Disappointment At London

Anticipation soon turned to disappointment at London on Friday night in the Molson elimination for all concerned with Shadow Play. Besides having an obvious parked out trip, I'm not usually one for excuses for poor performance(as a practicing veterinarian, I have heard them all over the years), but there does appear to be a medical reason involved here.

Shadow was blowing hard as if he just raced, 40 minutes after the race and it was a relatively cool evening. Until now, we have had no problems with his "wind", but certainly it was not like him, even being parked out, as he raced many times last year out most all the way, especially in the US races at Pocono and he never quit trying like he did on Friday.

When we got back to our home barn about 12:30 that night, we scoped him and discovered a significant amount of non-infectious mucus in the trachea. I have only ever had to scope him previously 2-3 times and he has always been clean.

I believe the problem was the bedding that we have been using at Baycairn's in the 19 days Shadow has been there. We used wood pellets, which are usually broken down by water, but in this case these pellets were extremely absorbent and hence were very dry and dusty, a fact which was compounded by the double stall Shadow is in. Our harness bags and trunk were coated on a daily basis, and I believe the horse has developed reactive airway disease, which means the lungs respond unfavorably to environmental contaminants like air pollutants (smog), dust, etc.

While it may seem I am making an excuse, I am giving the horse the benefit of the doubt here and treatments have already begun, including a change of bedding. His next race if all goes well will be the Pacing Classic at Mohawk June 6.