BALTIMORE — As Preakness 150 approaches at Pimlico, veterinary teams are implementing extensive safety measures to ensure the health and well-being of all competing horses.
Dr. Dionne Benson, Chief Veterinary Officer for First Racing, says the process for preparing horses for Preakness is comprehensive.
Watch and learn how horses are cared for ahead of the Preakness Stakes
"We start checking these horses this week, early this week, any horse that's going to run on Friday or Saturday, and just make sure they're sound. They feel good. They're ready to go," Benson said.
The care regimen includes detailed attention to nutrition, with horses receiving multiple daily meals.
"These horses eat a lot. I mean, most of them will eat sweet feed, oats. They'll eat three or four times a day. They have hay in front of them all day long," Benson said.
Each horse has a dedicated team of professionals monitoring their health and performance.
"They bathe them, they walk them, they feed them, they check their legs every day. You've got a trainer who kind of oversees everything, plus you've got exercise riders, jockeys, massage therapists, chiropractors, nutritionists. I mean these horses are very well taken care of," Benson said.
With rain at the beginning of the week, track conditions could potentially impact the race. Mark Casse, a thoroughbred horse trainer for Sandman, notes that muddy conditions can affect performance.
"We had a sloppy track in the Derby, and he didn't handle it quite as well as I would have liked, but a lot of it has to do with it was a huge field, 19 horses. There's only 9 horses in this race, only 8 of them will be throwing mud back so I don't know that that will be as big a factor," Casse said.
As temperatures are expected to rise this weekend, Benson's team has implemented additional safety measures.
"We've prepared where we're having extra hoses brought in, extra ice, things to cool horses down quickly. We actually have these ice blankets from Australia that are designed to cool horses down quickly and they'll be on site and ready to go," Benson said.
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