Case of Equine Herpesvirus Type-1 identified at Turfway Park; horses confined in affected barn

The Office of the Kentucky State Veterinarian has identified a case of Equine Herpesvirus Type-1 ‘wild strain’ in a 4-year-old Thoroughbred filly who was stabled at Turfway from Oct. 30 through Jan. 19.

The virus was detected by a nasal swab collected as the filly was being moved to a private facility to prepare for breeding; she is now in isolation. All horses in Turfway’s Barn 27, where the filly had been stabled, are confined to that barn while further testing is done.

Results are expected Monday evening, Jan. 23. After the risk is better defined, the Office of the State Veterinarian will establish a training schedule outside normal training hours for eligible horses in the affected barn.

The full report by Rusty Ford, equine programs manager for the Office of the State Veterinarian, is available here .

Daniel “Chip” Bach, general manager of Turfway Park, said, “Because many horses ship in from training centers and farms to race here, we are critically aware of our responsibility to act quickly when infections are identified elsewhere. We therefore immediately instituted security protocols on January 10th, after EHV-1 was confirmed at Highpointe Training Center and well before any evidence of the virus was linked to Turfway.

“Since the 10th, we have allowed ship-ins to stable only in the receiving barn and have followed disinfection protocols for that barn. We also have been disinfecting the starting gate between races. With a case now identified in a horse that was stabled here, we additionally are requiring a health certificate from all ship-ins within the previous 24 hours rather than within the usual 72-hour window.

“We appreciate the guidance of the state veterinarian’s office in developing and implementing stringent security protocols. As Rusty said, we are optimistic our proactive measures will have minimized the risk.”

Information about EHV-1 is available at the American Association of Equine Practitioners  website.

Fairmount Park issues notice regarding Turfway shippers:

Please be advised that as of this date, 1/22/2017 NO HORSES will be allowed to enter the grounds if they have been at Turfway Park. Currently Turfway has had 1 confirmed case of Equine Herpes, (Barn 27 in now under quarantine). There are other issues in the State at different places as well. If you wish to race at Turfway you may leave to race, but will not be allowed to re-enter the grounds here at Fairmount until you follow certain protocol to be sure your horse is not sick.

The protocol to re-enter Fairmount will be a veterinarian slip that states your horse has had NO temperature for 14 consecutive days.

Please stay tuned, there will be follow up information.

Turfway Park, Fairmount Park