles could be because horses lack a ‘robust’ sleep-wake cycle, meaning that horses sleep more in a ‘fits and bursts’ type of pattern and require only a fraction of the sleep needed by humans to behave like civilised creatures. Another interesting feature of the jet lag study was that, “…the rapid adaptation of horses to photoperiodic changes is not accompanied by an increase in the level of stress but by alterations in neuroendocrine systems that favour an enhancement of their physical capacity during the process.” Those findings, however, contradict results from an earlier study on jet lag in horses published in the Journal of Circadian Rhythm in 2006 by Murphy, et al. “We found that body temperature rhythms were out of synch with the environment for two weeks following a six-hour time zone transition,” explains Murphy.
Amount of light, light-dark cycles and athleticism Other research groups have also looked at biological clocks, light and the cyclical patterns of physical activity in horses. In one study, coauthored by Murphy and published in the Journal of Applied Physiology in 2010, mares were fitted with halter-mounted monitors to measure their physical activity under three different conditions: (1) pasture under natural light, (2) stabled under a light-dark cycle mimicking the outdoors [12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark], and (3) constant darkness. Murphy, et al. found that physical activity did indeed follow a circadian pattern (particularly under stabled light-dark cycles and in constant darkness) and that the levels of ‘clock genes’ (i.e., genes known to be involved in the control of circadian rhythms) isolated from muscle tissue reflected the circadian activity pattern. “These results confirm that altering the
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Incoming solar energy equal in both hemispheres
Incoming solar energy greatest in Southern Hemisphere
amount of light a horse is exposed to impacts physical activity and that human management regimes may strengthen or unmask equine circadian behavioural outputs. As exercise synchronises circadian rhythms, our findings provide a basis for future work determining peak times for training and competing horses both to reduce injury and to achieve optimal performance,” says Murphy.
“This study is the first to show that muscle function in the horse has a 24-hour rhythm, and the clear implication is that there is an optimum time for exercise and performance” Barbara Murphy She adds, “This study is also the first to show that muscle function in the horse has a 24-hour rhythm, and the clear implication is that there is an optimum time for exercise and performance.” Is it therefore possible that artificially altering a performance horse’s exposure to light and that tinkering with the timing of light exposure could prove to be a noninvasive, relatively inexpensive and simple approach to enhancing a racehorse’s natural ability?
Racehorses are early birds…right? Another factor to consider, in addition to the total number of hours exposed to light and when they are exposed it, is each individual horse’s circadian rhythm. For example, we all
have a 24-hour rhythm but we aren’t all the same – some of us are early birds (especially in the racehorse industry) and others are night owls. This variation of ‘internal time’ between individuals is referred to as chronotype. “In addition to light being a zeitgeber for the circadian clock, it can also directly affect levels of alertness and sleepiness. This acute effect of light depends on time-of-day of light exposure, on light intensity, duration, spectral composition and on an individual’s light history,” wrote the study authors from The Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. The study authors also wrote, “…Only a little is known about light effects on physical performance.” The researchers therefore studied the impact of chronotype in human athletes that were exposed to 160 minutes of either bright or dim light. In the last 40 minutes of exposure, subjects performed a bicycle ergometer test to measure total work, blood lactate levels (an indicator of fatigue) and heart rate. Subjects performed the exercise based on their chronotype, which was determined using a chronotype questionnaire. Key findings of that study were that exposure to bright light enhances physical performance and that timing of the exercise must take an individual’s internal time into consideration. According to the study authors, noninvasive measures to increase physical performance at an individual’s optimal time-of-day is of major interest for a wide range of applications, including athletic competitions. They concluded, “Although more studies are needed…our results indicate we will in [the] future be able to recommend tailored and optimally timed training sessions for individuals with different chronotypes.” This finding in human research begs the question: Can simply exposing racehorses to brighter light at an appropriate time of the day using an appropriate light spectrum (i.e., using lights that more closely match natural light) enhance racehorse performance? This is potentially a particularly salient question for trainers in the Northern Hemisphere, such as New York, England, Ireland and France, among others, who are at the mercy of the earth’s natural tilt away from the sun, making our days (and therefore our exposure to light) much shorter than they are in the summer.
Daylight not-so saving and SAD? Throughout the Northern Hemisphere, the imposition of the short days surrounding the winter solstice and daylight saving (i.e., shifting our clocks back one hour to maximise the daylight hours) wreaks havoc on many people’s circadian rhythms even though it only involves one hour of our lives. For example, studies have shown that there are more automobile and workplace accidents and potentially more health issues such as heart attacks and myocardial infarcts. This confirms the assertion
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that all organisms are sensitive to even small changes in their circadian rhythms. In addition to the shift in circadian cycle immediately after turning the clock back in autumn, an estimated 5-20% of humans are diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder (SAD, winter depression). Knowing what we do now about biological clocks, the fact that almost one-fifth of residents in the Northern Hemisphere feel the effects of decreased exposure to sunlight is not surprising, especially considering that some racehorse-rich areas lose a substantial percentage of their time being caressed by the sun’s rays for several months each and every year (see sidebar).
Forcing the hands of time Throughout this article, several questions have been raised. In a nutshell, can trainers manipulate the light-dark cycle, the total number of hours of light a horse is exposed to, the timing that light is applied, the brightness and quality (spectrum) of the light, and timing of training, racing and shipping in relation to their own biological clocks to enhance performance? Their ideas are not as absurd as they might outwardly seem considering: 1. The surprising amount of research in this field already conducted in both human and equine subj ects 2. The fact that artificial light exposure has been used to ‘trick’ mares into cycling earlier in
the season than normal to breed thoroughbreds earlier in the year to meet the imposed foaling birthdate of 1 January Mott says that although he is unlikely to artificially induce jet lag in his horses using simulated lighting, “I wouldn’t be opposed to something as noninvasive as using SAD lamps” or full-light spectrum lights mimicking sunlight. Indeed, one researcher, Carol Hall, senior lecturer in equine sports science at NottinghamTrent University, reportedly conducted a study on the effect of artificial light on equine SAD. According to several online news articles, Hall reportedly indicated that horses were exposed to light strips for one hour per day for six weeks.
Key findings of her study were that horses that did not undergo light therapy showed signs of suffering from ‘winter blues’. Specifically, those horses slept longer than previously noted, were less interested in being ridden, and had poorer performance when jumping. In contrast, horses exposed to the light strips were “less grumpy than they usually were at that time of year.” In a previous interview, Hall said, “We believe that these results go some way towards suggesting that light treatment results in happier horses that are easier to ride. “The findings have indicated that horses may get depressed over the winter months and that treating them with light therapy could be effective in reducing these winter blues.”
APPROXIMATE CHANGE IN HOURS OF LIGHT EXPOSURE FROM SUMMER TO WINTER SOLSTICE Country
Hours of light exposure in summer
Hours of light exposure in winter
No. of sunlight hours lost in winter
15
9
6
San Francisco, USA
14.5
9
5.5
Florida, USA
13.5
10.5
3
17
7.5
9.5
London, England
16.5
7.5
9
Dubai, UAE
13.5
10.5
3
New York, USA
Dublin, Ireland
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TRAINING Hall said the findings could be used to treat susceptible horses before the depression sets in. “By monitoring the horses' behaviour during the summer, it may be possible to select those that would benefit from treatment in the future.” Despite the positive remarks made online, Hall’s research is not available either on her personal website (www.ntu.ac.uk/apps/staff_profiles/staff_directo ry/ 125605-5/26/carol_hall.aspx) or on PubMed, and Hall did not respond to email queries regarding her research. With that said, Murphy and colleagues have conducted two key studies on this topic. “Data in both humans and horses suggest that it is the wavelength, or colour, and not the intensity that is important for influencing the circadian system. This is why SAD lamps for humans now use blue lights,” shares Murphy. The first of Murphy’s studies on blue light therapy, published in the Veterinary Journal in 2013, found that low-level blue light administered to one eye is equally effective as sunlight is at influencing horses’ circadian rhythms. In a subsequent study, published in 2014 in the Equine Veterinary Journal, Murphy et al. investigated the efficacy of a low-intensity blue light delivered by a ‘light mask’ to a single eye of broodmares to advance their cycles. The light mask was indeed effective, advancing the mares’ breeding season by three months. In the near future, Murphy and colleagues
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“The findings have indicated that horses may get depressed over the winter months and that treating them with light therapy could be effective in reducing these winter blues” Carol Hall hope to use the light mask to prevent jet lag in horses.
Not just about performance – safety matters One final aspect of light and performance in racehorses to consider is safety. As we are all acutely aware, racehorse safety is an issue that has received much awareness and publicity over the past decade or so, especially following accidents in highly publicised events, such as Eight Belles and Barbaro, and even after the latest meet in Saratoga (for example, visit www.timesunion.com/local/article/N-Yinvestigates-Saratoga-meet-race-horse-deaths5722872.php).
As such, the racehorse industry continues to make every effort to maximise safety as evidenced by the continued research efforts and sharing of information at meetings such as the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit, held in July 2014 at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. As mentioned in multiple places throughout this article, it may be possible to adjust a horse’s light exposure to improve racehorse safety. For example, the jet lag study suggested that a photoperiodic shift induced by artificially altering a horse’s light-dark cycle could be beneficial in terms of reducing the level of injury in competitions. More specifically, if it takes longer for a jet-lagged horse to fatigue when exercising, can injuries therefore be prevented? The ‘jet lag effect’ could potentially benefit horses. As Mott points out, “They are more apt to become injured when they are fatigued.”
Concluding thoughts Any successful trainer must consider a myriad and varied aspects of the horse, the race and field, the track surface, veterinary intervention, farriery, nutrition, tack and appliances (e.g., ear plugs, nose bands, etc.), and sometimes even superstitions and rituals. Considering the available science supporting the positive impact of light on performance, it may seem prudent at this juncture to ask the final obvious question: How many trainers does it take to change in a light bulb? (tongue in cheek, of course!). n
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Alternative funding ideas for trainers
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FUNDING Syndicates, such as the Turbine Syndicate, seen here after Cootamundra won the Ladbrokes Troytown Handicap Chase at Navan in 2013, are a popular way of bringing new owners into a yard
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A
LTHOUGH there was a rise in the number of new owners, increasing by 8.2% from 341 to 369, the total number of active owners was down 5.8% from 3,223 to 3,035, and the number of horses in training declined by 5.5% to 7,209, compared to 7,626 in the first six months of 2013, which obviously had an impact on entries and runners. The most current published British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) figures show a downturn in total registered owners over a five-year period, although France Galop is able to boast more stable figures:
With Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) recently publishing figures for the first half of 2014, the drop in number of active owners in Irish racing is a serious concern and reflects the general trend across Europe. WORDS: LISSA OLIVER phOtOS: CAROLINE NORRIS, StEfAN OLSSON/SVENSk GALOpp
TOTAL REGISTERED OWNERS 2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
BHA
17,745
17,434
16,852
16,062
15,388
HRI
5,641
5,107
4,667
4,278
3,779
France Galop
4,539
4,589
4,645
4,675
4,592
The decline in numbers of owners appears to be a similar rate, regardless of whether they are sole owners or involved in a form of partnership, as the following BHA figures show:
REGISTERED OWNERS 2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Sole Owners:
3,489
3,357
3,265
3,126
3,001
Joint Owners:
4,914
4,643
4,626
4,467
4,432
However, the number of owners with six or more horses in training has remained fairly stable throughout the years. Naturally, only the wealthiest patrons can keep upwards of six horses in training; they have been largely unaffected by recession, their numbers barely fluctuating.
REGISTERED OWNERS (BHA AND HRI FIGURES) 2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
BHA Registered Owners
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
With 1 horse in training
5,555
5,157
5,030
4,810
4,655
With 2 horses in training
1,850
1,792
1,712
1,620
1,571
With 3 horses in training
782
752
757
739
717
With 4 horses in training
416
415
389
383
377
With 5 horses in training
251
234
239
219
235
With 6–10 horses in training
452
430
407
420
435
With 11–20 horses in training
160
155
170
169
159
73
79
70
67
67
9,539
9,014
8,774
8,425
8,215
With 21+ horses in training Total BHA Registered Owners*
* Where horses are owned jointly, all the partners or lessees are counted and their shares are each counted as one horse.
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The problem clearly for trainers is how to buck the trend and attract new owners and sell horses but in a luxury hobby industry that cannot guarantee returns, there is no simple solution. The marketing bodies are united in doing their utmost for the image and popularity of horseracing, yet this is still not enough to sustain most stables, particularly the smaller ones. Recent ITM (Irish Thoroughbred Marketing) initiatives saw huge turnouts to the open days of big name yards, but mere handfuls of interested parties to the lesser-known trainers’ open days. Introduced as an ownership option for the first time last year in France was the Société en Participation (SEP), a racing club with unlimited members, thereby providing individuals with the opportunity to get involved in ownership without large financial risks. Meanwhile, the Syndicat des Propriétaires (French Racehorse Owners’ Association) held a successful Syndicate Open Day in August at the Arqana sales complex to give visitors and exhibitors the opportunity to meet and discuss this form of ownership, which has increased in popularity in recent years in France. “We feel that syndicates provide an interesting alternative for numerous investors, as well as for existing owners who want a different experience. As there are different versions and options available, we decided to organise the first ever event of its kind to bring people who are passionate about racing and interested in becoming part of a syndicate together with racing professionals in one place,” Patrick Fellous, President of the Syndicat des Propriétaires, explained. However, syndicates are nothing new in Britain and are often viewed by trainers as a liability as much as an asset. If properly run, with a reliable organiser, they can bring new owners into a yard. But if members drop out and contingency plans are not watertight, the trainer can be left with both the horse and the bills. Trainers Willie Mullins and Jessica Harrington run highly successful syndicates themselves and are in full control at all times, but others may not have the time, expertise or inclination. Former UK-based and now Irish-based trainer Brendan Duke provides the perfect balance, warning, “You’ll get those who have no regard for the horse and will simply walk away from it. Numbers are crucial; we’d never have more than ten in a syndicate and there’s always the risk that when one person walks away the trainer has to pick up the pieces. But it gives people the chance to dip their toe in the water. You need to be sure you have a group of horse lovers and race-goers and not someone who sees a horse as a fashion accessory.” Instead, some trainers are thinking outside the box and are looking to new ways of
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attracting custom. Social media and Internet businesses are just some of the modern options that can be explored and tailored to suit the horseracing industry’s needs. Earlier this year Hilden, bought at Ascot Sales for £800, became the first winner for her owners, Tote Racing, when she won a handicap hurdle at Downpatrick, in Northern Ireland. The Tote Racing Club offers free membership to all Tote account holders and is a self-promotion template that could be adopted by any company as a benefit to its customers. Every Tote account customer receives free membership to the club and has the chance to enter competitions to become a full owner for a day, entitling some to a share of prize money and racecourse visit each time the mare runs. Tim Higgins, Chief Executive of Tote Ireland said, “This is intended to bring the thrill of racehorse ownership a little closer to all our account holders.” Hilden was named by members as a result of competitions on Facebook, Twitter and through the Tote newsletter. Noel Hayes, Commercial Director at Tote Ireland, explained, “Every time she runs we do a draw for ownership. The prize money is then distributed among the owners.” Irish National Hunt trainer Henry De Bromhead has also made good use of Facebook and advertises available horses by posting their photos and details on his page. “I’ve found the syndicates formed on Facebook have been really successful and the first one we formed was the Social Network Syndicate back in 2008/2009, when things were very quiet. I found it amazing that we could get 20 people interested in buying shares in a horse, particularly as at that time most people were finding things very hard,” he reveals. “Michael O’Callaghan, who set up my website and runs the Facebook page for me, set up the syndicate. The first horse was Marshall Dillon; we asked on Facebook if anyone would like a share and was successful at once,” de Bromhead continues. “He ran second in his first start but was then injured. The Social Network Syndicate has Pierlow at the moment, who has twice won at Clonmel and has been placed plenty of times. The Wilde At Heart Syndicate was an off-shoot of that and I think there are a lot more people involved in it. They began with Wild Sapphire and now have Damefirth, a winner in the summer. “We find that Facebook is a cheap way of keeping everyone informed, without the usual
REGISTERED OWNERS (FRANCE GALOP) 2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Registered Owners
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
With 1–2 horses in training
1,677
1,98
1,730
1,666
1,685
With 3–4 horses in training
469
476
449
425
443
With 5–9 horses in training
331
307
247
228
220
With 10–20 horses in training
98
110
71
73
99
With 20+ horses in training
54
57
46
43
51
2,629
2,648
2,543
2,435
2,408
Total Registered Owners*
* Where horses are owned jointly, all the partners or lessees are counted and their shares are each counted as one horse.
“We’d never have more than ten in a syndicate. You need to be sure you have a group of horse lovers and racegoers and not someone who sees a horse as a fashion accessory” Brendan Duke costs of updating everyone. Michael manages all of it through Facebook; it’s not time consuming, and the Facebook page is linked directly to my website where updates can be viewed. It seems very effective and a lot of the members are from abroad; there are several from Singapore and a lot of ex-pats.” Meanwhile, just as popular as Facebook among many is Twitter and UK-based trainer Jamie Osborne uses his Twitter account to great effect. “About 18 months ago Ed Dunlop told me about the power of Twitter and, although I thought it was all nonsense, I tentatively dipped a toe in the water,” Osborne reveals. “I was about to knock it on the head when some guys got in touch through my Twitter account and asked to buy a horse. After that, various others have come through Twitter and bought shares in my horses. “It’s also a very good way of keeping people informed and it surprises me, really surprises me, how interested people are in what’s going on from day to day. Particularly this season, with Toast Of New York, people are asking how he is and we set up Toast-cam, just
“We find that Facebook is a cheap way of keeping everyone informed, without the usual costs of updating everyone”
as a bit of fun, and people like it. I enjoy the interest people take. I tweet general things and get some great messages back and it’s very nice to know that so many people are interested. It gives the chance for prospective owners who don’t know me to go on there and get a feel for the yard and how we do things.” Osborne does provide one word of caution, however. “If you follow me on Twitter the one thing that is immediately apparent is that I shy away from giving an opinion on how a horse will run. The danger is in people thinking they are going to get tips and if you start down that route you’ll find yourself in a situation where you can’t win – you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.” Another novel introduction to the general public to racehorse ownership is offered by the Swedish Jockey Club, which provides the funds to race a horse for a year. As Tabybased trainer Alex McLaren explains, “€40,000 is provided by the Swedish Jockey Club for the purchase of a horse and its full fees for the year,
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Dreams Cape was bought by 20 original stakeholders to run as a four-year-old in Sweden
including entry fees, regular vet bills and farrier. The Jockey Club also insures the horse. One thousand shares in the horse are then advertised, at €40 a share, which are purchased over the internet and at Tote (Riksgalopp) betting outlets.” Rather like the Tote Ireland scheme in reverse, when shares are purchased, the shareholder automatically becomes a Tote member and this brings the added benefit of being able to watch racing live on the Swedish Tote website, which would otherwise be a chargeable service to non-Tote members. As very little horseracing is televised in Sweden, this is quite an incentive. “Shares for next season’s horses have just gone on sale, so [being five weeks from Christmas] quite a large number are bought as Christmas gifts,” adds McLaren. This is certainly an easy and affordable way to become involved in a racehorse and enjoy all the full benefits of ownership, including stable visits and race-day entrance. “The season runs from 1st March to 31st October,” McLaren says, “and at the end of the season the trainer and jockey’s 10% is taken out of any prize money earned,
“Some guys got in touch through my Twitter account and asked to buy a horse. After that, various others have come through Twitter and bought shares in my horses it” Jamie Osborne 30 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com
and the remainder is split between the owners. The horse is sold and that, too, goes to the owners, which encourages them to get involved again. “We had a good horse in the yard last year funded in this way, Dreams Cape, who ran third in the Norsk St Leger for the National Gallop Stable Pan (racing club). We wanted to keep him as a four-year-old, so when he was sold, 20 of the original shareholders bought him and he’s earned €10,000 this year.” The Jockey Club selects the trainers (there are up to 50 registered in Sweden) to receive each club horse, of which there are six in the scheme each season, the criteria being a good clean name and a minimum of ten horses in training, the average for trainers in Sweden being 45. Each selected trainer must be willing to keep updating the horse’s Facebook page (they all have their own page) and to host two open days a year for the shareholders. The trainer who has had the most success with a scheme horse that year is automatically selected for a scheme horse the following year. “It’s got me some new owners,” McLaren points out, “and every owner gets free entry to the races when their horse runs. We usually have a crowd of 100, but when a scheme horse runs, there will be an extra 400 people or more, all spending money at the racecourse and having a bet with the Tote, which all goes back
into the Jockey Club and increases prize money. “On the open days I’ll provide drinks and sandwiches, which I take out of anything left over from the €40,000, so it doesn’t cost me anything. But the owners fetch their families, and there will be small children, teenagers, senior citizens, all having fun; and you might be able to get them to take 5% or 10% in another of your horses next year.” If, by the start of the season in March, there are still some shares remaining, the trainer and Jockey Club purchase those between them, so a trainer must work hard to promote the scheme and ensure all shares are sold, if he or she is to avoid added costs. Not every new method of selling shares in horses is centred directly on the horseracing industry, however. The Internet has farreaching opportunities and crowd-funding has for long been a successful fundraising method for other businesses, particularly popular among screenwriting and film production professionals. A project in progress is advertised on website boards, and investors are invited to get involved for varying amounts. Eventually, when enough money has been raised, the project is completed, e.g., a film goes into production. An avid moviegoer might invest simply a few pounds for the fun of it, while serious investors can take shares in the hope of future box office returns – not too dissimilar to the risky, but rewarding, horseracing industry. Craig McKenna of Crowd Racing is one who has been quick to make use of this opportunity. “The beauty is, we’re able to have a variety of people involved in the same horse. We might have two people putting in £2,500 each and 12 people putting in a £100 each. They have different levels of interest, depending on what they put in, he explains. “It’s purely remote ownership, with a yard visit once a year. All the risks and conditions are laid out clearly before you buy in and you have a choice according to your budget. More than 40 people are coming together at different levels of investment for the joy of being involved in a young horse who could still yet be anything.” Another crowd-funding opportunity of a different nature exists through Funding Circle, a website that provides business loans in much the same manner; companies borrow anywhere from £5,000 to £1 million from private investors. When a loan request is placed on the marketplace, investors compete to lend money – from small amounts to large investments and thus providing a competitive interest rate. A single repayment is made each month to Funding Circle and distributed to all the investors. We may think of horseracing as an industry slow to move with the times but any yard visit will show that trainers are quick to avail of the latest technology that can help their horse. Now perhaps it’s time trainers availed of new innovations to make their own lives easier. A trainer is, after all, the greatest asset to the horse in his or her care. n
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RACING
In evolutionary terms, we have been racing horses for a fraction of the time compared with the millions of years these wonderful animals have roamed the earth. The structure and physiology of their digestive system has evolved over this time to reflect their natural feeding patterns, which will have been greatly influenced by availability and quality of food. Fast forward into the present day and this evolutionary drive has created some difficulties for the modern day racehorse in training as trainers strive to maintain optimum performance. WORDS: CatheRine Dunnett BSC, PhD, R.nutR PhOtOS: MaRC Reuhl
Racehorse feed management is often at odds with nature Wild populations of horses will spend a large part of the day grazing on often very poor quality grass, such as heathland or moorland. They browse almost continuously to achieve an adequate intake of energy and nutrients. Researchers have estimated that these wild horses may spend up to 18 out of every 24 hours a day feeding. In contrast, a racehorse in training may be fed 2-4 concentrate meals a day with a couple of periods where hay or haylage is offered. The total amount of time spent feeding is, by contrast, considerably less. This meal-feeding regime is clearly very different to the trickle feeding system driven by nature and is at odds with the physiology of the horses’ digestive system.
Large cereal-packed meals are linked to many health issues A racehorse’s diet is also very different in terms of its composition. The contribution of forage to the total diet is generally much lower than in wild horses. Additionally, high starch and sometimes high oil-containing ingredients are relied upon to create an energy-dense concentrate ration, which delivers a sufficient energy or calorie intake to meet the demands of training and racing. Concentrates are most often fed as discrete meals – two, three or four times a day, and they are usually larger in size towards the evening. These large, high starchcontaining meals bring a greater risk of numerous health issues, such as colitis, colic and laminitis; these conditions arise from hindgut acidosis resulting from incomplete enzymatic breakdown of starch in the small intestine. Large high starch-concentrate feeds also pose a threat to the gastric mucosa and gastric ulceration may develop. Trickle feeding, as the name suggests, allows a horse to feed on an almost continuous basis with small amounts of food material. The concept of very frequent small meals, rather than a few large ones, could be highly beneficial in terms of health and psychological benefits. But is it possible to achieve a trickle
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feeding regime in a training yard, and is it desirable to do so? In this article I will examine both low-tech and high-tech changes that can be made to feed management in racing to move towards a trickle feeding regime. When feeding concentrates manually, it is not always possible to feed a large number of small meals since this is very labour intensive. Some simple improvements, such as evening out the size of meals through the day, can help.
Extending foraging time The intake of forage for racehorses has probably increased in recent years. Perhaps this is in response to more nutritional and veterinary information regarding the quantities of forage that are desirable to maintain digestive function and gastric health. Despite this, horses are a long way from achieving a feeding regime that is near to that which is seen in their non-domesticated state.
“A number of new feeding devices have been introduced, which consist of plastic boxes with meshed lids that slow the rate of forage intake but allow feeding in a head-down position” In an ideal situation, racehorses would perhaps have access to forage on a truly ad libitum basis. This would reduce the time spent without access to feed (such as overnight) and would better mimic the trickle feeding state seen in the wild. Researchers in Sweden have suggested that very digestible forage could be used as the sole source of energy for horses in training. This was suggested following a trial in Swedish
Standardbred Trotters that were fed a 100% forage diet (grass haylage plus alfalfa pellet) on a free choice basis. However, to put this data into context, the forage was of a very high nutritional value, being on average ~12% (dry matter) protein and ~ DE 14MJ/kg compared to some of the hay traditionally used in racing. In addition, the relative success of this feeding regime in relation to performance was only measured in terms of qualification to race and race participation rather than any attempt to quantify performance itself, which is very difficult to quantify. The trial did, however, suggest improved health since there was no incidence of colic, gastric ulcers or tying up over the prolonged training period. Muscle glycogen was also found to be within the normal range in all of these horses and was related to the intake of fructan, a water soluble carbohydrate found in high amounts of grass.
Prolonged forage consumption in a head down position Small holed hay or haylage nets have been shown in US studies to slow down the rate of consumption of forage, which is beneficial. However, the benefit of a slower rate of feeding in this instance may be offset by the negative effects of horses not eating from the floor, which allows better mucociliary clearance. Because of this, a number of new feeding devices have been introduced, which consist of plastic boxes with meshed lids that slow the rate of forage intake but allow feeding in a head-down position. A recent study in the UK reported evidence of frustration in horses when hay consumption was restricted through small holed haynets, which again could be counterproductive. The reality for horses in training is that they will often not consume a healthy intake of forage, even when it is offered readily, and much gets trampled into the bed or just left. Therefore I would not advocate any management change that is likely to reduce forage intake. Prolonging the time over which forage is eaten is a good idea for horses that eat forage well and manage to eat more than
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TRICKLE FEEDING the minimum requirement of 1% of body weight. Offering multiple forms of forage, such as grass hay, alfalfa, chaff or haylage in multiple locations in the box, is another strategy. This has been shown to increase the total amount of time spent foraging and also the amount consumed overall.
Taking our lead from agriculture Agriculturalists have understood the benefits of trickle feeding on feed conversion and animal performance for many years and have embraced technology to allow them to achieve this. Over the past few years, a number of companies have targeted the horse market with automatic feeders that allow concentrate feeding to be automated. They allow many more feeds per day (little and often) than can be achieved practically by hand. Brands such as Quickfeed®, SimpleFeeder® (which allows up to 8 feeds per day) and IFeed® (which claims to allow 720 small portions to be delivered in 24 hours) offer the possibility for very early feeds, very late feeds and even feeds throughout the night. They also offer consistency because they are programmable for an individual horse. Manufacturers suggest that they are
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“The reality for horses in training is that they will often not consume a healthy intake of forage, even when it is offered readily, and much gets trampled into the bed or just left” compatible with coarse mixes or sweet feeds, cubes and straight cereal, as well as both lowfat and high-fat feeds. Whilst the initial outlay may be relatively high (in the region of £200-300 per unit), they claim to offer economy in the longer term, since they are labour-saving; and studies by SimpleFeeder® report 30% less feed wasted when presented as eight feeds per day. These automatic feeders have been embraced by some big names in racing and breeding. Joe Hernon of Coolmore Stud is quoted as saying, “This is a revolutionary
product for our industry and it is a must-have item for every bloodstock owner.” Trying to think about the potential downside of such an innovation, certainly one would need to investigate how these feeders are kept clean to ensure that they don’t become a haven for mould growth and mycotoxins. Additionally, any psychological effects of reduced social contact would need to be addressed. Supplementation may also be more complicated, and one or two manual feeds per day may be required for any supplements to be given. Moreover, they should not be seen as an opportunity to merely increase the concentrate feed intake, resulting in a reduced forage intake because you may find that many of the potential benefits are lost. In conclusion, whilst our feeding systems may not be perfect, there are numerous ways in which we can adapt our current practices when aiming to extend the feeding period. This can be achieved in a low-tech way, simply through care and attention to how forage is offered and by increasing the number of meals and reducing meal size. Alternatively, there are a number of innovations that can help achieve this in a non–labour-intensive way, which potentially offers many advantages to health and welfare in the long term. n
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HOOVES AND GROUND SURFACE
HOOVES AND GROUND SURFACE The impact of intentional shoeing interventions
The interaction of a horse’s foot and the ground surface is complex. Stance – that part of the stride when the foot is in contact with the ground – can be divided into three phases, which determine the loading environment of the limb: impact, mid stance and push off. Loading of the limb determines how it functions and also influences where injury may occur. Research funded by the Horserace Betting Levy Board at the Royal Veterinary College has focussed on the foot and is allowing a greater understanding of the effect of changes in surface or shoeing on stance, on remodelling of the tissues and ultimately on the risk of injury. WORDS: DR THOMAS WiTTe, ROyAl VeTeRinARy COllege pHOTOS: FRAnK SORge, ROyAl VeTeRinARy COllege
Fine-tuned for high speed The horse’s limb has evolved for efficient locomotion and high-speed performance, and lacks a lot of the adaptability for variations in underfoot conditions of other legged animals. Racehorses encounter a wide range of surfaces and are subject to a variety of interventions that alter the interaction of hoof and surface. Improved understanding of the links between surface, performance and injury can have a major impact through the design of surfaces and modification of shoeing strategies. The equine limb is designed for efficient and high-speed locomotion. Adaptations that achieve this include reduced bone mass and concentration of muscle in the upper limb to allow rapid limb advancement. The hindlimbs propel the horse forwards, or upwards during jumping, while the forelimbs provide vertical support of body weight. There is a small amount of muscle in the lower limb, but this does not produce or control movement; instead it damps vibrations. Tendons are long and elastic, and this reduces energy use while the bicep has a large internal tendon acting like a catapult for rapid limb advancement.
Vulnerable to surface changes Optimisation of the horse’s limb for speed and energy efficiency comes at some cost to adaptability. Unlike human athletes who can alter leg stiffness from one stride to the next in response to changes in surface properties,
horses have relatively constant leg stiffness across surface, speed, gradient and even gait. In fact, even changes in gait are limited and the duration of the swing and aerial phases of the gallop are relatively constant across changes in speed. The locomotor system of the horse is therefore very vulnerable to changes in the foot-surface interaction. Small changes in
A horse equipped with hoof-mounted accelerometers (red arrows), reflective markers for filming with high-speed video (blue arrows) and a body-mounted inertial measurement unit with inbuilt GPS (green arrow). This minimally invasive setup is being used to measure hoof contact, the angle of lean, speed and precise horse location during regular gallop training, and can be deployed in larger numbers of horses repeatedly than has been possible with more invasive measurement techniques.
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VETERINARY Mid stance is a period of hoof stability. At the end of the stance phase heel lift initiates breakover. On a soft surface the toe rotates into the ground while on a hard surface (Figure 3) it slips backwards prior to lift-off. Properties of the foot and surface can have an impact on force in the deep digital flexor tendon, which determines the timing of breakover.
Surface properties Properties of surfaces such as damping, firmness and grip interact with farriery and the phases of the stride to determine the loading environment, performance and injury risk. Surfaces vary in how they deform and absorb shock, and in their friction and elasticity. However, meaningful measurement of the properties of surfaces, and in particular the ways in which they interact with horses, remains challenging. Simple techniques allow comparisons between surfaces and different regions of the same surface, but are not able to quantify the complex interaction of the horse’s foot with the surface. As the horse negotiates a bend, leaning results in the ground reaction force (red arrows) shifting towards the outside of the circle and the horse’s centre of mass (green arrow) towards the centre. The horse must generate a sideways force in order to complete the bend (blue arrow). Surface and grip are key here, and tighter bends lead to an increased risk of slipping.
environment can have a particularly big impact in racehorses functioning close to maximum mechanical limits.
The events of stance When it hits the ground, the hoof rapidly decelerates reaching a standstill after only 30–50 ms. Immediately, force is partially dissipated by horizontal slipping and vertical sinking that are in turn related to farriery, shoeing, conformation, surface properties and foot speed. Vibration is transmitted up the
Speed affects how the hoof interacts with surface. Turf surfaces allow more slip than synthetic and dirt surfaces at the trot. At higher speeds, grip is lower on dirt than on turf and synthetic surfaces. Figure 3
limb, and the superficial and deep digital flexor muscles damp this. Vibration is important as a stimulus for healthy musculoskeletal adaptation, but it can also contribute to injury. The optimum amount of vibration for tissue health has not been determined. The maximum loads experienced by tendons, ligaments and bone affect modelling and adaptation of these tissues and injury risk. Bone and tendon are subjected to increasing strain with increasing speed, but interestingly the suspensory ligament appears to be spared this increase, instead showing constant strain across speeds at trot and gallop. The presence of a rider does not alter limb force distribution, but activities such as circling or bend running alter the direction of forces.
Surface damping reduces vibration Surfaces damp vibrations by deforming or by friction between surface particles. Damping is distinct from firmness; some firm surfaces will have good damping properties, while some soft surfaces will have poor damping properties. Damping reduces vibration and allows a smoother transition from deceleration to propulsion, improving stride efficiency. Synthetic surfaces have a greater damping capacity than turf, dirt and crushed sand.
Firmness affects hoof deceleration The firmness or hardness of a surface determines how quickly the hoof is brought to a halt. Stiff surfaces such as asphalt and crushed sand increase impact vibrations, while more compliant surfaces such as synthetic tracks and sawdust reduce vibrations. On synthetic surfaces, the braking phase following impact is longer than that on sand, and this reduces the vibrations generated by the shock of impact.
Surface affects grip and slip Grip is important while the hoof comes to a halt and during stance as the horse propels itself forward, sideways or round a curve. Slip is often considered to be a cause of injury, however some slip is essential to aid in the dissipation of impact loads. Asphalt allows more slip than rubber or turf, and turf surfaces more slip than synthetic and dirt surfaces at the trot. At higher speeds, grip is lower on dirt than on turf and synthetic surfaces.
Surface affects gait efficiency The return of energy from the surface contributes to gait efficiency. Although
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VETERINARY injury rates. Dirt tracks are almost always associated with a higher rate of injury than turf tracks and wood fibre tracks, and result in a higher level of fatalities than synthetic tracks. In the UK, races run on an all-weather synthetic track result in a higher risk of fracture than races run on turf; and allweather tracks have a higher rate of flexor tendon/suspensory ligament injury than turf. During training, the use of a turf gallop reduces the risk of condylar fractures, and the use of sand gallops may increase it. Because surface influences limb loading, the location of common injuries also varies depending on track type.
How does farriery affect the hoof ground interaction?
Data collected from a horse running on a curve. A) GPS data showing the precise location of a horse training on an oval gallop, B) Speed plot for the same horse and C) a typical hoof-mounted accelerometer trace, showing (a) foot impact, (b) stance duration and (c) foot off.
synthetic surfaces show more elasticity and return more energy than dirt, race times on synthetic surfaces are typically slower than those on dirt tracks. The Structure and Motion Lab at the Royal Veterinary College has developed a system to study horses working over different surfaces. The study gives a unique insight into how speed, surface and track design influence gait efficiency, which involves placing accelerometers on the hoof and combining this with GPS data.
Impact of surface maintenance The effect of surface maintenance on training and racing surfaces is often overlooked. Harrowing reduces surface firmness, and this is similar on synthetic and dirt tracks, while the effect on grip appears to vary, with dirt tracks unchanged following maintenance and synthetic surfaces showing an increase in grip. Interestingly, harrowing a synthetic track increases peak load on the limb, while on a dirt track it decreases peak load. Poorly maintained or irregular dirt and woodchip tracks increase the variability of hoof acceleration and deceleration compared to a well-maintained track.
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The effect of interval between maintenance varies between surface types, with dirt tracks showing greater loss of elasticity with repeated loading compared to synthetic surfaces. The detrimental effects of poor track maintenance are supported by studies confirming that lower levels of track maintenance increase injury rates.
Surface, ground and injury Injury is intrinsically linked to the interaction of horse and ground, and surface properties have long been known to play a part. Harder ground has been implicated in increased overall injury rates, however this picture is complicated because different injuries are affected in different ways. The risk of fracture and tendon injury generally increases on firm ground. However, perhaps due to increased muscle fatigue, horses that regularly train on a surface that becomes deep in wet weather are more likely to sustain injuries than horses training on a firmer surface; softer ground is associated with a greater risk of falling, and thereby sustaining a traumatic injury. Specific track surfaces also lead to differing
Differences in the shape of the hoof or the type of shoe influence many features of the hoof ground interaction. Long toes and low heels are linked to a greater risk of injury during racing, particularly of the flexor tendons and suspensory ligament. Wedges, calks, grabs, studs, wide webs and lateral extensions generally move force toward the raised side. While these effects can be used for therapy, they can also be detrimental. In particular, wedges alter joint mechanics and in the case of heel wedges increase coffin joint pressure. Shoes have an effect on hoof expansion and limb weight and also alter grip, either through material properties or shape. Variations in shoeing have the potential to vastly change the interaction between the horse and the ground, and therefore injury risk. Increasing grip will bring benefit in turning performance and reduced risk of slipping, however there is a trade-off between increased grip and the risk of injury due to impact vibrations and impact force caused by more sudden braking.
What is the benefit of this HBLB research? The impact of these intentional shoeing interventions illustrates the importance of proper foot balance. While the horse has a limited ability to alter gait or the stiffness of its own limb in response to the external environment, we can have a significant impact on the interaction by changing surface properties and shoeing strategies. The provision of appropriate foot care, surfaces and training are crucial to the maintenance of the equine athlete. Research funded by the Horserace Betting Levy Board focussing on the precise mechanisms of hoof-ground interactions of athletic horses is providing the detailed knowledge of how the hoof-ground interactions. By first establishing how this complex system functions, the researchers ultimately target it to provide evidence-based recommendations, which will minimise injury risk in future. n
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RACING
Is the handicapping system a handicap to our industry?
A sad indictment of racing is that many punters hold the belief that half the horses in a race are ‘not trying’, and we have to wonder, what gave them that impression? The finger of blame points directly at the handicap – a system devised with the finest Marxist ideal at heart to provide every horse in the race with an equal opportunity of winning. Of course, as we all know, some horses are more equal than others! WORDS: LISSA OLIVER phOtOS: CAROLINE NORRIS
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HANDICAPS
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RACING
R
ACING by its very nature is competitive and we don’t want every race to end in a multiple dead-heat. Owners and trainers want to win races and the unfortunate fact is that at least 50% of horses in training will never win a race and fewer than 2% will win a Stakes race. Add to this that a horse must run at least twice, and often three times in most countries, in order to obtain a handicap mark, and we find horses having to compete against their superiors with no chance of success before they even have an opportunity of running at their own level. Perhaps it is time to consider other options for non-Stakes class horses and provide an alternative to the handicap. As it stands, to punters, the handicap system appears wide open to abuse in attempting to get a horse into a race with the most advantageous weight. The truth, however, is that the majority of horses are running unsuccessfully at their correct level while some are struggling to come down through the handicap, which is a slow and fruitless process. And the owner is still paying the bills. One Irish-based trainer who is adept at targeting the major handicaps at home and abroad is Tony Martin, and his view is typically straightforward. “Like every other law, that’s the way it is and you just have to work with it,” he says. “If someone can come up with a better system, until then you just have to find that level for your horse and be competitive. It can be hard to get a mark and it costs a lot of money to run in races. The trouble is, the horse might run up to a mark of 70 or 80 but if he deteriorates soon afterwards, for whatever reason, he’s never able to run up to that mark again. That’s very hard on a trainer, when they know their horse is a 60 but he just puts in a performance on the day that gets him rated 80. That’s very frustrating.” The Association of Irish Racehorse Owners (AIRO) is currently reviewing calls for increased opportunities outside of the handicap system, and claiming races and median auction races have been cited as an alternative. AIRO’s Aiden Burns comments, “It’s an issue that came to the fore during our recent series of public forums around the country and it requires in depth discussion. It’s difficult to know what the outcome of discussions would be and to know how popular any proposals would be.” While up to 54% (depending on which state) of all American races are claimers, also immensely popular in France, only 11 claimers figured in the Irish Flat calendar this year, 0.4%; and it is indeed hard to gauge how well
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“It’s an issue that came to the fore during our recent series of public forums around the country and it requires in depth discussion” Aiden Burns supported they would be if increased in Ireland and Britain. The American calendar includes claiming races in a wide range of classes based on the claiming price of the horses entered. The highest level is the Optional Claimer, with claiming prices usually of $75,000 or more, and horses entered may or may not be available to be claimed, at the option of the owner. Regular claiming races can have claiming prices of anything from $1,000 to $100,000, with the more valuable claimers running at the better meetings and the less valuable at country tracks. Stepping up from claiming races is the allowance race option for the US horse, framed for the benefit of horses yet to win at allowance-grade, although they may have won at a lower level. Weight advantages are assigned if the horse hasn’t won since a particular date or has failed to win a stipulated amount of prize money. The allowance system is well supported because there is no fear of a horse rising too sharply in the handicap as a result of its performance. On this side of the Atlantic, the focus for the average horse remains on handicap races and trying to get a first start in a handicap can be disheartening. Two-year-old maiden races are very often the preserve of the bigger stable and
the more valuable juveniles, so the median auction maiden can offer a starting point for two-year-olds by stallions whose yearlings sold in the previous year with a median price not exceeding a particular amount. A similar starting point for the late-maturing three-yearold could be beneficial to the programme. British-based Sir Mark Prescott, renowned as much for his handicap successes as his Group winners, raises this issue. “Something I’ve been banging on about for years is there are no auction races for three-year-olds,” he complains. “There were two, for the first time ever, at Lingfield earlier this year and they filled well, but there have been no more. A nice big staying type or a more backward sprinter needs those races, when he can’t be competitive at two. We have median auction races for threeyear-olds but strangely no auction races.” When it comes to a consistent set of races for a 50-60-rated horse unsuitable for handicaps, only carefully drawn up allowance races appear to be a viable option if one doesn’t want to run the risk of losing the horse to a claim and auction races begin and end at two. The risk of claiming is a point raised by Sir Mark. “Honestly, there is no alternative to handicaps,” he says. “The British don’t like claiming races. The claiming race works very well in America, where the owner has less affinity with the horse and if it gets claimed they can just go and claim another one instead. The nice British owner has just the one horse for two or three years and takes the family to see it run and visits the stable, and when it finally gets into a claiming race and is nicked off him, you can’t tell him that we’ll just go and claim another one. He doesn’t want another one – he wants his own horse! That will never suit most owners.” Tony Martin, however, feels it is something that could be looked into. “Someone needs to do a bit of research to find out if they’d be supported,” he recommends. “An owner has to be prepared to lose his horse but the lower weight you have, the less money you’ll get. I’d like to see them in bands, say, for €20,000, €30,000, €60,000, €80,000. It’s something that definitely needs to be researched and considered.” But Sir Mark Prescott identifies an existing drawback with claiming races. “You find that there tends to be an older horse who no one wants to claim because he’s too old or has one eye – or whatever his problem – but he’s still good and he will up the ratings, and no one with a lower rated horse wants to get too close or they will go up in the handicap too. So these good old horses can make a mockery of
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HANDICAPS
claiming races, so I’m afraid claiming races will never be popular in Britain. “Then you have conditions races,” he continues, “and there is nearly always a good horse rated 90-plus who has missed most of the season through injury and comes back out to win a conditions race. If you’re unlucky enough to finish second to him with a horse rated 67, you’re finished. So, again, conditions races get gobbled up by the better horses who of course deserve their chance too. “Of course, you used to have amateurs’ conditions races, and I thoroughly enjoyed exploiting those! I had a good filly called Misty Halo who hadn’t won a race value £2,500 and we mopped up 25! If there is a loophole, then some nasty trainer will always come along and take advantage!” The concern voiced by some owners and trainers is that horses are being unfairly handicapped, and it is these horses who require an alternative; but in reality that doesn’t seem to be a major issue. Even as Tony Martin sees it, “There must be a fairer way of judging them early on. But the handicapper doesn’t want to be hoodwinked and he’s in a no-win situation. As far as I’m concerned, the handicapper does the best he can and he usually gets it right.” There does, however, appear to be one way of keeping everyone happy. “The principal thing I can see to alleviate the current problem, as there is no alternative to handicaps, depends upon the handicapper being more elastic at dropping horses down from the wrong mark,” suggests Sir Mark. “At the moment a horse will be dropped a pound or so with each losing run, which may take eight or 10 runs before he is at his correct mark, by which time it’s too late, his season is already over. Often, if a horse starts off at the wrong mark, his career is over. The handicapper should be encouraged to drop them by 10lbs more quickly.
“The trouble is, the horse might run up to a mark of 70 or 80 but if he deteriorates soon afterwards, he’s never able to run up to that mark again” Tony Martin “We’re talking about horses on the 50-70 mark who trail away in maidens and get a mark, and if they can’t, then compete at that the handicapper should be able to say, ‘we’ve seen enough of this horse, we’ll drop him 10lbs.’ Trainers would then be more willing to start off at a high mark if they knew the horse would be dropped at a reasonable rate. The handicapper needs to get a little bit braver and drop a few down. As well, as some horses dropping by 7lbs or so, there will also be those going up by the same amount and that will make handicaps far more interesting to the public, too.” Let’s not lose track of the fact that ultimately we’re looking to keep existing owners and attract new owners, and race programmes have to be geared to their
horses getting a run with the best possible chance according to their ability. “What’s happened with the reduced rating bands is that, for the typical small owner, it has stopped them from having a nice day out with their horse at a good track,” Sir Mark points out. “The lovely thing is, if you go to a wet day at Southwell, these enthusiastic small owners will be there, and it’s those people we need to encourage and a day at a big track will keep them in the game.” n
“Honestly, there is no alternative to handicaps. The British don’t like claiming races. The claiming race works very well in America, where the owner has less affinity with the horse” Sir Mark Prescott Bt ISSUE 48 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 47
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Trainer on the up
J
JESSICA long
ESSICA Long has only been training for five or six years but her pedigree (she is the daughter of Swedish trainer Caroline Stromberg) speaks volumes, with recent victory at Jägerso, with home-bred Berling victorious in the Swedish Open Mile, followed by Volatile’s terrific third place in the Dubai Cornwallis Stakes at Newmarket this October. Both horses were her first British runners, Berling being entered in the Darley Stakes the same day. Long worked at various stud farms in Britain and Ireland, meeting her husband – and future assistant – Padraig at Coolmore, before returning to her native Sweden to train.
PHOTOs: sTEFAN OLssON/sVENsK GALOPP/ ELiNA BjOrKLuNd
Who has been your greatest influence as a trainer? Working at Coolmore for three seasons, I met and worked with a lot of really interesting people which influenced my decision to train. My mother, trainer Caroline Stromberg, has also been a huge influence on me, especially after I went home to Sweden and took over from her.
What has been the most useful and advantageous piece of advice given to you with regards to training? Give them time, have patience and keep them happy.
What advice would you give to a trainer starting out on their own? You’ve got to have good owners that are willing to back you up with Berling wins the Swedish Open Mile at Taby
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good horses and willing to do so for a number of years until you are established.
maybe the Rowley Mile for its tradition and the fact that you, in this day, still can run 1m 2f straight! So far from public friendly but people still accept it because it’s in England!
If you could spend the day with any other trainer, who would it be? Jim Bolger!
What is your proudest training achievement?
What piece of training equipment could you not live without?
It would have to be Volatile running third in Cornwallis Stakes in Newmarket on only his second run. As we have bred him ourselves, it made it even more special.
That would be our new straight track for everyday use.
What is the main quality in a horse you look for when buying? They’ve got to be an athlete. They have to have a swing in their walk and really use their neck, back and shoulders.
Jessica Long enjoys the spoils after winning the Swedish Oaks
Looking at genetic traits and temperament, who is your most reliable stallion at the moment? I have no favourite at the moment as such but I always like stallions that give hardy horses i.e. racehorses. They might not be the best ones all the time but you can place them in the right race. The biggest problem is a dishonest horse.
What is your favourite racecourse? That’s hard to answer; a lot of them have their own charm but
Does technology feature in your training regime?
No, I use my gut feeling for most things. I might time some of the fast work but it’s only of interest in relation to how the horse actually did it. I would love to install a high-speed treadmill.
What do you do to go that extra mile with regards to your horses’ wellbeing? Let the horses be horses and don’t wrap them in cotton wool. All horses are turned out daily, some of them in company, especially twoyear-olds. We also use a good physio-therapist on a regular basis to help the horses with any aches and pains before the cause any other problems. n
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Do incentives lead the way to a drug-free future? The American horseracing industry is battling for its life, and the key point of contention is medication – not just a push for uniform medication rules, but a movement to eliminate all race-day drugs. Two years after the Breeders' Cup banned anti-bleeding medication for its juvenile races, Gulfstream Park in Florida has announced its intention to offer Lasix-free races for 2015, and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission is considering doing the same for its tracks. North America is the only region of the world that allows race-day medication. WORDS: DeniSe SteffanuS PHOtOS: SHutteRStOCK, HORSePHOtOS
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HILE some horsemen's groups, including the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, have drawn their swords in the fight against a race-day drug ban, Arapahoe Park in Aurora, Co., is sweetening the pot to entice trainers to race medication-free horses. On 27 June, Arapahoe launched its RaceDay Medication-Free Incentive, which pays the trainer of any horse that wins without medication a $1,000 bonus. The bonus, which is separate from the purse money, is paid out at the end of the meet from a special fund put up by Arapahoe and its parent company, Mile High Racing and Entertainment. Sensitive post-race testing verifies that each winning horse raced medication-free, even if it trained on medication coming up to the race. Between 27 June and the end of the meet on 17 August, Arapahoe had 1,738 starters. Of that total, 32 horses raced without raceday medication, but only 21 horses participated in the programme, which paid out on four medication-free wins. Temple Rushton was the lone thoroughbred trainer at the multiple-breed meet to collect the incentive. He sent out four-year-old filly Sudies Storm to win a maiden special weight on 11 July and an allowance race on 19 July. Arabian trainer Kenny Massey also collected the incentive for wins with first-time starters Bella Lorena and Paddys Day. Arapahoe's track management and Bruce Seymore, executive director of Mile High Racing and Entertainment, came up with the idea when they recognized that racing's future would not include race-day medication, and they wanted Arapahoe to be on the forefront of that movement. "The programme is completely voluntary,"
said Jonathan Horowitz, Arapahoe's track announcer and spokesman. "We’re not mandating it like they did with the Breeders’ Cup. The trainer makes the decision whether to run the horse without medication." He emphasized that nothing else changed at the entry box. Some races came up with medication-free horses running against those on race-day medication, and some races consisted only of horses racing on medication. "I think the big picture that we envision is that racing is heading towards being race-day medication-free," he said. "How it gets there, we’re not 100% sure, but we want to play our part in getting to that point."
“A $1,000 bonus at blue-collar Arapahoe represents about 13 percent of the typical purse – a tidy sum for the trainer to pocket” Rushton said he entered winner Sudies Storm and Don't Flirt in the incentive programme because their owner and breeder, 86-year-old Susan Wadleigh, is adamantly against medication. Two other horses in his stable also participated in the programme. "All those drugs are terrible – what they have done to the horses," Wadleigh said. "They used to be able to run horses back in a week before they came upon that miserable Lasix. [Sudies Storm] won her maiden race going 5½ [furlongs], and then she ran back in about a week and won again going a mile, and she wasn't even tired. She could have gone on."
Incentives A $1,000 bonus at blue-collar Arapahoe represents about 13% of the typical purse – a tidy sum for the trainer to pocket. That same amount would do little to entice trainers elsewhere to race medication-free. One reason is that trainers at Arapahoe have an advantage over many other tracks. Horses racing on Lasix there may be taken off the drug with no restrictions as to when they may resume Lasix. Many tracks outside Colorado prohibit a horse from racing on Lasix again for as long as 60–90 days after a Lasix-free start. "I don’t think if I had a horse on Lasix that I would take him off Lasix for $1,000 and have to go through that," said New Yorkbased trainer Shug McGaughey. Bill Mott, who conditioned 1995–'96 Horse of the Year Cigar, said he has no strong opinion about incentive programmes, but he doesn't think they would influence his decision. "Number one, I’m a trainer, so I want the horse to perform as well as he can," he said. "And if I felt that his performance was better with Lasix, then I would want to give him Lasix." Above all, Mott wants a level playing field. "I think if it’s available, everybody should be able to use it if they choose. And if it’s not available, then nobody uses it," he said. Elliott Walden is a former trainer and the president/CEO and racing manager of WinStar Farm outside Lexington, one of North America's leading thoroughbred racing, breeding and stallion operations. Walden said an incentive programme is an interesting idea, but it raises other questions. "So then what happens to the bettor if a horse runs off Lasix and then he bleeds?" he said. Former WinStar co-owner Bill Casner, a vocal opponent of medication, is among those
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Former WinStar co-owner Bill Casner (left) opposes the use of medication but has suggested granting horses that race without Lasix a weight allowance, while Frank Stronach (centre) and trainer Jack Van Berg have zero tolerance of the use of medication
who have suggested another incentive— granting horses that race without Lasix a weight allowance when competing against horses on Lasix to compensate for the weight loss caused by the diuretic effect of Lasix. "I think that the weight allowance is an interesting idea," Walden said. "I can see that being a positive step. But I think the real key is that we need to get it across the board." Trainer Graham Motion, who grew up in European racing where medication is banned, said incentives wouldn't influence him. "We certainly run horses without medication, and I'm not looking for an incentive to do it," he said. "It's not going to change anything that I do. If they don't need Lasix, we try not to run them on Lasix. Certainly, some horses, we don't treat them with Bute (phenylbutazone)." Motion said incentives might make a difference when it comes to first-time starters, which many trainers automatically declare on Lasix. "Certainly, that's how I used to do it," he said. "I don't do it anymore. Nowadays, if they haven't shown any signs of bleeding, we tend not to put them on Lasix." At Arapahoe, Arabian winners Bella Lorena and Paddys Day were among five first-time starters in the incentives programme. Racing icon Jack Van Berg, who ranks #5 on the list of all-time winningest trainers, told a 2008 Congressional subcommittee probing racing that today's racing is ‘chemical warfare,’ and he pleaded with them to help restore the sport to its former glory. Van Berg is in favor of incentives, but he suggested splitting the bonus 50-50 between the trainer and the owner to serve as an incentive for both. "It’s a start to try to get rid of this damn medication thing," he said. "A weight allowance—that could help also. If they have no medication whatsoever in them, a threepound weight allowance—that’s a good idea." Ultimately, Van Berg advocates zero tolerance for medication in racing.
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"Guys moan and groan about they need Lasix, and they need this, and they need that. Well, they don’t need it if they know how to train a horse." California-based conditioner Jerry Hollendorfer called the idea of offering incentives for racing medication-free "ridiculous." He said, "All the medications that are used on horses were invented for people, so why would I deny an animal a medication that I would use myself? … My doctor had me on Lasix for three years. It’s a wonderful drug that removes fluid from around the heart, and then it was discovered that it would also keep horses from bleeding when they run. So why would you deny an animal something that you would use for yourself?" Trainer Richard Mandella would like to see the incentive programme taken one step further. He suggested that races that are easy to fill be written as two separate races, with horses running on medication in one and those medication-free in another, with the bonus going to the owner of the medicationfree winner, not the trainer. He said that would remove the disadvantage of medication-free horses running against those on medication in the same race, and it would provide an incentive for the owner to request that the horse be run without medication. Mandella and fellow board members of the
“Guys moan and groan about they need Lasix, and they need this, and they need that. Well, they don’t need it if they know how to train a horse” Jack Van Berg
Southern California Equine Foundation, which operates the Equine Hospital at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Ca., have been discussing a similar plan. In their plan, equine researchers also would benefit. "There’s no sense doing it if you don’t study it," he said. "Get some funding to get the horses [in both divisions] scoped in a reasonable time after they race so you can see what the results are and compare. We would find a way to raise that money to get it done so it wouldn’t be an individual cost." Casner said he is in favor of anything that educates horsemen about medications and their consequences, and without that education, racing is going to have a tough time getting everyone on board. "I think what happens is that anytime there’s any type of incentive structure put out there, the HPBAs of the world push back hard," he said. "A lot of it is the medication rules of the particular jurisdiction. We have 38 jurisdictions that all have their own rules, and they’re run by political appointees, and some of them are not real knowledgeable, so their information source becomes those who are most vocal. And the HPBAs tend to be very organized and very vocal on those fronts."
Racetracks balk at incentives Oaklawn Racing & Gaming followed Arapahoe's example when it announced on 19 September that it would offer bonuses in 2015 for all horses that win without Lasix. Oaklawn has put up $1.4 million to fund the incentive programme, which will pay a bonus equal to 10% of the winner's share of the purse for a Lasix-free win. But Arapahoe and Oaklawn may stand alone in their efforts to incentivize medication-free racing. A cross section of racetrack operators was surveyed for this article; none who responded were in favor. Frank Stronach, whose Stronach Group operates Santa Anita, Gulfstream, Golden
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TRAINING Do backstretch conDitions promote bleeDing? Living in dusty stalls 23 hours a day and breathing in carbon monoxide fumes and stirred-up pollution—that’s the environment our racehorses must live in while we expect them to give us exceptional performance. Any human living under those same conditions for just two weeks would clutch an emergency asthma inhaler or develop pneumonia from all the pathogens lodged deep in his lungs. How many long-time grooms have you seen with chronic breathing problems? And we wonder why a majority of racehorses bleed from the lungs when asked to perform at maximum speed. Researchers at Michigan State University, led by workplace pollution expert Melissa May, Ph.D., studied the air quality in three barns at Thistledown racetrack near Cleveland, Oh., looking at particulates in the air as well as other pollutants. Then the team’s veterinarians examined the horses in those stables. "We did find an association between indoor air quality and the presence of tracheal mucus as well as inflammatory cells," she said. Nathan Slovis, D.V.M., an internal medicine specialist and the director of the McGee Medicine Center at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington, Ky., said he believes there is a connection between air quality, airway inflammation, and bleeding. "If you have a horse that’s a bleeder, you have to rule out small-airway inflammation because small-airway inflammation can be one of the causes of bleeding," he said. Slovis urged horsemen with bleeders to have those horses examined for an underlying cause. But he said it's important to wait at least a week after the bleeding episode because bleeding itself can skew the test results. He also urged horsemen to reduce the amount of particulates in their horses' environments, principally by assessing the quality of the horses' bedding to assure it isn't dusty and by wetting the horses' hay and feeding it on the ground, not in hay nets. Pollutants on the backstretch that cause irritation and inflammation are dust, mold, bacteria, viruses and overall poor ventilation in stalls; roadway dust and exhaust fumes from vehicles; and airborne debris stirred up by manure-removal equipment. Susan Holcombe, V.M.D., Ph.D., part of the Michigan State team, said although no formal cause-and-effect studies have been done to connect inflammatory lung disease and exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH), it might be worth exploring. "We know that when the lung is inflamed, white blood cells travel through capillaries into the lung tissue in response to
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contaminants or infection," she said. "The movement of white blood cells through the capillaries can weaken the blood vessel, perhaps predisposing the capillaries to rupture, as occurs during episodes of EIPH. However, the regions of the lung that are affected by each disease are different." Prominent owner Bill Casner, who obtained his undergraduate degree as a preveterinary student at Tartleton State University in Texas, suspected a link between air quality, airway inflammation, and bleeding in his own horses. In January 2012, he began a programme to wipe out EIPH in his racehorses. Since then, his stable has decreased bleeding to about 5% in a total of about 170 starts, he said. "Out of that 5%, we’ve always been able to determine the cause," Casner said. "There’s generally an underlying pathology that has caused the bleed. Every horse that we have had that has bled, we’ve treated them and run them back without medication, and we are 100% on keeping them from bleeding. Once we correct the inflammatory airway issue, they don’t bleed." Casner's strategy to improve air quality for his horses and limit their exposure to disease is to power wash stalls before moving into a shed row and fog them with ‘Ceragyn’, a powerful, environmentally safe alternative to typical disinfectants. He has switched to peat moss bedding, which neutralizes ammonia, and he only feeds his horses hay that is steamed in a ‘Haygain’ hay steamer, which removes particulates and kills pathogens. In addition to cleaning up the horses' environment, Casner has discontinued the use of phenylbutazone, a medication he believes promotes EIPH. "It says it right in the product literature, 'may causing bleeding,' " he said. "Trainers are going to have to learn that Bute is the biggest enemy, and they’re going to have to be much more conscious of the environmental factor in keeping their shed rows dust free." One of the leading authorities on EIPH, Frederik Derksen, D.V.M., Ph.D., at Michigan State, said he is skeptical that a link exists between air quality and bleeding. “I don’t think that air quality has much to do with EIPH," he said. "I base this on the observation that the prevalence of EIPH is similar worldwide, while the air quality varies greatly by stable, country, and region of the world. Also, pathologic lesions that one would expect with poor air quality—lung inflammation—are not characteristic of EIPH.” Still, Casner is adamant. He said, "When I tell people what we did, nobody believes us. They’ll say, 'You’re telling me you’ve cured bleeding 100%?' Well, it blows me away, too. This programme has gone way beyond what we ever thought was possible."
Gate Fields, Laurel Park, Pimlico, and Portland Meadows, is crusading to eliminate medication, and he refuses to settle for less. He wrote in an August letter to racetrack operators: "[We] are the only ones who can make a change happen, but only if we work together. I am asking that as stakeholders with shared interests, we work on a plan to phase in a ban on all [race-day] medication at our tracks.” Mike Rogers, president of Stronach's racing division, told us that, "Frank’s objective is to eliminate race-day medications completely; with that in mind we are reaching out to other industry stakeholders to see if we have consensus on this issue. We will work with these likeminded stakeholders and create a plan that will achieve this objective." Rogers added, "No. That [an incentive programme] is not his strategy at the present time.”
“I think what happens is that anytime there’s any type of incentive structure put out there, the HPBAs of the world push back hard” Bill Casner The New York Racing Association operates three thoroughbred tracks—Belmont Park and Aqueduct in metropolitan New York and Saratoga Race Course upstate. Martin Panza, NYRA's senior vice president of Racing Operations, said he hasn't even thought about offering incentives. "I would even grossly hate to comment on giving horses a weight break," he said. "I'm not sure that's fair. As far as purse money going to people not running on medication, I'm not sure that's fair either." When corrected that the incentives don't come from purse money, he added, "I wouldn't even know if NYRA could do that legally. It's hard to comment on that. I don't know. I don't know if there's benefits to that. The medication issue is much larger than this. That's not a level playing field. Shouldn't we be trying to create a level playing field?" Other racetracks contacted declined to comment. Arapahoe is pleased with the results of its incentive programme, and it hopes to offer it again in 2015, Horowitz said. "We honestly didn’t know if any trainers would be interested in participating, but we found that people were, so we made the programme available and some people took advantage of it. Hopefully, if it expands, more trainers will take advantage of it," he said. n
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VETERINARY
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IN THE GENES Is racing success inherited? ISSUE 48 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com 57
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There can be no doubt that the hopes of both buyers and vendors at yearling sales are underpinned by the principle that racing success is at least partially determined by genetics. The yearlings that attract the highest prices are often those that are closely related to the best performed horses of the previous generation. However, most racing enthusiasts would agree that while having great bloodlines may make success on the racecourse more achievable, it by no means guarantees success. WORDS: DR BRanDOn Velie, UniVeRSity Of SyDney phOtOS: CaROline nORRiS, MaRC ReUhl, UniVeRSity Of SyDney
U
LTIMATELY, racing success is the result of not only a ‘superior pedigree’ but also of an ideal environment that includes trainer, jockey and nutrition among a myriad of other things. With so many environmental variables influencing racing success, the degree in which an individual’s superior performance is attributable to its pedigree can be unclear. In addition to this, the likelihood of this performance being passed on to future generations is uncertain and can complicate the process of sire and dam selection. Researchers at the University of Sydney are applying science to determine just how accurately progeny racing performance can be predicted from genetics, and a recent article published in the Equine Veterinary Journal described their work in Hong Kong. Fortunately, a virtue of racing success being a multifactorial trait (a term used to describe a trait resulting from the combined effect of both environmental and genetic variables) is that researchers can estimate the relative importance of genetic and environmental factors contributing to racing success. This is done through genetic analyses that can account for the influences of known environmental variables such as trainer, track, and jockey. Such analyses ultimately result in a genetic parameter that is characteristic of each selected trait and is referred to as heritability.
How is heritability measured? Essentially, heritability describes the extent to which relatives will resemble each other in relation to a trait of interest. These traits can range from prize money earned and number of stakes race wins to more complex traits such as liability for a specific disease or the risk for a certain type of injury. Put another way, heritability can be viewed as the likelihood of the performance of any sire or dam being reflected in their foals. Heritability estimates
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range from 0.0 to 1.0 with estimates less than 0.20 considered lowly heritable and estimates above 0.40 considered highly heritable. However, it is vitally important to understand what is implied by a heritability estimate above 0. Racing success is complex and likely involves a combination of potentially hundreds of genes that influence muscle, respiration, bone, circulation and even the “will to win”. Each of the genes involved likely has a small individual effect on racing success that is ultimately captured by the estimate of heritability. In essence, a heritability of 0.16 for race win time at 1,000 metres would suggest that 16% of the variation seen in 1,000-metre race win times is due to the combination of genes that make up each individual horse. The remaining 84% would then be a result of environmental factors such as jockey and the condition of the racetrack.
Applying science in a racing population Given the varied use of racing statistics such as cumulative earnings, stakes race wins to advertise the superiority of stallions standing at stud and yearlings at sales, the heritability of
“It is possible that the low heritabilities for Hong Kong racing success are a result of the horses racing in Hong Kong being “genetically” evenly matched”
racing success in Hong Kong was recently explored by researchers at the University of Sydney. While previous researchers have estimated the heritability of racing success in North America and Europe, heritability estimates are characteristic of the population in question and can change if the genetic structure of a population changes. For example, if the industry prefers more sprinter types instead of stayer types. Hong Kong’s racing population is unique in that not only is the entire racing population composed of imported horses but all of the horses are primarily trained at one racecourse (Sha Tin Racecourse). Additionally, all racing, training and veterinary procedures are monitored and regulated with a higher stringency than any other racing population in the world. Researchers at the University of Sydney analysed data for 4,947 horses that had competed in a race in Hong Kong over the last decade from Australasia, Europe, North America, South America and Africa. These horses represented offspring from 1,071 sires and 4,485 dams. Traits often associated with racing success, such as earnings, finish position and race win times were calculated for every horse. Adjusting for known environmental effects such as trainer, track condition, age and barrier position the heritability of these traits were then estimated.
Winning time: a decent predictor The heritabilities for the time it takes a horse to finish a race varied by distance and ranged from 0 to 0.16, while the heritability of race win time ranged from 0.06 to 0.52. It is possible that because analyses only accounted for the official distance of each race and not the actual distance
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Researchers at the University of Sydney analysed the data of over 4,500 horses which had raced at Sha Tin to determine traits
each horse has run (with horses that are caught out wide covering more ground than those that stay next to the inside rail) or the tempo of the race, these estimates may be biased downwards. The heritability of win time at 1,600 metres (heritability = 0.52) was slightly higher than estimates in other racing populations and provides an interesting point of discussion. Previous estimates of heritability for win time have ranged from 0.05 to 0.28 with most placing win time as lowly heritable when environmental variation is accurately adjusted for. While it is typically uncommon to list win times for races in breeding advertisements for sires, these estimates from studies on varying populations suggests that the time it takes a horse to win a race may be a decent predictor of the performance of future progeny for races run under similar conditions.
Finish position: genetics can be overcome Heritability estimates pertaining to finish position were low and ranged from 0.01 to 0.06 and, as expected, were highly influenced by trainer, sex, and racing experience (career length, number of previous race starts). The region from which a horse originated was also associated with finish position. This is likely due to the breeding emphasis in certain racing regions, such as Australasia, which tend to favour sprint type horses, being more suited to the racing conditions and regulations in Hong Kong. In addition to this, because heritability estimates for finish position are low, they also suggest that a horse from a “weaker” family may
still perform at an elite level if it were to experience the right environment.
Career earnings: highly influenced by non-genetic factors Heritability for career earnings in Hong Kong was low (heritability = 0.06); however, studies from other racing populations have suggested a moderate heritability (0.20–0.40) for career earnings. Although to some extent this supports the use of earnings as a tool for advertising the best sires and dams, it must be noted that earnings are highly influenced by many environmental factors such as trainer and sex. Without proper consideration of these influences, the claim of superiority of one horse over another would not necessarily be accurate.
Do these conclusions apply outside Hong Kong? Keeping in mind that heritability estimates are specific to a population, it is possible that the
low heritabilities for Hong Kong racing success are a result of the horses racing in Hong Kong being “genetically” evenly matched. Heritability analyses depend on the variation that exists within a population and if the same genes or groups of genes are present in nearly all of the horses racing in Hong Kong, then heritability will be low. It is possible and by all accounts likely, that purchasers of horses bound for a racing career in Hong Kong favour a specific type of horse. If true, this would ultimately reduce the amount of genetic variation in the Hong Kong racing population and reduce the importance of a “strong” pedigree as it pertains to racing success in Hong Kong. However, if a racing population has a large amount of genetic variation, most likely observed in the substantial thoroughbred breeding industries of Australia and the United States, heritability would likely be significantly higher as a strong pedigree would play a more vital role in racing success. n
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ADVERTORIAL
Equine Flu: ProteqFlu® first to secure Clade 2 update The recent launch of the updated equine influenza (EI) vaccine, ProteqFlu®, brings to market the first and only EI vaccine in Europe to contain a clade 2 strain, and also the only vaccine that is fully compliant with the latest 2014 OIE World Organisation For animal Health Expert Surveillance Panel (ESP) recommended EI vaccine strains. Louise Radford MRCVS of manufacturer Merial Animal Health explains the significance of the launch. Merial, the world-leading, innovationdriven animal health company has recently launched the updated ProteqFlu vaccine, marking the UK’s first and only fully updated equine flu vaccine that contains both a Clade 1 and Clade 2 antigen, which includes protection against the latest Florida Clade 2 strain, Richmond 07. This is a significant step for horse health and the equine industry as a whole. Since its launch in 2003, ProteqFlu has become a leading EI vaccine on the European market, demonstrating its success and efficacy in real outbreaks, particularly during the last major outbreak - in Australia in 2007 – when it was the only vaccine chosen for the
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eradication programme. EI remains a significant disease across most of the globe, primarily due to its ability to cause extensive disruption to equestrian breeding, training and competition schedules. As a result of this threat, vaccination against EI has become widespread and mandatory in some equestrian disciplines, being made mandatory for racing thoroughbreds in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France in 1981 following epizootics in 1979. Virus strains are constantly evolving, a process which is monitored regularly by a panel of EI experts (Expert Surveillance Panel or ESP), which includes representatives from OIE reference laboratories. Data from outbreaks of EI, particularly in vaccinated horses, and the antigenic and genetic characteristics of EI viruses are reviewed annually. Recommendations are then made on the need to update vaccines. The ESP’s latest recommendations are that vaccines for the international market should contain representative H3N8 EI viruses from both Clade 1 and Clade 2 of the Florida sublineage, with no requirement stipulated any longer for European lineage H3N8 or H7N7 EI viruses. The timely updating of influenza vaccines with relevant viruses is considered essential by the ESP to minimise the threat of EI to equine populations worldwide. The continuous evolution of EI vaccines is of major concern in relation to maintaining the protection of equine populations against EI across the world. If there is a mismatch between the ‘field’ virus and those strains in a vaccine containing ‘outdated’ strains the horse will be affected and even if only sub-clinically infected, is more likely to shed virus. By way of example, the vaccinated animals from Japan that introduced EI virus into the Australian quarantine facility in 2007 had been vaccinated with vaccines containing outdated strains, as none of the vaccines available at the time had been updated in line with the most recent OIE recommendations. The New updated ProteqFlu received its EU marketing authourisation on 11th July 2014, and is available in most European markets as of December 2014. www.merial.com
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ADVERTORIAL
New TopSpec UlsaKind® Cubes New TopSpec UlsaKind cubes are formulated to be highly sympathetic to the equine digestive system, even when it is compromised by excess acidity. The formula is very low in starch and sugar and high in fibre but still has a conditioning index of 12MJ/kg making these cubes both 'NonHeating' and conditioning. TopSpec UlsaKind cubes are ideal in those circumstances where the internal surface of the stomach has been eroded, because they contain very high levels of glucans which coat the stomach lining with a protective film. These glucans also slow the rate of passage of feed through the stomach and intestines. In the stomach this means that the periods of time when the stomach is empty and therefore highly acidic, are reduced. It also means that the small intestine has more time to absorb nutrients reducing the levels of carbohydrate reaching the hindgut and potentially leading to excess lactic acid production. This effect is augmented by the addition of a source of pectin to the formula. The glucans in TopSpec UlsaKind cubes also bind to sugars in the intestine, slowing their absorption and so lowering the glycaemic index of the feed. The TopSpec UlsaKind formula also contains 1% of a marine-derived ingredient with established buffering properties. This calcium and magnesiumrich substance has been scientifically proven to reduce the environmental acidity under simulated in vitro equine stomach digestive conditions for up to six hours. Omega 3 fatty acids are provided by two sources of linseed and the ratio of Omega 3:6 is higher than in most traditional horsefeeds. Omega 3 fatty acids are less inflammatory than Omega 6 fatty acids. Soya oil is included in the formula as it has been proven to soothe eroded areas of the stomach lining. The highly digestible fibre in these cubes helps to promote the beneficial bacteria in the hindgut therefore further helping to maintain a healthy hindgut environment. Sodium, calcium and magnesium are added to the blend to provide the correct level of these major minerals. The calcium and magnesium also help to slightly negate excess acidity in the stomach. For further information please contact the Multiple Award-Winning Helpline on 01845 565030 or visit www.topspec.com
Ovvet: Gastric Control Gold Gastric ulceration is a serious yet common condition that can affect any horse, at any age. The racehorse in training is particularly susceptible; studies show that 93% of this group suffer from stomach ulcers, yet the symptoms can be unspecific often with the horse showing no outward clinical signs. As a result they are frequently not recognised, therefore remain untreated. These symptoms are very similar to colic which remains the single largest cause of death in the equine industry. However, research shows that every horse, not just racehorses, will suffer with varying degrees of ulcers at most times of its life. The treatment of this multi-faceted disease is fast emerging as one of the greatest challenges in contemporary equine medicine. Ovvet’s aim is to educate and inspire the equine industry to use a range of functional superfood products, which have been developed to help in achieving optimal intestinal activity and overall equine health. Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS) is erosion of the stomach lining, caused by constant exposure to gastric acid and spans a wide spectrum of severity, from inflammation of the epithelium (stomach lining) to perforation and bleeding. Diagnostic classification includes a point scoring system from 0 to 4, with 2 and above considered clinically significant. A healthy gastro intestinal tract will positively affect a variety of functions in the horse and is key to its performance and wellbeing. Ovvet’s Gastric Control Gold is a clinically tested unique formula specifically designed for horses susceptible to colic or suffering from EGUS. Highly developed natural ingredients, including Fermaid®Ease 187 (strain 1077), organic mushroom compound, Levucell SC (a natural live yeast to assist digestion) and omega 3 provide anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving treatment, stabalising the pH value of the colon and giving genuine assistance in repairing the ulcerated tissue. Gastric Control Gold is rich in vitamin D, antioxidant and boosts the immune system. Fermaid®Ease 187 (strain 1077) is the end product from the fermentation of high-quality soya flour with a certain lactic acid bacterium, L. delbrueckii, which stimulates macrophage and lymphocyte activity. In clinical trials at Newmarket, horses treated with Fermaid®Ease 187 (strain 1077) were found to have significant improvements in their clinical symptoms, with pain considerably reduced and in most cases, the absence of colic. Following pre-treatment with Omeprozal (for grades 3 and 4), there were considerably fewer recurring ulcers. For more information on Gastric Control Gold and other products from Ovvet contact tel: 01604 874693 email: colin@ovvet.eu or visit www.ovvet.eu
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STAKES SCHEDULES 2015 RACES
COPYRIGHT
Races are divided by distance and the relevant surface is indicated as follows: AWT - All Weather Track D - Dirt T - Turf Countries covered in this issue are: France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States.
Under Copyright law, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means. This includes but not limited to; photocopying for commercial redistribution and or facsimile recording without the prior permission of the copyright holder, application for which should be addressed to the publisher.
CLOSING DATES Closing dates for all Irish races are set for domestic entry dates. Please check International entry dates with the relevant issue of The Racing Calendar.
DISCLAIMER Whilst every effort has been made to publish correct information, the publishers will not be held liable for any omission, mistake or change to the races listed in all published indexes.
Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13
5f (1000m)
Country Track
Race Name & (Sponsor)
Class
Race Date
Value
Age
Surface
Metres
UAE UAE GB
Meydan Meydan Lingfield Park
Meydan Sprint Al Quoz Sprint Hever Sprint (Bookmakers.co.uk)
L Gr 1 L
8-Mar-2015 29-Mar-2015 15-Mar-2015
$175000 $1000000 £45000
NH 4yo+ SH 3yo+ T NH 3yo+ SH 3yo+ T 4+ AWT
1000 1000 1000
UAE UAE GB UAE SIN GER GER
Meydan Meydan Doncaster Meydan Singapore Hamburg Baden-Baden
Al Shindagha Sprint Mahab Al Shimaal Cammidge Trophy (williamhill.com) Dubai Golden Shaheen Krisflyer International Sprint Hamburg Flieger-Preis Goldene Peitsche
$200,000 $200,000 £37000 $2,000,000 $790,000 € 55000 € 70000
NH 4yo+ SH 3yo+ AWT NH 3yo+ SH 3yo+ AWT 3+ T NH 3yo+ SH 3yo+ AWT 3+ T 3+ T 3+ T
1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200
GER
Munich
Silberne Peitsche
Visit www.trainermagazine.com Gr 3 Gr 3 L Gr 1 Gr 1 Gp 3 Gp 3
13-Feb-2015 8-Mar-2015 29-Mar-2015 29-Mar-2015 18-May-2015 2-Jul-2015 31-Aug-2015
Meydan Lingfield Park Meydan Wolverhampton Lingfield Park Baden-Baden
Al Fahidi Fort Cleves St Meydan Classic Lady Wulfruna Spring Cup (32Red) Zukunfts-Rennen
Gr 2 L L L L Gp 3
UAE UAE USA UAE FR UAE UAE FR UAE USA UAE IRE GB UAE GER GER GER GER GER GER GER GER GER GER GER
Meydan Meydan Santa Anita Meydan Cagnes-Sur-Mer Meydan Meydan Cagnes-Sur-Mer Meydan Santa Anita Meydan Curragh Doncaster Meydan Dusseldorf Cologne Koln Dusseldorf Baden-Baden Hamburg Krefeld Baden-Baden Munich Cologne Baden-Baden
Al Maktoum Challenge Rd 1 Cape Verdi Las Virgenes St UAE 1000 Guineas Prix De La Californie Firebreak St UAE 2000 Guineas Prix Saonois Zabeel Mile Frank E. Kilroe Mile Burj Nahaar Park Express St (Lodge Park Stud EBF) Doncaster Mile Godolphin Mile Fruhjahrs-Meile Karin Baronin von Ullmann- Schwarzgold-Rennen Mehl-Mulhens-Rennen - German 2,000 Guineas German 1,000 Guineas Badener Meile Franz Günther von Gaertner-Gedächtnisrennen-Hamburger Stutenmeile Meilen Trophy Darley Oettingen-Rennen Grosse Europa-Meile Preis des Winterfavoriten Preis der Winterkonigin
USA
Santa Anita
Santa Anita Oaks
23-Jan-2015 22-Feb-2015 27-Feb-2015 8-Mar-2015 15-Mar-2015 3-Sep-2015
3+
T
1300
9-Jan-2015 30-Jan-2015 1-Feb-2015 6-Feb-2015 9-Feb-2015 13-Feb-2015 13-Feb-2015 15-Feb-2015 27-Feb-2015 8-Mar-2015 8-Mar-2015 25-Mar-2015 29-Mar-2015 29-Mar-2015 13-Apr-2015 20-Apr-2015 26-May-2015 1-Jun-2015 5-Jun-2015 28-Jun-2015 13-Jul-2015 4-Sep-2015 14-Sep-2015 12-Oct-2015 19-Oct-2015
$250,000 £37000 $125000 £45000 £45000 € 55000
NH 4yo+ SH 3yo+ T 4+ AWT NH 3yo+ SH 3yo+ T 4+ AWT 3 AWT 2 T
1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400
$250000 NH 4yo+ SH 3yo+ AWT $200,000 NH F&M 4yo+ SH F&M 3yo+ T $300000 3F D $250000 NH 3F SH 3F AWT € 60,000 3 T $200000 SH-bred 3+ & NH-bred 4+ AWT $250,000 NH 3yo SH 3yo AWT € 52,000 4+ T $250,000 NH 3yo+ SH 3yo+ T $400,000 4+ T $200,000 NH 4yo+ SH 3yo+ AWT € 80000 3+ F T £37000 4+ T $1,000,000 NH 4yo+ SH 3yo+ AWT € 55000 4+ T € 55000 3F T € 153000 3 CF T € 125000 3F T € 55000 3+ T € 55000 3+ F M T € 70000 3+ T € 70000 3+ T € 55000 3+ T € 155000 2 T € 105000 2 T
1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600 1600
5-Apr-2015
10-Feb-15 03-Mar-15 24-Mar-15 17-Jan-15 05-Mar-15 06-May-15 15-Jul-15
6.5
04-Mar-15
7 7 7 7 7 7
20-Jan-15 16-Feb15 24-Feb-15 03-Mar-15 10-Mar-15 15-Jul-15
8f (1600m)
Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore Gr 1
6 6 6 6 6 6 6
7f (1400m)
Visit www.trainermagazine.com Gr 2 Gr 2 Gr 1 L L Gr 3 Gr 3 L Gr 2 Gr 1 Gr 3 Gp 3 L Gr 2 Gp 3 Gp 3 Gp 2 Gp 2 Gp 3 Gp 3 Gp 2 Gp 2 Gp 3 Gp 3 Gp 3
Closing
03-Mar-15 17-Jan-15 10-Mar-15
6.5f (1300m) € 55000
2-May-2015
Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 UAE GB UAE GB GB GER
5 5 5
6f (1200m)
Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore Gp 3
Furlongs
8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
06-Jan-15 27-Jan-15 23-Jan-15 03-Feb-15 31-Jan-15 10-Feb-15 10-Feb-15 07-Feb-15 24-Feb-15 22-Feb-15 03-Mar-15 18-Mar-15 24-Mar-15 17-Jan-15 04-Mar-15 25-Feb-15 04-Mar-15 11-Mar-15 15-Jun-15 06-May-15 20-May-15 15-Jul-15 22-Jul-15 CLOSED CLOSED
8.5f (1700m) $400000
3F
D
1700
8.5
22-Mar-15
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STAKES SCHEDULES Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 Country
Track
Race Name & (Sponsor)
Class
Race Date
Value
USA GER GER GER
Oaklawn Park Krefeld Dusseldorf Krefeld
Apple Blossom H Dr. Busch-Memorial Landeshauptstadt Dusseldorf Herzog von Ratibor-Rennen
Gr 1 Gp 3 Gp 3 Gp 3
11-Apr-2015 27-Apr-2015 5-Oct-2015 9-Nov-2015
$600000 € 55000 € 55000 € 55000
UAE UAE BAR USA UAE USA USA USA
Meydan Meydan Garrison Savannah Santa Anita Meydan Santa Anita Oaklawn Park Arlington Park
Al Rashidiya Jebel Hatta XXXII Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup Santa Margarita St Dubai Duty Free Santa Anita Derby Arkansas Derby Pucker Up St
GER
Dortmund
Grosser Preis der Wirtschaft
8.5f (1700m) Age
Surface
Metres
4+ F&M 3 3+ 2
D T T T
1700 1700 1700 1700
NH 4yo+ SH 3yo+ NH 4yo+ SH 3yo+ 3+ 4+ FM NH 4yo+ SH 3yo+ 3 3 3F
T T T D T D D T
1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800 1800
3+
T
1850
Visit www.trainermagazine.com Gr 2 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 1 Gr 3
30-Jan-2015 8-Mar-2015 8-Mar-2015 15-Mar-2015 29-Mar-2015 5-Apr-2015 12-Apr-2015 15-Aug-2015
Meydan Meydan Meydan Meydan Arlington Park
Al Maktoum Challenge Rd 2 UAE Oaks Al Bastakiya UAE Derby Beverly D. St
Gr 2 Gr 3 L Gr 2 Gr 1
GB FR FR USA UAE GB GB UAE GER SIN GER GER GER GER USA USA USA GER GER GER
Lingfield Park Cagnes-Sur-Mer Cagnes-Sur-Mer Santa Anita Meydan Lingfield Park Kempton Park Meydan Frankfurt Singapore Munich Hoppegarten Hamburg Munich Arlington Park Arlington Park Arlington Park Baden-Baden Hoppegarten Baden-Baden
Winter Derby Trial Grand Prix de la Riviera Côte dAzur Prix Policeman Santa Anita H’cap Al Maktoum Challenge Rd 3 Coral.co.uk Winter Derby Magnolia St Dubai World Cup Fruhjahrspreis des Bankhaus Metzler Singapore Airlines International Cup Bavarian Classic Diana Trial Hamburg Trophy Grosser-Dallmayr Preis Arlington Million XXXI American St Leger St Secretariat Stakes Sparkassen- Finanzgruppe Preis der Deutschen Einheit Baden-Wurttemberg-Trophy
GER GER
Krefeld Krefeld
Grosser Preis der Sparkasse Niederrhein-Pokal
GER GER GER GER GER GER
Baden-Baden Cologne Hamburg Dusseldorf Baden-Baden Hannover
Grosser Preis der Badischen Unternehmer Oppenheim Union-Rennen Hamburger Stutenpreis Henkel Preis der Diana German Oaks Baden Racing Stutenpreis Herbst Stutenpreis
UAE UAE GER GER GER GER GER GER GER
Meydan Meydan Koln Hamburg Hamburg Hoppegarten Baden-Baden Cologne Munich
Dubai City of Gold Dubai Sheema Classic Gerling-Preis Grosser Hansa Preis IDEE 145. Deutsches Derby Grosser Preis Von Berlin Longines Grosser Preis von Baden Preis von Europa Grosser Pries Von Bayern
JPN FR
Nakayama Cagnes-Sur-Mer
Stewards Cup Grand Prix du Conseil General des Alpes-Maritimes
UAE GER
Meydan Dortmund
Nad Al Sheba Trophy Deutsches St Leger
GER
Hoppegarten
Oleander- Rennen
6-Feb-2015 27-Feb-2015 8-Mar-2015 29-Mar-2015 15-Aug-2015
22-Feb-2015 9-Feb-2015 22-Feb-2015 8-Mar-2015 8-Mar-2015 15-Mar-2015 29-Mar-2015 29-Mar-2015 4-May-2015 18-May-2015 18-May-2015 25-May-2015 4-Jul-2015 27-Jul-2015 15-Aug-2015 15-Aug-2015 15-Aug-2015 30-Aug-2015 4-Oct-2015 19-Oct-2015
$250000 $250,000 $250,000 $2,000,000 USD750000
NH 4yo+ SH 3yo+ NH 3F SH 3F NH 3yo SH 3yo NH 3 SH 3 3+ FM
AWT AWT AWT AWT T
1900 1900 1900 1900 1900
£37000 € 60,000 € 60000 $1,000,000 $400000 £100000 £37000 $10,000,000 € 55000 $2,370,000 € 55000 € 70000 € 55000 € 155000 USD1000000 USD400000 USD500000 € 55000 € 85000 € 55000
4+ 4+ 3 4+ NH 4yo+ SH 3yo+ 4+ 4+ NH 4yo+ SH 3yo+ 3 3+ 3 3F 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+ 3 4+ 3+ 3+
AWT AWT AWT D AWT AWT AWT AWT T T T T T T T T T T T T
2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
3 3+
T T
2050 2050
8-Jun-2015 15-Jun-2015 5-Jul-2015 3-Aug-2015 6-Sep-2015 26-Oct-2015
€ 70000 € 70,000 € 55000 € 500000 € 55000 € 55000
4+ 3 3F 3F 3+ F 3+ F M
T T T T T T
2200 2200 2200 2200 2200 2200
8-Mar-2015 29-Mar-2015 11-May-2015 29-Jun-2015 6-Jul-2015 10-Aug-2015 7-Sep-2015 28-Sep-2015 2-Nov-2015
$250,000 $6,000,000 € 70000 € 70000 € 650000 € 175000 € 250000 € 155000 € 155000
NH 4yo+ SH 4yo+ NH 4yo+ SH 4yo+ 4+ 3+ 3 CF 3+ 3+ 3+ 3+
T T T T T T T T T
2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400 2400
26-Jan-2015 22-Feb-2015
3+ 4+
T T
2500 2500
1-Mar-2015 21-Sep-2015
$200000 SH-bred 3+ & NH-bred 4+ T € 55000 3+ T
2800 2800
64 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 48
15-May-2015
9.5 9.5 9.5 9.5 9.5
03-Feb-15 24-Feb-15 03-Mar-15 17-Jan-15 23-May-15
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
17-Feb-15 31-Jan-15 14-Feb-15 22-Feb-15 03-Mar-15 11-Feb-15 24-Mar-15 17-Jan-15 04-Mar-15 05-Mar-15 04-Mar-15 01-Apr-15 06-May-15 06-May-15 23-May-15 23-May-15 23-May-15 15-Jul-15 05-Aug-15 26-Aug-15
10.25 10.25
24-Jun-15 16-Sep-15
11 11 11 11 11 11
15-Apr-15 25-Mar-15 13-May-15 CLOSED 15-Jul-15 02-Sep-15
12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12
03-Mar-15 17-Jan-15 18-Mar-15 06-May-15 CLOSED 20-May-15 17-Jun-15 01-Jul-15 12-Aug-15
12.5 12.5
14-Feb-15
14f (2800m)
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29-Apr-15
12.5 (2500m)
$5200000 € 75,000
Visit www.trainermagazine.com Gr 3 Gp 3
9.25
12f (2400m)
Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore Gr 1 L
05-Aug-15
11f (2200m)
Visit www.trainermagazine.com Gr 2 Gr 1 Gp 2 Gp 2 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gp 1 Gp 1
27-Jan-15 03-Mar-15 10-Jan-15 06-Mar-15 17-Jan-15 CLOSED
10.25f (2050m) € 55000 € 55000
17-Aug-2015 9-Nov-2015
Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 Gp 2 Gp 2 Gp 3 Gp 1 Gp 3 Gp 3
9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
10f (2000m)
Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore Gp 3 Gp 3
25-Feb-15 12-Aug-15 19-Aug-15
9.5f (1900m)
Visit www.trainermagazine.com L L L Gr 1 Gr 1 Gp 3 L Gr 1 Gp 3 Gr 1 Gp 3 Gp 2 Gp 3 Gp 1 Gr 1 L Gr 1 Gp 3 Gp 3 Gp 3
Closing
9.25f (1850m) € 55000
22-Jun-2015
Call us on +44 (0)1380 816 777 to subscribe from £13 UAE UAE UAE UAE USA
8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5
9f (1800m) $200,000 $300000 $102500 $350000 $6,000,000 $1000000 $1,000,000 USD100000
Now available for iPhone/iPad via Appstore Gp 3
Furlongs
€55000
14 14
24-Feb-15 29-Jul-15
16f (3200m) 4+
T
3200
16
01-Apr-15
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