Cover image courtesy of Racing Victoria
On Monday and Tuesday, Racing Victoria (RV) held its annual Vet Seminar. This year’s program, which was conducted at Ballarat (Monday) and Cranbourne (Tuesday), had a focus on medication usage in thoroughbred racehorses.
RV Veterinary Services Department recently conducted a research project with 28 Victorian trainers and 18 permitted RV veterinarians to better understand the medication usage in thoroughbred racehorses in the state.
Trainers were interviewed first, followed by racetrack veterinarians. The interviews were based around questionnaires to ascertain certain attitudes, practices, beliefs and habits regarding the medication of racehorses.
Dr Hilary Colwell - an RV regulatory vet who presented the findings, said the aim was to determine what the strengths and weaknesses of the current system are.
“We wanted to get our head around what the current practices are amongst Victorian trainers and racetrack vets in relation to medication,” Colwell told The Thoroughbred Report.
“We wanted to get our head around what the current practices are amongst Victorian trainers and racetrack vets in relation to medication.” - Dr Hilary Colwell
“We tried to get a group that was representative of the broader population, so we made sure that we had a good representation of country trainers, males and females, young and old, people that have been doing it for five years to those that have been doing it for 50.”
Dr Grace Forbes, RV’s General Manager of Veterinary Services, added: “We are really keen to get participation from the audience off the back of the survey we did. What we want to do is share those results back to the broader training and veterinary industry and then get some extra feedback from them.”
According to Dr Colwell, the research concluded that there is an incomplete understanding of how certain prescription medications act and therefore certain medications are used inappropriately; these medications include antibiotics, intra-articular medications, anthelmintics (wormers) and anti-inflammatories such as phenylbutazone and dexamethasone.
Dr Grace Forbes | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
There is a focus on treatment rather than prevention. A common example of this is the approach to coughs and airway mucus.
The relationship between racetrack veterinarians and trainers can be enhanced. For example, the veterinarian’s role as diagnostician is underutilised. Furthermore, there is no uniform adherence to the legal requirement that vets must first examine horses and make a diagnosis before dispensing medication to a specific horse, and there is a focus on medication rather than management issues.
The research revealed training practices have improved and there is a better understanding of lameness and injury prevention and there has been an overall decrease in the amount of medications used compared to historical practices.
“You don’t set out to conduct research with a preconceived idea of what the answers are going to be,” explained Colwell.
“You don’t set out to conduct research with a preconceived idea of what the answers are going to be.” - Dr Hilary Colwell
“It was useful for us to have some points to focus on in terms of what medications are being used commonly and what trainers think about certain medications.”
In terms of the future, it was deemed that focus areas should include more consistent and thorough lameness workups, using radiographs prior to joint injections and using imaging to obtain diagnoses prior to spelling.
Colwell said: “That’s the million-dollar question, what do we do with the findings?
“We want to lead from the front, we want our trainers and vets to be involved in the decisions that are going to affect them. We want to have some agency in the decisions, we don’t want to be left behind and have someone else make those decisions for us.”
Panel discussion
Following lunch on Day 2, there was a panel discussion with industry experts Dr Ben Mason - Director with Crown Equine Veterinary Services, Group 1-winning owner Simon O’Donnell, and Melbourne Cup-winning trainer David Eustace.
Topics covered included the value of diagnostics, prevention versus treatment, management versus treatment, and side effects and unintended side effects.
Mason spoke at length about equine asthma - a respiratory disease caused by hypersensitivity in the lungs to airborne dusts and moulds.
Dr Ben Mason | Image courtesy of Crown Equine Veterinary Services
“It can cause poor performance and can be associated with EIPH (exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage),” Mason explained.
“It’s not a bacterial infection.
“Environmental management is critical. How do you measure environmental contamination? It’s really hard. There’s some guys in America that have invented a hand-held particle counter, which measures dust. You can walk around a horse’s box and measure how much dust is in each corner, the doorway or breezeway.
“If I see a coughing horse, the first thing I do is measure the environment.”
“If I see a coughing horse, the first thing I do is measure the environment.” - Dr Ben Mason
Mason added to “consider inhaled corticosteroids as a treatment”.
“If you’ve fixed your boxes and done everything you possibly can, but still have coughing horses and think you have equine asthma in the stable, inhaled corticosteroids is the way to go,” he commented.
Eustace led the discussion around gastric ulcers, which, put simply, are sores that form on the stomach lining and are common in horses. Many factors contribute to the development of ulceration, including diet, exercise, housing and stress.
“At Ciaron Maher Racing, we do a lot of scoping, and I think that’s the best way to find out if a horse has got ulcers, what treatment they should go on. And then, scope again to see whether the ulcers have cleared up,” said Eustace.
David Eustace | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
“We pretty-much scope every horse at the start of each preparation. We scope them again during the prep and if there’s any sign as to why they’re not performing or may not look as well as they should or they’re agitated, we have something to compare it against and it can help explain things.
“I would encourage you to scope a lot, I think it will save a lot of money down the track with medication use.”
Changes at Racing Victoria
Forbes also made a presentation, with her focus on medication and rules.
She outlined three significant changes that participants need to be across.
Firstly, horses that have not raced for 12 months must obtain a veterinary clearance before trialling and then trial to the satisfaction of stewards. If permission to trial is granted by the stewards, the horse must (a) participate in an official trial to the satisfaction of the stewards; and (b) have a post-trial veterinary examination (conducted by a qualified veterinary surgeon) to ensure the horse is suitable to continue its training regime.
The second change pertains to cardiac arrhythmias. Historically, the policy only made reference to cardiac arrhythmias detected post-race; now the policy includes cardiac arrhythmias detected at official trials and jump-outs.
Lastly, regarding major fractures, the policy now includes stress fractures. There is no mandatory diagnostic imaging if the horse does not return to fast work for at least four months. If the horse only has a short break from racing, the horse must undergo a scintigraphy prior to galloping before the stewards.
Forbes explained that these matters, and others, are constantly reviewed, both nationally and internationally.
“There’s new research being produced everyday locally here in Victoria; we’re always looking at what’s new, what’s new research that someone’s done and what can we learn from that?,” said Forbes.
“There’s new research being produced everyday locally here in Victoria; we’re always looking at what’s new, what’s new research that someone’s done and what can we learn from that?” - Dr Grace Forbes
“Nationally, we have a National Veterinary and Analysts Group and we meet regularly to discuss these things from a national perspective. So, meet with my colleagues, the head vet in New South Wales, Queensland, WA…
“And then on a global level, through the International Federation of Horseracing.
“So, on all different levels, these are things that are being discussed continuously.”
