A Candid DVM Interview by Tere Albanese

August 9, 2017

Tere Albanese caught up with CHRB DVM Dr. Rick Arthur and asked a lot of questions racing fans and bettors will want to hear the answers to. The interview was video taped for Past the Wire. We truly hope you enjoy it, learn some things and get the most out of it.

I caught up with Dr. Rick Arthur at his Santa Anita based office. I found out a wealth of information about what is actually going on with medication in the racing industry.  Dr. Arthur’s title is the Medical Director at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine and is assigned, full time, to the California Horse Racing Board as an advisor.  This position is defined by law. Dr. Arthur is the primary advisor to the board on drug testing, medication, veterinary matters and equine welfare.

I’ve known Dr. Arthur for 40 years and he has been right here, in Southern California, for all those years.

In this interview you will learn:

*What the most common medications are.

*How the most common medications work.

*What the rules are regarding usage.

*What the board is doing to align rules and regulations closer to what is best for the horse’s welfare and best for racing in general.

* How we measure up to other countries regarding the use of medications and breakdowns.

*What Dr. Arthur and the Horse Racing Board are focusing on as we speak.

*Do all horses bleed when they run?

*Do all horses need Lasix?

*Do horses run faster when on Lasix?

*What is Dr. Arthur’s professional opinion on medications and race day medications.

*What is the future of medication in racing?

*What does the racing industry need to project to the public?

*How accurately are equine fatalities recorded?

*Does the board need to be looking out for the safety of the jockeys as well?

*Should racing  go back to a time when trainers “trained out of the feed tub?”

*What is safer, turf or dirt?

*Correction: Below is one of the statistics I quoted to Dr. Arthur. In the interview I stated that in Britain there were 65 fatal injuries per 1000. It is actually .65/1000.

As reported in the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, in the US there are 1.5/ fatal injuries/per 1000 starts.  In Britain .65/1000 starts according to Animal Health Trust

You can watch the interview here

@pastthewire As always brilliantly written and perfectly toned observations written by @jonathanstettin everyone in the industry needs to read this and view it as a call to action.

Christopher Fronczek @Christo17607782 View testimonials

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