Famous Roman Cleared To Race In Railway Stakes
- Friday, 12 November 2010 10:53
RWWA Stewards today re-considered the ban placed on Famous Roman on 8 November 2010 pursuant to ARR.53A (1) which states:
An attack of bleeding shall be the appearance of blood at both nostrils, irrespective of quantity, unless in the opinion of the Stewards such bleeding was caused by external trauma.
The Stewards considered fresh evidence presented by the connections of Famous Roman, that evidence being results of a Bronchoalveolar Lavage (BAL) carried out on the horse on Thursday 11 November 2010 by veterinarians.
A BAL involves the washing out of cellular material from a horse's lungs to examine for signs of Exercised Induced Pulmonary Haemorrhage (EIPH). The results of this test revealed no evidence of any recent or prior haemorrhage.
In light of this fresh evidence, the Stewards directed that Famous Roman attend the Murdoch University Veterinary Hospital today, 12 November 2010 and undergo a complete examination in order to determine the origin of the nasal bleeding.
This examination included an endoscopy and x-rays of the head and sino-nasal region of Famous Roman.
The x-rays revealed no abnormalities. The endoscopy of the left nasal cavity revealed evidence of mucosal abrasions with associated inflammation.
Examination of the right nasal cavity revealed an area of abrasions similar to those in the left nasal cavity. All other areas of the airways were found to be within normal limits.
The report further noted that the nasal mucosa appeared to be particularly fragile and bled easily and concluded it would seem plausible under these circumstances that the blood could have originated from the nasal mucosa during exercise.
Dr Judith Medd, RWWA Veterinarian, advised the Stewards that in light of the results of the BAL and further testing conducted at Murdoch University Veterinary Hospital it was not possible to conclusively determine the origin of the nasal bleeding experienced by Famous Roman on Saturday, 6 November 2010 and that scientific testing had revealed a degree of probability that the bleeding may not have originated from the horse’s lungs.
Under these circumstances, Stewards could not rule out that the bleeding was caused by external trauma and as such lifted the ban on Famous Roman immediately.
