North American Trainer - Summer 2020 - Issue 56

ISSUE 56 – Summer 2020 $6.95 www.trainermagazine.com

THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE FOR THE TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE THOROUGHBRED

JUAN CARLOS AVILA Can the Venezuelan’s dream become a reality in this year’s Kentucky Derby?

JUSTIFY, JIMSON WEED & JUSTICE From the racetrack to the courtroom

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE

JESSICA BUCKLEY

Woodbine’s new SVP of Racing Operations

MONITORING BOWED TENDONS

A review of different treatment options

| OPINION |

BLUEGRASS FARMS KENTUCKY IS THE PLACE TO BE

GILES ANDERSON

PUBLISHER’S OPINION

Normally, in early May we look forward to producing our ‘Triple Crown’ edition of North American Trainer. But with the events of the past few months, we pushed back publication of this issue until now, now that the world is starting to return to normal - well the ‘new normal’.

Much is written about this ‘new normal’ and it has led me to think of some of the positives which we could take out of the whole pandemic shutdown.

Will we continue to maintain the enhanced biosecurity measures in place on the backstretch for the health of our horses and those who care for them?

Does the lack of ongoing spectator participation in racing cast a light on the reliance of Advance Deposit Wagering (ADW) providers to help keep the show on the road?

Should there be a better distribution model for revenues generated through these ADW’s with a set percentage of revenue earmarked not only for the host track who have generated the signal as well as going directly to purse funds?

The handle figures from the major ‘brand’ tracks over the past few weeks have simply been astounding and one surely has to ask, would they have been even higher had the ‘average Joe’ sports fan been able to access more simple information about the sport to allow them to participate.

Surely, now is the perfect time to produce some type of complimentary Past Performance product to educate this casual viewer of racing.

On the racetrack, the horses which we thought would likely start in the delayed 2020 renewal of the Kentucky Derby have gradually fallen by the wayside. One can only but sympathise with the owners of Charlatan, Nadal and Maxfield who can only dream of what could have been.

But for one trainer, the dream is very much alive - our cover profile for this issue is on Juan Carlos Avila, who is responsible for one of the star horses of the spring ‘prep’ season - King Guillermo. His charge is now being conditioned for a daring bid at this year’s Kentucky Derby, I say daring as he’s bidding to run the horse off (what will be) a 127 day layoff - could this prove to be one of the shrewdest training moves of the year? Only time will tell.

Finally, for those of you who like to access our website, we are giving you complimentary access to our online back issues library for both our North American and European editions. In total, we have over ninety editions of the magazine and over 500 articles to read. So please sign up online via www.trainermagazine.com/register Wherever your racing takes you this summer - good luck and stay safe!

TO ACCESS OUR BACK ISSUES ARCHIVE SIGN UP AT TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM/REGISTER

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ISSUE 56 TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM

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CONTRIBUTORS Editorial Director/Publisher Giles Anderson (859) 242 5025 Sub-Editor Jana Cavalier Advert Production Charlotte Fossey Circulation/Website Charlotte Fossey (1 888 659 2935) Advertising Sales Giles Anderson, Anna Alcock (859) 242 5025 Photo Credits: Joseph Cantin, Coady Photography, Derbe Glass/Coglianese, Kip Hannan, Eclipse Sportswire, Lauren King/Coglianese, Nicole Marie/Coglianese, Brad Mellema, Shutterstock, Seattle Slew photos are kindly the courtesy of Hollywood Park.

Cover Photograph Nicole Marie/Coglianese

Trainer Magazine is published by Anderson & Co Publishing Ltd. Contact details Tel: 1 888 659 2935 Fax: 1 888 218 4206 info@trainermagazine.com www.trainermagazine.com North America PO Box 13248, Lexington, KY 40583-3248 United Kingdom 14 Berwick Courtyard, Berwick St Leonard, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP3 5UA

Trainer Magazine is the official magazine of the California Thoroughbred Trainers.

It is distributed to all ‘Trainer’ members of the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and all members of the Consignors and Commercial Breeders Association, the Maryland Horse Breeders Association, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, the Alberta Thoroughbred Owners & Breeders Association and the Virginia Thoroughbred Association.

Alan F. Balch was hired as the executive director of the California Thoroughbred Trainers in April 2010. His professional career in racing began at Santa Anita in 1971, where he advanced to the position of senior vice president of marketing and assistant general manager, and was in charge of the Olympic Games Equestrian Events in Los Angeles in 1984.

He retired in the early 90s to become volunteer president of the National Equestrian Federation of the USA, as well as of the National Horse Show of Madison Square Garden. He remains president of USA Equestrian Trust, Inc. Alex Campbell is a freelance writer based in Toronto, Canada, covering Woodbine Racetrack. He earned the Jockey Club of Canada’s Sovereign Award for Outstanding Writing in 2013. His work has appeared in the Daily Racing Form, The Blood-Horse, Canadian Thoroughbred, and Harness Racing Update.

Ed Golden is the author of Santa Anita’s widely acclaimed “Stable Notes,” hailed by peers as “the best in racing.” A native of Philadelphia, he earned Eclipse Award honorable mention while with the Philadelphia Daily News and has written for the The Blood-Horse and USA Today.

Bill Heller is an Eclipse Awardwinning author of 26 books, including biographies of Hall of Fame jockeys Ron Turcotte, Randy Romero and Jose Santos. Bill and his wife Marianne live near Gulfstream Park in Florida. Bill’s son Benjamin is an accomplished marathon runner in Troy, N.Y. David Marlin PhD first studied racehorses as part of his PhD at the Animal Health Trust and was the first person in the UK to run horses on a high-speed treadmill. He then worked for 3 years in Newmarket for Luca Cumani.

From 1990-2005 David was senior scientist and Head of Physiology at the Animal Health Trust. His main areas of professional interest are exercise physiology, including nutrition, fitness training, thermoregulation, competition strategy, transport and respiratory disease.

Sarah Plevin is a sports medicine specialist and partner at Florida Equine Veterinary Associates. Her research focuses on preventing injuries in the juvenile racehorse.

Catherine Rudenko is an independent registered nutritionist with a focus on Thoroughbreds. Based in the UK Catherine has worked in the USA, Europe and Asia with trainers and studs creating feeds and feeding plans customized to their needs and climate. With a keen interest in education and research, Catherine works with professional bodies and universities to promote knowledge of nutrition and its importance in the management of Thoroughbreds and other breeds.

Peter J. Sacopulos is a partner in the law firm of Sacopulos, Johnson & Sacopulos in Terre Haute, Indiana where he represents clients in a wide range of equine matters. He is a member of the American College of Equine Counsel and serves on the Board of the Indiana Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and Indiana Thoroughbred Breed Development Advisory Committee. Mr. Sacopulos has written extensively on equine law issues and is a frequent speaker at equine conferences.

Dr. Mathieu Spriet is an associate professor in the Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences of the University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. He initially graduated in veterinary medicine in Lyon, France, and is a founding member of the American College of Veterinary Radiology’s subspecialty of Equine Diagnostic Imaging and a Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging.

Dr. Spriet has been instrumental in the development of the use of positron emission tomography (PET) on horse limbs.

Trainer Magazine (ISSN 17580293) is published 4 times a year, February, April, July and October by Anderson & Co Publishing and distributed in the USA

by Modern Litho | Brown Printing, 6009 Stertzer Road, Jefferson City, MO 65101.

Periodicals postage paid at Rahway, NJ and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Trainer Magazine, Anderson & Co Publishing, PO Box 13248, Lexington, KY 40583-3248.

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| CONTENTS |

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24

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ISSUE

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CONTENTS F E AT U R E S

ultrasound technology called ultrasound tissue characterization.

R EGUL A R S

08 Juan Carlos Avila - cover profile

50 The “Road to the Kentucky

06 Alan F. Balch column

20 Bleeders - the facts, fiction

Bill Heller talks to two trainers as to the impact the delayed Derby will have on their horses’ preparations and asks if the delay will benefit a horse currently “under the radar.”

78 #soundbites

Bill Heller portrays the trainer of King Guillermo, who’s currently dreaming of Kentucky Derby glory on the first Saturday in September.

and future direction

Dr. David Marlin looks at the facts, fiction and future direction of the treatment of exerciseinduced pulmonary hemorrhages.

24 We meet Jessica Buckley

- Woodbine’s new Senior Vice President of Racing Operations Alex Campbell introduces Jessica Buckley, the Senior Vice President of Racing Operations for both Woodbine and Woodbine Mohawk.

32 Justify, jimson weed & justice -

from the racetrack to the courtroom In the wake of a 2019 New York Times article revealing Justify had tested positive for a banned substance on race day, Ruis Racing has filed a lawsuit against the California Horse Racing Board. Peter J. Sacopulos explains the facts behind the case.

42 Monitoring bowed tendons

Sarah Plevin reviews different treatment options for “bowed tendons” and amongst those a new

@ t ra i n e r _ m a g

04

Derby” takes a detour

56 How PET scanning reduces catastrophic fractures

Dr. Mathieu Spriet updates us on the installation of a PET scanner at Santa Anita Park. A PET is the latest advance in equine imaging specifically designed to image horse legs.

This quarter, Bill Heller asks trainers if they are concerned that horses in 2019 had the fewest number or average starts per year and the smallest field size since at least 1950.

62 Grade 1 winning owners

Bill Heller profiles the Grade 1 winning owners George Bolton, Chris Mara and Jack Knowlton who all experienced Grade 1 success this past spring.

68 The balancing act

Catherine Rudenko examines the key considerations when reviewing what you feed and if you should supplement.

74 Remembering Seattle Slew

Ed Golden remembers Seattle Slew, who in 1977 became the only undefeated horse to win the Triple Crown.

/ t ra i n e r m a g a z i n e

TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM ISSUE 56

Just a few questions, please?

/ t ra i n e r m a g a z i n e

Visit trainermagazine.com to download our current digital editions and access back issues of both European and North American Trainer

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GE T B AC K ON T R AC K JUMPSTART YOUR TRAINING WITH A BOOST

By Mark Hansen

Now that it is time to get back to the tracks, the pressure to win is greater than ever before. Some will resort to whatever it takes to get an advantage . . . even if it means putting their horses’ lives in mortal danger by doping them with illegal synthetic erythropoietin (EPO) drugs to boost endurance.

Veterinarian Gary Smith said, “It’s a problem all over the industry. There is no way horses should be put on (synthetic) EPO.” So how do racers win? How are some trainers gaining a competitive edge? The answer may be found in a safe all-natural horse supplement that supports natural EPO function.

Why is EPO boosting so critical? Just like in people, a horse’s muscles require oxygen for fuel. Red blood cells are the body’s oxygen-carrying cells. A higher red blood cell count = more oxygen = more muscle energy. Elevated muscle energy helps the horse perform harder, faster and longer during endurance events. All horses naturally produce EPO in their kidneys to stimulate production of new red blood cells from bone marrow. In short, EPO is a natural “blood builder.”

With EPO doping, trainers try to boost the EPO effect to get a winning performance every time. They use a synthetic EPO (recombinant human EPO), even though the side effects can harm the horse. That’s one reason why it’s illegal.

Fortunately there’s another option. EPOEquine is a safe, highly effective natural dietary supplement scientifically engineered for performance horses.

A Kentucky trainer who refused to give out his name, said, “I don’t want my competition to know about this.” He found EPO-Equine to be so effective that he’s dead set against disclosing who he is, who his horses are, or even where he trains and races. He first started ordering a single jar of EPO-Equine once a month. Now he’s ordering several CASES each month. And he won’t tell BRL exactly why. He said respectfully, “Sorry – no way.”

Bioengineers at U.S. based Biomedical Research Laboratories (BRL), first discovered a completely natural EPO-booster for human athletes (and it’s working miracles for top athletes and amateurs around the world).

Seeing these results, horse trainers contacted BRL and asked about using this natural formula for their animals.

That’s when the BRL team dug deeper and discovered a proprietary, horse-friendly strain of a common herb that promotes optimal blood-building results. EPO-Equine is based on the blood-boosting abilities of a certain strain of Echinacea that’s astounding researchers and trainers alike. (It’s not a strain you can find at the local health store.)

Veterinarians at the Equine Research Centre in Ontario, Canada ran a double-blind trial investigating the blood building properties of the active ingredient in EPO-Equine in healthy horses. For 42 days, one group of horses was supplemented with the active ingredient in EPO-Equine and another group of horses was given a placebo.

The supplement delivered significant blood building results, increasing red blood cell count and hemoglobin levels. Researchers also observed improved blood quality and increased oxygen transport in the supplemented horses. Improved blood levels leads to elevated exercise physiology and performance.

The patent-pending formula in EPOEquine contains a dozen different herbs, antioxidants and anti-inflammatory components combined to promote natural red blood cell production . . . for remarkable speed, strength and stamina right out of the gate.

Trainers find it easy to add just 1 scoop (3.2 grams) of EPO-Equine to the horse’s daily feeding routine in the barn or on the road.

Within a few weeks of daily use, you can expect to see increased red blood cell levels with no undesirable side effects. An increase in red blood cell levels can improve muscle performance, supercharge endurance, and enhance recovery after hard exercise. Nothing else is scientifically proven to deliver these benefits in a completely safe and natural formula.

Compared to the cost of veterinarians, drugs, icing, tapping the knees, and putting the horse on Bute; or even the consequences of being banned for synthetic doping, EPOEquine is very affordable at the low price of just $59.95 per jar. You can now take advantage of an exclusive offer for Trainer’s readers. If you order this month, you’ll receive $10 off your first order by using promo code “NAT10” at checkout. EPO-Equine can be ordered at EPOEquine.com or 1-800-557-9055, and comes with a 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee.

| CALIFORNIA THOROUGHBRED TRAINERS |

ALAN F. BALCH

JUST A FEW QUESTIONS, PLEASE?

O

ne of the few upsides of having months to worry and reflect about where we all are in our lives and our sport, is that we have time to reflect.

And ponder the fundamentals.

So here are some impertinent questions we should consider, and should have considered seriously and resolved long before now, not just rhetorically, if horsemanship and our sport are really to have a prosperous future. Or any future.

Are breeders who breed unsoundness to unsoundness, or unproven to unsound, or unproven to unproven, likely to be breeding a better, sounder, more durable race horse? Which will, in turn, further improve the breed?

Does it really make sense to “surgically correct” conformation defects in weanlings?

For racing soundness? For future breeding soundness? For soundness, period? Is a surgically corrected yearling actually “sound,” in the sense of correct horsemanship?

Are conformation defects that have been corrected surgically likely to disappear magically when a corrected horse enters the breeding shed? Is it possible that “corrected” conformation defects are actually genetically compounded and multiplied during future generations of breeding?

Should surgical corrections to weanlings and yearlings be disclosed to potential buyers? To the breed registry? If not, why not? Is there any way to become aware of such procedures other than through “the honor system”?

Should The Jockey Club, as the breed registry, take responsibility for the proper phenotype (conformation) of the Thoroughbred, as well as for the genotype (genetic composition as determined through DNA testing)? If so, how, and if not, why not?

Given the economic Regression that is undoubtedly upon us now – note the use of that word instead of “recession” or “depression” – can or should or will this economic disaster present us some unavoidable opportunities to address these

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questions sensibly? The foal crop is already at 1965 levels. Given the delays that have been evident following previous economic calamities, will it be a year or probably two or more years from now that the foal crop numbers decline even more precipitously?

At some point, is it inevitable that the number of races conducted annually will finally begin to coincide once again with the supply of horses?

Will demand for durable, sound, substantial race horses ever reappear and return us to observing the maxim that racing is the proof of breeding? Where, when, and at what surviving tracks?

And just how can a track survive in the years to come? A breeder? A trainer?

An owner? Where do any of them find the will to survive? On what basis?

Haven’t common sense, as well as recent events, finally confirmed that our historic approach to testing for drugs and medications is desperately in need of thorough re-examination and restructuring?

With unfathomable millions being spent on routine testing concentrated on therapeutic medications as it always has been, shouldn’t we consider other approaches? Can correct, careful random testing of races going forward release necessary resources for concentrating on research, development, and sophisticated, expensive surveillance to discover and test for contemporary methods of cheating and abuse?

Is it likely that the ongoing collision of the profit-motive with the superior motives of enhanced horsemanship and respect for the breed itself – and the real reasons for breeding – will finally result in an heretofore unfathomable contraction of the sport in the aftermath of which those superior motives might again be asserted and respected? Weren’t those superior motives once the foundation of the sport, that enabled its growth and elaboration

and the public support some of us can still remember, however dimly?

Isn’t it time, or is it already too late, to distinguish publicly between animal welfare and animal rights?

Clearly to separate the two, which are very different? To understand that believing in animal “rights,” a fantasy requiring that any animal provide its “informed consent” to participating in any activity, is actually contradictory to our long-held beliefs in the importance of animal husbandry, animal welfare, the humane treatment of animals, and even owning pets? Isn’t it true that all those worthwhile practices contradict the “rights” doctrine that every species of animal – whether poultry, fish, livestock, equine, canine, feline, or human – is literally equal to any other in the natural order?

Will it fall to the leaders of our sport to organize any and all humane activities involving animals – whether the infinite variety of equestrian sport, pet ownership, zoos and aquaria, wildlife conservation practices, nurturing of livestock, poultry, and fish for human consumption – and tell the public how threatened these activities are by vegan extremists who seek to impose their lifestyles and beliefs on everyone else? Who use their freedom of speech and comment in the public square to advocate against the freedom of others to choose their own lifestyles? And who condemn racing’s behaviors relentlessly while countenancing the wholesale and heartless, intentional kills of countless rescued pets and other animals? Isn’t that extremist behavior not only unethical, but hypocritical? Shouldn’t we be saying so?

I’m not sure whether these questions are actually impertinent – rude, insolent, and impolite – but I’m confident they’re necessary to answer clearly and intelligently.

Forcefully. And seriously.

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PROFILE

N EW D REA M E R S Too often, dreams are derailed, deferred or dismissed. That doesn’t mean they never come true. Even if they’re delayed.

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Bill Heller

B

Nicole Marie/Coglianese Photos, Eclipse Sportswire

efore he emigrated from Venezuela to America in 2018, trainer Juan Carlos Avila had one dream: “To watch the Kentucky Derby as a fan,” he said.

Now he’s in it.

So is another dreamer—retired five-time All-Star baseball player Victor Martinez, a Venezuelan who followed through on his discussions with his wife about what they might do when he retired: buy a Thoroughbred. When that moment arrived, he told his trainer Juan Carlos Avila, “I don’t want a horse that can run in the Kentucky Derby, I want a horse to win the Derby.”

| JUAN CARLOS AVILA |

Avila replied, “You’re crazy.”

Not that crazy. Martinez is in it, too.

Yet another Venezuelan, Jockey Samy Camacho, dreamed of riding in the United States in major races. “That’s the dream of every jockey—like a baseball player—to move to the big time.” he said. “Everybody wants to ride here.”

He’s in the Derby, too.

All three—Avila, Martinez and Camacho—will have to wait a bit to realize that accomplishment as they and the entire world pray that the coronavirus pandemic, which led to Churchill Downs delaying the Derby from the first Saturday in May (May 2) to the ISSUE 56 TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM

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PROFILE

first Saturday in September (September 5), has subsided by then.

The horse that has led to this incredible confluence of Venezuelan dreamers is King Guillermo, named for Martinez’s father who died when Martinez was seven years old. King Guillermo’s dominant 4 ¾ length victory in the Gr2 Tampa Bay Derby at odds of 49-1 March 7 made him a legitimate Derby contender. His winning time was the third fastest in the Tampa Bay Derby’s 40-year-history.

He followed that performance with a strong second to undefeated Nadal in the second division of the rescheduled Gr1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on May 5. King Guillermo finished three lengths behind Nadal while a length and a half ahead of Finnick the Fierce in third.

“He put his heart out,” Martinez said May 7. “He showed a lot of people what he did in Tampa wasn’t a fluke. He’s got a big heart. I was really happy.”

Martinez, who watched the Arkansas Derby with his family on their ranch in Okeechobee, Fla., says King Guillermo would likely get another start before the Derby. He’s also hoping the coronavirus pandemic

BELOW: King Guillermo, and jockey Samy Camacho upset the field to win the 2020 Tampa Bay Derby at 49-1.

won’t cause Churchill Downs to change the September date. “Right now, I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “It’s still a lot of questions with this virus going around. There’s nothing you can do about it. You hope it goes back to normal.”

Having a starter in the Derby is his new normal, and he couldn’t be happier about that. Making King Guillermo’s ascension even more unbelievable is that Martinez might not have stayed in the U.S. to become a baseball star had his mother not advised him at a critical point at the beginning of his career to not abandon his dreams and continue to work hard. He did and he prospered.

HE PUT HIS HEART OUT, HE SHOWED A LOT OF PEOPLE WHAT HE DID IN TAMPA WASN’T A FLUKE. HE’S GOT A BIG HEART. I WAS REALLY HAPPY.” VICTOR MARTINEZ ON KING GUILLERMO

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| JUAN CARLOS AVILA |

When he retired, Martinez bought two horses at the 2019 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s April Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale and headed home to his family in Orlando.

He purchased a colt, Tio Will, and a filly, Princess Coro, who have begun their careers while still seeking their first victory. That night, Martinez dreamt of owning a horse by Uncle Mo. The next morning, his wife gave him an okay to buy a third horse. When King Guillermo failed to reach his RNA, Martinez was able to purchase him for $150,000.

Camacho, who was the leading rider at Tampa Bay Downs in its 2018-2019 season and is currently second in the 2019-2020 jockey standings, only got the chance to ride King Guillermo—who he had never sat on in a race or workout—in the Tampa Bay Derby after Paco Lopez opted to ride Chance It (who went off the 5-2 second choice in the race and finished fifth).

Then there’s King Guillermo himself. In his only prior dirt race, he had finished sixth by 11 ¼ lengths in his maiden debut last September 29 at Gulfstream Park.

He wouldn’t have been in the Tampa Bay Derby had Martinez not reminded Avila that he wanted a horse to win the Kentucky Derby; and he deserved a second chance to race on dirt. Avila caved and said okay. Then Martinez told his trainer he wanted that start to be in a race with qualifying points to get into the Derby. That was the Tampa Bay Derby. And King Guillermo delivered a sublime performance, prompting announcer Richard Grunder to call in the stretch, “Do you believe this?”

Minutes later in the winner’s circle, there were three delirious believers from Venezuela celebrating in utter joy—their ticket to the Kentucky Derby punched.

“We still don’t believe it,” Avila said.

ABOVE: Getting the horses ready for training.

RIGHT: King Guillermo with groom Jose Pildron.

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| JUAN CARLOS AVILA |

PROFILE

HE PUTS SO MUCH INTO HIS WORKOUTS. HE WORKS BETTER THAN ANY HORSE I’VE TRAINED IN 30 YEARS.” JUAN CARLOS AVILA ON KING GUILLERMO

Five days after the Tampa Bay Derby, Martinez said, “Man, we’re still talking about it. It’s 24/7 in my house, and we don’t get bored talking about it. We can’t believe it.”

They are hopefully headed to Louisville on the first Saturday in September—49 years after Canonero II (Venezuelan owned, trained and ridden) shocked the equine world by winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness before finishing fourth in the 1971 Belmont Stakes.

Avila had decided to train King Guillermo up to the Derby without another prep race, before the news broke of the Derby Delay. He had given King Guillermo a week of R&R at Savannah Farms in Ocala after his extraordinary win in the Tampa Bay Derby. “He’s very intense in that

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ABOVE: A ‘normal’ day in unusual times.

every time he works out, he wants to make holes in the dirt,” Avila said. “He puts so much into his workouts.

He works better than any horse I’ve trained in 30 years.

We wanted him to relax for a week. At 6 a.m., he goes into the paddock. He’s just running around to 2 p.m. when they come out to get him.”

Avila, 56, was born in Caracas, Venezuela, without any family background in racing. He played baseball, then decided to go to the racetrack in Caracas, La Rinconada Hippodrome. “I never touched a horse before that,” he said. “I was looking. I was learning.” He began as a hotwalker, advanced to groom and ultimately to trainer —winning nine training titles, including seven straight, while compiling nearly 3,000 victories.

He thought long and hard about leaving troubled Venezuela for the United States and did so in 2018. “It was the situation in the country,” he said. “The insecurity we had over there. It was dangerous. It was tough to live there. If you went out of your house, you didn’t know if you’d come back.”

He showed up at Gulfstream Park in February 2018, and he began the arduous task of finding owners. It didn’t take him long to make an impression. On behalf of JCA Racing Stables, he purchased Trophy Chaser, a Twirling Candy colt out of European Union by Successful Appeal, for $42,000 at the March Ocala Breeders Two-Year-Olds-in

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| JUAN CARLOS AVILA |

PROFILE

Training Sale. Trophy Chaser made his debut on August 25 that year and won a maiden race by 15 ¾ lengths. He had one win, one second and one third from five starts in 2019, then won his four-year-old debut this year at Gulfstream Park in an allowance race at Gulfstream Park by 8 ¼ lengths. Then, on the Tampa Bay Derby undercard, he won the Gr3 Challenger Stakes by a head with Paco Lopez riding him for the first time.

Avila met Martinez a month before the 2019 Ocala Two-Year-Olds-in Training April Sale through Martinez’s baseball agent Wilfredo Polidor. Avila had trained Thoroughbreds for Polidor in Venezuela.

Born in Bolivar, Venezuela, on December 23, 1978, Martinez is forever grateful for how hard his mother worked, especially after his father died. “My mom was a nurse,” he said. “She used to make $100 a month to support four kids in Venezuela.”

The Cleveland Indians signed him as an amateur free agent in 1996. “I came to this country in 1997 with zero dollars in my pocket,” he said.

The Indians gave him an $8,000 signing bonus.

When he got to training camp, Martinez discovered another rookie catcher from Puerto Rico. “They gave him a $500,000 signing bonus,” Martinez said. “I called my mom. I remember like it was yesterday. I called her. She said, ‘Keep going, keep dreaming because dreams are free.

Dreams don’t cost anything. Be sure to keep working hard.’”

BELOW: Juan Carlos and stable star King Guillermo.

He did, carving an outstanding career under the nickname “V-Mart.” A switch-hitting catcher, first baseman and designated hitter for the Detroit Tigers, the Boston Red Sox, the Cleveland Indians, the Toronto Blue Jays and back with Cleveland, Martinez was a career .295 hitter in 8,166 games through 16 seasons. A five-time All-Star, he batted .335 with the Tigers in 2014. He was a two-time winner of the Silver Slugger Award thanks to his power, evidenced by his 246 home runs and 1,178 runs-batted-in.

Along the way, he slowly became a horse racing fan.

“My wife and I always liked horse racing while I’m playing baseball,” he said. “We didn’t have time to go to the track a lot, but we said we may get into it when I retired. You can enjoy it. You can take your family and see your horse run.”

Sharing the experience with his wife Margaret and their four kids— 15-year-old Victor Jose, 12-year-old Maria Victoria, seven-year-old Barbara Victoria and two-year-old Camila—was very important to Martinez.

“This is what it’s all about,” he said. “I’ve always been about family.”

He retired in 2018 and didn’t wait long to act on his vision. “I spent a long time waiting to be retired,” he said.

“Last year, I told Wilfredo I’m ready to buy a couple of horses. He brought Juan Carlos to my house. I got to know him. We sat down and talked. I told him I wanted to buy a couple horses. A couple days later, we went to OBS.”

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ENVIRONUTRITION

ENVIROGROOMING

EQUINESERVICES

Got ulcers?

You’ve heard about them, worried about them, and maybe even treated them.

The American Association of Equine Practitioners estimates that 60-90% of adult horses have had Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome, so it’s best to prevent them before they make your horse (and your bottom line) cranky.

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PROFILE

Hiring Avila was an easy decision for Martinez: “He’s been training horses for more than 30 years. He won nine championships in Venezuela. This guy knows what he’s doing. He’s pretty serious about his job. I remember when we went to see the horses at Ocala. He is so dedicated.

I knew right away I was in good hands.”

He bought Princess Coco and Tio Wil, and returned to Orlando. “I went home, but for some reason, Juan Carlos stayed one more day,” Martinez said. “He told me that the one he really liked was selling the next day.”

The colt Avila really liked was a colt by Uncle Mo out of the Dixieland Band mare Slow Sand.

“That night, I had a dream about getting an Uncle Mo,” Martinez said. “I got up that morning and looked at my wife. We had bought those two horses with our vacation money. I said, kind of joking, ‘I should have another $100,000 left. Could you let me borrow $50,000?’ She said, ‘Go ahead.’ I said, ‘Really?’ She said ‘Yes.’” Martinez called Avila. Martinez’s timing was impeccable.

There were 10 horses to sell before King Guillermo was going to walk into the ring. “I was watching the sale on my iPad while I was talking to him on the phone,” Martinez said. The bidding went up to $150,000. They didn’t take it. He followed them to the barn to see if they would reconsider $150,000. I told the guy on the phone, ‘That’s all we got. I have no more.’ He said, ‘Okay, you got it.’”

Martinez and his family were on hand at Gulfstream Park when King Guillermo made his debut in a maiden dirt race. Send off the 6-5 favorite in the field of 13 off outstanding works, he finished sixth by 11 ¼ lengths September 29th. “It didn’t go well, but he was the No. 1

16

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pick (the favorite),” Martinez said. “My family was there. We had a good time. If we win, we win. We have a good time.”

The second time was a lot better. In his turf debut at Gulfstream Park West November 2, he won a maiden turf race by 6 ¼ lengths at 9-2. Stepping up to the $75,000 Pulpit Stakes at Gulfstream Park on November 30, King Guillermo led but weakened late, finishing third by 3 ½ lengths as the 3-2 favorite in the field of 11. Emisael Jaramillo rode King Guillermo in all three starts.

Soon afterwards, Martinez had a conversation with Avila, reminding him of what he said to him on Day 1: “The exact words I told him were, ‘Listen Juan Carlos, you’re going to look not for a horse to run in the Derby; I wanted a horse to win the Kentucky Derby. He laughed and said, ‘You’re crazy.’ I said, ‘I’ve always been like that.

I have dreams. I’ve been an athlete for 20 years.’ I told him I think he deserves one more shot on dirt. I said put him in a race to get to the Kentucky Derby.”

But King Guillermo needed a jockey. “His main jockey (Jaramillo) couldn’t come to Tampa Bay because he was busy at Gulfstream,” Martinez said. “We got Paco Lopez, but he got off King Guillermo.”

In stepped Samy Camacho from Valencia, Venezuela.

The son of a jockey, Samuel, Samy, now 30, came to the United States in 2012. “I rode five months as an apprentice,” he said. “I won 32 races. When I lost the bug, it was pretty hard for me. I went back to my country.”

Camacho returned to the U.S. in 2016, riding first at Calder in the winter and at Monmouth Park in the summer.

| JUAN CARLOS AVILA |

He then moved to Tampa Bay Downs and finished the 2018-2019 meet as the leading jockey, “I’m working so hard, and I do my very best every race,” Camacho said.

“God blessed me.”

When Lopez opted to ride Chance It in the Tampa Bay Derby, Camacho approached Avila to get a chance on King Guillermo. Avila gave him that opportunity. “King Guillermo ran three times,” Camacho said. “I watched the replays. He broke slow and didn’t like the kickback in the first race. The last two races on turf, he ran amazing.”

For his return to dirt, King Guillermo drew the 11 post in a field of 12. He would be ridden by a jockey who had never been on him before he legged up in the paddock.

“In my mind, I had to break good,” Camacho said.

Camacho did a great job getting away from the gate, and he set up in second—only two-wide on the first turn.

“Then I sat on my horse because I knew I had a lot of horse,” he said.

TO LET PEOPLE KNOW WHO JUAN CARLOS AVILA IS.”

And when he took charge in the early stretch? “Oh man, I’m clear,” Camacho said. “Wow, it was amazing, man. I’m thinking, ‘I got the Derby. I got the Derby. Come on Guillermo. Come on, you got it.’ It was unbelievable.”

After the finish line, Camacho said, “He wanted to keep going. He’s got more in the tank.”

Martinez was asked how this thrill compared to his baseball heroics. “This is something else,” he said. “I played in five All-Star games. I hit a homer in an All-Star game. I was in the playoffs. I had a lot of important hits, but nothing like this. When you see the horse on the turn, coming hard, literally by himself, the last few seconds of the race—there’s nothing to compare it to.”

There will not be a jockey change for the Kentucky Derby. “A lot of people ask who’s going to ride him,” Martinez said. “Samy Camacho got him in the Derby; Samy Camacho will ride him in the Derby.”

Avila will be cautious in his approach to the Derby.

“He’s not a big, big horse,” Avila said. “He’s not even 1,000 pounds. We have to train according to that.”

Asked if King Guillermo can produce a better performance than his race in the Tampa Bay Derby, Avila said, “It’s going to be tough to do better than that, but he can make the distance.”

Avila said his desire is “to let people know who Juan Carlos Avila is.”

They know. He’s the trainer of a horse who, hopefully, will be running for the roses on the first Saturday in September.

JUAN CARLOS AVILA’S DESIRE

ISSUE 56 TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM

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| VETERINARY |

BLEEDERS T H E FA C T S , F I C T I O N A N D F U T U R E D I R E C T I O N Dr. David Marlin

W

e are now approaching half a century since Bob Cook pioneered the use of the flexible fibreoptic endoscope, which allowed examination of the respiratory tract in the conscious horse. One of the important outcomes of this technique was that it opened the door to the study of “bleeding” or exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH). But nearly 50 years on the irony is perhaps that whilst we have become good at describing the prevalence of EIPH and some of the factors that appear to increase the severity of EIPH within individual horses, we still lack a clear understanding of the condition and how to manage it. I use the term manage rather than treat or prevent as our knowledge of EIPH

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Giles Anderson, Shutterstock must show us that EIPH cannot be stopped entirely; it is a consequence of intense exercise. The other irony is that in the past 50 years, by far the majority of research into the management of EIPH has focused on the use of the diuretic furosemide. Whilst we have good evidence from controlled studies that furosemide reduces the severity of EIPH on a single occasion, we still lack good evidence to suggest that furosemide is effective when used repeatedly during training and or racing; and there is also evidence to the contrary.

Let’s review some basic facts about EIPH, which should not be contentious.

• EIPH is the appearance of blood in the airways associated with exercise.

• EIPH occurs as a result of moderate to intense exercise.

In fact, EIPH has been found after trotting when deep lung

| EIPH – ANY REAL PROGRESS? |

wash (bronchoalveolar lavage or BAL) is done after exercise.

• EIPH most often involves the smallest blood vessels (capillaries) but can sometimes and less commonly be due to the rupture of larger blood vessels.

• The smallest blood vessels are extremely thin. Around 1/100th the thickness of a human hair. But this extremely thin membrane is also what allows racehorses such as Thoroughbreds, Standardbreds and Arabs to use oxygen at such a high rate and is a major reason for their athleticism.

• EIPH is a progressive condition. The chance of seeing blood in the trachea after exercise increases with time in racing.

• EIPH is variable over time, even when horses are scoped after the same type of work.

• If you ‘scope a horse after three gallops in a row, you can expect to see blood in the trachea on at least one occasion.

• EIPH damage to the lungs starts at the back and top, and over time moves forward and down and is approximately symmetrical.

• Following EIPH the lung becomes fibrotic (as scar tissue), stiffer and does not work as well. The iron from the blood is combined with protein and stored permanently in the lung tissue where it can cause inflammation.

• High blood pressure within the lung is a contributing factor in EIPH. Horses with higher blood pressure appear to suffer worse EIPH. • There is also evidence that upper airway resistance and breathing pattern can play a role in EIPH. • Airway inflammation and poor air quality may increase the severity of EIPH within individual horses.

• Increasing severity of EIPH appears to have an increasing negative effect on performance.

• Visible bleeding (epistaxis) has a very clear and marked negative effect on performance.

In order to make progress in the management of EIPH (i.e., to minimize the severity of EIPH in each individual), there are certain steps that trainers can take based on the information we have to date.

These include: • Ensuring good air quality in stables • Regular respiratory examination and treatment of airway inflammation • Reduced intensity of training during periods of treatment for moderate to severe airway inflammation • Extended periods of rest and light work with a slower return to work for horses following viral infection • Addressing anything that increases upper airway resistance (e.g., roaring, gurgling) • Avoiding intense work in cold weather • Avoiding extremes of going • Limiting number of training days in race preparation and increasing interval between races

What actually causes the capillaries to leak or rupture?

If you ask any vet, scientist or informed trainer what is the cause of EIPH, they will give the phrase “pulmonary capillary stress-failure”. But this is simply a description of what happens—NOT an explanation or a mechanism.

EIPH and pulmonary capillary stress-failure are both descriptions of what’s happening. We know high blood pressure makes the capillaries stiff. But what makes them actually rupture? A balloon filled with water may be distended and under a lot of stress. But a pin prick will actually make it burst. The pin is the cause.

Assessing EIPH At present the most common way to assess the severity of EIPH in horses in training and racing is by ‘scoping 30-40 minutes after exercise and scoring the amount of blood in the trachea. This is a crude method, and when we see a horse that has a score of 1 after one gallop and a 3 after the next gallop, we don’t know whether this is due to differences in how quickly the blood has moved from the periphery of the lung into the trachea or due to a true difference in the amount of bleeding. We know our ‘scoping scores vary from gallop to gallop; we just don’t know why. BAL (deep lung wash) is not the answer either. It will pick up blood when there is none to be seen in the trachea (i.e., it’s a more sensitive technique), but with BAL we are looking at relatively small areas of the lung. What we need is a technique that will allow us to image the whole lung and map the blood that is in the airways and not in the blood vessels so we can assess volume and distribution of hemorrhage.

Furosemide is not the answer A number of well-conducted and well-written scientific studies have shown conclusively that furosemide is effective in reducing the severity of EIPH in individual horses when used ONE time! We lack convincing studies that prove furosemide works as well when used one to two times a week for two to three months. In fact, several studies suggest that furosemide becomes less effective with regular use, such as the return to previous performance of horses after initial racing and improved performance on furosemide. In human medicine,

FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES IN UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING EIPH We have to accept EIPH as a normal consequence of intense exercise in horses. Our aim should be to reduce the severity to a minimum in each individual horse.

However, there are areas in which we still need a much greater scientific understanding.

ISSUE 56 TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM

21

| V E TT EE RR IINNAARRYY | |

of furosemide furosemide induces inducesshort-term short-term repetitive administration of diuretic resistance) resistance)and andlonglong(braking phenomenon, acute diuretic resistance) tolerance tolerance(i.e., (i.e.,ififyou yougive give term (chronic diuretic resistance) the same dose repeatedly, repeatedly,the thebody bodybecomes becomestolerant tolerantand andyou you get less and less less urine urine production). production).AAstudy studyin inhorses horsesfrom from University in in 2017 2017showed showedhorses horsesdevelop develop Michigan State University Why,when whenwe wehave havehad hadnearly nearly50 50 tolerance to furosemide. Why, years of research into into EIPH EIPH with withmore morepublished publishedstudies studies devoted to furosemide than than any any other otheraspect, aspect,do dowe westill stillnot not know if furosemide is is effective effective when whenused usedon onaaregular regularbasis? basis?

Is EIPH really blood?

The assumption has always been that what what we we see see in inthe the airways is blood. That is, it’s it’s the thesame samestuff stuffas aswe wewould wouldget getifif we put a needle in a vein. vein. However, However, some some data datafrom frommy myown own studies as yet unpublished and indirect evidence evidence from from other other studies suggest that initially the high pressures pressures distend distend the the capillaries and opens open up thatthat allow protein andand some up‘hole’ a “hole” allow protein red blood cells tocells squeeze out into airways as opposed the airways as some red blood to squeeze outthe into to obvious or ruptures developing the capillaries. opposed totears obvious tears or ruptures developing the This is consistentThis with that many ‘holes’that close up capillaries. is observations consistent with observations many when blood to normal and that EIPH “holes”the close up pressure when thereturns blood pressure returns to normal does not EIPH continue once has stopped.

If we and that does notexercise continue once exercise hasviewed stopped. in the airways EIPH as being a protein-rich If we viewed EIPH as being a fluid protein-rich fluid inwith the some red blood cellssome as opposed to blood, may have important airways with red blood cells asthis opposed to blood, this implications for someimplications lines of research. may have important for some lines of research.

Inflammation: cause or effect

It’s safe to to conclude conclude that that EIPH EIPH and andairway airwayinflammation inflammationare are occur together), together), but but we we still still often associated (i.e., observed to occur lack clarity on whether one leads leads to to the the other. other. Racehorses Racehorses airway experience intense exercise. Racehorses often have airway occur in in isolation isolation or or together. inflammation. But the two can occur This doesThis not mean theymean are related inrelated any way. together. does not they are in any way.

Heritability Many trainers believe that there are are certain certain bloodlines bloodlines that that are likely to bleed more severely. severely. As As yet, yet, there there isisno nogood good

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|| EE II P PH H – – ANY REAL PROGRESS? |

scientific evidence to suggest that EIPH severity is heritable.

However, if specific factors, which increase the severity of EIPH such as high blood pressure, are heritable, then it is entirely conceivable that EIPH severity will be found to have some component of heritability.

Future directions

EIPH is not a condition solely restricted to racehorses. It has been reported in other horses—including polo ponies, showjumpers, barrel-racers, endurance horses, eventers and even in Shetland ponies. It is also not a condition restricted to horses as it has been reported in camels, greyhounds and in human subjects exercising intensely such as swimmers, skiers and military personnel. A primary goal of research into EIPH should be to understand why a portion of the population bleeds more severely and to attempt to reduce the severity in this population. We also require more sensitive and informative techniques to allow us to research EIPH. ‘Scoping is at best a crude, insensitive and potentially misleading technique which may well be hampering our ability to make significant steps forward in our understanding of EIPH. Within the next decade, I also expect to see clear evidence that furosemide is of limited value in the long-term management of EIPH, and we will be judged harshly for having relied on it for so long as the mainstay of treatment.

A DV E R T I S E M E N T

EIPH AND BLEEDING Best Solution When LASIX Are Banned

By Mark Hansen hile bleeding from the nose in racehorses is uncommon, it is accepted that most every horse will experience some level of bleeding in their lungs. Even though this may only cause slight discomfort for the equine athlete, it is a trainer’s worst nightmare because it can lead to poor performance, lost training days, costly treatments, or worse — a very sick horse that’s banned from racing for life.

For one trainer, this is exactly the nightmare that happened to him. Suddenly not just one, but two of his best horses were bleeding from EIPH (Exercise Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage). They were in danger of being banned from racing, even though they were still in their prime. Lasix (Salix) was not an option.

The trainer was at a loss. What can be done?

Facing these concerns for two of his horses, the trainer (who asked us to withhold his name for competitive reasons) was willing to try anything. So, he searched for another option.

He gave his horses an alternative to bleeder drugs and treatments; something he had read about called BleederShield. This natural respiratory horse supplement helps control bleeding. It is just as effective in improving the health and performance of bleeders but without any of those “drug issues” that come

W

with most race-day bleeder medications.

“I used BleederShield paste on two horses that had been bleeding. Now, neither horse has bled. This is a great product; it saved the careers of two very good horses.”

The Science Behind BleederShield

To understand how BleederShield works, we looked at a controlled study run by veterinarians at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine.

They investigated the effects of the active ingredient in BleederShield, yunnan baiyao, which has been shown to help reduce bleeding in people and animals.

The veterinary team wanted to see how this active ingredient specifically affected bleeding in horses. They measured template bleeding times in horses before and after receiving a supplement with the active ingredient.

The researchers reported that the supplement significantly reduced bleeding time. They concluded that the active ingredient in BleederShield was effective at minimizing blood loss in horses.1 What surprised us the most about BleederShield is its effectiveness without the use of drugs. Having a drug-free option is critical in countries that ban most raceday EIPH medications. And even though Lasix/Salix isn’t banned in the USA yet, its day may be coming. There’s a serious need NOW for a natural solution that can help

control bleeding in performance horses.

Trainers and owners alike are impressed with the results they are seeing from BleederShield. One winning trainer told us: “I have horses that bleed and when I use this product I have no problems. I’m sure there are a lot of products on the market but I stand behind this one all the way.”

Now you can improve the health of your horses while protecting the investment in their racing careers.

With the results from the scientific studies, you can expect BleederShield to reduce bleeding events in horses during intense exercise… repair damaged blood vessels … and provide support for normal lung function and normal blood flow.2 Best of all, BleederShield is easy AND affordable. It could be the smartest investment you make to avoid pricey problems related to EIPH. It’s well worth the small price to avoid a banning risk or losing a great horse.

A company spokesperson confirmed an exclusive offer for Trainer Magazine readers: if you order BleederShield this month, you’ll receive 10% off your first order by using promo code TM10 at checkout.

You can order BleederShield today at www.BleederShield.com.

1.

2.

Graham L. et al. J Vet Emerg Crit Care. 12:4 (2002) 279-282.

Graham L. Vet Clin North Am Equine Pract. 2006.

| INDUSTRY |

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TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM ISSUE 56

Alex Campbell

Joseph Cantin, Clive Cohen/New Image Media, Woodbine

JESSICA

BUCKLEY PROFI LE

A

fter the Woodbine Entertainment Group announced a reorganization of their senior leadership team in January, Jessica Buckley—the former president of the company’s Standardbred track, Woodbine Mohawk Park—was named Senior Vice President of Racing Operations for both Thoroughbred racing and Standardbred racing.

Buckley’s role of managing racing operations for two different breeds at the same time appears to be unique in North American racing. And while she has direct experience running a Standardbred racetrack, she also has strong roots in Thoroughbred racing in the province of Ontario. Buckley is the daughter of the late Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Robert Anderson, who operated leading breeding operation, Anderson Farms, in St. Thomas, Ontario for more than 40 years. Buckley said she has fond memories growing up on the farm that produced the likes of 1992 Preakness Stakes runnerup Alydeed, and Canadian champions Larkwhistle, Prince Avatar and Fifty Proof.

“I couldn’t help but be interested in the horses,” she said. “I always knew how lucky I was to have horses like that in my backyard. It was a really great childhood growing up with the mares in foal. My first job on the

farm was doing my homework in the barn, on foal watching in the evenings. I always loved the horses.”

Despite her love of horses, Buckley did not plan on having a career in the racing industry. She graduated from Western University in nearby London, Ontario in 1994, and had aspirations of becoming a television producer.

“I found myself graduating in the nineties in a recession and couldn’t find a job in the field that I was interested in at the time,” Buckley said. “They were hiring at Woodbine, so I took a position for the summer and that’s where my career in racing began.”

Buckley’s summer position at Woodbine in 1994 was in customer service, providing racetrack tours and information on how to place bets. From there, Buckley helped manage the launch of HorsePlayer Interactive—Woodbine’s account wagering service —in 1997.

“I got into the operations of the racetrack and racing and realized how fascinating it was and all of the opportunities that were there,” she said. “It was on the cusp of technology in the nineties, and there were a lot of projects on the go that were new and exciting to be involved with.”

Buckley remained with Woodbine until 2001, when an opportunity came up for her and her family

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| INDUSTRY |

to move to Pasadena, Calif., to join The Stronach Group for the launch of Xpressbet’s account wagering service there. Buckley remained with Xpressbet as the Director of Account Wagering until 2003, when she moved into television as the Director of Marketing for HRTV. “That was the serendipity to me,” she said. “I had always been interested in television, and then ended up getting involved with the launch of HRTV. I wasn’t a producer, but I was involved on the marketing side and affiliate sales and distribution and getting our product distributed across the United States.”

Buckley remained with HRTV for more than nine years before leaving The Stronach Group in 2011. Her father had passed away in 2010, and she managed Anderson Farms with her brother, David Anderson, for a short period of time before Anderson bought out Buckley’s share in the farm.

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| JESSICA BUCKLEY |

BELOW: Buckley’s father Robert was inducted in 2015 to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

“It was great working with my brother, and it certainly felt like we were closer with my dad and his legacy,” she said. “I was living in New Jersey at the time with my family. My brother was the brains on the breeding side and doing all of the work and making all of the really great decisions that he made back then that have now really paid off for him. He was the one really running with it and making the business succeed, and we just made the decision that he would buy me out and continue on running Anderson Farms.”

Buckley’s husband’s career wound up bringing the family back to Canada in 2013. Buckley was running a children’s winter accessory business when Woodbine offered her the role of Vice President of Community and Government relations in 2015.

“They were looking ahead to some exciting projects that were going to be happening,” she said. “They were working on a lot of things on the property development side and ways to sustain racing and create value and keep racing going for many, many years to come. I started speaking to them about it and then ended up coming back to help them initially with some government relations and community relations work, and things have evolved from there.”

In her role, Buckley was involved in a number of initiatives with all three levels of government as the horse racing industry in Ontario dealt with the fallout of the cancellation of the slots at racetracks program; and the evolving gaming landscape, as the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation sought to modernize their operations. Woodbine Entertainment was also looking to begin several development projects on their properties, including converting Woodbine Mohawk Park into a year-round Standardbred racing facility. In 2017, Buckley became the president of Woodbine Mohawk Park to lead that transition.

| INDUSTRY | “The decision was made to move Standardbreds yearround to Mohawk, and there was gaming expansion happening as well with the new gaming partner,” she said.

“We were creating a real destination for Standardbred racing, gaming and entertainment in the Halton Region.”

Under Buckley’s leadership, Woodbine Mohawk Park successfully completed $10 million in capital improvements to allow for year-round racing, rebranded the track and hosted the 2018 Breeders’ Crown.

This past January saw Buckley change roles within the Woodbine senior leadership team. Buckley was named Senior Vice President of Standardbred Racing and Thoroughbred Racing, and will report directly to CEO Jim Lawson. Buckley said she is excited to be back involved with Thoroughbred racing again.

“It’s been a great challenge to take on the Thoroughbreds as well,” she said. “I’m much more familiar with Thoroughbred racing, and I feel much more comfortable in Thoroughbred racing than I certainly did in Standardbred racing when I first arrived at Mohawk. I had a very steep learning curve, but the people were absolutely fantastic.”

Buckley has been dealing with a unique challenge in just her first few months in her new role, as the horse racing industry and the world have dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. Woodbine Mohawk Park was able to race without spectators for two racing dates in March before having to cancel races indefinitely, while opening day for the Thoroughbreds at Woodbine (originally scheduled for April 18) was postponed. While some tracks, most notably Gulfstream Park and Oaklawn Park, have been able to continue to race during the pandemic, Buckley said a state of emergency issued by the government of Ontario had prevented Woodbine from being able to do the same.

“In the state of emergency declaration, we’re a nonessential business,” she said. “We tried to continue to race

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| JESSICA BUCKLEY | as long as we could with all of the safety protocols in place without spectators. We were doing so successfully, but then when the state of emergency was declared, we did close.”

Buckley said 1,100 Thoroughbreds were stabled on the Woodbine backstretch at the time the state of emergency was declared, and the track opted to keep the backstretch open as opposed to forcing horses off of the grounds.

“We made the decision that we would continue to keep the backstretch open for the health and welfare of the horses but that we wouldn’t be conducting any non-essential business activities,” she said. “It has been difficult to strike the right balance, but Jim Lawson has been very focused on keeping people safe, number one; and number two, making sure the horses have the ability to get out of their stalls every day and do some jogging and galloping on the track.”

BELOW: Training scenario under new regulations.

WE MADE THE DECISION THAT WE WOULD CONTINUE TO KEEP THE BACKSTRETCH OPEN FOR THE HEALTH AND WELFARE OF THE HORSES BUT THAT WE WOULDN’T BE CONDUCTING ANY NON-ESSENTIAL BUSINESS ACTIVITIES.”

| INDUSTRY |

Woodbine implemented a number of health and safety measures for the backstretch, including limiting access to essential employees and licensed personnel only, temperature screening for individuals that are permitted access to the backstretch and physical distancing practices, among others. As of May 13, Woodbine also made it mandatory for all backstretch workers to wear masks.

Buckley said Woodbine received positive feedback from Toronto officials on the measures that were put in place.

“They were checking on different businesses in the city to ensure we were following protocols,” she said. “They were very complimentary of what we had put in place as far as screening goes, along with mandatory masks on site, and face shields and things like that for our security team.”

In May, the Ontario government began to relax their restrictions, which opened the door for racing

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| JESSICA BUCKLEY |

at both Woodbine and Woodbine Mohawk Park to resume without spectators. Woodbine Mohawk Park resumed racing on June 5, while the Thoroughbreds at Woodbine began their meet on June 6. Despite starting the Thoroughbred meet six weeks later than planned, Woodbine was able to keep average daily purses the same, which were increased from 2019. With the condensed season, Woodbine also revised their stakes schedule, reducing the number of stakes from 87 to 75. The highlight of the meet—the $1-million Queen’s Plate—was moved from its original June 27 date to September 12, while the Gr1 Canadian International was canceled for 2020, due to the number of entrants from Europe that the race normally attracts.

The original Woodbine stakes schedule did include a reduction in the number of Ontario-sired stakes that would be run. But to counter that, Buckley said that Ontario-bred and Ontario-sired bonuses have been increased on overnight races. Woodbine ran 18 Ontariosired stakes last season, while 11 Ontario-sired stakes will be contested this season.

“The money and the program has not been reduced; it’s just been distributed differently to try to reward more people,” Buckley said. “We’re still keeping a restricted stakes program in place for those stakes horses but not putting all of the money into that program and spreading it out. The intention of that additional bonus money is truly for horse improvement. The more people that can take part in that and invest in better mares, and increase the quality, is exactly the purpose of it.”

With the increased Ontario-bred and Ontario-sired bonuses, maiden special weight races for two-year-olds

I THINK THAT WE ARE IN A REALLY GOOD POSITION FOR THE FUTURE, WE HAVE THIS LONG-TERM FUNDING AGREEMENT IN PLACE. I THINK THE (ONTARIO RACING) BOARD HAS DONE AN EXCELLENT JOB.”

RACE in Ontario “This exciting new purse structure represents the highest maiden purses in North America.

What an incredible opportunity for owners to buy and race in Ontario!”

— David H. Anderson, Owner/Breeder

MAIDEN

PURSE

123,200

$

(Includes $30,100 for Eligible Ontario Breds) (Includes $23,100 for Ontario Sired Horses) • FOR MAIDENS, FILLIES AND MARES THREE YEARS OLD AND UPWARD • FOR MAIDENS, THREE YEARS OLD AND UPWARD

PURSE

126,800

$

(Includes up to $31,000 for Eligible Ontario Breds) (Includes $23,800 for Ontario Sired Horses) • FOR MAIDENS, FILLIES TWO YEARS OLD • FOR MAIDENS, TWO YEARS OLD

Peter Brosch Photo

could feature purses as high as $126,800; while threeyear-olds and upward will run for $123,200 at the same condition. A popular condition for Ontario-sired horses —a $40,000 claiming event that is combined with Ontariosired allowance runners—could feature purses of more than $60,000. A new condition that will be added to the racing program this season is another combined condition, featuring $25,000 maiden claimers and Ontario-sired maidens that will have purses up to $48,300.

Woodbine is also looking to attract top caliber Ontariobred horses that are stabled outside of the province with graded stakes bonuses. Any Ontario-bred horse that ships into Woodbine to win a Gr1 or Gr2 race will receive a $75,000 bonus or a $50,000 bonus.

“We are trying to attract as many great horses to Woodbine as possible,” Buckley said. “In addition to talking about the maiden special weights, because I do think those maiden allowance races are really key for owners and trainers with those strong purses, but on our graded stakes program we have our bonuses again this year. Our purse structure is very strong to try and attract the Ontario-bred to race at Woodbine and keep our program strong.”

Woodbine’s racing program also includes a number of turf racing options on both the E.P. Taylor turf course and the inner turf course, which opened last season, to go along with the tapeta main track.

While navigating through the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging on both horse people and racetrack operators, Buckley said she is looking forward to racing resuming in the near future. When racing does resume in the province, Buckley, who also sits on the board of Ontario Racing with her brother David, says she believes Ontario’s horse racing industry is well-positioned for moving forward.

“I think that we are in a really good position for the future,” she said. “We have this long-term funding agreement in place. I think the (Ontario Racing) board has done an excellent job. There’s a wide variety of opinions, but people have been very respectful. Each of them that hold a seat keep the broader industry interests in mind at all times. I think it’s worked very well.”

Allowance Races

ontarioracing.com

48119_OR_RaceInOntario_Purses.indd 1

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| OPINION |

J USTI FY, J IM SON W E ED & JU STICE FROM THE RACETRACK TO THE COURTROOM

J

ustify’s victory in the 2018 Santa Anita Derby served as the springboard for trainer Bob Baffert’s second Triple Crown triumph.

In the wake of a 2019 New York Times article revealing the colt had tested positive for a banned substance on race day, Ruis Racing has filed a lawsuit against the California Horse Racing Board. Ruis claims the CHRB failed to do its duty, and the 2018 victory and the $600,000 first-place purse rightfully belong to Bolt d’Oro.

• A Duel at Santa Anita As the starting bell sounded for the million-dollar Santa Anita Derby on April 7, 2018, folks who knew racing knew the contest was likely to come down to a duel between two horses: Bolt d’Oro and Justify. Both were big, beautiful and born to run. Bolt d’Oro, owned/trained by Mick Ruis and ridden by Javier Castellano, had experience on his side. Justify, trained by Bob Baffert, had only two races to his credit, but the handsome colt had won both and was already tagged as a rising star. A first- or second-place finish in Santa Anita would guarantee a spot in the Kentucky Derby, and Baffert, who had captured the Triple Crown with American Pharaoh only three years earlier, publicly hinted that his latest protégé could go all the way as well.

Baffert’s confidence seemed well placed when Justify, ridden by Mike E. Smith, took an early lead. Having firmly established themselves in second place, Castellano and Bolt D’Oro made their move in the final turn. With announcer Mike Worna describing the match as “prodigious talent versus established class,” Bolt d’Oro closed the gap and appeared ready to nose it out. But Justify sprang ahead in the final furlong, and prodigious talent won the day in an electrifying climax.

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Peter J. Sacopulos

Eclipse Sportswire

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| OPINION |

• History in the Making The rest, as they say, is history. Bob Baffert and Justify kept their string of victories going through a muddy Kentucky Derby, a foggy, rain-soaked Preakness, and a beautiful day at Belmont. Justify became the thirteenth horse to win the Triple Crown, and Baffert decked his already legendary status with fresh laurels. The trainer had chalked up an astonishing two Triple Crowns, five Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes and three Kentucky Oaks.

Baffert had his eyes on The Grand Slam, but a problem with his superstar’s left front ankle led to the stallion’s retirement in late July 2018. Justify had earned $3,798,000 in six races. He followed Seattle Slew as the second winner in Triple Crown history to retire undefeated. Breeding rights were sold for a reported $60 million, plus a $25-million bonus for the Triple Crown triumph. Justify’s stud fee was reportedly set at $150,000.

WHAT HAPPENED LAST YEAR WAS UNACCEPTABLE, AND ALL OF THE EXCUSES BE DAMNED. WE OWN THAT GOING INTO NEXT SEASON, AND WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.” GAVIN NEWSOM – CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR

• A Stunning Revelation & Angry Allegations Then, last fall, a dark cloud appeared above the green pastures of Justify’s retirement. On September 11, 2019, The New York Times ran an article headlined, “Justify Failed a Drug Test Before Winning the Triple Crown.”

Racing journalist Joe Drape revealed what the California Horse Racing Board and the horse’s trainer and owners had managed to keep secret for over a year. Justify had tested over the acceptable limit for scopolamine on the day of his crucial victory at Santa Anita.

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BELOW: Justify pulls away from Bolt d’Oro to win the 2018 Santa Anita Derby.

That would have been a bombshell in and of itself.

But the article went on to detail a series of questionable actions by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) in the aftermath of the positive test. Actions that, in the eyes of many, defied logic, violated procedure, and made mockery of ethics and transparency. Some even claimed the governing body had violated California law.

Less than two weeks after the Times article appeared, California Governor Gavin Newsom publicly blasted the CHRB and the horse racing industry. “What happened last year was unacceptable, and all of the excuses be damned.

We own that going into next season, and we’re going to have to do something about it,” Newsom told the Times.

“I’ll tell you, talk about a sport whose time is up unless they reform. That’s horse racing,” the governor continued.

He went on to excoriate the industry’s treatment of racehorses and warn that industries that don’t reform themselves get reformed by others.

| JUSTIFY & JIMSON WEED |

• A Race Becomes a Case In January 2020, Ruis Racing, which owned and trained Bolt d’Oro, filed a lawsuit in the California courts. The suit contends that, under the California rules for Thoroughbred racing, Justify must be disqualified from the 2018 Santa Anita Derby, Bolt d’Oro must be recognized as the race’s rightful winner, and Ruis Racing must be awarded the first-place prize money. ($600,000 vs. their $200,000 second-place purse.) The suit also claims that the CHRB knowingly violated statutes and procedures, and that Ruis Racing is entitled to compensatory damages and reimbursement for all legal costs incurred by the suit.

In the wake of the first Times article, Bob Baffert released a statement declaring that neither he nor his staff administered scopolamine to Justify prior to the Santa Anita run, or to any of his horses, ever. The statement said the substance had undoubtedly entered the horse’s system due to ingesting jimson weed—a natural source of scopolamine that can turn up in hay, straw and cereal grains. Baffert further stated that the CHRB had found no wrongdoing, that he had no influence over the Board or its decisions, and that Justify had tested clean in all of his other races.

ABOVE: Justify with trainer Bob Baffert.

BELOW: Datura stramonium, commonly known as jimson weed.

for centuries, modern medical experts consider jimson weed ineffective and unsafe, since ingesting the plant or its seeds can produce vomiting, seizures, muscle cramps and death. Its toxic effects extend to horses as well.

While horses would likely avoid dining on jimson weed in natural surroundings, the plant is impossible to totally eradicate from modern farm fields, and small amounts of it occasionally turn up in horse feed, hay and straw. Horses that eat parts of the plant or its seeds will test positive for both scopolamine and atropine, another alkaloid found in jimson weed. The presence of both alkaloids in a horse’s blood or urine is typically taken as a sign of environmental contamination via jimson weed ingestion.

The presence of scopolamine without atropine in test results would likely be evidence that a horse has been treated with Buscopan, a pharmaceutical approved by

• Getting into the Weeds Baffert’s statement correctly identified jimson weed as an environmental source of scopolamine. The chemical is a naturally occurring alkaloid found in noxious plants, including jimson weed. Invasive and aggressive, jimson weed is despised by farmers around the globe. Its defenses against nature’s plant-eaters include thorny seed pods, an unpleasant smell, and an extremely bitter flavor. Scopolamine not only contributes to the plant’s unappetizing taste, it adds toxicity.

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| OPINION |

| JUSTIFY & JIMSON WEED |

the FDA for the treatment of spasmodic colic in horses.

This is because Buscopan contains a synthetic compound that is remarkably similar to scopolamine. In addition to relieving colic, the drug could also relax airways in the lungs, improving airflow. Buscopan’s labeling identifies increased heart rate as the drug’s major side effect.

Many came to Baffert’s defense, including Tim Layden, who penned an article for NBCSports.com. Layden pointed out that Sams is a respected PhD and lab chief but is not a veterinarian, and that no vets’ or other experts’ opinions, some of which might well have contradicted Sams, were offered in the Times piece. Similar to an article I co-authored for The Horseman’s Journal, Layden outlined a case for environmental contamination at Santa Anita due to the presence of jimson weed in locally sourced hay and straw.

• Science & Substance While scopolamine might theoretically increase racing performance, there is no scientific evidence indicating the alkaloid is an effective performance enhancer. As with many other substances, scopolamine is banned based on its theoretical potential, not real-world results.

The New York Times piece that revealed Justify’s failed drug test reported a high level of scopolamine in the colt’s post-race urine sample: 300 ng/mml—well above the common industry thresholds of 60 or 75 ng/mml. The article never stated that Baffert or anyone on his staff had doped the horse. It did, however, include a disturbing quote regarding that high level from Dr. Rick Sams, who headed the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s drug laboratory for some seven years. “I think it has to come from intentional intervention,” Sams said.

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• The Environmental Contamination Defense

BELOW: Justify, ridden by Mike Smith, in the winners circle after winning the 2018 Santa Anita Derby.

The arguments for environmental contamination are hard to dismiss. Historically speaking, scopolamine positives have been few and far between. They often occur in clusters, which is an indicator of plant contamination.

The Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) recorded 28 positive scopolamine results over 30 years—22 of which occurred in California. Jimson weed thrives in the state, and its natural drought resistance makes it more likely to show up in feed when dry conditions reduce crop yields. In 2016, the CHRB officially warned industry professionals in Del Mar of the presence of jimson weed in straw.

In 2018, Justify was one of six horses that tested positive for scopolamine in California around the time of the Santa Anita Derby, making feed contamination a likely culprit.

All six animals also tested positive for atropine—a strong indicator that a plant, not a pharmaceutical, was the source of the compound.

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ISSUE 56 TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM

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| OPINION |

The presence of scopolamine at 300 ng/ml in Justify’s urine does seem high. But the presence of a substance in a urine sample indicates that it has been eliminated from the animal’s bloodstream by the kidneys. Properly functioning kidneys work to flush out as much of a natural or synthetic toxin as quickly as possible. Complicating matters, the level of a horse’s hydration and the acidity of its urine can also affect the levels of substances in its urine—all of which makes the measuring of substances in the blood a far more accurate indicator. As of this writing, the CHRB has not officially released Justify’s post-Santa-Anita test results.

But multiple sources have reported that the level of scopolamine in Justify’s blood test was significantly lower.

When it comes to Ruis Racing’s civil lawsuit, whether Justify accidentally nibbled on jimson-weed-tainted feed or was deliberately doped is strangely beside the point. After all, Ruis Racing isn’t suing Bob Baffert or Justify’s ownership group. Mick Ruis and his family are suing the California Horse Racing Board. And their case has the potential to shake American Thoroughbred racing to its core.

• What the CHRB Did & Didn’t Do The following timeline chronicles CHRB’s actions during 2018 in light of Justify’s positive test for scopolamine.

The timeline is based on press reports and information in the Ruis’ legal filing. Be aware that the CHRB’s refusal to publicly release all relevant information makes some dates and details impossible to pin down.

On April 7, Justify won the Santa Anita Derby. Post-race samples were drawn from the horse for testing and sent to the official CHRB laboratory. On April 18, the lab reported the detection of scopolamine in Justify’s samples to the

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| JUSTIFY & JIMSON WEED |

ABOVE: Bolt d’Oro

RIGHT: Trainer Bob Baffert is interviewed after winning the 2018 Santa Anita Derby.

CHRB. CHRB rules required that both the organization’s executive director and medical director be notified.

On April 20, the CHRB’s legal counsel, its chief investigator, and Executive Director Rick Baedeker received an email from CHRB Equine Medical Director Dr. Rick Arthur. The email noted that the Justify matter should be “handled differently than usual.”

On April 26, Bob Baffert was notified of the test results and requested a split sample for independent testing. The split sample was sent to the lab on May 1. Justify won the Kentucky Derby on May 5. Three days later, on May 8, the split sample results confirmed the presence of scopolamine.

CHRB Executive Director Baedeker informed Board members that, “The CHRB investigations unit will issue a complaint and a hearing will be scheduled.” (No complaint was issued, and no hearing was scheduled.)

On May 19, Justify won the Preakness. On May 24, news of the horse’s breeding rights sale broke in The New York Times.

At some point in May, the CHRB drafted revised drug classification rules, reducing the penalties for scopolamine.

Under the proposed rules, what was a Class 3/Penalty B violation would become a Class 4/Penalty C violation. These changes would rescind requirements for disqualification and forfeiture of winnings.

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| OPINION |

On June 9, Justify won the Belmont Stakes, clinching the Triple Crown.

On a date in late August, the CHRB is believed to have held a closed or executive meeting to discuss the Justify situation. It appears that in the course of this meeting, Executive Director Rick Baedeker recommended the case be dismissed, and all those present voted to do so.

In October, 2018, the CHRB’s revised rules for scopolamine officially took effect.

• Ruis Racing Weighs In The Justify matter remained a well-kept secret until the Times published its exposé. In the months since, individuals who were members of the CHRB when Justify tested positive for scopolamine have spoken publicly about the matter. They have stated that an internal investigation determined that the scopolamine discovered in Justify’s urine was the result of accidental jimson weed ingestion, and the Board acted properly in allowing Justify to remain as the Santa Anita Derby winner while taking no further actions against Baffert or his horse. No harm, no foul.

Mick Ruis and his attorneys disagree.

The core of the Ruis Racing claim is that the CHRB failed in its mandatory duty by not following or enforcing its own rules, as required by California law. At the time of the 2018 Santa Anita Derby, California rules required a horse testing over the limit for scopolamine be disqualified, and any purse won be forfeited. Period.

The Ruis suit claims that the CHRB did not apply the proper penalty at the time of the Santa Anita Derby, deviated from standard testing procedure, and failed to properly redistribute prize money after Justify’s positive scopolamine test. It also claims the CHRB failed in its mandatory duty, utilized a non-existent rule and an unofficial, illegal testing procedure, abused its powers of discretion, treated evidence in a selective manner, and applied a secret, unofficial standard. The lawsuit states that this amounts to arbitrary and capricious behavior by the Board, and that such behavior is biased, unacceptable and illegal, and violates Mick Ruis’ constitutional rights.

There’s more, but you get the idea.

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| JUSTIFY & JIMSON WEED |

IF YOU DON’T REFORM YOURSELF, YOU’RE GOING TO GET RUN OVER AND OTHERS ARE GOING TO REFORM YOU IN WAYS THAT YOU DON’T LIKE.” GAVIN NEWSOM’S WARNING TO THE RACING INDUSTRY AND ITS REGULATORS

ABOVE: Mick Ruis

• Secrecy, Transparency & the Future of the Sport You may believe Justify accidentally ingested jimson weed in his feed and was vindicated by the CHRB. Or you may feel the CHRB played fast and loose to protect the record and reputation of a legendary trainer and his superstar horse. But no matter where you stand on the issue, it’s difficult not to be disheartened by the California Board’s lack of transparency in its processes and decisions regarding Justify’s scopolamine positive.

As with all horse racing authorities in the U.S., the CHRB is supposed to enforce defined rules in a fair, consistent and uniform manner in order to protect horses, industry professionals, and above all, the public.

It’s hard to see how the Board’s secrecy surrounding the Justify test results dovetails with that mission.

Whatever the judge decides, Ruis Racing’s case will likely have deep, lasting ramifications for the horse racing industry. As the particulars play out in court, we would all do well to remember Governor Newsom’s warning to the racing industry and its regulators: “If you don’t reform yourself, you’re going to get run over and others are going to reform you in ways that you don’t like.” I could not have said it better myself.

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| VETERINARY |

MON ITORI NG Sarah Plevin

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Shutterstock, Hans van Schie

| MONITORING BOWED TENDONS |

O

verstrain injuries to the superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) are among the most common musculoskeletal injuries for all athletic equine disciplines but account for a significant amount of wastage in the Thoroughbred (TB) racehorse.

Treatment options for such ‘bowed tendons’ are many and varied, but all have a couple of things in common: time out of training; expense and no guarantee of success.

It makes sense then, that prevention of injury should always be the goal, and failing that, a method to optimally guide rehabilitation is needed.

Unfortunately, limitations of current imaging diagnostics have restricted their use for accurately monitoring the tendon.

A new ultrasound technology, however, called ultrasound tissue characterization, may get us one step closer to achieving the goals of injury prevention and optimal rehabilitation.

• What would the ideal tendon imaging modality allow us to do?

• Monitor the effects of exercise on the tendon • Early detection of overstrain injuries • Be able to stage the lesion, i.e., determine the level of degenerative change within the tendon structure • Fine-tune therapy • Guide rehabilitation

I

FIG 1

• Why are tendon injuries so tricky?

A normal healthy tendon is made from aligned organized tendon bundles.

(Fig 1) Deterioration of this structure ranges on a spectrum from complete disruption (core lesion) to more minor changes, but all affect the ability of the tendon to function optimally.

Degenerative changes within the tendon matrix are not uniform —meaning that not all overstrain injuries to the SDFT are represented Fig 1: Functionally normal healthy aligned tendon bundles.

by the same level of deterioration or structural change, so there is not a one-size-fits-all pathology or diagnosis, and therefore there cannot be a cure-all treatment.

Most tendon injuries have a sneaky onset with tendon degeneration developing initially without clinical signs, so problems start without you or your horse even knowing about them. Often by the time you realize there is a problem, tendon matrix degradation has already begun.

Staging the structural integrity of the tendon or classifying the extent of structural deterioration present is, therefore, imperative—not only for optimal therapy selection and appropriate rehabilitation guidance but also if prevention of injury is ever to be achieved.

• Why isn’t conventional ultrasound enough?

Unfortunately, although conventional ultrasound has historically been used to evaluate equine tendon, limitations have restricted its ability to accurately monitor tendon structure, predict injury or guide rehabilitation.

Clinical improvement is usually not accurately correlated with changes in imaging status using conventional ultrasound, especially in the later stages of healing with conventional ultrasound not demonstrating enough sensitivity to determine the type of tendon tissue under investigation.

So, while regular ultrasound can easily identify the presence of a core lesion when it first appears, by about two months post injury, its capacity to provide information regarding the health of the tendon is limited. Because of its inability to interpret the integrity of the underlying tendon structure accurately, along with inconsistencies in imaging, reliance on operator skills and the inherent lack of ability of a 2D conventional ultrasound image to fully decipher a 3D tendon structure, reliable evaluation and monitoring of the SDFT following the initial acute period is severely restricted.

• What is ultrasound tissue characterization?

Ultrasound tissue characterization is a relatively new technique intended to alleviate some of the problems encountered with conventional ultrasound by improving objective tendon characterization.

It does this by providing a 3D reconstruction of the tendon and by classifying and then quantifying tendon tissue into one of four color-coded echo types based on the integrity of the tendon structure.

It can assess in detail the structural integrity of the tendon; it can discriminate a variety of pathological states and is sensitive enough to detect the effect of changing loads on the tendon within days.

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FIG 2

Fig 2: Color-coded ultrasound tissue characterization echo types represent the stability of echo pattern over contiguous images related to tendon matrix integrity.

I

II

III

IV

+ Excursion of transducer

Beam axis Fig 3: Ultrasound tissue characterization tracker frame with attached ultrasound probe.

Fig 4: Ultrasound tissue characterization machine positioned over the SDFT. It is held with gentle steady pressure in this position for the 45 seconds it takes for the probe to move down the tendon and collect images. Horses need to stand still with all 4 limbs fully weight bearing during this time.

0

–

• What do the colors mean? (Fig 2)

FIG 3

Green (type 1 echoes) are normal, well-aligned and organized tendon bundles, and at least 85-90% of this echo type should be found in a healthy tendon (SDFT). Blue (type 2 echoes) are areas of wavy or swollen tendon bundles. They can represent remodeling and adapting tendon or inferior repair. Red (type 3 echoes) represents fibrillar tissue (the smaller basic unit or building block of tendon). This echo type can represent partial rupture of the tendon where they reflect breakdown of normal structure or they can represent initial healing as the tendon begins to rebuild. Black (type 4 echoes) are areas of cells or fluid and represent core lesions where no normal tendon tissue exists.

• How is ultrasound tissue characterization currently used?

The aim of ultrasound tissue characterization is not to replace conventional ultrasound but on the contrary, it is recommended to perform an evaluation with both conventional B mode ultrasound and ultrasound tissue characterization to achieve a complete picture of tendon health.

Currently it is used successfully in elite human athletes such as NBA and soccer players to monitor the health of their tendons (Achilles tendon and patellar tendons) and to guide exercise regimens post injury.

In the equine field, it is used in elite sport horses as part of routine maintenance evaluations to direct exercise, to monitor tendon health and guide rehabilitation following an injury.

FIG 4

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• How does it work?

It consists of a standard linear ultrasound probe mounted onto a motorized tracking device (Fig 3). Due to the sensitivity of this equipment, the limbs should be clipped in order to obtain good quality images.

The probe moves non-invasively and automatically down the tendon from top to bottom over a 12-cm scanning distance (Fig 4): As it does so, transverse images are captured at regular distances and stored in real time in a high-capacity laptop for processing. Images are automatically recorded every 0.2 mm to generate a 3D tendon volume made up of 600 images (Fig 5). This precise spatial ‘stacking’ of images is simply not possible to achieve with conventional ultrasound and is fundamental to the ultrasound tissue characterization technology. Image acquisition takes approximately 45 seconds.

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FIG 5

This tendon volume can subsequently be used for visualization of the tendon in 3D, for tissue characterization (to determine the structural composition of the tendon) and for quantification of tendon matrix integrity. (Fig 6) The color-coded echo types provide objective information regarding the integrity of the tendon matrix and are thought to reflect the underlying tendon health. Ultrasound tissue characterization can discriminate between healthy normal tendon, adaptive/remodeling tendon and injured/healing tendon—often in cases where conventional ultrasound is unremarkable in appearance. (Fig 7) The key to this technology is to perform successive evaluations. This allows comparison of differences in tendon structure between scans. Such consecutive examinations, along with clinical data and history, allow veterinarians to determine if a tendon is static, adaptive, healing or degenerating; and this information enables changes in training intensity to be made accordingly. (Fig 8)

FIG 6

• Research Published research has reported correlation of ultrasound tissue characterization echo types with histological studies, meaning they correspond to postmortem findings.

Numerous peer-reviewed research studies exist, documenting the ability of ultrasound tissue characterization to evaluate and monitor tendons both in human and equine athletes.

Research has reported ultrasound tissue characterization to be highly reproducible with the ability to detect subtle changes in tendon structure in response to exercise loads in both human and equine athletes—something not possible utilizing conventional imaging modalities.

Two studies specific to the TB racehorse exist both demonstrating the ability of ultrasound tissue characterization to monitor changes in tendon structure.

• How can it be used in the racehorse? Rehabilitation It is widely accepted that complete removal of load on tendons post injury is deleterious for tendon health, and the complete removal of exercise is only advocated in the very acute inflammatory phase following a tendon injury. Appropriately progressive loading of the tendon is desired to stimulate remodeling and healing, and this is where ultrasound tissue characterization may prove to be most useful.

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FIG 7

FIG 8

Fig 5: Stacking up of regular transverse ultrasound images to create a 3D rendition of the tendon.

Fig 6: Grayscale and colored images of the tendon in transverse, longitudinal, coronal and 3D coronal. To generate the picture in color, the computer classifies and quantifies tendon structure into 1 of 4 color-coded echo types representing structural integrity.

Fig 7: Image on the left shows a conventional grayscale ultrasound image that is unremarkable.

Conversely, the image on the right depicts an ultrasound tissue characterization image of the same tendon and shows an area of suspected injury (see arrow).

Fig 8: Image from a show jumper depicting tendon matrix degradation prior to clinical signs.

This information has the potential to provide opportunity for early intervention and a change in exercise level prior to clinical injury. Research is ongoing to validate any predictive capabilities that this technology may have and to develop optimal evaluation programs.

| VETERINARY |

FIG 9

adjust and tailor exercise regimens for the specific needs of the individual tendon and horse, allowing for informed decisions regarding the tendon’s capacity for performance. (Fig 9)

• The Future: Injury Prediction?

Fig 9: Suggested timeline of repair visualized using ultrasound tissue characterization. As healing progresses, the proportion of red and black echoes decrease and blue and green increase.

Typically, an exercise regimen post injury follows a generic format using clinical signs and conventional ultrasound as the only methods of assessment. But because most early tendon degradation is silent and conventional ultrasound struggles to decipher the integrity of the tendon unless a lesion is present, it has been traditionally difficult to precisely guide exercise regimens during rehabilitation.

By providing real-time information regarding the integrity of the tendon matrix, ultrasound tissue characterization, in contrast, allows veterinarians to take advantage of the limitedtime window of opportunity that exists for appropriate tendon remodeling after injury. By mapping the ultrastructure of the healing tendon and its remodeling response to exercise at each step in the rehabilitation regimen, it allows optimization of the most vital tool we have in our rehabilitation arsenal: exercise.

While ultrasound tissue characterization technology is groundbreaking in its ability to non-invasively evaluate tendon structure and aid in tendon rehabilitation, it must be remembered that once a tendon is injured it will always be inferior to an uninjured tendon. Scar tissue will always be scar tissue. So, while green echoes are the goal (normal and aligned tendon bundles) and represent success for a rehabilitating tendon, they still just represent scar tissue—albeit aligned appropriately and in the best state to combat the strains of training and racing. This technology doesn’t remove the risk of reinjury in the bowed tendon, and it doesn’t provide information regarding its biochemical makeup.

It simply tells us if the tendon is structurally normal; and by doing so, it improves our ability to monitor and guide healing.

It provides veterinarians the best opportunity, currently, to

While the current scientific literature seems to support the use of ultrasound tissue characterization to guide rehabilitation and monitor the effects of changing loads during training on the tendon, anecdotal accounts from both human and equine clinical practice also report the ability of ultrasound tissue characterization to warn of impending injury. Although human research is currently ongoing to definitively confirm this, equine research is needed to determine any predictive capabilities it may have in the TB racehorse. For now, however, the evidence suggests that ultrasound tissue characterization can reliably and accurately be used to help guide rehabilitation of injured tendons—in both humans and horses—providing potential for a more successful return from injury.

References 1) van Schie HT, Bakker EM, Jonker AM and van Weeren PR. Efficacy of computerized discrimination between structure-related and non-structurerelated echoes in ultrasonographic images for the quantitative evaluation of the structural integrity of superficial digital flexor tendons in horses. Am J Vet Res 2001; 62(7): 1159-1166.

2) van Schie HT, Bakker EM, Cherdchutham W, Jonker AM, van de Lest CH, van Weeren PR. Monitoring of the repair process of surgically created lesions in equine superficial digital flexor tendons by use of computerized ultrasonography. Am J Vet Res. 2009; 70(1): 37-48.

3) Docking SI, Rosengarten SD, Cook J. Achilles tendon structure improves on UTC imaging over a 5-month pre-season in elite Australian football players.

Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2016;(26) 557-563.

4) Docking SI. Tendon structure changes after maximal exercise in the Thoroughbred horse: use of ultrasound tissue characterization to detect in vivo tendon response. Vet J. 2012 Dec;194(3):338-342.

5) S. Plevin, J. McLellan, H. van Schie, T. Parkin. Ultrasound tissue characterization of the superficial digital flexor tendons in juvenile Thoroughbred racehorses during early race training. Equine Veterinary Journal 2019;51:349-355.

6) Jarrod Antflick. Management of Tendinopathies with Ultrasound Tissue Characterization. SportEX Medicine 2014;61(July):26-30.

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TH E ROAD TO TH E KENTUCKY DERBY TAKES A DETOUR W

ho could have imagined that the road to the Kentucky Derby would have a detour? Or that the order of the Triple Crown Classics would be reshuffled? Or that major stakes would be contested without fans? Or that three undefeated colts who might have been vying for favoritism in the Derby would be injured or retired?

The first Saturday in May, the Run for the Roses in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, became the first Saturday in September—September 5. That will be the second leg of the Triple Crown, not the usual first.

The Preakness Stakes, regularly the second leg of the Triple Crown, was rescheduled for October 3 as the final leg of the Triple Crown.

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And the Belmont Stakes, reduced from a mile-and-a-half to a mile and-an-eighth, will begin the Triple Crown instead of ending it on June 20.

Horses who had already earned enough points to start for the Kentucky Derby may now be joined by late-developing three-year-olds arriving on the scene. The top 20 point leaders to get into the Derby on the original date for the Kentucky Derby (May 4) could look much different than the top 20, four months later.

It’s never been more challenging for trainers entrusted with the difficult goal of getting their horses to peak on the first Saturday of May than being able to do the same four months later.

“I’m just glad they’re having the Triple Crown,” Baffert said.

“They could have canceled them all.”

| ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY |

Now? “Everybody out there is in the same boat,” trainer Barclay Tagg said. Tagg’s boat carries his outstanding three-year-old Tiz the Law, whose four-for-five record stamps him as one of the Kentucky Derby’s major contenders. “Of all the horses out there, Tiz the Law is right there with my guys,” Baffert said in late May before fate intervened. At the time, his guys were three undefeated colts: Nadal, Charlatan and Authentic.

Unfortunately, after working a half-mile at Santa Anita on May 28, Nadal suffered a colyndar fracture of his left front knee. Surgery was done and two screws were inserted, and Nadal was retired and will be able to impact future generations of Thoroughbreds as a stallion. Then Charlatan suffered an ankle injury which means he’ll miss the Belmont Stakes and Kentucky Derby. Finally, Authentic finished second to Honor A.P. in the Santa Anita Derby on June 6th.

That left Tiz the Law as a likely heavy favorite in the Belmont Stakes, and, if he wins, clearly the horse to beat in the Kentucky Derby. His top threat could be Honor A.P., who impressed winning the Santa Anita Derby for trainer John Shirreffs.

Churchill Downs reopened without fans on May 14. Santa Anita, where Baffert is based, began spectator-less racing the very next day. “The whole world is going through this,” Baffert said. “I’m just thankful that Los Angeles County let us open back up. It’s the safest environment. We keep the barns disinfected.

We don’t want viruses spreading from barn to barn. Everybody is wearing masks. We treat it very seriously. What I was worried about was the backstretch workers. I’m responsible for a lot of families back there. If we didn’t open up, there wouldn’t have been jobs for them. I kept people on that had worked for me.”

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Tagg had a heck of a problem just figuring out when he could ship Tiz the Law from his barn at Palm Meadows to his barn at Belmont Park, which will begin spectatorfree racing on June 3 after a planned opening day on April 24. “I made a couple calls to New York and I asked, `Should we stay in Florida longer? There’s somebody in my barn in New York,’” Tagg said. “They said they’ll get back to me. They called me back. They said it looks like this: we’ll have the horses out of your barn in a day and a half, and then you can move in. Three weeks later, I called the guy in my barn in New York, and he said, `I’m still here. And so are my horses.’”

Finally, Belmont Park got the clearance to announce it would reopen on June 3 and that the Belmont Stakes

TIZ THE LAW

BELOW: Barclay Tagg

would be held June 20 at a shorter distance. “They shortened the distance of the Belmont,” Tagg said. “How is it still a Classic if they shorten the distance?”

But really, there will be asterisks for all the legs of this year’s Triple Crown, especially if one horse sweeps all three. “If a horse wins the first two, if there is a horse going for the Triple Crown, it’ll be great for the Preakness,” Baffert said.

But he’s not thinking that far away. “I don’t think I have to think about it now,” he said. “Every day things change. These are very challenging times right now. You have to be able to change paths.”

He had no idea how many path changes were coming up for his Derby contenders.

IT’S A LITTLE FRUSTRATING WHEN YOU CAN’T MAKE PLANS FOR A HORSE, IT TAKES A LOT TO GET A HORSE READY FOR A BIG RACE.” BARCLAY TAGG

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| ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY |

AUTHENTIC

AUTHENTIC IS REALLY GROWING INTO HIMSELF.” BOB BAFFERT

Churchill Downs did trainers and racetracks a favor by quickly announcing the new date for the Kentucky Derby four months after the original date. That allowed Pimlico and Belmont Park—once they were okayed to reopen by their respective states—to chart a new course for the rest of the Triple Crown.

That didn’t mean it was easy. “It’s a little frustrating when you can’t make plans for a horse,” Tagg said. “It takes a lot to get a horse ready for a big race. We try to keep them 99 percent fit and wait. We work him (Tiz the Law) once a week, sometimes stretch him out a little longer. We like to keep him stable. He’s fine. He does whatever you ask him. We get up every morning around four and do the same thing. We do that seven days a week.”

Tiz the Law (122) and Honor A.P. (120) had already earned their ticket into the Derby, as has Wells Bayou (104) and Authentic (100), King Guillermo, the runaway Tampa Bay Derby winner who was second to Nadal in the Arkansas Derby, will skip the Belmont Stakes. His 90 points should get him into the Kentucky Derby.

Authentic had 60 heading into the Santa Anita Derby.

How important are the points relative to performance in the Kentucky Derby? In 2013 and 2014, the Derby winners, Orb and California Chrome, were both No. 1, though Orb was tied for the top spot with Verrazano.

Triple Crown Champion American Pharoah was fourth in 2015. In 2016, Nyquist was second to Gun Runner.

Always Dreaming, the 2017 winner, was tied for sixth.

Triple Crown Champion Justify was tied for eighth in 2018. Last year, Country House was tied for 15th and Maximum Security, the Derby winner who was disqualified, was tied for third.

BELOW: Nadal beats King Guillermo in the 2020 Arkansas Derby.

This year’s Top 20, in points through June 6 were: Tiz the Law (122), Honor A.P. (120), Wells Bayou (105), Authentic (100), King Guillermo (90), Ete Indian (74), Modernist (70), Ny Traffic (70), Maxfield (60), Basin (50), Mischievous Alex (50), Shivaree (40), Gouverneur Morris (34), Enforceable (33), Storm the Court (32), Sole Volante (30), Major Fed (30), Thousand Words (25) Fennick the Fierce (25) and Anneau d’Or (22).

Churchill Downs designated a dozen stakes after the original May 4 date for points for the top four finishers.

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C H A R L ATA N

The first was the Matt Win at Churchill Downs on May 23 with points of 50-20-10-5. The Santa Anita Derby on June 6 offered 100-40-20-10. The rest are: �

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J une 20, $1,000,000 Belmont Stakes (Gr.1), 1 1/8 miles, Belmont Park, 150-60-30-15 J une 27, $500,000 Ohio Derby (Gr. 3), 1 1/8 miles, Thistledown, 20-8-4-2 J uly 4, $150,000 Los Alamitos Derby (Gr. 3), 1 1/8 miles, Del Mar, 20-8-4-2 J uly 8, $300,000 Indiana Derby (Gr. 3), 1 1/8 miles, Indiana Grand, 20-8-4-2 J uly 11, $600,000 Blue Grass (Gr. 2), 1 1/8 miles, Keeneland, 100-40-20-10 J uly 18, $1,000,000 Haskell (Gr.1), 1 1/8 miles, Monmouth Park, 100-40-20-10 A ug. 1, $100,000 Shared Belief, 1/16 miles, Del Mar, 50-20-10-5 A ug. 15, $150,000 Pegasus, 1 1/16 miles, Monmouth Park, 20-8-2-1

The Ellis Park Derby (50-20-10-5) and stakes races at Saratoga Race Course will be added to the series once their stakes schedules are finalized.

“I really think there will be new horses in the Kentucky Derby,” Baffert said. “The new points are going to help a lot of other horses.”

It already has.

In the Matt Winn, undefeated Maxfield, who hadn’t raced since taking the Gr1 Breeders Futurity at Keeneland by 5 ½ lengths last October 5, upped his record to three-for-three for trainer Brendan Walsh with an

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BELOW: Maxfield wins the Matt Winn for trainer Brendan Walsh.

impressive, wide-trip win by one length under Jose Ortiz. Maxfield was scratched three days before last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile because of a bone chip in his right front ankle which required minor surgery.

“We were really anxious to see this one,” Walsh said.

“It’s good to see him come back and see if he’s as good, if not better, than when he was a two-year-old.”

Going into the Matt Winn, Maxfield was 33rd in points with 10. After the race he was on 60 points and tied for eighth.

His outstanding performance forced his connections into a difficult decision. Do they run back in four weeks to take on Tiz the Law in the Belmont Stakes or wait for

IT’S GOOD TO SEE HIM COME BACK AND SEE IF HE’S AS GOOD, IF NOT BETTER, THAN WHEN HE WAS A TWO-YEAR-OLD.”

Surfaces as Soft as Nature ™

BRENDAN WALSH

The Blue Grass Stakes before a tilt at the Kentuck Derby?

On June 8, they chose the latter option. Sadly on June 10, the decision was made for them, with an x-ray revealing a non-displaced lateral condylar fracture, following a workout at Keeneland. Thus ruling out this talented colt from consideration for the 2020 ‘run for the roses’.

By finishing second in the Matt Winn, Ny Traffic, who had been tied for 10th with 50 points, is now 7th with 70 points.

Could a horse who hasn’t even started make it into the starting gate for the Kentucky Derby? Baffert could have one such horse—the $3.65 million two-year-old purchase Cezanne. “He looks really, really good,” Baffert said. Cezanne won his career debut at Santa Anita by two lengths June 6 could be fast-tracked for the Kentucky Derby. Certainly, Honor A,P., who earned 100 qualifying points by winning the Santa Anita Derby, will be there, too.

Likely when the three-year-olds do finally run in the Kentucky Derby, there will be no fans, and possibly, no owners. “It’s tough,” Baffert said. “My wife and my son can’t go to the track. I’m the only one who can go. It’s difficult for them. We live for the horses. I think it’s hard on their owners because they can’t see them run. They own them because they have passion. They want to be there.

You want to be up close, see them, smell them. You’re not getting the full effect of it. It’s eerie, watching horses come down the stretch, because there’s nobody there.”

Unfortunately, for everyone, this is the new normal.

That it includes the Triple Crown is joyous, no matter how many asterisks it takes.

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P E T: T H E L AT E S T A D V A N C E I N

EQUINE IMAGING Mathieu Spriet, Associate Professor, University of California, Davis

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Lisa Beattie, Mathieu Spriet, Eclipse Sportswire

| OPINION |

anta Anita Park, the iconic Southern California racetrack, currently under public and political pressure due to a high number of horse fatalities during the 2019 season, announced in December 2019 the installation of a PET scanner specifically designed to image horse legs. It is hoped that this one-of-a-kind scanner will provide information about bone changes

S

in racehorses to help prevent catastrophic breakdowns.

What is PET? PET stands for positron emission tomography. Although this advanced form of imaging only recently became available for horses, the principles behind PET imaging have been commonly used at racetracks for many years. PET is a nuclear medicine imaging technique, similar to

scintigraphy, which is is more more commonly commonly known as “bone scan”. For Fornuclear nuclearimaging imaging techniques, a small dose of radioactive tracer tracer is injected to the horse, and the the location location camera in in of the tracer is identified with a camera order to create an image. The tracers used used for racehorse imaging are molecules that that will attach to sites of onhigh highbone boneturnover, turnover, which typically occurs in areas of of bone subject to high stress. Both scintigraphic scintigraphic and PET scans detect “hot “hot spots” spots” that that ISSUE ISSUE 56 69 TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM

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FIG 1

indicate—although a conventional X-ray might not show anything abnormal in aa bone—there are microscopic changes that may develop into more severe injuries. injuries.

Development of PET in California The big innovation with the PET scan is that it provides 3D information, whereas the traditional bone scan only acquires 2D images. The PET scan also has a higher spatial resolution, which means it is able to detect smaller changes and provide a better localization localisation of the abnormal sites.

PET’s technological challenge is that to acquire the 3D data in horses, it is necessary to use a ring of detectors that fully encircles the leg.

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Figure 1: The first equine PET was performed in 2015 at the University of California Davis on a research horse laid down with anesthesia. The scanner used was a PET prototype designed for the human brain (piPET, Brain-Biosciences Brain-Biosciences Inc., Inc., MD, USA).

Rockville, MD).

The first ever equine PET scan was performed at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California in 2015. At the time, a scanner designed to image the human brain was used (PiPET, Brain-Biosciences, Inc.). This scanner consists of a horizontal cylinder with an opening of 22cm in diameter. Although the dimensions are convenient to image

the horse leg, the configuration required the horse be anesthetised in order to fit the equipment around the limb.

The initial studies performed on anesthetised horses with the original scanner demonstrated the value of the technique. A first study, published in Equine Veterinary Veterinary Journal Journal,,demonstrated demonstrated that PET showed damage in the equine navicular bone when all other imaging techniques, including bone scan, MRI and CT did not recognise recognize any abnormality.

A pilot study looking at the racehorse uine fetlock, also published in Eq Equine VeterinaryJournal Journal, , showed showedthat thatPET PET Veterinary detects hot spots in areas known to be involved in catastrophic fractures.

This confirmed the value of PET for racehorse imaging, but the requirement for anesthesia remained a major barrier to introducing the technology at the racetrack. To overcome this, LONGMILE Imaging, a division of BrainVeterinary Imaging, Biosciences Inc., in collaboration with the University of California Davis, designed a scanner which could image standing horses. To do this, the technology had to be adapted so that the ring of detectors to bepositioned positionedaround around could be opened and the limb.

| P | EP TE TS C AA NN N NI N SC I NGG | |

FIG 2

With the support from the Grayson Jockey Club Research Foundation, the Southern California Equine Foundation and the Stronach Group, this unique scanner became a reality and, after the completion of an initial validation study in Davis, the scanner was installed at Santa Anita Park in December 2019.

PET at the racetrack The new PET scanner has been used to image the equine limb from the foot to the knee. The current main focus at the racetrack is fetlock imaging, as the majority of catastrophic breakdown in racehorses affects this area. The UC Davis pilot study highlighted the value of PET for detecting abnormalities in the proximal sesamoid bones—the two small bones at the back of the cannon bone—that are commonly involved in catastrophic fractures. Previous necropsy research on horses which suffered breakdowns has shown that changes can be present in the bones prior to the development of major injuries. The goal of the Californian PET project is to detect these warning signs in order to avoid training and racing horses at high risk for catastrophic breakdown.

Figure 2: These are images from the first horse image with PET. From left to right, PET, CT, MRI and bone scan. The top row shows the left front foot that has a severe navicular bone injury. This is shown by the yellow area on the PET image and abnormalities are also seen with CT, MRI and bone scan. The bottom row is the right front foot from the same horse; the PET shows a small yellow area that indicates that the navicular bone is also abnormal. The other imaging techniques however did not recognize any abnormalities.

FIG 3

Alternative imaging techniques Other imaging techniques are available for examining equine bone. Scintigraphic bone scans are doing an excellent job at detecting stress fractures of the humerus or tibia, and this has helped markedly decrease catastrophic injuries in these areas.

Bone scan is also used for fetlocks; but “hot fetlocks” are common on bone scan, and the lower resolution 2D images often do not allow to truly determine whether horses are at high risk of fractures or have normal bone adaptation to training.

MRI is used for fetlock imaging too, and MRI scanners designed for imaging standing horses have been

Figure 3: The two images on the left are bone thoroughbred scan images from a 4-year-old Thoroughbred racehorse. The images on the right are 3D projection of PET images of the same fetlock.

The bone scan revealed an abnormality at the bottom of the cannon bone. The PET scan confirmed this abnormality and helped better localize it. In addition, several other abnormalities were found on the PET scan in the sesamoid bones.

FIG 4

available for over 15 years. Several large racing centers are equipped with such scanners, and MRI excels in particular at detecting changes in the cannon bone that precede condylar fractures. MRI can detect areas of bone densification, or even accumulation of fluid in the bone, typically indicative of microtrauma that can weaken the bone.

Computed tomography (CT) has also recently been used for standing imaging of the fetlock. At the moment, there are a few centers equipped with a CT scanner allowing standing fetlock imaging, but they they are only available at,example, for example, are only available at, for New New Bolton Center, Pennsylvania, and Bolton Center, Pennsylvania - USA, and the University of Melbourne, Australia. CT CT X-rays to create images. usesuses X-rays to create 3D 3D images.

Similar Similar MRI, CT canareas detect to MRI,toCT can detect ofareas bone of of bone bone densification or areas or areas of bone loss. loss. densification

PET’s advantages (LONGMILE Veterinary Veterinary Imaging, Imaging,Rockville, Rockville,MD) MD, is USA) thePET firstscanner PET scanner Figure 4: The MILE-PET scanner (LONGMILE the is first standing horses. horses. An Anopenable openablering ringof ofdetectors detectorsallows allowseasy easypositioning positioningand andsafe safe specifically designed to image standing right shows shows PET PETimaging imagingof ofthe thefetlock fetlockatatthe theSanta SantaAnita AnitaRacetrack.

Racetrack. scanning. The image on the right

The big advantage of PET is what is called “sensitivity”—the ability to detect early and subtle findings.

ThisThis is because PETPET findings. is because and subtle ISSUE 5669TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM ISSUE TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM

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| V E TT EE RR IINNAARRYY | |

| | PPEETT SSCCAA N NN NI N G |

FIG 5

detects changes at the molecular level before structural changes have occurred. mainly rely on changes MRI and CT rely on changes in the in the density and shape of the structures they are imaging; i.e., structural change must have occurred before these techniques can identify that the bone is abnormal. MRI and CT might miss early information that a PET scan can detect; but they provide complementary information, and these techniques will be important to further characterize characterise abnormalities found on PET. For these reasons, PET and MRI or CT can be combined: a PET image is “fused” on an MRI or a CT, combining the sensitivity of PET with the anatomical detail of the other imaging tool.

As PET is a newly available modality at the racetrack, there is still a lot to learn.

The goal of the first year at Santa Anita is to image as many horses as possible and with bone compare the withPET the information PET information with scan or MRI The pilot bone scan or information.

MRI information.

The study pilot at Davis and the initial cases at Santa study at Davis and the initial cases at Santa Anita tend to show that it is normal to see some bone activity in specific areas of the fetlock, e.g., the palmar condyles; but the presence of hot spots in other areas, for example in the middle of the sesamoid bones, is an abnormal finding that could be be indicator of higher of fracture. an an indicator of higher riskrisk of fracture.

Other roles for PET In addition to its use in racehorses, PET has been used in over a 100 sport horses at UC Davis in the last three years. All these scans have been performed with horses under anesthesia and combined to a CT. The main reason to perform a PET scan is either when other imaging modalities do not find a reason to explain a lameness or to better understand changes seen with other modalities. PET is a “functional” technique; this means that a hot spot indicates an area where an injury is active. MRI can meet difficulties distinguishing between scar tissue and active injury, but PET is the ideal modality for this. The majority of the work done

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Figure 5: MRI and PET images of a racehorse fetlock (from left to right: MRI, fused PET/MRI and PET). The combination of the two techniques maximise maximize the information available gaining anatomical detail from the MRI and detection of early changes from PET.

in sport horses has used the same bone tracer as in racehorses. The most common injuries found with this tracer in sport horses result in navicular disease and early arthritis (joint disease).

PET is not imaging; not restricted restrictedto tobone imaging; withwith an an alternative tracer, it can be used to look alternative tracer, it can be used to look at at injuries in the soft tissues. This This is is something something is not not possible possiblewith withscintigraphy, scintigraphy, that is and the soft tissue tracer has been been used used successfully to identify tendon injuries— distinguishing between active and inactive inactive tendon lesions. Another important area of of interest where the soft tissue tracer tracer has has been been used is for the assessment of laminitis. laminitis. This This disease is extremely complex, and PET PET is is bringing new information about laminitis, ways to to which hopefully will help find new ways fight this serious life-threatening disease.

PET in the future The development of equine PET is the biggest step forward in horse imaging since the introduction of equine MRI over 20 years ago. The development of the standing system has considerably facilitated the use of the technique. PET is currently at the forefront of the solutions proposed to improve racehorse safety, but PET will also help with other important health issues in horses.

| PROFILES |

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GEORGE BOLTON - NADAL aving campaigned such stars as two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, Lady Aurelia, My Miss Aurelia and The Factor did absolutely nothing to diminish George Bolton’s excitement for his latest home-run hitter, the undefeated three-year-old colt Nadal, whom he owns in partnership with Barry Lipman, Mark Mathiesen and Arthur Hoyeau.

Unfortunately, on May 28, after working a half-mile at Santa Anita, Nadal suffered a colyndar fracture of his left front knee. Surgery was done with two screws were inserted, and Nadal will be able to start a new career as a stallion.

Bolton is thankful that he saw all of Nadal’s four victories. Bolton sneaked into Oaklawn Park May 5 to watch Nadal improve his record to four-for-four by taking the second division of the rescheduled Gr1 Arkansas Derby for trainer Bob Baffert.

“If they can really run, you get your ass there,” Bolton said. “I went to see every one of his races: his maiden, his San Vincente, Rebel and the Arkansas Derby. I was the only owner allowed in at Oaklawn.

I snuck in. I had a mask on, but I wasn’t near anyone.

I wanted to be with the horse. This is a special horse.

I spent as much time at the barn after his race as before. I never missed Curlin, Lady Aurelia, The Factor and My Miss Aurelia. For me, you get the one that’s good, you go see him.”

H

Bill Heller

Eclipse Sportswire, Lauren King/Coglianese

He was perfectly happy sharing the experience with his partners. “Celebrating by yourself isn’t much fun,” Bolton said.

“You spread the risk. At the level I play at, when you’re buying, you have to do it as a partnership.”

Bolton, who is the chief investment officer, portfolio manager and partner of WestEnd Capital Management in San Francisco, currently lives in Key Largo, Fla. He was born near Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. “I grew up on a farm that my great, great aunt owned,” he said. “It was left to my father. He had a lot of jumpers. I grew up around it.”

He graduated with honors from the University of Virginia in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics. He’s been an avid supporter of the Cavaliers, and rode the roller coaster of seeing Virginia become the first basketball No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed—the University of Maryland-Baltimore-County—in the NCAA Tournament, and winning the national championship the following season. “I’ve been swinging with the Cavaliers for a long time,” he said. “Virginia is a great place.”

In college, Bolton had the good fortune of becoming friends with Bill Farish, whose father, Will, a former United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, was building Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky.

“Bill asked me to get involved in the business in 1989,” Bolton said. “I just got off to a good start. I didn’t have anybody marking up horses for me.”

| GRADE 1 WINNING OWNERS |

By 1989, Bolton had moved to San Francisco after working for Alex Brown & Sons in Baltimore. He continued to work for them in San Francisco, becoming the firm’s youngest managing partner in 1991. While leading institutional equity sales on the West Coast, he also separately managed accounts for high net-worth individuals. In 2004, Bolton left Alex Brown to become a partner and chief investment officer at WestEnd Capital Management.

His ongoing success has allowed him to pursue his passion, where he’s become a major player. The Farishes brought Bolton in on a Miswaki filly named Exotic Moves. “We sold her after she won three races for a clean ‘double,’ and I was hooked,” he told the Paulick Report in a March 26, 2018 story.

Curlin—the 2007 and 2008 Horse of the Year—took him to a whole new level, winning 11 of 16 starts and earning more than $10.5 million. No victory was more meaningful to him than Curlin’s come-again victory in the Preakness in Pimlico. “He got passed, and he came again,” Bolton said. “It was crazy. Most of the stretch, I thought he would lose.”

Bolton’s My Miss Aurelia, the 2011 Champion Two-Year-Old Filly won the first six starts of her career and never finished out of the money in 11 starts, earning more than $2.5 million. The Factor, who continues a marvelous stallion career at Lane’s End, won six of 13 starts and more than $900,000. And Lady Aurelia, who won five of 10 starts and more than $800,00, captured the

I GREW UP ON A FARM THAT MY GREAT, GREAT AUNT OWNED, IT WAS LEFT TO MY FATHER. HE HAD A LOT OF JUMPERS. I GREW UP AROUND IT.” GEORGE BOLTON

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2017 Gp1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, defeating 17 colts and three fillies.

The international bloodstock agent Kerri Radcliffe hooked up with Bolton in 2018, buying yearlings for him in Australia, Europe and the United States. “George got in touch with me, and he said ‘I want you to buy for me,’” she said in a phone interview from Newmarket May 15.

She purchased Nadal—a massive, muscular colt

by Blame out of the Pulpit mare Ascending Angel bred by Sierra Farm—for $700,000 at the 2019 Gulfstream Park Two-Year-Olds-in-Training Sale that March for Bolton and another investor. The second investor bailed, and Bolton reached out to Lipman, Mathiesen and Hoyeau. Trainer Randy Bradshaw had originally purchased Nadal for $65,000 as a yearling. “When I was looking at him, Randy told me, ‘Kerri, this is a special horse,’” Radcliffe said. “He breezed like a monster, and when you saw his breeze and saw how big he was, you couldn’t quite figure out how that horse did that.”

She named him for tennis star Rafael Nadal.

Previously, she had named a colt Gronkowski for Ron Gronkowski, the All-Pro tight end of the New England Patriots.

The equine Nadal had a rough time getting to the races. After beginning training at Los Alamitos, Baffert shipped Nadal to his barn at Santa Anita.

On the van trip there, he kicked out of his stall and got his hind leg caught over the partition. “He flipped over,” Bolton said. “He cut himself on the back of his legs and had lacerations on his hocks.

When we finally got him back, he wasn’t working well. We examined him again and gave him three months off. Sometimes, missing a two-year-old year helps as a three-year-old.”

Nadal, who weighs in at 1,325 pounds, hasn’t done a thing wrong since returning to Baffert.

“He’s a monster,” said Bolton, who compared him to former New York Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey and legendary Hall of Fame Buffalo Bills’ defensive end Bruce Smith. “It takes him a little while to get going, but his gait versus the other horses is exciting.”

So are the results. “I had 68 texts right after the Arkansas Derby,” Bolton said. “Twenty-eight were from racing people; 40 of them were from Virginia and business people. All of them watched the Derby. It was great for the sport because it’s great that people know him.”

And the tennis star he’s named for? “I’ve talked to his agent,” Bolton said. “He’s aware of the horse.

I am a big fan of him as a person and as an athlete.

I hope he’s enjoying the horse.”

Bolton sure did. So did Nadal’s other owners: Lipman, whose family runs Lipman Family Farms —North America’s largest tomato grower with headquarters in Florida; Mathiesen, who owns a medical service company and was introduced to racing by his daughter Hannah; and Hoyeau, a French-based bloodstock agent. “These guys are guys you want to work with,” Bolton said.

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CHRIS MARA - CHARLATAN ew York Giants Senior Vice President Chris Mara’s passion for Thoroughbred racing goes back a long way. After purchasing a football franchise—which ultimately became the New York Giants—for all of $500 in 1925, his grandfather, Tim Mara, was a legal bookmaker at Belmont Park in the 1930’s. Tim passed both his Giants’ legacy and his love of Thoroughbreds onto his son Wellington, who in turn passed it onto Chris and his brothers.

“He influenced my dad, and my dad influenced me,” Chris said in a phone interview. “The first Saturday in May, you couldn’t find my dad.

He and my mom were at the Derby.”

His father took him to Belmont Park for the first time when he was 10.

Chris’ first trip to the Kentucky Derby was in 1982 when he, his parents and their dear friends the Rooneys watched Gato del Sol take the first leg of the Triple Crown. Chris would marry Kathleen Rooney, NFL pioneer Art Rooney’s granddaughter.

Chris spent one summer, while in college at Boston College after transferring from Springfield, parking cars at one of the Rooneys’ racetracks, Yonkers Raceway. “I loved it,” Chris said. “It was a very interesting job to say the least. The guys were teaching me how to park cars. I parked one, and when I returned the car, the guy gave me a $20 tip. That was like 1977 or 1978. It was a lot of money. I told the guys, ‘They gave me $20.’

They said, “You (bleep, bleep).’”

He came a long way from parking cars at that harness track. Some 35 years ago, he owned his first Thoroughbred, Itchy Hooves, with his mom.

Fast forward a lot of years. After meeting Starlight Racing’s managing partner Jack Wolf in a Saratoga golf tournament hosted by basketball coach, Thoroughbred owner and long-time friend of the Mara family Rick Pitino in August 2012, Chris decided to make a serious commitment to Thoroughbred ownership by joining Starlight Racing.

“I had been looking into it,” Chris said. “I sought out a couple different people and asked them what they thought I should do. They suggested various syndicates. I looked at all of them. Then I sat down with Donna Brothers (who works for Starlight Racing) at the Saratoga Sale. Then I met Jack Wolf on the golf course at Saratoga National.”

That did it. Maybe Chris was feeling giddy—the after effect of a memorable year, which featured the New York Giants beating the previously unbeaten New England Patriots in the Super Bowl; and his daughter, Rooney

N

EVER SINCE I GOT INVOLVED WITH STARLIGHT, THE ULTIMATE GOAL WAS TO GET A HORSE TO THE DERBY, WITH CHARLATAN, IT’S JUST FUN TO HAVE A HORSE LIKE THIS.” CHRIS MARA

Mara, for being nominated for an Academy Award for her title role in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”

In a May 3rd Newsday story, Chris told Ed McNamara, “I sat down with Jack, and he asked me what I was going to bring to the table; and I answered, ‘Luck! We just won a Super Bowl, and my daughter is up for an Academy Award!’”

That very afternoon, Chris and Starlight Racing’s two starters in the 2014 Kentucky Derby—General Rod and Intense Holiday —finished 11th and 12th, respectively, to California Chrome.

In 2018, two months before the Kentucky Derby, Chris, through Starlight Racing, became a partner on both Justify and Audible, who finished first and third in the Run for the Roses.

Then Justify became racing’s 13th Triple Crown champion and retired as the only undefeated Triple Crown champion.

This summer, Chris and Starlight are back again as partners on undefeated Charlatan, who injured his ankle in early June and will be pointed to the Preakness Stakes, now the final leg of the Triple Crown this year. Charlatan’s ownership includes a bunch of other partners and partnership groups. “It’s a lot of people,” Wolf said May 14. “They’re really fine partners to have.”

Charlatan was scheduled to test his three-for-three record in the rescheduled Belmont Stakes on June 20 as the first leg of an entirely rescheduled Triple Crown, to be cut back from a mile-and-a-half to a mile-and-an-eighth in this chaotic year defined by the coronavirus pandemic plaguing the entire globe.

“Ever since I got involved with Starlight, the ultimate goal was to get a horse to the Derby,” Chris said. “With Charlatan, it’s just fun to have a horse like this.”

Hearing that would make his grandfather smile.

“I just love this sport,” Chris said. “I loved reading about my grandfather.”

It’s hard for Chris to not think of his grandfather. “I walked into Belmont Park one day and there was a picture of my grandfather taking bets on the second floor,” Chris said.

In the picture, Tim Mara is wearing a large, silver button stating he was a legal bookmaker. The button has been passed on to Chris. “I kept it in my pocket before the 2018 Kentucky Derby,” Chris said. “I didn’t wear it, but it worked. I will bring it with me for Charlatan.”

Asked what he thought as Justify crossed the finish line to win the 2018 Kentucky Derby, Chris said, “I hope I didn’t lose all the winning tickets. I had a lot of them. My grandfather would have been proud, but he wouldn’t have been happy because he was the bookie.”

Starlight Racing’s other owners on Charlatan are SF Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Fred Hertrich III, John Fielding and Golconda Stables, a partnership of New York City diamond dealers Elliot Friman and Ben Goldberg.

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JACK KNOWLTON - TIZ THE LAW an it be 17 years since Sackatoga Stable partners rolled into Churchill Downs on a rented yellow school bus and left with all the roses when Funny Cide became the first New York-bred to win the Kentucky Derby? Funny Cide added the 2003 Preakness Stakes for the stable, which returns to this year’s Triple Crown chase with another New York-bred: Gr1 Florida Derby winner Tiz the Law, whose four-for-five record stamps him as one of the top contenders for this year’s revamped Triple Crown; he’s now beginning with the mile-and-an-eighth Belmont Stakes on June 20.

Tiz the Law’s co-owner Jack Knowlton, the managing partner of Sackatoga Stable, can’t wait to see Tiz the Law back in action off his impressive victory in the Florida Derby March 28. “The good news is this horse has proven twice he could win off layoffs,” Knowlton said.

It was Knowlton, who runs a health consulting firm in Saratoga Springs and created Sackatoga Stable by a seemingly innocuous question to his long-time buddies at a 1995 Memorial Day barbecue in Sackets Harbor on the shore of Lake Ontario: “Do you want to take a shot?”

They did, and now they’re taking another with a whole different group of investors who comprise Sackatoga Stable—a name derived from his hometown, Sackets Harbor and Saratoga, where Knowlton works and lives. “Our merry band of 10 people, including five guys I went to school with, was a very closely held group,” Knowlton said. “After Funny Cide retired in 2007, it made sense to try to expand the horizons. We formed a management entity, Sackatoga Stable, Ltd. Then we formed 2 LLCs after that.”

Only Knowlton and Lou Titterton remain in Sackatoga, which now numbers 50 people. There are 35 partners on Tiz the Law. “What’s great is we have numerous people who have been with me for 10 to 15 years,” Knowlton said. “We’ve vastly expanded geographically.”

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He has partners from California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York of course, South Carolina and Texas. “It’s much more challenging logistically to put on events for 60 to 80 people,” Knowlton said.

“For the Holy Bull, we had four suites at Gulfstream Park. We had a crew. We’ve got a lot of people who love the game.”

It’s hard to imagine anyone loving horse racing as much as Knowlton, who had previously raced Standardbreds at Saratoga Harness across the street from Saratoga Race Course with Frank Coppola—a top driver and trainer at Saratoga Harness. They called their stable The Breakfast Club because they’d go out for breakfast together on Saturday mornings after their horses finished training. They did well, especially with Sunset Blue, who won more than $270,000 from 33 victories, 33 seconds and 32 thirds from 209 starts over seven years; and Paulas Big Guy, who posted 49 wins, 52 seconds and 35 thirds in 259 starts.

The Breakfast Club owned both horses for part of their careers.

THE SCHOOL BUS– IT NEVER GETS OLD. WE BECAME EVERYBODY’S DARLING. IT WAS A FEEL-GOOD STORY WHEN THE COUNTY NEEDED A FEEL-GOOD STORY.” JACK KNOWLTON

A labor dispute and a horsemen’s strike at Saratoga Harness in 1994 pushed Knowlton out of harness racing.

The following May, he popped that innocuous question to his buddies at a barbecue and the rest is history—wonderful history for Knowlton and his partners.

Sackatoga Stable’s first horse was Sackets Six, a New York-bred who cost $22,000 and earned $111,730 under the guidance of trainer Tim Kelly. Four years later, they hired Tagg. Their first horse with Tagg, Bail Money, was purchased for $40,000 and earned $108,665 before he was claimed for $62,500.

When Funny Cide lost his Triple Crown bid by finishing third to Empire Maker in the sloppy Belmont Stakes, Knowlton simply shrugged his shoulders and kind of smiled—a classy gesture by a classy man seen on national TV and in many pictures.

Knowlton has used Funny Cide’s success to help the sport he loves by doing anything he can. He served as a member of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s Jockey Insurance Working Group; with the Ad Hoc Committee on the Future of Racing in New York State; with the New York State’s Task Force on Retired Race Horses; and as a member of the New York State Gaming Commission’s Aftercare Summits in Saratoga Springs.

After Tiz the Law’s victory in the Florida Derby, Knowlton was doing a TV interview with Kenny Rice. “The second half of the talk was about Funny Cide,” Knowlton said.

“The school bus—it never gets old. We became everybody’s darling. It was a feel-good story when the county needed a feel-good story.”

Sounds like today, doesn’t it?

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| NUTRITION |

THE BALANCING ACT Catherine Rudenko

Giles Anderson, Shutterstock

Key considerations when reviewing what you feed and if you should supplement ith so many feeds and supplements on the market, the feed room can soon take on the appearance of an alchemist’s cupboard. Feeding is of course an artform but one that should be based on sound science.

In order to make an informed decision, there are some key questions to ask yourself and your supplier when choosing what ingredients will form your secret to success.

W

QUESTION #1: What is it?

Get an overview of the products’ intended use and what category of horse they are most suited for. Not every horse in the yard will require supplementing. Whilst one could argue all horses would benefit from any supplement at some level, the real question is do they need it? Where there is a concern or clinical issue, a specific supplement is more likely warranted and is more likely to have an impact. A blanket approach for supplements is really only appropriate where the horses all have the same need (e.g., use of electrolytes).

QUESTION #2: Is it effective?

There are many good reasons to use supplements with an ever-increasing body of research building as to how certain foods, plants or substances can influence both health and performance. Does the feed or supplement you are considering have any evidence in the form of scientific or clinical studies? Whilst the finished product may not—in a branded sense—be researched, the active components or ingredients should be. Ideally, we look for equine-specific research, but often other species are referenced, including humans; and this gives confidence that there is a sound line of thinking behind the use of such ingredients.

Having established if there is evidence, the next important question is, does the feed or supplement deliver that ingredient at an effective level? For example, if research shows 10g of glucosamine to be effective in terms of absorption and reaching the joint, does your supplement or feed—when fed at the recommended rate—deliver that amount?

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There is of course the cocktail effect to consider, whereby mixing of multiple ingredients to target a problem can reduce the amount of each individual ingredient needed. This is where the product itself is ideally then tested to confirm that the cocktail is indeed effective.

QUESTION #3: How does it fit with my current feeding and supplement program?

All too often a feed or supplement is considered in isolation which can lead to over-supplementing through duplication. Feeds and supplements can contain common materials, (i.e., on occasion there is no need to further supplement or that you can reduce the dose rate of a supplement).

Before taking on any supplement, in addition to your current program, you first need to have a good understanding of what is currently being consumed on a per day basis. This is a different matter of comparing one feed tag or supplement pot to another one. Such ‘direct’ comparisons are rarely helpful as dose rates or feeding rates differ, and the manner in which units are expressed is often confusing. Percentages, grams, milligrams and micrograms are all common units of measure used on labeling. The unit chosen can make an inclusion sound significant when perhaps it is not. For example, 1g could be expressed as 1,000mg. Looking at the contribution, any feed or supplement made on an as-fed basis is the only way to know the true value for the horse.

There are many categories of supplements in the market with the greatest cross-over existing around use of vitamins or minerals, which appear in both feeds and supplements. Occasionally feeds can also be a source of ingredients used in digestive health supplements or joint supplements. The contribution of your chosen feed(s) is the base from which you decide what, if any, of those matching nutrients or ingredients should be added to.

Common areas for cross-over include vitamin E, selenium, B vitamins, iron, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, zinc and copper. Duplication may also occur around use of vitamin C (antioxidant), FOS (prebiotic), MOS (pathogen binder), yeast (prebiotic) and occasionally maerl (marine algal calcium source).

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Vitamins and Minerals An often-seen addition to the feed program for Thoroughbreds are bone supplements—providing relevant minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, zinc and copper.

Whilst unquestionably important for sound skeletal development these nutrients are also present in feed, albeit at slightly varying levels by brand. Below is a typical profile of a bone supplement with the information as seen per kilogram on the feed label. Calcium and phosphorus are given as percentages on labels and require converting to grams when looking to calculate the amount of nutrients consumed. In this example, the calcium content is 20%, equivalent to 200g per kilogram.

NUTRIENT

PER KILOGRAM/POUND

Calcium

g / oz

200 / 7

Phosphorus

g / oz

70 / 2.5

Zinc

mg / oz

7000 / 0.25

Copper

mg / oz

1500 / 0.05

Continually increasing the amount of the nutrient does mean an equally increasing benefit. Doubling an intake may well double your cost but will not necessarily double your results (see table below).

Not all nutrients have a documented requirement.

There may simply be no requirement; however, that does mean supplementation is not beneficial. For example, vitamin C has no requirement as the horse can synthesize vitamin C from glucose and is therefore not in need of supplementation to remain healthy. Vitamin C is well documented for its antioxidant role and can be of use at times where immunity may be compromised, for example through stress or illness whereby the body’s own production of vitamin C may be impaired. Use of vitamin C and the dose rate chosen are therefore discretionary and without a fixed guideline on intake. If considering supplementing, the question is, what is the reason for it and is there evidence of results in horses in the same situation? For example, if your horse is suffering from recurrent airway obstruction, research has shown such horses to have low vitamin C levels, and an intake of 30mg/kg of body weight is advised to improve this.

Digestive and Gastric Supplements The feeding rate is 3½oz per horse per day. The amount of each nutrient in each 3½oz dose equates to the amounts shown below. In isolation these numbers mean very little.

Is 0.7oz of additional calcium a lot in comparison to what is found within feed? Perhaps more importantly, how much calcium does a young horse in training need?

NUTRIENT

PER 100G/3.5OZ

Calcium

g / oz

20 / 0.7

Phosphorus

g / oz

7 / 0.25

Zinc

mg / oz

700 / 0.025

Copper

mg / oz

150 / 0.005

The importance of digestive health, relating to the ability to effectively digest and process nutrients, is the basic aim of using supplements to support this process. In addition to this basic function is the area of research, looking at how the gut flora profile - the horse’s microbiome - can influence health and performance. Use of supplements and food stuffs to alter the microbiome and positively influence health status, growth rate, recovery and performance is an area of increasing interest and opportunity.

The requirements of each mineral for a two-year-old in training are detailed in the pink column. These are the levels of each mineral necessary to meet the demands of training and development. When combining our supplement with 7kg (approx. 15 ½ lbs) of a standard racing feed, we are over-feeding each mineral significantly.

The feed alone in this case is already exceeding requirements, giving plenty of safety against variation in forage contribution and appetite of the individual.

NUTRIENT

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SUPPLEMENT PER 100G/3.5OZ

FEED PER 7KG/15LBS

FORAGE PER 5KG/11LBS

INTAKE PER DAY

REQUIREMENT 2YO IN TRAINING

Calcium

g / oz

20 / 0.7

77 / 2.7

14 / 0.5

111 / 4

41.7 / 1.5

Phosphorus

g / oz

7 / 0.25

42 / 1.5

7 / 0.25

56 / 2

20.4 / 0.7

Zinc

mg / oz

700 / 0.025

840 / 0.03

90 / 0.003

1630 / 0.05

430 / 0.015

Copper

mg / oz

150 / 0.005

315 / 0.01

485 / 0.02

107 / 0.004

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Such supplements may include yeast, FOS (fructooligosaccharides), MOS (mannan-oligosaccharides) and ERME (enzyme rich malt extract). Of these inclusions, yeast is the most commonly found within feed although not all brands use yeast as a standard inclusion in racing diets. As with vitamin C, there is no set requirement for any of these supplements; however, there is evidence for each as to their effect on the digestive system.

Joint Supplements The ingredients used within joint supplements are not commonly found within racing feeds but can be included and are present in some senior horse feeds. Where used, glucosamine and MSM are the most commonly included.

MSM has multiple roles, including improving total antioxidant capacity, influencing recovery post exhaustive exercise and reducing pain and inflammation in joint disease. Multiple human and animal studies have proven MSM effective; the dose rate however has been widely varied, and equine research is limited. Typical intake for equines ranges from 0.2-1oz per day.

Glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate (CS) are often found in combination and are supplemented with the intention of counteracting cartilage degradation and supporting synthesis of ECM (extracellular matrix), a key component of articular cartilage. There is no recommended intake for CS, however for glucosamine, the recommended dosage is 10g per day for an adult horse.

This recommendation arises from an equine-specific study looking at oral bioavailability of glucosamine.

Hyaluronic acid (HA) in an oral format for equines has no absorption data; however, studies on the effect in yearlings post OCD surgery were positive and significant when reviewing effusion scores in the supplemented group. Dose rate in this study was 100mg per day. In a separate study reviewing the level of PGE2, an inflammatory mediator, those supplemented had significantly lower PGE2 levels.

There are several more choices of active ingredients when looking at joint supplements, including plant-based options. Regardless of the source, the question remains

the same: how does it work and is it documented to be effective in equines or in any other species? Where such evidence does not exist, and this can often be the case, you are then reliant on the theory being sound. Ultimately the evidence becomes your own horses, how you feel they have responded and if a significant difference was noticed.

QUESTION #4: What is the cost of feeding per day?

Having decided if the supplement fits your feeding program and is well evidenced, or at least has a sound theory to its claimed effect, the decision to use becomes a commercial one. With differing pack weights and dose rates, the cost of a supplement is not as easily compared as feeds, which can be looked at on a per ton basis and have the same intake rate.

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| N U T R I T I O N | | TOTA L D I E TA RY B A L A N C E |

There is also the issue of relative cost if the feed is providing more than the basic profile and contains ingredients commonly used in supplements, then the cost per day of feeding will be higher than using a basic feed. However, if you intend to supplement the diet, all costs of feed (including looking at nutrient intake) plus supplementation need consideration as a whole (see tables below).

Initially looking at cost of the main diet, racehorse cubes, the supplemented version is more expensive per bag and so more expensive to feed per horse per day. However, when considering the contribution of supplemented nutrients, the more expensive racehorse cubes actually reduce the cost of feeding each horse through removing the need to supplement yeast and reducing the amount of vitamin C needed.

A cost savings of $0.70 per horse per day may sound insignificant but when considered over a season, the significance soon changes. For a barn of 70 horses, the difference equates to a little over $12,500 for the season.

In Review Supplementation is a normal and largely beneficial aspect of any feeding program. With many ingredients having no recommended daily intake but having beneficial effects well worth considering, the most important thing to remember is to ask questions. Efficacy of the ingredients needs consideration and the potential benefit weighed up against the commercial implication. As nutrients and supplements frequently interact, working in synergy or building upon each other, the diet must always be considered as a whole.

EXAMPLE DIET

● 7kg standard racehorse cubes, no yeast inclusion and nono vitamin 25g/vitamin C supplement ● 10g•10g yeast/ 0.35oz supplement •7kg / 15lbs standard racehorse cubes, no yeast inclusion and vitaminCC●•25g 0.88oz vitamin C supplement yeast supplement

FEED/ FEED/ SUPPLEMENT

COST/BAG/ COST/BAG/ UNIT

WEIGHT

FEEDING/DOSE FEEDING/DOSE RATE

COST PER PER COST HORSE/DAY HORSE /DAY

NUTRIENT NUTRIENT NOTES

Racehorse Cubes

$12.72 $12.75

20kg / 44lbs 20kg

7kg 7kg / 15lbs

Vitamin C Vitamin C

$$50.00 50.00

1kg1kg / 2lbs

25g /25g 0.88oz

£1.00 / €1.10 $1.25

2,500kg /vitamin 5,511lbs 2,500mg C vitamin C

Yeast Yeast

$43.75 $43.75

2kg 2kg / 4lbs

10g 10g / 0.35oz

£0.18 / €0.20 $0.23

10g yeast 10g / 0.35oz yeast

£3.57$4.46 / €4.00

£4.75 / €5.30 $5.94

EXAMPLE EXAMPLE DIET DIET

● 7kg racehorse cubes with a yeast inclusion and 200mg of vitamin C per kilogram of feed •7kg / 15lbs racehorse cubes with a yeast inclusion and 200mg / 0.007oz of vitamin C per kilogram/pound of feed

FEED/ SUPPLEMENT

COST/BAG/ UNIT

WEIGHT

FEEDING/DOSE RATE

COST PER HORSE /DAY HORSE/DAY

NUTRIENT NOTES

Racehorse Cubes

$13.25 £10.60 / €11.85

20kg / 44lbs 20kg

7kg 7kg / 15lbs

$4.64 £3.71 / €4.15

Yeast included, vitamin vitaminCC1,400mg 1,400mg/ 0.05oz per per dayday

Vitamin C Vitamin C

$50.00 £40.00 / €45.00

1kg1kg / 2lbs

11g11g / 0.4oz

$0.55 £0.44 / €0.49

Yeast

$43.75 £35.00 / €40.00

2kg2kg / 4lbs

N/A

$–– £ $5.19 £4.15 / €4.64

72

TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM ISSUE 56

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ISSUE 56 TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM

73

| RACING |

Bob Baffert was a young pup of 24, fresh out of college about to make a name for himself training Quarter horses at outposts in Arizona like Sonoita and Rillito when Seattle Slew became the first undefeated Triple Crown winner in 1977.

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Ed Golden

Courtesy of Hollywood Park

orty-one years later, in 2018, Baffert followed suit, deftly leading Justify successfully down racing’s Yellow Brick Road to become only the second undefeated Triple Crown winner in history.

Now 67, the most recognizable trainer on the planet is a two-time Triple Crown winner (American Pharoah in 2015), and had the fates allowed, could have been a four-time winner, save for Silver Charm losing the 1997 Belmont Stakes by a length and Real Quiet by an excruciating nose the very next year in a defeat that smarts to this day.

Still young at heart four decades after he began his career, Baffert has fond memories of Seattle Slew, who became one of racing’s giants despite being purchased for the miniscule sum of $17,500.

“I was 24 and still in college I think, but I saw Seattle Slew win the Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont on TV, even though I wasn’t into watching a lot of Thoroughbred races,” Baffert said. “I was still a Quarter horse guy.

“But when I saw him run, I knew the name, and it was a great name—one that stuck with you.

HE WAS A MOST IMPRESSIVE HORSE, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE IN THE PADDOCK, HE LOOKED COMPLETELY WASHED OUT BUT WOULD RUN A HOLE IN THE WIND.” BOB BAFFERT ON SEATTLE SLEW

“He was a most impressive horse, especially because in the paddock, he looked completely washed out but would run a hole in the wind. He would use up so much energy before a race and still destroy the opposition; and that’s a trait he throws (in his bloodlines).

| S E AT T L E S L E W |

“He ran at Hollywood Park and got beat, and then I quit watching him because I lost interest after that. But to me, he was one of the greatest horses I ever saw run on YouTube.”

The following story is about Seattle Slew: part Seabiscuit, part Secretariat. It was published on May 14, 2002, but is appropriately resurrected here in advance of this year’s altered Triple Crown.

This is an exclusive firsthand interview the author obtained with the late Doug Peterson—a bear of a man who trained Seattle Slew in his four-year-old season and who provided a Runyonesque tale of the horse and those closest to him before his untimely death of an apparent accidental prescription drug overdose on Nov. 21, 2004 at age 53.

(Reprinted courtesy of Gaming Today)

Great racehorses do not necessarily prove to be great stallions.

Citation and Secretariat were champions on the track, but each was a dud at stud. Cigar was a king on the track but fired blanks in the breeding shed. He was infertile.

But one Thoroughbred that succeeded on both fronts was Seattle Slew, who in 1977 became the only undefeated horse to win the Triple Crown.

One of racing’s all-time bargains as a $17,500 yearling purchase, Seattle Slew died last Tuesday in Lexington, Ky., exactly 25 years to the day of his Kentucky Derby triumph.

He was 28 and still productive at stud, despite falling victim to the rigors of old age in recent years.

His stud fee was $100,000 at the time of his death and $300,000 at its apex.

Here was a horse for the ages—the likes of which racing may never see again. Consider this: at two, he broke his maiden in his first attempt, and two races later won the Champagne Stakes; at three, he won the Derby, the Flamingo, the Wood Memorial, the Preakness and the Belmont.

At four, he won the Marlboro Cup, the Woodward and the Stuyvesant. He won the Derby by 1¾ lengths as the 1-2 favorite in a 15-horse field. Overall, the dark bay son of Bold Reasoning won 14 of 17 starts and earned $1,208,726.

Doug Peterson was a naïve kid of 26 when he took over the training of Seattle Slew from Billy Turner, who conditioned him for owners Karen and Mickey Taylor through the Triple Crown.

Now 50, Peterson is a mainstay on the Southern California circuit where he operates a successful, if nondescript, stable.

But his memories of the great ‘Slew are ever vivid.

“I got Seattle Slew late in his three-year-old year, after he got beat by J.O. Tobin at Hollywood Park (in the Swaps Stakes),” Peterson recalled. “Billy Turner brought him out here, but he didn’t want to run him. As the horse was getting off the van and they slid up the screen door that was on the top of his stall, it fell down and hit him on the head.

“The day of the race he had a temperature. That’s why he couldn’t make the lead. There was no horse ever going to be in front of this horse, but despite the temperature, they ran him anyway because of all the hype and all the money and all the fans who wanted to see him. That’s what started the disagreement between the Taylors and Turner.”

ISSUE 56 TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM

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| RACING |

PREVIOUS PAGE: 1 Seattle Slew running fourth to winner J O Tobin in the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park, 1977.

2 Seattle Slew in the stable area at Hollywood Park, 1977.

THIS PAGE: 3 Seattle Slew being saddled in the paddock before the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park, 1977.

4&5 Seattle Slew in the stable area at Hollywood Park, 1977.

Peterson got his chance to train Seattle Slew through a stroke of good fortune.

“I was in Hot Springs, Arkansas, sitting on a bucket,” Peterson said. “I was cold and down and out, and this girl—an assistant for another trainer—came by and told me, ‘If you’re going to make it big, you’ve got to go to New York.’ I packed up with two bums and went to New York.

“I got stables at Belmont Park on the backside of Billy Turner, but that was just a coincidence. Turns out, I was in the right place at the right time because Dr. (Jim) Hill was the veterinarian for Billy, and he came to my barn and I asked him to work on a couple of my horses.

“Dr. Hill recognized my horsemanship, and he and Mickey Taylor were buying 15 yearlings. They were going to need two trainers, and this is how the whole thing started. They said Billy would have a string and I would have a string. Well, before the next year, they fired Billy.

“They gave me a job, told me to go to Hialeah and wait for the horses. I went there and waited and sure enough,

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TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM ISSUE 56

here came 32 horses, and I was stabled right next to (the late) Woody Stephens. Seattle Slew got sick from a viral infection when Dr. Hill gave him a shot of Bute and he got a reaction from a dirty needle. It was unfortunate, but he almost died on us.

“I saved his life, and Mickey and Karen will tell you that today. Actually, I saved him twice. Seattle Slew got very nasty and mean when he got sick because he sensed he was going to die. He had gone to colitis X, and the horse next to him had already contacted colitis X and died.

“I stayed in Seattle Slew’s stall. He trusted me. I held hot towels on his neck all night long and did anything to help him, and he would let me. He wouldn’t let a lot of people near him. He bit my assistant trainer and tore a hole in his chest and threw him right out of the stall.

“Mean and nasty this horse was when he got sick. Even at the farm, they’d say he was mean and nasty. He wasn’t that way if you knew him, but to an average person, yes, he was mean.

| S E AT T L E S L E W |

THIS PAGE: 6 Seattle Slew working out at Hollywood Park, 1977.

7 Seattle Slew arriving at LAX for the Swap Stakes Hollywood Park, 1977.

We’d like to thank Kip Hannan for sourcing these wonderful images of a true racing legend!

All images are Courtesy and Copyright of Hollywood Park.

MEAN AND NASTY THIS HORSE WAS WHEN HE GOT SICK. EVEN AT THE FARM, THEY’D SAY HE WAS MEAN AND NASTY. HE WASN’T THAT WAY IF YOU KNEW HIM, BUT TO AN AVERAGE PERSON, YES, HE WAS MEAN.” DOUG PETERSON ON SEATTLE SLEW

“I got Seattle Slew back to life, but races wouldn’t fill for him. On Mother’s Day, I finally got him in an allowance race at Aqueduct. He won by eight in the mud. Everybody was going to scratch. They were trying to kill the race; I didn’t run him again until Father’s Day. “Same thing. We couldn’t fill a race. On Father’s Day, it came up slop again, and he won by eight again; I had to go into the Paterson Handicap (at Meadowlands) off two mud races at seven furlongs. I couldn’t work him much in between, and Dr. Patches beat him a neck in the Paterson, getting 14 pounds (128 to 114).

“Before the race, (Jean) Cruguet (Slew’s regular rider) came to the paddock crying. He said, ‘I don’t want to ride this horse. Angel Cordero’s been following me all night long. He’s been harassing me. “‘If I went to the bathroom, he went to the bathroom; if I went for a cup of coffee, he went for a cup of coffee.’ Cordero had psyched him out before the race, plus there was heavy sand that night and they didn’t water the track. Mickey and Karen were going crazy because they knew the speed horses were going to get tired, and Seattle Slew was going to get tired going a mile and an eighth against Dr. Patches.

“But Cordero did psyche out Cruguet. I told the Taylors I wanted to change riders right then. They said, ‘Doug, you can’t fire this guy. He just won the Triple Crown on the horse.’ I said, ‘Believe me, it’s not going to work. I can tell.

We’re doomed.’ But they wouldn’t let me. After he got beat, they said, ‘Doug you’re going to be the one to fire Cruguet.’

“We voted on who would ride the horse. Jacinto Vasquez was riding all my horses at the time, and he was winning everything. At one point, we won eight out of nine starts. I wanted Jacinto, but the Taylors also threw in Cordero’s name and Shoemaker’s name. The two of them decided against me. They wanted Cordero.

“They told me to go to the jocks’ room at Belmont Park and fire Cruguet and hire Cordero, so I did. And Cruguet hates me to this day.

“But Angel loves me.”

As do legions of nostalgic Seattle Slew fans, among them Bob Baffert.

ISSUE 56 TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM

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Bill Heller

| #SOUNDBITES |

Eclipse Sportswire

#SOUNDBITES The new Jockey Club Fact Book showed 2019’s average field size dropped again to 7.24, and 2019’s starts per runner dropped again to 5.96. Both numbers are the lowest since at least 1950.

Does that concern you?

# Todd Pletcher It does concern me. There’s a concern that today’s horses aren’t as durable as they were in the past. We need increased field size to increase handle. That’s a worry. But we also want to try to lessen breakdowns, and trainers are spacing races out more to make sure their horses are ready to run an optimal performance. We found over the years that horses, especially after hard races, need more time. It’s a complicated issue. It’s a constant learning curve. Each horse is different. Certainly we see that when we approach Triple Crown races for three-year-olds.

# Neil Drysdale

# Tom Albertrani

It does, obviously. It keeps contracting. We know that from the foal crops. It leads to us to say we should have less racing to get better field size. I think it will happen. When I started, we didn’t have year-round racing. Racing has been proliferating, but the boutique meets have done so well: Keeneland, Del Mar, Saratoga, Hot Springs.

It’s interesting to hear statistics about it. Am I concerned?

I don’t think so. I think we’re still a pretty strong industry.

I know there’s been a lot of smaller fields the last couple of years.

# Wayne Catalano Of course it concerns me. We’re running out of horses. We’re not breeding as many horses as we used to. I don’t know the numbers, but it’s finally catching up with us. Field size is handle, right?

We get paid by the handle.

78

TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM ISSUE 56

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| #SOUNDBITES |

# John Shirreffs It does not really concern me. When I first was working on the racetrack as a hotwalker/ponyboy, Laffit Pincay was just beginning to ride. The rumor was that if you use him, you wouldn’t be able to run your horse again for 30 days because he got everything out of the horse. Now all the jockeys are like Laffit. Jockeys are now fitter, stronger and ride harder from gate to wire.

I think the horses are asked to do more, so recovery takes a little longer. Horses are also carrying a lot more weight than they ever did. There used to be weight allowances. Look at the scale of weights. Much higher.

# Ron Moquett

Not where I’m at.

I go to the track at Remington Park, Oaklawn Park and Keeneland. They offer some of the largest field sizes there are. If you look it up, I think Remington is No.1, and Oaklawn is No. 2. That’s where I race most of my horses. I like bigger fields for handicappers to bet on.

It’s easier to win races when they’re less, but I like people to see big fields with good horses.

# Tony Dutrow Yes. No. 1, I’m not surprised. It’s been alarming me for a number of years. Horses are not as sound. The reasons for the drop in starts, in my opinion, is that racing’s become enormously commercial. When I was so much younger, more breeders bred horses to race them much more than they do today. The people that have the funds fuel this game. The people who fuel the game need good broodmares. Then they breed them to a successful stallion. They spend a lot of money.

And then they’re going to sell that horse at a sale. They’re not going to keep that horse running in the field with his buddies. That has a lot to do with why horses have less starts.

ISSUE 57: KENTUCKY DERBY / PREAKNESS / YEARLINGS

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