BALTIMORE — They’re the star of the show, eight thoroughbred race horses looking to take home the Woodlawn vase with a win on Saturday.
Right now, their days are filled with more pampering than anything else.
“They go from breakfast to get groomed, so someone will go in and brush them and rub them so everything looks good," said Dr. Dionne Benson the Chief Veterinary Officer.
After a spa-like morning, the horses saddle up and head to the track.
“Usually these days they jog or what we call gallop so a little bit faster exercise so they’ll do 15, 20 maybe 30 minutes of galloping around the track," said Dr. Benson.
After galloping there’s lunch, followed by a nap then dinner and more sleep, not a bad gig.
This light workload is apart of keeping these horses at the top of their game Saturday and making sure they’re not injured before or during the race.
Dr. Benson says it’s a two part effort to make sure horses stay safe.
“It’s really controlling medication is the first one, so we race under the protocols that ensure the horses aren’t on medication on race day," said Dr. Benson.
The other is making sure the veterinarians continue to check these horses and the private trainers sign off on them being healthy enough to race.
The track also plays a role in the safety and performance of the horses.
“Our job and what we pride ourselves on is making sure that we give them the most consistent track we can, the number of measurements we take on a daily basis is really impressive," said Dr. Benson.
Horse safety doesn’t stop when the race is over, the winners are sent to get tested to ensure the medications aren’t over the legal limit.
