Pimlico Detention Barn isolated, Hold Order placed on Barn 5

Pimlico Detention Barn isolated, Hold Order placed on Barn

5

Five horses in Pimlico's Detention Barn have been isolated and a Hold Order

was placed on Barn 5 after a suspected case of Equine Herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1)

appeared at the Baltimore, Maryland, track. Tests were performed on a horse stabled

in Barn 5 who was euthanized earlier this week.

"As of right now we do not have any confirmed blood test of the actual Herpes

Type I equine virus," said Dr. David G. Zipf, a veterinarian with the Maryland

Racing Commission, during a press conference. "The horse which was euthanized

from Barn 5 on Monday morning showed no signs. It was showing no signs of any

distress or problems. Monday morning when they came in they found the horse in

lateral recumbence. It other words, completely paralyzed. It did not get up."

A second horse in Barn 5, who was stabled behind the euthanized horse,

started showing some signs of EHV-1.

"Usually it's some kind of spinal injury for it to come on this quickly,

maybe getting cast in the stall or some sort of fracture," Zipf continued. "It

was kind of suspected that it was some type of injury for such a rapid onset (in

the euthanized horse). The subsequent signs from the second horse that was

stabled right behind the horse which was euthanized sent up the red flag.

"All the cases we've seen...have been (through) intimate contact. Horses that

have been nuzzling each other, in adjacent stalls. We have to govern our

restrictions with this in mind."

The Hold Order on Barn 5 affects horses trained by William Christmas, Charles

Frock, Robert Gambler, Hassan Elamri and David Mohan. The 40 horses in the barn

will be allowed to train from 10 to 11 a.m. (EST) while normal training hours

for the rest of the horses stabled at Pimlico are from 5:30 to 9:30 a.m.