Last year Governor Cuomo made sweeping changesof the New York horseracing industry that included
appointment of a Task Force on Equine Health andSafety. One of the recommendations of that Task Force
was to hire an Equine Medical Director.
If you had to identify the most pressing issue facing
New York racing right now from and equine health andsafety standpoint, what would it be?
Dr. Scott Palmer, a renowned veterinarian from NewJersey, was appointed last week by New York
Governor Andrew Cuomo to be
the state=s Equine MedicalDirector. Palmer brings morethan three decades of
distinguished service to theposition in all types of medicalcare for horses and will becharged with overseeing thehealth and welfare of all equines,
Thoroughbred and Standardbred,at the state=s racetracks. Palmer
was selected from aninternational pool of candidates
by a blue-ribbon committee ofveterinarians and other industry
professionals. Palmer sat down last week with the TDN
to field a series of questions.
You=ve just been named the Equine Medical Director for
the State of New York. Tell us what that means?
The New York State Equine Medical Director is a joint
appointment as an adjunct professor at Cornell
University in the department of Population Medicineand Diagnostic Services and Chief Veterinarian for theNew York State Gaming Commission.

I believe there are a number of pressing issues facing
New York racing. Many of these issues will be
addressed by the implementation of all of the Task
Force on Equine Health and Safety recommendations inan effort to provide the safest environment as possible
for our horses. As a whole, these recommendations aredesigned to increase the level of risk aversion by all
racing stakeholders.
Can we ask you to name a top 10 list of things to besolved?
10. Communicate the commitment of New York racing
to equine welfare-centered reform efforts to ourconstituents and the general public;
9. Encourage transparency and open communication
within the trainer/owner/veterinarian relationship;
8. Improve the keeping and reporting of medical records
to enhance the ability of trainers and veterinarians tomake informed health care decisions for our racehorses;
7. Create an infectious disease control template for
New York Racetracks;
6. Upgrade and standardize the SOPs of Stateregulatory veterinarians;
5. Create a fair, timely and effective protocol forprocessing racing violations;

What do you see as your typical day-to-day duties?
My days are quite busy and varied. I have four areas ofresponsibility: they include responsibility for the healthcare of racehorses and supervision of regulatory
veterinarians at all 11 New York racetracks, supervisionof the NYS Diagnostic and Testing Laboratory as wellas advising the Gaming Commission on matters ofhealth and safety at the New York racetracks, providing
recommendations to the Gaming Commission in theprocess of rulemaking and adjudication of regulatory
matters pertaining to equine medical issues, creating
educational programs for New York horse trainers andveterinarians, and coordinating and directing research
into sports medicine topics that will lead to innovativemeans to reduce injuries and enhance equine health andsafety. This job requires me to visit all of the New York
racetracks.
Other jurisdictions have long had an EMD. Why do you
think NY is deciding to do so now?

4. Create a required continuing education program fortrainers;
3. Achieve accreditation of the New York State Equine
Diagnostic and Testing Lab;
2. Adopt Uniform Medication Rules, Laboratory
Accreditation and a penalty structure that appropriately
addresses the difference between therapeutic overages
and treatment with prohibited substances as well as
sanctions repeat offenders;
1. Undertake a strategic review of existing state
regulatory processes and identify best practices andprocedures to support integrity, safety and equine
welfare in New York Harness and Thoroughbred racing
programs.

After the breakdowns at the 2011-2012 Aqueduct Fall
Meeting, the 2012 New York Task Force on Racehorse
Health and Safety made several recommendations. The
first among them was that "the protocol requiring theNYRA Veterinary Department to report directly to theNYRA Racing Office is an unacceptable conflict ofinterest that must be changed immediately." Has thisprotocol been changed, and if not, why not?
According to NYRA, since late 2012, the NYRA
Veterinary Department has reported to the Stewards,
as recommended by the Task Force. I will verify thiswith my gap analysis which I hope to begin next week.
One of your responsibilities is to oversee the NYS
equine drug testing program lab. How big a problem doyou think illegal medications are in NY racing?
Historically, the number of incidents of detection ofillegal substances in New York Racing is very small, but
we must remain vigilant in our efforts to deter and todetect those who would seek unfair advantage throughthe use of illegal medication. World-class testing,however, is not enough. We also need to upgrade oursecurity and enforcement efforts in order to provide acomprehensive effort to ensure integrity of our sport.
The TDN, as well as other publications, has detailed
what seems to be a pervasive and growing number oflegal medications administered to racehorses, withhorses routinely getting a half-dozen injections before
and after each race. Do you think that a reliance on anabundance of legal medication is something that needs
to be addressed?
The culture of permissive medication in racing is amajor concern. The Task Force addressed this issue lastyear and recommended emergency rule changes by theRacing and Wagering Board to limit the amount ofmedication administered to horses in the days leading
up to the race. However, the actual number ofmedications administered to horses prior to a race is
not really the correct lens through which to view thisproblem. The more appropriate lens or question is how
do we define the appropriate use of medication in horse
racing? The AAEP Guidelines for Equine Practitioners ina pari-mutuel environment published in 2009 addressed
this issue in the following manner:>The appropriate use of medication in a racehorse isbased upon a thorough veterinary examination of thehorse, leading to a diagnosis based on thatexamination, and administration of ethical treatments,
followed by an evaluation of the success of thattherapy prior to racing.=
Being Ain to go@ is not a diagnosis and the question ofAis this horse fit to race@ should not be answered at 30
to 38 miles per hour in the company of other horses
and riders or drivers.
Last week, the owner of The Meadowlands, Jeff Gural,
announced he was banning two trainers for the use ofcobalt. The RMTC told us that this was a problem inThoroughbreds as well. Do you agree?

I have no doubt that some trainers are treating theirhorses with Cobalt in order to gain what they perceive
to be a Ablood doping-like@ effect to seek an edge overtheir competitors. At this point we do not know how
widespread this practice may be. Cobalt, like
Magnesium or Iron is an element that is normally foundin the blood of both humans and horses. There is very
little information available regarding the administrationof Cobalt to horses.
We do know that Cobalt enhances performance byincreasing the number of red blood cells in the body.
We also know that Cobalt, when given in high doses,
has significant toxic side effects in humans. I believethat we still have much to learn about the health risksof treating horses with Cobalt and at what level itshould be regulated. I applaud Jeff Gural for taking thelead in this effort. New York is currently taking steps towork with other racing jurisdictions to determine normal
blood levels of Cobalt, to document the prevalence of
its use in racehorses, and to arrive at an appropriate
regulatory threshold.
Does catching people using drugs like Cobalt and others
require the kind of aggressive out-of-competition testing
program like
Gural has
“I have no doubt that someinstituted at theMeadowlands
trainers are treating theirand might that behorses with Cobalt in order tosomething to begain what they perceive to be aconsidered in“blood doping-like” effect toNew York as
seek an edge over their
well?
Yes. New Yorkalready has a Thoroughbred out-of-competition testing
program that is used to test for blood-doping agents
such as EPO and its derivatives. The goal of thisprogram is to deter and detect the use of certain
proteins or compounds that cause a prolonged
performance-enhancing effect, even though the actuallevels of the substance disappear rapidly from the bloodor urine, making detection by routine race-day samplingdifficult or impossible.
One of the ways Gural has been successful is to require
anyone looking to take out a license to agree to OOCT,
along with other integrity-based standards. Is that thesort of thing that might be considered in New York?
This regulatory tool is also being considered for use inNew York. However, this regulatory approach isessentially an exercise of the rights of a private
property owner and must be applied with appropriate
consideration for due process rights of the licensees.

The equine injury database has been a helpful tool inidentifying trends. With four years of data now
available for review, one of the most striking statistics
is the fatal breakdown rate on synthetic surfaces is lessthan half of what it is on dirt (1.03 fatalities per
thousand starters compared to 2.1 on dirt). Yet noracetrack has installed a synthetic surface in years.
Why do you think that is?
The data available from The Jockey Club=s equine injury
database has shown that, in general terms, the numberof fatalities can be reduced by racing on a synthetic
surface. With that said, we have also learned that while
this is true of new installations, over time, synthetic
tracks become more dangerous due to loss of material
and wear. There are multiple vendors to consider andthe cost of installation is more than $10 million. The
negative experience at Santa Anita racetrack last year
also raised significant concerns in the industry. Many
trainers do not like synthetic surfaces, finding an
increase in non-fatal soft tissue injuries when compared
to a dirt surface. Finally, the rate of fatal injury of some
dirt tracks compares favorably to synthetic surfaces,suggesting that track maintenance is a key ingredient tosafety. In our Task Force report, we recommended that
NYRA do due diligence in investigating alternatives for
installing a synthetic surface in one of the down-state
racetracks. Installation of a synthetic surface iscurrently being considered by NYRA.
Aqueduct=s rates for 2012, the last year in which
statistics were available were higher than the national
average on dart and far higher than the syntheticaverage, at 2.34 fatal breakdowns per starter on
Aqueduct=s main track and 4.32 on the inner track.
Belmont=s 1.86 was lower than the national dirt
average, but still higher than synthetics. Do those
figures play a part in the decision?
Yes, they might. However, you should know that thecause of racing fatalities is multi-factorial. The racing
surface is important, but it is only one part of a larger
picture of safety bestpractices. For example,
the number of racing“There were a total of 48
fatalities in 2013 wasmuch reduced fromfatalities in the calendar
2012 following
year 2012 (2.6/1000 starts)
implementation ofand 25 fatalities (1.4/1000
many of the Task Forcestarts) in 2013. Thatrecommendations.
There were a total ofrepresents a 48% reduction
48 fatalities in thein fatalities from 2012 tocalendar year 20122013 without changing the(2.6/1000 starts) anddirt track to a synthetic
25 fatalities (1.4/1000surface.”starts) in 2013.

That represents a 48% reduction in fatalities from2012 to 2013 without changing the dirt track to asynthetic surface. Bottom line, I believe that everyopportunity to reduce injuries should be carefullyconsidered.
Do you support transparency in the testing process? It
seems a bit of a black box right now.
I am not so sure that transparency in the sense thatthe public be informed of the analytical details of thetesting process of any particular laboratory isappropriate.
However, a degree of transparency (or clarity) in theprocess is important to emphasize the stringent efforts
made to ensure integrity of racing by laboratory testing.
Independent accreditation of the New York testinglaboratory is the most critical part of this process. I
believe that the New York fans need to know that theNY lab is performing state-of-the-art testing procedures
and uses a strict chain of custody protocol to obtainand process the samples. A good overview of thetesting process is available on the website of the
Racing Medication and Testing Consortium for those
who may be interested in learning more about thetesting process for horseracing. Click here to share thisQ&A.