It was nearly six months in the past that Thoroughbred racing confronted a darkish second within the lengthy and storied historical past of the game’s most well-known race.
The Might 9 information that Kentucky Derby Introduced by Woodford Reserve (G1) winner Medina Spirit tested positive for a banned substance rocked the entire industry to its core.
To date, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has yet to rule on whether the 3-year-old will be disqualified or trainer Bob Baffert sanctioned, but the shock waves have not been ignored.
With the Breeders’ Cup set to be contested Nov. 5-6 at Del Mar, the World Championships will unfold below new and enhanced security protocols, together with complete pre-race testing that’s meant to find a violation earlier than the race and stop a repeat of what occurred on the Run for the Roses.
“That was one of many large driving forces behind this pre-competition testing we did this week,” Dr. Will Farmer, a co-lead of the Breeders’ Cup veterinary group, mentioned Nov. 3 concerning the drug challenge hanging over the Kentucky Derby. “Clearly, in contrast to for people when you’ll be able to go and have a blood take a look at performed in a matter of minutes, the blood testing that we do on horses may be very sophisticated. It takes very intensive equipment and it is very time consuming. So it was an enormous feat (to carry out). (The workers at College of California-Davis) is working feverishly with the entire samples. We despatched them 166 samples yesterday and they’re mainly attempting to get us a 48-hour turnaround.
“So that is one thing that is by no means been performed earlier than. We have needed to work via a variety of obstacles to get so far, however the Breeders’ Cup felt it was a step that would actually assist us. We won’t stop a constructive discovering, but when we will determine them previous to the race we felt it was an excellent step ahead for integrity.”
William Farmer
Apart from the out-of-competition testing for all members, there are particular protocols for Baffert’s entrants, which incorporates the flexibility to take urine samples from his horses at any level via Saturday.
Talking as a part of a panel to debate the well being and security protocols for the Breeders’ Cup, Dr. Jeff Blea defined that beginning at 72 hours earlier than the race, Breeders’ Cup entrants are subjected to 24-hour safety.
“There’s Breeders’ Cup investigators all around the bottom. There are California Horse Racing Board investigators. We now have 11 on workers and they’re working 24 hours a day,” mentioned Blea, the CHRB equine medical director. “Along with the monitoring and oversight by safety and the Breeders’ Cup workers, at 72 hours, any medicine that’s administered to a horse, the supplies used for it are collected and bagged and recognized. Paperwork is crammed out and it’s transported to a CHRB investigator the place we’re storing them, in order that in case of a post-race constructive we will return and use it as proof.”
Following the 14 Breeders’ Cup races there shall be testing of the primary 4 finishers in addition to some other horse designated by the stewards.
Moreover the integrity issues raised by the Kentucky Derby, equine security additionally shall be a serious focus this weekend.
The thirty eighth Breeders’ Cup marks the collection’ return to California for the primary time since 2019 when the occasion at Santa Anita Park ended with a fatality within the Longines Breeders’ Cup Traditional (G1) as Mongolian Groom broke down. Blea mentioned reforms have been instituted since then and have been embraced by the California racing neighborhood in order that there are extra vigorous pre-race checks for soundness.
“What occurred in 2019 expediated reforms that had been already underway in a fast, fast method,” Blea mentioned. “As a sport, as an trade, we’re very conscious of the problems that went on in 2019, and stakeholders have embraced the entire current reforms coming down the pipe.
“I can let you know, working with the Breeders’ Cup and Del Mar, security and welfare are the highest priorities in racing as we speak,” he added, “and I feel what’s occurred over the previous couple of years, the adjustments, the reforms, not solely with medicine however security, I feel the trade, particularly in California, we’re keenly conscious of our critics and at this stage we will decide our head up and inform a very good story. If we handle the horse, every thing will handle itself and I feel the main focus is on the horse.”
Farmer mentioned that after 2019, Dr. Larry Bramlage of Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital carried out a evaluation of the Breeders’ Cup’s protocols and instructed a trot-up examination to test for soundness.
“After we had been in a position to have these horses in a confined space in order that we might look at them with weight on their again reasonably en masse throughout coaching, that was one change that has been very well-received. As veterinarians we’ve got been very excited by it. It has helped us to look at these horses higher,” Farmer mentioned. “One other side of that has been that we’ve got devoted a constant veterinarian to look at these horses so we do not have a relentless turnover of veterinarians. We used to focus closely on barn exams and we have transitioned it to make it extra of a break up between barn exams and monitor exams.”
Sadly, there was a fatality earlier within the day throughout coaching at Del Mar when Set the Tone , a 2-year-old maiden filly trained by Bob Hess Jr., lost her bridle and then dumped her rider and ran off. While trying to exit the track, she crashed into a pole, causing a severe shoulder injury. She was quickly treated by medical personnel, but could not be saved and was euthanized on the track.
On the human side, with COVID-19 still a concern, the Breeders’ Cup and Del Mar announced unvaccinated individuals must wear face coverings over their nose and mouth indoors and outdoors when in close proximity to others. Planned attendance for the two-day event is 45,000, not including staff, credentialed media, sponsors, and vendors.
Guests entering the facility or placing a bet are asked to practice social distancing, and officials said they should refrain from congregating inside the grandstand and adhere to posted signage and floor decals.
