Veterinarian tries to get facts on number of thoroughbreds breaking down

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — It wasn't so much watching a horse having to be put down after a Triple Crown race that made Dr. Mary Scollay shudder. It was having to watch it happen again.

Two years ago, Scollay, the head veterinarian at Calder and Gulfstream racetracks, saw Barbaro break down in the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, the injury eventually leading to the euthanization of the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner in February 2007.

Saturday, Eight Belles was euthanized after finishing second in the Derby.

Scollay, who has been on a mission since Barbaro shattered his hind leg, now has even more motivation to help determine how often and why thoroughbreds suffer fatal injuries.

"We really don't have those answers, and clearly, I felt we should," she said. "We are in a position to learn a lot."

Four months after Barbaro's death, Scollay began coordinating a study, funded by the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, to gather detailed information from national and international tracks about horse-racing injuries.

No such statistics had been collected on a national level and tracks that kept their own numbers were not required to report them even to the National Throroughbred Racing Association.

Scollay initially had 42 tracks volunteer to be part of the study and that number has grown to 60 venues.

As thorougbred racing continues to come under scrutiny following the death of Eight Belles, the NTRA repeatedly has quoted a figure on the number of fatal injuries per starts in a race — about 1 in every 1,000 starts.

Scollay's figures, including input from June 2007-March 2008, shows higher numbers — 2.02 fatalities for 1,000 starts on dirt tracks and 1.47 on tracks cushioned with synthetic materials.

Applying those figures to the number of races in the U.S. and Canada last year, Scollay said, means even higher fatality rates.

There were 56,361 races with 460,492 starts in 2007, according to The Jockey Club. Using the foundation's early figures, anywhere between 677 horses (using the 1.47 figure on synthetic tracks) to 930 horses (using the 2.02 figure) would have died in 2007. That's an average of more than two deaths a day.

Scollay cautions that her research to date represents "a snapshot in time," and that it will take years and participation from more tracks to get a clear idea of why and how often fatal injuries occur.

But, she said, "There's no such thing as an acceptable rate of injury."

Eight Belles suffered two broken ankles a quarter mile past the finish line. Broken ankles are a common injury for thoroughbreds, but a double break is "extremely unusual,'' said Dr. Mark Markel, the associate dean and department chair for the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Markel has been studying condylar fractures partly through bone scans on horses put down at Florida tracks. Most 3-year-old thoroughbreds develop a degree of micro fractures in their ankles as they adjust to training and racing schedules, Markel said. He's focusing on the point where horses are at risk and ultimately hopes to develop pre- and post-race tests to determine signs of danger in the ankles.

"You want to learn from these poor horses that had to be euthanized," Markel said. "It's our goal to learn as much as we can."

Scollay's research includes factors such as a horse's training history and the surface used when the animal was injured.

Eddie Plesa, Calder Race Track's fourth all-time winningest trainer, said breeding practices should come into question because most thoroughbreds are bred for speed rather than durability.

Still, he's worried about critics overreacting to the Eight Belles incident.

"It's like watching the Super Bowl and seeing something catastrophic happen to the starting quarterback," Plesa said.

"Is this going to change things? I don't think so because I don't think it's as big a problem as some people make it out to be."

Carlos Frias writes for The Palm Beach Post.