Track officials suggest testing

Ruidoso Downs Race Track officials suggest that up to 120 horses stabled at Ruidoso Downs Race Track be tested as a precaution for a virus before they leave the premises during or after the Labor Day Weekend's final racing cards. A potentially harmful, and sometimes fatal, virus was detected in early August in a Texas gelding, Home Run Play, a racehorse stabled in a private barn near, but not on, Ruidoso Downs Race Track grounds. Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) was subsequently detected in the horse, which was removed from the area and quarantined. Conflicting reports have placed the infected horse, trained by Clint Wright, in quarantine near Ruidoso or in Albuquerque. It is reportedly still alive. Six horses stabled next to Home Run Play were tested by the state. "All of those horses tested negative," said Dr. Dave Fly, state veterinarian for New Mexico. By state law, all horses within a 200-yard radius of the infected animal must be tested, as well, usually by the Coggins method. The test, named after Dr. Leroy Coggins, a professor at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine, checks for antibodies to the EIA virus in the horse's blood. About 100 horses stabled at the time on racetrack grounds were within that 200-yard limit. Trainers involved returned on a "dark day" (a non-racing day) Aug. 27 and cooperated with the state's veterinarian office in having their horses tested. Among those participating were Dr. Jess Unrue of the New Mexico Racing Commission....