Foal Deaths Plague Ky. Horse Business

L E X I N G T O N, Ky., May 10, 2001 -- The mystery illnesskilling unborn foals could have a multimillion-dollar impact onKentucky horse country and weaken the horse-racing industry,already hampered by a shortage of mounts, experts said today.

One out of four or five mares in the nation's topthoroughbred breeding state has either miscarriedseveral-week-old fetuses or given birth to stillborn near-termfoals. On some horse farms, three out of four pregnancies areending without a live birth.

"The losses will be in the millions, maybe the hundreds ofmillions of dollars," said Frank Taylor, an owner of TaylorMade Farms near Nicholasville, Ky.

A team of Kentucky scientists has performed necropsies onsome of the 371 fetuses or dead foals delivered to a Lexingtonlaboratory to try to determine the source of the illness.

Speculation has focused on an unusually dry April thatdried out Kentucky's famed bluegrass and could have triggered atoxin-producing fungus outbreak.

'No Definitive Answer'

"There's no definitive answer," said breeder Art Zubrod atBrittany Farms in Versailles. "We lost five [foals] in aone-week period and I thought we were going to lose fivemore."

Zubrod lost one foal whose half brother sold for $365,000last year and said he has suffered at least $1.5 million inuninsured losses. He induced two mares to give birthprematurely, and those foals are sick but surviving.

Breeders were trying to limit pasture grazing and wereinstead trying to get their mares to eat an untried type offeed that is said to absorb the toxin. Some mare owners areshipping their animals out of state.

"Every year there are mares that lose foals but it has notbeen as pronounced as this year," said John Cooney of theJockey Club, which registers foals and tracks the industry.

A study of the problem estimated losses in Kentucky alonecould amount to $138 million if 20 percent of the expected cropof foals are lost, Cooney said. Since 70 percent ofKentucky-born thoroughbreds end up racing, the miscarriages andfoal deaths could result in an additional $35 million in losttraining, boarding and racing fees.

Too Much Racing Already?

Already, the development of year-round racing at many U.S.racetracks has created a chronic shortage of mounts — adevelopment that bettors do not like.

"Some people would say we have too much racing right now,"Cooney said. "There's a chance that racetracks will have to cutback the number of races they have each day or cut back thenumber of racing dates."

Under threat is the nation's $1.1 billion breedingindustry, nearly one-third of which is centered in Kentucky.

Last year, Kentucky's 20,000 mares and 500 stallionsproduced roughly 30 percent of the 20,000 thoroughbred foalsborn in the United States. Some 12,000 yearlings and weanlingsless than a year old were sold last year for a total of $600million.

Also at risk are Kentucky horse farms, which could loseanticipated stud fees ranging from a few hundred dollars to$400,000, as well as insurers and other businesses reliant onmoney made in the horse industry.

"It'll affect the stallion farms not getting stud fees thisyear or next, owners who won't have offspring to sell down theline, horses leaving the state because owners don't want themto get sick, so you have boarding losses," said Philip Meyer ofBohannon-Meyer Insurance company in Versailles.

And the problem may not be confined to Kentucky.

Veterinarians reported a horse farm in southeasternOhio had 10 mares miscarry and five others deliver stillbornfoals.