State to investigate Saratoga horse deaths

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The equine medical director for New York said Friday “a thorough investigation” will be conducted into the 10 equine fatalities that have occurred during the Saratoga meet.

Seven of the equine deaths have occurred during the races and three have occurred during training hours. Last year at Saratoga, there were five fatalities that occurred during racing and an additional three during training hours.

“Although New York State has made significant progress in reducing injuries and preventing the inappropriate use of medication in racehorses, the job of equine safety is never done,” Dr. Scott Palmer, the state’s equine medical director, said in a statement released Friday afternoon.

“There will be challenges along the way. We are experiencing such a challenge during the 2014 Saratoga meet. A thorough investigation of all of the racing fatalities during the 2014 Saratoga meet is being conducted. Until that investigation is complete, it would be inappropriate to opine or make any final statements about definitive cause of injury.”

Palmer noted that only two of the seven racing fatalities - that of Father John’s Pride on July 28 and Ludicrous on Aug. 23 - and all three of the training fatalities involved musculoskeletal fractures of the lower limb. The three training fatalities were Lifeguard on Duty, Double Gold, and Kamarius.

Three deaths occurred due to cardiovascular collapse - Sir William Bruce, Regretless and M B and Tee. The death of Lavendar Road occurred after she fell and hit her head on an outside rail and was later found to have fractured a vertebrae. Makari suffered a broken neck after falling over the final hurdle in the Grade 1 New York Turf Writers Cup Steeplechase.

Palmer was the chairman of Andrew Cuomo’s Task Force on Racehorse Health and Safety which put forth recommendations in 2012 to reduce the musculoskeletal fractures related to training and racing. According to Palmer, the number of such fatalities during this meet decreased to five from eight in 2013.

“Aside from the musculoskeletal fractures noted above, there were six additional fatalities related to circumstances that cannot be prevented by interventions designed for musculoskeletal injury prevention,” Palmer said. “These include the cervical and spinal injuries as well as episodes of sudden death. The current challenge is to design new interventions that will address these additional types of fatalities.”

Palmer said that several steps are being considered by the New York Gaming Commission and NYRA to address the types of accidents that resulted in the cervical and spinal injuries. Those innovations include designing entry and exit ramps at the gap on the backstretch of the track that will aid an outrider’s ability to catch a loose horse; modifying the fencing that controls access from the paddock to the track; and modifying hurdles in steeplechase races.

Palmer said that there is a program being put in place to address cardiovascular issues, including the measurement of cardiac enzymes associated with heart muscle damage. This protocol will also include electron microscopy of the pacemakers and transmission pathways in the heart.

Also, the New York State Gaming Commission is investigating innovative technology that would enable veterinarians to instantly detect cardiac arrhythmias on the track at the time of a horse collapse. Drug testing protocols are already in place to detect use of drugs that might induce cardiac arrhythmias.

“We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to identify the causes of death in all racing fatalities in New York,” Palmer said. “As stewards of the racehorse, we have a duty to do all that we can to honor and protect these incredible athletes.”