Hawthorne Backstretch Update, Wednesday, November 21 – 10:00 AM
This
morning we received the test results back on the horses from Barn 8 at
Hawthorne. The results came back in good
order as the horses within Barn 8 tested negative. Those horses are now able to return to the
general population for training and racing.
The horses from Barn 8 are able to move back into Barn A, which also
houses negative horses which can return to training and racing. Additionally, Barn A has been disinfected
twice since the onset of the virus on October 14.
Barn K2
has two separate ends, K2-East and K2-West.
Horses within K2-East, which houses the horses that had tested positive
originally, are now, or have been asymptomatic and have returned to
training. We are getting test results
back on horses from K2-East and those that have tested negative are also able
to return to the general population.
Horses
within K2-West are being monitored daily.
As time passes, with improved condition of those horses, they will be
able to be relocated to K2-East and resume training.
While
we have been able to release a large amount of horses back into the population,
we do know that there is the possibility of sporadic additional cases
arising. As has been the case for the
past month, any horse in question will be dealt with on a case by case basis.
A couple of notes regarding this virus. First, this is a virus that prays upon a
horse’s immune system. Generally,
younger horses, horses that have been dealing with other sicknesses or horses
that have been dealing with injury are more susceptible. These are horses that need to be monitored
more closely.
Additionally,
there have been strict restrictions put in place to allow for horses to leave
the grounds. Those restrictions are from
the Illinois Department of Agriculture and must be followed. To be able to exit the grounds of Hawthorne,
the following must be done:
-Permission from the state of
destination’s Department of Agriculture must be granted in written form,
listing their approval along with the location of the approved quarantine
facility.
-That permission must then be sent
to the Illinois Department of Agriculture for their consent.
-Upon approval, by both state’s
Department of Agricultures, arrangements must be made through those Departments
for a federal veterinarian to be on-site at Hawthorne to fill out a VS 1-27
form and seal the trailer before it may leave.
-When the trailer arrives at its
destination, it must then be approved by the federal veterinarian at the
destination to insure the seal has not been broken. If the seal is broken, those horses will be
returned to Hawthorne and Federal authorities may intervene.
These are the rules to be followed
under the guidance of the Illinois Department of Agriculture. If horsemen have any questions, they may
contact Dr. Folker in the vet’s office at Hawthorne
or the Illinois Department of Agriculture for further info.
Jim Miller – Assistant General Manager, Hawthorne Race Course
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