More EHV-1 Positives at Sunland Park

As Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino proceeds with plans to resume live racing later in February despite an outbreak of equine herpesvirus, the New Mexico Livestock Board reported Feb. 15 there have been four new cases since its last update two days earlier.

In its latest update, the board said the total number of EHV-1 positives is now 70, up from the previous 66. While the number of new positives increases, the board said five horses were released from the isolation barn Feb. 15. Also, 15 "exposed" barns have been returned to non-exposed status, and the Jovi and Lazy S facilities have been removed from those within the quarantine perimeter, leaving only Sunland Park and the Frontera Training Center under quarantine.

Six horses at the track, which has a horse population of about 1,500, have died as a result of EHV-1.

Sunland Park, which has not held live racing since Jan. 22 due to EHV-1, has announced it plans to resume live racing Feb. 26 under certain conditions it believes will limit the spread of the disease and at the same time permit horsemen to resume their livelihoods.

Under the plans to resume racing, Sunland Park said only horses from non-quarantined barns would be permitted to compete. Under the protocols in place, if a horse in a non-quarantined barn tests positive for EHV-1, no horses in that barn would be permitted to run for the next 14 days.

While many owners and trainers would welcome the return of racing to Sunland Park, which hosts the $800,000 Sunland Derby (gr. III), scheduled for March 20, some believe it inappropriate to try to race until the entire outbreak has been contained.

Dr. Miguel L. Gallegos, a physician who has a stable of about 11 horses on the track and 40 broodmares in the state, is concerned that allowing the resumption of racing will only allow EHV-1 to spread and have an even greater detrimental effect on the state's racing and breeding industries.

"How can you race when you still have new positives?" said Gallegos, who noted he had witnessed and talked to others in the barn area about how some of the biosecurity practices were not being followed. "I'm thinking of the big picture, not just getting some money in my pocket right now."

"The way that Sunland has handled this outbreak is unprecedented," Gallegos said in an email to others in the New Mexico horse industry. "Had we closed the track a few weeks ago, we would've almost been out of this. Barns that remained infected would stay closed and those that were clean could've started to train. This is a slow death with no end in sight and the ultimate destruction of the industry. Even if horses finally emerge from quarantine, many of them won't be accepted to run out of state and will not find welcoming arms to board at many farms."

AAEP's Frequently Asked Questions About EHV-1