Officials at Pimlico race course in Maryland imposed a quarantine on the track on Jan. 21 (see In The Country Jan. 27, p. 46), but that move came too late for eventing rider and trainer Kim Meier-Morani. On Jan. 10, Meier-Morani received a 2-year-old filly at her farm in Worton, Md., from Pimlico. The filly belonged to a race horse trainer and friend who\’d sent her to Meier-Morani’s Seven Hills Farm for breaking.

Horses on Meier-Morani’s farm began running fevers, and the filly from Pimlico showed signs of respiratory infection. On Jan. 24, one of Meier-Morani’s event mares developed the neurological symptoms of equine herpesvirus and was euthanized on the morning of Jan. 25. Another mare showed neurological symptoms on Jan. 25, but has responded to aggressive treatment and is improving. Maryland Department of Agriculture veterinarians immediately imposed a 21-day hold order quarantine on Seven Hills Farm on Jan. 26.

Autopsy results of the first infected horse came back on Jan. 31 and confirmed the EHV-1 diagnosis. That horse, a 5-year-old homebred mare, had been Meier-Morani’s 15-year-old daughter’s Pony Club mount.

On Jan. 31, Meier-Morani’s four-star event horse, Test Run, showed neurological symptoms and is being treated. Test Run placed 10th at the 2004 Rolex Kentucky CCI**** and completed the 2004 Burghley CCI**** with Meier-Morani.

Meier-Morani believes that MDA officials were too late in shutting down horse movement at Pimlico, and she’s lobbying them to institute an alert system at tracks that have infected horses.

“I want it to be mandatory for owners and trainers of horses coming in, or to receiving barns, to be notified that it is a possibility to connect with the virus. Get it straight that contagious is contagious, and highly contagious or somewhat contagious is dangerous when it can kill you,” she said.

For a complete account of Meier-Morani’s struggle, please click here.

Also on Jan. 31, the MDA imposed a hold order on one barn at Laurel racetrack in Maryland. Pimlico’s sister track, Laurel was hosting live racing and allowing horses to be shipped in from Pimlico and elsewhere to race. On Jan. 26, a filly in trainer Rodney Jenkins’ stable at Laurel was euthanized. Despite initial speculation that her neurological symptoms resulted from a broken pelvis, the filly’s autopsy confirmed an EHV-1 diagnosis on Jan. 31.

Barn 9 at Laurel race course is now under the hold order and using quarantine precautions, but racing and training continue on the track.
Pimlico\’s full-track quarantine came 19 days after the first case of EHV-1 was euthanized on Jan. 2. After that first case, tests showed that five other horses from that barn, Barn 5, tested positive for EHV-1. Pimlico officials imposed the hold order on Barn 5, which limited movement in and out of the barn and allowed those horses to train on the track separately, at different hours. Another hold order was imposed on Barn 6 at Pimlico on Jan. 13, after a horse showed severe neurological symptoms and was euthanized.

On Jan. 19, a horse in Barn A at Pimlico, across the track from the first two barns, showed neurological symptoms, and officials put a hold order on that barn. That horse was later euthanized. Officials were first baffled that the disease had somehow jumped across the track, but MDA state veterinarian Guy Hohenhaus is hypothesizing that the Barn A case originated with the same horse that infected Meier-Morani’s farm. That filly shipped from Ocala, Fla., on Jan. 7, spent three days in Barn A at Pimlico, then shipped to Meier-Morani’s farm.

It wasn’t until after tests confirmed on Jan. 21 that a horse at Penn National racecourse in Harrisburg, Pa., had EHV-1, that Maryland Jockey Club officials decided to fully quarantine Pimlico. The horse at Penn National had raced at Laurel on Jan. 2, the same day as one of the infected Pimlico horses. An outrider horse at Laurel tested positive for EHV-1 on Jan. 25, but that horse did not develop neurological symptoms.

“We are working cooperatively with all involved parties, using the most up-to-date science and respected practices, and going beyond what has been done in previous EHV incidents around the country, to manage this situation,” said Hohenhaus. “We urge everyone’s patience and diligence in continuing strong preventive measures, such as keeping new horses separate from others for a period of time, disinfecting, and keeping vaccinations up to date. It is a matter of time and continued proper management to bring this outbreak to conclusion.”

In a press release distributed on Jan. 17, Maryland Jockey Club officials revealed that they were eager to release the quarantine on Pimlico. “We are hopeful, based on the evidence to date, barring any other incidents at Pimlico, that we may be able to remove that quarantine effective Saturday the 4th,” said Lou Raffetto, Pimlico’s chief operating officer.

“We would go back to the plan that was in place initially with other horses at Pimlico being allowed to run at Laurel, with the holds on the other barns until they are released. There is some good news here. We are moving in the right direction. We\’re hopeful that we have this under control.”

But many are fearful that the quarantine will be lifted prematurely, even though there has been no new case at Pimlico since Jan. 19. And some speculate that part of the motivation in lifting the ban is the Fasig-Tipton Mid-Atlantic Winter Mixed Sale to be held in nearby Timonium, Md., on Feb. 6. Should Pimlico\’s quarantine be lifted, horses from there could be sold in Timonium. Currently, with just one barn at Laurel on hold, horses from other Laurel barns could move through the sale as well.

Pimlico track officials have defended their decision to delay a full quarantine by saying that they considered the virus to be contained in barns 5 and 6. But horsemen are questioning that delay. “I must say, I think [the Maryland Jockey Club] were slow shutting the barn door” at Pimlico,” said Maryland trainer John R.S. Fisher, who stables his horses at the Fair Hill Training Center, in a Baltimore Sun article.

Officials at Penn National and Philadelphia Park (Pa.), racetracks in New York, and the Charles Town (W.Va.) track in have all closed racing on their tracks to outside entries.