Investment in advanced diagnostic equipment

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Helps to make Santa Anita Park Veterinarian Team a leader in thoroughbred safety and care

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Arcadia, California-van State-of-the-Art Medical equipment in the on-site horse clinic into a multi-layered research process for all horses prior to racing and fast training, Santa Anita Park continues to play a leading role in the progress of horse care and general safety in thorough racing.

Santa Anita serves as one of the largest training centers in the country with around 375,000 training sessions per year, while she also performs live racing every year. This continuous, flurry of activity is all supervision of a dedicated team of veterinarians that will again be on the beat for the next five weeks of autumn meeting of Santa Anita from Friday 26 September.

At the helm, Dr. Dionne Benson, Chief Veterinary Officer for the parent company 1/ST Racing by Santa Anita. Benson is accompanied in the veterinary team by Dr. Laurie Bohannon, senior association veterinarian; Dr. Nolton Pattio, the official veterinarian appointed by the California Horse Racing Board; and association subordiners Dr. Jay Deluhery, Dr. Tim Grande, Dr. Fernanda Machado and Dr. Michael Pirron.

Since he played the leading role in 2019, Benson and her employees have helped Santa Anita to make one of the safest tracks in the country. Since the start of the fall of last year and continue to end on June 16 due to the winter jumping seasons, track officials reported a remarkable 99.98% horse safety percentage in racing and training.

“Santa Anita has made incredible progress in horse safety because of the hard work of the entire veterinary community. Regular, private, track animal doctors all included,” Benson said in a recent interview. “The success of the program would also not be possible without buy-in from the trainers and owners. It was really everything in one that caused such a big change.”

The “Everything-in-One” approach that Benson has noticed includes extensive veterinary examinations of horses before they race or have a “training”, training on the job, and if there is an injury, with the most advanced medical equipment that is ready for diagnosis and recovery.

In December 2019, Santa Anita installed the very first standing horse-PET scan machine in the horse clinic in the stable area. Later, a standing MRI machine was added to the series of available diagnostic options that also include nuclear scintigraphy.

The Mile-Pet Scan, developed by the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, focuses on the lower leg, the most common area of ​​injury in a running horse. One of the most important assets is the ability to help veterinarians better detect existing disorders, which can sometimes lead to further injury, thanks to the 3D-Dwars drainage and a higher resolution compared to other options such as a nuclear scan.

“That is something that was never available in Thoroughbred Racing,” said Benson.

Another important advantage is that the PET scanner does not require that a horse is completely anestized.

“That is a huge value. A horse can come in, be scanned and be home again for dinner,” said Benson.

Last spring the original PET scanning machine from Santa Anita was replaced by a second generation model with even larger options. It was secured using the Southern California Equine Foundation, which owns and operates the horse clinics at both Santa Anita and Del Mar.

“The biggest thing is that we have more access to the limb,” said Benson. “In the past we could get imaging under the middle row of carpale bones (in the knee). Now we can get the entire carpus. It gives us much more options for diagnostics.

The current additions and upgrades of the Santa Anita Equine Clinic and a thorough veterinary assessment process for all horses prior to racing or a timed training, have helped to determine a new course in the future for one of the most historical racing tracks in the country.

“Credit also to the veterinarians present for embracing the technology. Otherwise the machines would just be there,” Benson said. Attending veterinarians works for a private customer, usually a trainer in the case of the circuit.

The Santa Anita Autumn Meet runs from Friday 26 September to Sunday 26 October. Live racing is offered every Friday up to and including Sunday with a special holiday program that is also set for Monday 13 October. For more information, visit www.santanita.com.