NEWS
Grayson-Jockey Club to fund 15 new research projects
Posted: Friday, March 19, 2010 5:30 PM
Fifteen research projects to benefit the horse will be launched in 2010 through funding from the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation.
Four other projects unveiled in 2009 will be funded in their second and concluding year, with a total allocation of $889,697 for the 19 projects.
The total funding for this year includes $97,431 allocated by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Charities–Barbaro Memorial Fund, which stresses laminitis research and is named in honor of the 2006 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner that succumbed to laminitis eight months after surgery to repair leg fractures.
New projects will address a variety of problems and conditions that affect a large number of horses. Dr. Sue Stover and Dr. Mont Hubbard at the University of California-Davis will continue their work on validating a laboratory process for evaluating racetrack materials with the aim of maximizing safety.
Another racetrack-related project will be conducted at Canada’s University of Guelph. Dr. Jeffrey Thomason’s team will study the effects on horses’ hooves of different degrees of racetrack banking. Horses will be trained both clockwise and counter-clockwise during the study.
Other subjects addressed in the new projects include equine herpesvirus-1, bone regeneration utilizing adult stem cells, protection against endotoxemia, equine botulism, and early fetal loss.
Catherine Radcliffe Hackett of Cornell University has been selected as the winner of the $15,000 Storm Cat Career Development Award. The award is presented to a young scientist with an interest in potentially pursuing a career in equine research and is funded by Lucy Young Hamilton, a member of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation board of directors.
Radcliffe will be working on stem cell research under the tutelage of Dr. Lisa Fortier, a distinguished researcher, recipient of multiple Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation grants, and a former member of the foundation’s Research Advisory Committee.
Descriptions of all of the new projects are available on the foundation’s website at grayson-jockeyclub.org.
