THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - THE HEAT IS ON. TIME TO IMPLEMENT A COMMON SENSE STRATEGY

By Graham Potter | Sunday, October 11, 2015

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily.

Chances are it is going to be a very hot summer.

That is the reason why a very specific, totally unambiguous, common sense strategy needs to be put in place to provide all racing participants with a definitive rule which will determine when racing must be brought to a halt, or put on hold, in extreme heat conditions.

And yes, I am returning to a subject I previously addressed last November when the heat gauge topped 41 degrees before the start of a meeting at Caloundra and left stewards, jockeys and trainers in something of a quandary as to what to do next.

You see discretion was allowed to be in place that day and trying to reach a clear-cut verdict via an exchange of opinion between stewards, vets, jockeys and trainers might be a well-intentioned, all inclusive approach ... with stewards having the final say ... but it remains a flawed option in practice.

To have an effective solution there has to be a point of reference whereby it will be determined that a critical level of temperature has been reached.

So discretion has to be taken out of the equation.

Authorities need to settle on a specific maximum temperature and when that temperature is surpassed that official ‘heat policy’ should be called into play with racing being suspended until the heat eases again to an acceptable level. If that timeframe becomes unmanageable the meeting should be abandoned.

And let’s bring that clear-cut understanding in as a rule of racing in Queensland before participants are once again placed in the unenviable position of being asked to decipher the precise weather situation.

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So how does heat stress occur in a horse?

Horses naturally cool themselves by sweating. Water molecules on the skin absorb heat before removing much of the unwanted heat via evaporation. This process acts as a natural cooling system.

However when the amount of body heat generated is such that the cooling cycle cannot be completed effectively, such as on very humid or high temperature days, the horse becomes at risk to heat stress.

Jenifer Nadeau, M.S, Ph.D Associate Professor, Equine Extension Specialist at the University of Connecticut, is one of several academics to have concluded that, ‘Only about 25% of the energy used in the performance horse's working muscles is converted to actual movement. The remaining 75% loss of efficiency is represented by waste heat that is difficult for the horse to dissipate in hot and humid weather.’

This can lead to heat stress, which has signs akin to exhaustion, but the effects can be more dangerous than that ... hence my push to ensure that racing finds the best workable balance between the desire to race and the need to know when to stop on any given day.

Having said that, because of the variety of factors that can be involved, no protocol, on or off the track, can ever guarantee that every horse will be protected from heat stress on every occasion ... but it would be nice to know that racing has does its upmost to cover the question of temperature in a proactive way, before the heat really sets in.

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