veterinarian

This is the first in a new TDN series on people in the Thoroughbred industry who have a passion for a non-industry charity. Want to recommend someone for the series? Email [email protected] or [email protected].  Dr. Scott Pierce has a lot to be proud of and even more to look forward to. The Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital partner and owner of Omega Farm is the breeder of MGISW Country Grammer (Tonalist), who is set to join the WinStar stallion roster this coming year. But if you caught Dr. Pierce bragging...

LEXINGTON, KY--As the calendar turns over to June and the 2023 breeding season nears its close, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Manager's Club (KTFMC) focused its monthly meeting on advancements in the equine reproductive field and how the latest research, as well as new treatments and diagnostic tests, might have practical application for farm managers at this point in the breeding season and on into next year. Held Tuesday evening at Copper Roux in Lexington, the event featured presentations from three equine veterinarians. Dr. Emma Adam, who specializes in equine veterinary...

Dr. Heather Wharton, the veterinarian responsible for injecting WinStar stallion Laoban with a so-called "Black Shot" shortly before his death in 2021, has begun serving a 90-day suspension as part of a negotiated settlement with the Kentucky Board of Veterinary Examiners revealed Tim Sullivan with the LEO Weekly. Per the released report, Wharton is also obligated to pay a $30,000 administrative fine, complete at least four hours of continuing education, and has agreed to accept a written reprimand that will serve as a permanent disciplinary mark on her record. A...

On Thursday, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority updated some important rules and deadlines concerning the impending racetrack safety portion launch of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA). The Authority-the umbrella non-profit established by the Act-noted among other things that the registration deadline for certain "covered persons" has been pushed back a day, to July 2, and clarified some details about the transfer of claimed horse records. Since issuing a cheat sheet to help guide industry participants through this process, the TDN has been fielding unanswered questions industry participants...

The veterinarian Seth Fishman--who is facing 20 years in prison, has an active motion asking for the first of his two convicted counts to be dismissed, and has already been granted one sentencing delay because he is allegedly having trouble filling out federal probation paperwork--again on Tuesday requested another delay of his sentencing. The half-redacted letter motion filed by his attorney in United States District Court (Southern District of New York) on May 17 suggests that a COVID-19 outbreak where he is being detained at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn...

You would think the heart has enough on its plate. It literally never gets a break, not for one second, never mind a vacation. Never a morning's fishing, a bourbon after dinner. Yet somehow we have ended up charging this most vital of our organs with a second burden, figurative but scarcely less momentous, as the vessel of love. So when the tireless engine of life finally fails, in one we cherish, we speak of our own hearts as being "broken." And there were many such, in Lexington on Friday,...

A request by defendants Seth Fishman and Lisa Giannelli to delay next week's start of their trial in the alleged nationwide horse doping conspiracy because of COVID-19 concerns was not granted on Thursday by the judge handling the case. Although no specific court order answering the motion had been filed prior to deadline for this story, a summary entry on the court docket describing what happened at a Jan. 13 pre-trial conference contained the notation, "Trial to begin January 19, 2022," which is the originally scheduled start date. In two...

Dr. Lee Cyphers, Oaklawn's longtime Association Veterinarian, passed away at age 66 Sunday, Sept. 5 following complications from a brain aneurysm. He was a fixture at the Oaklawn starting gate and in the paddock spanning three decades. He was a local Hot Springs veterinarian with a highly successful small animal clinic. He is preceded in death by his parents and two brothers Steve and Chuck Cyphers. Survivors include his wife and best friend Kristi; children, Morgan Lee (Summer) Cyphers, Margaret "Meggy" Beatrice (Joseph) Boone, the mother of his children, Viki...

Dr. Gregory Ferraro, the current chairman of the California Horse Racing Board and an equine surgeon and a medical executive, has been named the 17th recipient of the Laffit Pincay, Jr. Award. The 75-year-old will be honored at Del Mar with a ceremony during this Saturday's TVG Pacific Classic Day program. The Pincay Award, named for and presented by the Hall of Fame rider, goes to those who have served the sport "with integrity, extraordinary dedication, determination and distinction." "I can think of few people who fit the requirements for...

An outbreak of the neurological form of equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV1) has been reported in Valencia, Spain, the Irish Equine Centre (IEC) announced via a statement on Twitter Monday. The virus was discovered at an FEI competition, and the FEI Veterinary Department is collaborating with the Spanish authorities. Additional veterinarians have been brought in to assist with the 160 horses quarantined on site. The IEC statement read in part, "Currently 84 horses are showing clinical signs, 11 are being treated in external clinics and four have died. Horses that left...

Dr. Gary Lavin, one of the Thoroughbred industry's most respected and accomplished veterinarians, passed away Saturday morning at his home in Louisville, Kentucky after a long battle with cancer, according to his family. He was 83 years old. Lavin is a past president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, Steward of The Jockey Club, trustee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and the Breeders' Cup, director at Keeneland, and vice-chairman of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation. Lavin was a 1962 graduate of the University...