by John Scheinman

The two-year-old filly in the Laurel Park barn of trainer King Leatherbury diagnosed last week with equine herpesvirus (EHV-1) has been euthanized.

Nin, Leatherbury’s homebred daughter of Parker’s Storm Cat out of the Thirty Eight Paces mare Endette was euthanized on Saturday night. The once-raced filly had been unable to stand since November 12.

“She was doing really well Saturday morning,” Leatherbury said. “She had shown improvement in her actions and the way she was feeling. So, we got a little optimistic.

“For some reason, by four o’clock Saturday, the vet checked in on her and she had taken a big turn for the worse and started getting very distressed and uncomfortable. Up to then, she had not been in any pain, so we made the decision to euthanize her.”

The diagnosis of equine herpesvirus, a highly contagious virus that causes upper respiratory infection and can lead to severe neurological problems, prompted a large-scale reaction at Laurel.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture placed an Investigational Animal Hold Order on Leatherbury’s barn, effectively quarantining it from the general population at the track. The Maryland Jockey Club also barred the shipping of horses in and out of the track except from the Bowie Training Center on a shuttle provided by management.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture reported on Monday that all 25 horses in Leatherbury's barn have tested negative for equine herpesvirus.

In addition, nasal swab samples from 31 lead ponies submitted for testing by the Maryland Jockey Club came back negative, according to a release by the MDA.

Sue duPont, a spokeswoman for the department, said that if the pending test results are negative, the hold order would be lifted on December 6, which is 21 days after the last clinical evidence of equine herpesvirus in the barn. That was Saturday, the day the filly was put down.
 
Leatherbury questioned why the 21-day period did not begin on November 12, the day the filly was discovered to be ill.

“There’s no incentive to keep her alive then,” the veteran trainer said.

Maryland Jockey Club President Tom Chuckas said on Saturday that the barn will allow horses to ship to and from Laurel as soon as the hold order is lifted. 

John Scheinman is a Maryland-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent