Two horses at Horseshoe Indianapolis test positive for strangles

A shed row at Horseshoe Indianapolis in Shelbyville, Ind., has been placed under quarantine after two horses based in the barn tested positive for strangles, a highly contagious bacterial infection, according to a track official.

Eric Halstrom, the general manager at Horseshoe, said the two horses were removed from the barn prior to being tested for the disease, which affects the upper respiratory tract. They subsequently tested positive.

The horses in the quarantined shed row have not displayed any symptoms of the disease, Halstrom said, but they will be isolated from all other horses at the track for at least 14 days after the other horses tested positive, which occurred on June 13. The horses are not being allowed to train, Halstrom said.

“We have reason to believe that we caught it soon enough,” Halstrom said. “We’ll go along with whatever the veterinarians and the state health officials tell us to do.”

Halstrom declined to identify the horses involved.

Although strangles is not a serious disease, it can spread quickly among horses in close quarters.

At least one track, Hawthorne Racecourse in Chicago, has banned ships-in from Horseshoe “until further notice.”