IN-DEPTH: MEDICATION AND THERAPEUTICS FOR RACEHORSES


IV. Forty-Eight-Hour Work Out Notice—Notifica- tion of intent to work is a requirement of the California Enhanced Safety Procedures work monitoring program. Internal re- views of past performance data and all avail- able information from the horses slated to work are used to identify individuals worthy of further scrutiny (horses of interest). The official veterinarian then works with all par- ties to determine if the horse is approved to work or whether another course of action is required.


V. Out of Competition Testing—The state regulatory body propagates regulations re- stricting or prohibiting the use and admin- istration of drugs or stimulants or other improper acts to horses prior to the horse participating in a race. Any horse eligible to race is subject to testing without advance notice for specified substances. A horse shall be presumed eligible to race if (a) it is under the care, custody, or control of a li- censed trainer; (b) it is owned by a licensed owner; (c) it is nominated to a race at a licensed association; (d) it has raced at a licensed association within the previous 12 calendar months; (e) it is stabled on the grounds of a licensed association or a train- ing facility; or (f) it is nominated to partici- pate in a specified race (i.e., Breeders’ Cup). The definition encompasses the en- tire racing population regardless of current location.


7. Conclusion


More than 83% of racing and training fatalities are attributable to musculoskeletal injury.21 An early finding of the California Post-Mortem Examination Program, which has been verified annually in the 30 years since the programs’ inception, is evidence of pre-existing pathology in more than 85% of the fatal musculoskeletal injuries. The finding of prior pa- thology at the fracture site means most fatal injuries are preventable. To date, the Thoroughbred industry approach has


been to identify horses at a higher risk of injury prior to racing. In fact, this risk modeling devel- oped through the EID has yielded a 20% reduction in the national fatal injury rate since the databases’ inception in 2008. Horses of interest are scruti- nized on race day to determine suitability to start, which is ultimately the decision of the official veter- inarian. Practically, the question is “if this horse starts, will it end in fatal injury?” If the answer is “no” for every starter entered, then all horses would compete in the race. In these cases, the official veterinarian is correct 99.47% of the time (2019 EID national fatal injury rate was 1.53 per 1,000 starters). The cluster of fatalities at the Santa Anita race- track in early 2019 led to the implementation of


house rules and Enhanced Safety Procedures. Par- ticular procedures applied risk modeling by official veterinarians to the training population and man- dated that attending veterinarians evaluate horses prior to high-speed exercise events (timed work outs and races). The Enhanced Safety Procedures yielded a 30% reduction in racing fatal injuries and a remarkable 50% reduction in training fatal injuries.a


Veterinarians implementing stringent safety pro-


tocols to the entire at-risk training and racing population have the greatest potential to decrease fatalities and improve the safety of racings’ participants.


Acknowledgments


Declaration of Ethics The Author has adhered to the Principles of Veter- inary Medical Ethics of the AVMA.


Conflict of Interest The Author has no conflicts of interest.


References and Footnote


1. Stover SM, Murray A. The California Postmortem Program: leading the way. Vet Clin North Am Equine Pract 2008;24: 21–36.


2. Cohen ND, Peloso JG, Mundy GD, et al. Racing-related factors and results of prerace physical inspection and their association with musculoskeletal injuries incurred in thor- oughbreds during races. JAmVet Med Assoc 1997;211:454– 463.


3. Cohen ND, Mundy GD, Peloso JG, et al. Results of physical inspection before races and race-related characteristics and their association with musculoskeletal injuries in Thorough- breds during races. J Am Vet Med Assoc 1999;215:654–661.


4. Cohen ND, Berry SM, Peloso JG, et al. Association of high- speed exercise with racing injury in Thoroughbreds. JAm Vet Med Assoc 2000;216:1273–1278.


5. Arthur RM. 2018. ARCI Conference: Identifying horses at risk. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v hykgWabeB3Q&listPL9-HTzzk492yhg-isBrbKIwYDs7A cOiZY&index3&t0s.


6. New York Task Force on Racehorse Health and Safety. 2012. Official report. Available from: https://www.governor.ny.gov/ sites/governor.ny.gov/files/archive/assets/documents/Report.pdf.


7. Santa Anita Park. 2019. California Enhanced Safety Proce- dures. Available from: https://www.santaanita.com/wp-con- tent/uploads/2019/03/California_Enhanced_Procedures.pdf.


8. California Horse Racing Board. 2020. Report on fatalities at Santa Anita Park from 12/30/18 through 3/31/19.


9. Stover S. Using big data and artificial intelligence to detect pre-clinical lameness: Can it reduce the number of cata- strophic injuries, in Proceedings. Am Assoc Equine Pract 2019; X–X.


10. Anthenill LA, Stover SM, Gardner IA, et al. Association between findings on palmarodorsal radiographic images and detection of a fracture in the proximal sesamoid bones of forelimbs obtained from cadavers of racing Thoroughbreds. Am J Vet Res 2006;67:858–868.


11. Estberg L, Stover SM, Gardner IA, et al. Fatal musculosk- eletal injuries incurred during racing and training in Thor- oughbreds. J Am Vet Med Assoc 1996;208:92–96.


12. Martig S, Chen W, Lee PV, et al. Bone fatigue and its implications for injuries in racehorses. Equine Vet J 2014; 46:408–415.


AAEP PROCEEDINGS  Vol. 66  2020 387


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