by Frank Angst

The Kentucky Horse Racing Authority has hired Mary Scollay, D.V.M., for its new position of Equine Medical Director.

Scollay, who has served the past 13 years as senior veterinarian at Calder Race Course and Gulfstream Park, will step down from those positions in July to accept the Kentucky job. Scollay will continue to work as project coordinator of the Welfare and Safety of the Race Horse Summit’s on-track injury reporting system.

Kentucky Authority Executive Director Lisa Underwood said Scollay will work with the authority’s new horse safety and welfare committee, help the authority on necropsy protocol, and work with the authority as it shapes a new steroid policy and faces other future drug issues.

The Equine Drug Research Council identified the need for the new position last year, Underwood said. The Kentucky authority subsequently approved a contract with the University of Kentucky Research Foundation to establish the position in the University of Kentucky’s College of Agriculture, where Scollay will serve as a non-tenured professor. The authority will pay Scollay’s yearly salary of $121,000.

Scollay developed a uniform, on-track equine-injury-reporting system that several tracks across the country began using in June 2007. The injury-reporting project will help identify the frequency, type, and outcome of racing injuries using a standardized format that will generate valid composite statistics.  The injury-reporting system is sponsored by the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, and is being developed by InCompass Solutions, a subsidiary of The Jockey Club.

Scollay has been a practicing veterinarian since 1984, and has served as a track veterinarian in Illinois and Florida. She has held several chairmanships for the American Association of Equine Practitioners. She earned her doctorate in veterinary medicine from the University of Illinois at Urbana.

“We’re excited to have Dr. Scollay taking over this important new position,” Underwood said. “She is a recognized leader in the field, and she will be an outstanding addition to the KHRA.”

Frank Angst is senior writer for Thoroughbred Times