Thoroughbreds Fight Disease and Race Controls

Contamination of Test Samples and Frailties Thwart Top Racers

Aug 4, 2009

Pioneerof the Nile survived his 2009 top rating and injury. Although he slumped after winning the Santa Anita Derby, he dodged disaster. Will he be a desired stallion?

In this day and age of superior technological and medicinal discovery, injuries to and complications of disease for the Thoroughbred race horse continue to mount, no matter what the racing surface, the location, or the circumstances.

There is no changing the fact that Thoroughbreds stand and race on perilously thin, fragile legs that comprise only a tiny portion of their average weight of 1,000 pounds. The equine's legs are no stronger, or sturdier in 2009 than they were in the 17th Century.

Pioneerof the Nile Could Be Top Stallion

Pioneerof the Nile is one of 2009's lucky Thoroughbreds thus far. He was retired because of a soft tissue injury to his left front leg. And because of his stellar three-year-old racing season in which he was one of the favorites in the Kentucky Derby and won such prestigious graded prep events as the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G2), the San Felipe Stakes (G2), and the Santa Anita Derby (G1), he will readily get booked to mares who hopefully will propel him to a significant career as a breeding stallion.

Point Given Son Go Between Dies

Go Between, a fine son of the great racer Point Given, who defeated 2009 Dubai World Cup champion Well Armed in the Pacific Classic, died January 12. Go Between collapsed after a cool down, apparently victimized by a failing heart.

It is when great hearts fail and bones shatter that the Thoroughbred racing industry perhaps feels its greatest loss. There is injury, disease, and freak accident in the racing game, but when the heart fails to beat out a rhythm for racing hooves, and bones break inexplicably pause can be taken to contemplate the health of the sport.

Should zero tolerance for drug testing policies be permitted given the reality of testing sample contamination?

Equine Metritis Discovered

A venereal disease, contagious equine metritis, casued by the organism Taylorella equigenitalis, this spring ravaged barns in Georgia (one case), Illinois (three), Indiana (three), Iowa (one), Kentucky (four), Texas (one), and Wisconsin (eight). All totaled, known cases affected 939 horses, while the outbreak's source of origin remains a mystery.

The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the World Organization for Animal Health confirmed that positive test stallions were also found in nine breeds other than the Thoroughbred, including the Appaloosa, Hackney, Dutch Warmblood, Quarter Horse, Saddlebred, Arabian, Friesian, Fjord, and the Paint.

Thoroughbred Industry Infighting

It is known that environmental, veterinary, bacterial, metabolic, and pharmaceutical sources are traceable to blood test sample contamination. Those responsible for testing argue over whether twenty-four, or forty-eight hour pre-race drug testing should be conducted.

Veterinarian Dr. Steven Barker of the Louisiana State Racing Commission said the industry "does not have a drug problem" (The Blood-Horse magazine, July 11, 2009, page 2435; "Environmental Contamination of Samples, Sensitive Testing Create Dilemma").

The National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association doubts that either medication, or drug-testing is worthwhile.

Veterinarian Dr. Patty Graham-Thiers of Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, Virginia claims in an article ("Pastured Horses More Fit", page 2289) in the June 27, 2009 issue of The Blood-Horse that horses turned out regularly in open, large pastures are better fit than those who don't get this experience. Healthier heart rates and increases in bone density were two of the benefits discovered in Graham-Thiers' studied pastured equines.

Best Efforts to Help Thoroughbreds Enough?

It remains to be seen if the best efforts of human kind will be enough to quell the worst enemies of the Thoroughbred: killer infections such as laminitis and new diseases; common complications such as those from colic surgery; quarrels over the industry's self-controls; and catastrophic breakdowns from possible pre-disposed weak bone structures.

The copyright of the article Thoroughbreds Fight Disease and Race Controls in How to Race Horses is owned by BarbaraAnne Helberg. Permission to republish Thoroughbreds Fight Disease and Race Controls in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.