Hawthorne Backstretch Update, Friday, December 7 – Noon
First
off, my apologies for not putting out an earlier update as I have been away
attending to some personal issues.
As we
stated in our prior update, cases of EHV-1 have become more sporadic as the
virus appears to be running its course.
We did have a death last weekend in Barn E which was a two-year-old
horse that had tested positive. There
have been no other cases arise within Barn E since the death of that horse but
we did require a one week period of training during later hours in order to
monitor that barn. That weekends today
as those horses will return to normal training hours on Saturday.
The death did restart the clock for lifting
the quarantine. If we do not having any
further neurologic cases arrive, we are looking in the neighborhood of the end
of the meet for a possible lifting of the quarantine.
There
have been six more horses in quarantine that have tested negative and have
returned to their barn within the last week.
That currently leaves us with six horses between K2 East and West of
which we are testing those next week with the hopes of more horses testing
negative within that location and returning to their original barns.
In Barn
8, we have 4 horses that are being monitored. Three of the horses are results
of positive tests but none of those three are symptomatic. The fourth horse has been recovering from
EHV-1 but is foundering and is being monitored for that. One horse that had tested positive and was
stabled within Barn 8 was euthanized.
This was a horse that had tested positive prior to the passing of the
horse within Barn E and thus does not restart the clock on the quarantine.
There
are restrictions that have been put in place by the Illinois Department of
Agriculture for those looking to relocate to quarantine within Illinois. Those
restrictions are available at the state vet’s office in Barn 8.
A
couple of notes, as always we ask horsemen to use proper techniques in regards
to cleanliness and hygiene. Additionally,
while there are very few horses shipping in, we ask that those wishing to ship
in are shipping in the race. We
discourage horsemen from shipping two-year-olds in to train as younger horses
can be more susceptible to this virus.
This
has been tough on everyone but again, I thank you for your support and
assistance through this hard time. We
feel this virus is running its course and we ask horsemen to continue to
closely monitor their horses and consult with their vet, the state vet or
association vet if they have any questions or concerns.
Jim Miller –
Assistant General Manager, Hawthorne Race Course
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