A vet insider who helped inspect this year's Melbourne Cup horses says racing authorities must do more to prevent the disturbing spate of horse deaths in the great race, including making it mandatory for every Cup horse to be examined on a $1.3 million CT scanner.
Respected equine vet Dr Maxine Brain, a partner in the Advantage Equine Centre at Flemington, also insists overseas raiders must undergo a CT or other high-tech medical scan before leaving Europe in a bid to help prevent the "heartbreaking" spate of Melbourne Cup fatalities.
Dr Brain and her staff worked alongside Racing Victoria vets in the quarantine facility at Werribee in the weeks leading up to this year's Cup where Aidan O'Brien's English Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck was the latest horse to suffer fatal injuries in the Cup.
Anthony Van Dyck was euthanised after suffering a catastrophic fetlock fracture with Racing Victoria calling on O'Brien to provide the galloper's full veterinary and treatment history for the horse which is undergoing a post-mortem.
RV has invested in a $1.3m standing CT horse scanner, which helps in the early detection and prevention of serious horse injuries, but this year only three of the horses in Cup contention were sent for those scans at the University of Melbourne veterinary science facility.
The machine is the only one in Australia and believed to be one of only three in the world.
"There has got to be something going on because the numbers that we are losing in the Melbourne Cup are not in proportion with the rest of the horse racing population – it's heartbreaking," Dr Brain told Racenet.
"I think that every international horse that comes over needs to have more investigative work done on it before it leaves overseas and after it arrives here.
"More work needs to be done and in my opinion tests such as CT scans, before leaving Europe and again before racing here, must be done.
"It would help identify any changes and deterioration in the bones that may have occurred during quarantine, air flight and changing environments so that we can help identify causative factors and more importantly be able to prevent injuries continuing.
"I would CT scan all the Melbourne Cup horses as it would not be fair just to single out the internationals."
The Melbourne Cup may be the race that stops the nation but it is also giving racing a growing black eye with Anthony Van Dyck adding to a list of Cup fatalities in recent years which have included Thecliffsofmoher, Red Cadeaux, Admire Rakti and Verema.
IS WERRIBEE A DEATH TRAP?
Anthony Van Dyck's stablemate Wichita recently suffered a fracture to its right hind leg in a trackwork gallop and was later euthanised while another import, Involved, was also euthanised following a training injury.
It's a confronting mortality rate and no-one seems to have the answer although many have pointed to the Werribee track which has been the quarantine venue for overseas Cup raiders since 2010.
Dr Brain doesn't think Werribee is to blame but insists Cup deaths are a worrying mystery which urgently needs to be solved.
"I don't think we know the full reason and unless we start doing further testing we are not going to know what the problem is," Dr Brain said.
"No one has been able to definitively pinpoint the exact reason why there is a higher breakdown of horses that come from overseas to race in the Cups.
"I don't believe it's the track at Werribee but I think everyone is concerned because no-one wants to see this happen.
"I don't think we have got the answers and we need the answers.
WE MUST SCAN MORE
"X-rays are OK but you really need CT scans because in x-rays you don't see the quality of the bones that well.
"So in x-rays you don't see if there is inflammation in the bone and you don't see if there's fine cracks in the bone – those are things you can see on the CTs."
Racing Victoria has vowed to leave no stone unturned in its latest investigation of the disturbing trend of Melbourne Cup fatalities.
One of the things they are looking at is whether more thorough medical checks, such as the ones Dr Brain has called for, should be enforced in the lead-up to the Cup.
"We are trying to work out how we can better identify and risk profile horses that may pose an issue for us, we will keep on looking and consider all aspects," RV's integrity boss Jamie Stier said.
"We will consider Anthony Van Dyck's fatality in isolation but we will also link that into seeing whether there are any common threads or trends coming through that may better inform us.
"If we keep on looking maybe we will be able to paint a better and fuller picture and we will act accordingly if we are able to do so."
MELBOURNE CUP SCANNER UNDER MICROSCOPE
Ill-fated Melbourne Cup raider Anthony Van Dyck would not have been able to be CT scanned on Racing Victoria's high-tech machine before making his racing debut in Australia because of the practicalities of the process.
The Aidan O'Brien galloper only emerged from the mandatory two-week quarantine period at Werribee in the hours before running second in the Caulfield Cup on October 17.
Foreign Cup raiders are prohibited from leaving the Werribee facility during their quarantine period and the $1.3m standing CT scanner is based at a different location at the University of Melbourne veterinary science facility.
The machine, a large fixed structure, is not portable.
And there is another complicating factor involving the use of the scanner for overseas horses who have just come out of quarantine and have an immediate race mission in Melbourne.
Racing Victoria says horses who use the standing CT scanner require a mild sedative because they need to be controlled while on the machine.
As a result of that, you can't use the CT technology within a certain amount of days of a race because the sedative may well show up in the horse's system.
A Racing Victoria spokesman said it is not something that would be used within three or four days of a race.
For instance, it's not as if a horse would be able to exit quarantine one day and then be CT scanned and then run soon after in a Caulfield Cup or other major race.
There was no suggestion or signs of any problem with Anthony Van Dyck in the lead-up to Aidan O'Brien's English Derby winner suffering a catastrophic fetlock fracture in the Melbourne Cup and having to be euthanised.
It was Anthony Van Dyck's second run in Australia following on from his valiant runner-up finish behind Verry Elleegant in the Caulfield Cup.
Racing Victoria bosses insist they will examine every factor surrounding the latest Melbourne Cup horse death.
Changes to the scanning, medical and quarantine process – both in Australia and overseas – will be areas that will be looked at.
Meanwhile, Victorian broadcaster racing.com says its position of editing out race day accidents from race replays, such when Anthony Van Dyck broke down in the Melbourne Cup, is consistent regardless of the race.
"Sadly, race day accidents involving horses and jockeys do happen, and they do go to air in our live broadcast," racing.com CEO Andrew Catterall said.
"At the end of each Victorian thoroughbred race, every day of the year, we run race replays almost instantaneously into our broadcast, digital and social platforms.
"In the rare and tragic instance of a major accident involving horses and jockeys, regardless if it is the Melbourne Cup or a maiden at a country track, we have a consistent policy where our team do their best, on the fly and in the moment, to edit around the accident, yet still provide a race replay to our audience.
"Our approach is consistent, regardless of the race day, and is based on respect for the people and horses involved in the accident, and feedback from our audience and participants."
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