B6 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2019 LATIMES.COM
ADVERTISEMENTPresented by Santa Anita ParkImprovements to saftey for race horses has been a focus at Santa Anita Park.Photo by Andrew Arthur, Santa Anita ParkDedicated workers care for the park’s horses daily.Photo by Andrew Arthur, Santa Anita Park“It was an event to come here,” Gryder says
with a smile on his face. “I was just excited
about seeing the horses. Sometimes I’d get to
play on the slides with the rest of the kids. But
when the horses came on the track I’d give up
my turn on the slide, and I’d just run to the rail.
I loved looking at the athletes.”
For some horse racing fans, tradition lies
in an ice-cold mint julep, avant-garde hats,
high society, and placing bets. But for those
closest to the sport, like Gryder, the tradition
lies in the horses themselves, so it’s crucial to
protect them at all costs.IT STARTS AT THE TOP
After a tough year, The Stronach Group, the
parent company of Santa Anita Park and five
other tracks around the country, is taking an
industry-leading role to protect the horses.
They’re changing park-specific protocols
and developing nationwide systems toFORWARD DOWN THE STRETCH
TO PROTECT TRADITION
W
hen he was two years old, award-winning jockey Aaron
Gryder came to Santa Anita Park for the first time with his
grandparents. While his grandparents had been going to the
park for years, it was finally time to immerse Gryder in the family tradition.
This supplement was produced by LA
Times Custom Publishing. It did not
involve the editorial or reporting staffs
of the Los Angeles Times. Contact
us with comments or questions at
[email protected].improve the long-term health of all horses
who grace their tracks.
One of their first actions in this effort was the
creation of the Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO)
role in the spring of 2019. Dr. Dionne Benson,
a well-respected equine veterinarian and
former lawyer, was appointed to the position
in April after spending seven years as the
Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer
at the world-renowned Racing Medication and
Testing Consortium in Lexington, KY. As CVO,
Dr. Benson directs safety and welfare, plus
veterinary research initiatives for all five of The
Stronach Groups facilities.
“Personally, I love horses, so if something
happens to a horse, it is emotionally very
difficult for me,” Dr. Benson says. “I’d wonder
what we could have done to prevent it, if there
was anything that we could have done better.
If we don’t protect the racehorse, we don’t
deserve to race the horse.”A ‘HORSES FIRST’ APPROACH
During the past six months, Dr. Benson has
spearheaded a number of reforms that put
the needs, welfare, and wellbeing of the
horses first. The main focus of these reforms
are medication, training, and a transparent
state-to-state system for medical records
— three areas which have been industry pain-
points for decades.Medication
Just like any athlete, racehorses have aches
and pains from time to time. However, unlike
athletes, horses aren’t able to control their
own medication for those ailments. So
tackling pain management to ensure any pain
a horse might be feeling isn’t covered up is
an important step in ensuring the longevity of
the horse’s health.
“We’ve pulled back on the use of any kind of
medication that would hide any pain that the
horse may have,” Dr. Benson says. “Aches and
pains should not be present when they’re going
outtorace.So,inordertomakesurethat
they’re not, our goal is to make sure there are
no medications that would hide those.”Training
Traditionally, in many jurisdictions throughout
the U.S., Europe, and Asia, trainer-specific
industry rules have stayed under the purview of
the trainers with little to no accountability from
specific tracks or state boards. For Santa Anita
Park, and The Stronach Group’s other locations
around the U.S., this is no longer the case.
“We’re taking responsibility for the training,”
Dr. Benson says with authority. “We’ve inserted
some medication regulations into training
as well as required trainers to register their
horses to work. So, before they even train, we
havetheopportunitytoseewhetherthat horse
is fit to train, which is something that’s done
nowhere else in the world.”
With these new rules, trainers must register
their horses with Santa Anita Park at least 48
hours before a training event. Within those 48
hours, veterinarians employed by Santa Anita
will review the horse’s medical history, how
they’ve been trained, and how they’ve racedto provide additional oversight into whether or
not a horse is okay to run. If the vets have any
concerns, they can request more information
from the trainer and deny them from racing if
the information isn’t provided.
Santa Anita veterinarian Dr. Dana Stead has
more than ten years of experience at the park
and is a fervent advocate of the more stringent
protections. “My favorite part of the job is being
an advocate for the horse,” he says. “If I don’t
feel something’s right, I can definitely stop the
horse from racing, training, anything like that.
Everyone has their own interests. Some people
want to make money, some people want to have
a win picture. I’m the one who gets to be here
to stick up for the horse. If I feel the horse isn’t
safe, it’s not going to race.”State-to-State Medical Records
Despite the fact that horse racing has always
required the racehorses and their teams to
travel from state-to-state, horses’ medical
records have never been centralized in a
nationwide database, resulting in a potentially
incomplete health history when a horse
reaches any park. This adds another layer of
difficulty for veterinarians trying to determine
whether or not a horse should be able to race.
“Any track in any state can be an island in
this industry,” Dr. Benson says. “We have to
share information and make all of the data
we have available to people in other states,
and they need to make it [their information]
available to us.”
Take, for example, a horse that has a bump on
its leg. If that horse had a surgery when it was
a yearling (one year old) and the bump was a
long-term result of the surgery, that’s a much
different situation than if the horse has never
had a surgery and the bump has appeared more
recently. Information like this makes those 48
hours a veterinarian like Dr. Stead has with a
horse much more directed and purposeful.
“By having a uniform medical record that
follows the horse around we can provide
the best care for our horses,” Dr. Stead
says. “You know there’s nothing that will go
overlooked, or you may notice something
that wasn’t there last time, so you’re able to
protect the horse.”REMEMBERING THE PAST WITH
AN EYE TOWARD THE FUTURE
Although the changes the park has put in place
are a start, the entire team at Santa Anita
knows there’s still work to be done. And while
they might face pushback from those who
don’t want the industry to change or move
forward, they’ll keep fighting for what’s right
for the horses so future generations can enjoy
the track just like Gryder did as a child.
“At the heart, you look at horse racing
being about the horse,” Dr. Benson says.
“No matter what information we use or how
we modernize how we’re looking at these
horses, the thrust is still for the benefit of the
horse and horse racing’s tradition.”To learn more, visitSantaAnita.com.A HORSE’S GOLDEN YEARS
Race horses are typically very
sociable and some are even very
proud — ready to strut their stuff and
show what they can do. Once they’ve
retired from the track, transitioning
to a new routine can be tough.
Organizations like the California
Retirement Management Account
(CARMA) aim to make it easier.
CARMA Project Manager Natalie
Rietkerk works with owners and
trainers to introduce horses to their
next stage of life: retirement.
“We give them time to come
down and settle into a new routine,”
Rietkerk says. “Then, they get handedSome of the
opportunities
horses enjoy after
racing include:
Show jumping
Cross-country riding
Trail horse riding
Police horse work
Providing emotional support
to veterans or childrenA best friend or family
memberover to state-registered non-profits
who are ultimately responsible for
putting the horse into its next home.
We’re the safety net to make sure
they find a home that’s suitable to the
horse’s specific needs.”