THE SUNDAY STORY: A CASE OF STRANGLES – WITH DARREN BELL, MATT CUMANI AND GODOLPHIN

By Graham Potter | Sunday, July 16, 2017

A CASE OF STRANGLES – WITH DARREN BELL, MATT CUMANI AND GODOLPHIN – PART 1

On December 17, 2016 trainer Darren Bell had runners at both Eagle Farm and Toowoomba. Little did he realise at the time that those would be the last runners to represent the stable until April 12, 2017, a four month period of turmoil which devastated the stable.

It was all due to strangles.

Strangles has been defined as a contagious bacterial infection of the upper respiratory tract of horses, causing enlargement of the lymph nodes and the contagious nature of the infection makes it a ‘must report’ situation so that the relevant authorities can be alerted to the situation.

The minute Bell realised he had a positive case in his stable he did the right thing.

But sometimes honesty brings little reward. While Bell would offer the same response all over again in similar circumstances, he is aggrieved at the way his stable’s strangles situation was handled by authorities, both on a communications level as well as the protocol that was enforced.

This is Bell’s first-hand count of events.

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“Around mid-December last year we took a step that not everybody has done before by notifying authorities that we had strangles in our stables.

“Obviously the QRIC stewards and vet were involved. They shut our whole stable down ... that is two different stables two streets apart.

“The positive horses were all confined to one of those stables so the second stable was removed from the source of any possible direct infection. There had been a crossover of staff at that point though, so we would have accepted a small window until those horses were all tested and cleared.

“Three horses originally tested positive ... and then one more did out of a total of the twenty-two horses we had at the time. We went through the testing with everything quarantined.

“The guideline as to timelines from QRIC with regard to what we had to do changed continuously and that in itself became very frustrating so we started to explore other avenues ourselves.

“Our stable vet was involved and she did her own investigations into how this situation is handled in other jurisdictions and we felt there was a better way to minimise the impact on our stable. We attempted to communicate our beliefs with the QRIC vet and we couldn’t get anywhere at all.

“There was no room to move forward and we got to the point where we could see all of our horses getting very sour from being stuck in the stables.

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“The most frustrating thing for our owners was that in the stable that had the positive cases we were basically told that the other horses had to stay there until they were all clear.

“We were looking for an avenue of separation which, when we investigated with other vets that have dealt with this, that was considered the best course of action ... separation with bio-security. You don’t just separate them by just blatantly rolling a horse out somewhere.

“We had one of our owners who was willing to take her own horses, one of which was positive, back to her own property to work with her vet who would liaise with the QRIC vet to make sure that proper bio-security measures were put in place to allow some separation within the stable ... but we were not allowed to do that.

“We were seemingly faced with a closed door and every day got more and more depressing because there was no way forward for us.

“The only thing that was put in place was the stop the spread from our stable to others ... which obviously was very important ... but, in my view, not enough consideration was given to working out the best way to minimise the impact on my stable when we had some options.

“We had taken everybody else into account. The moment we knew we had one positive, we shut up shop, notified authorities and none of our horses went anywhere but I don’t think we were given similar consideration.

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“It was only when a newspaper story appeared relating our position that I was contacted both by the head of Queensland Racing and the head of QRIC.

"I met up with both and they asked me what I thought should happen from this point. I said we need a review of how this was handled to know how better to handle it in the future.

“We had that review. I have had not one bit of correspondence since that time.

“Actually there was one thing they did come back with. One set of my owners sent an email requesting more information. They sent back an email with the wrong information in it. It was completely wrong, so I rang up QRIC and spoke to the person whose name was on the email and told him the information was wrong.

“I believe now all that review meeting was ... was for them to save face, to protect themselves in case someone was going to take it further.

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“Financially it was an absolute disaster for me. QRIC did come up with covering the costs of the tests of the horses so that was helpful to the owners ... but they did nothing for me personally.

“All the time I was shut down, to keep faith with the owners I only charged them a minimal daily rate which would have cost me money. At the end of it all of the horses were sour so they all had to go out so I was paying rent on empty boxes.

“I kept all of my staff employed because all the horses were going to come back at once so I was going to need all of those people ... and all of that time we weren’t racing for any prize-money.

“To add to that all of those owners were up for the cost of a full preparation to get those horses back to where they were before because the horses were stuck three-and-a-half and four-and-a-half weeks in the two stable blocks. A horse would maintain more fitness running around the paddock.

“They had lost all of their race fitness so we had to start from scratch again.

“The situation threatened the business. We are back up and running to a degree but the future of the business is still threatened.

"We are really struggling. Financially we are really, really struggling.

“It is hard enough as it is, but to try and catch up is very near impossible.

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“What needs to happen most of all now is a proper determination of what is a positive case of strangles.

“What they ended up doing was here serology where, in part, they take two blood tests and they match the antibodies. (Serology is defined as the scientific study or diagnostic examination of blood serum, especially with regard to the response of the immune system to pathogens or introduced substances).

“Now, all a positive serology means is that at some stage that horse had exposure to strangles but it doesn’t mean it is infectious and can affect other horses.

“The QRIC vet pushed the point that it was a positive with one of our horses when we had our review. I had to correct him there and I got confirmation from another vet, with a lot of experience in the field, that a positive serology test does not necessarily equate to a positive for strangles.

“That is what QRIC was hanging their hat on as a reason for shutting down that other stable ... and that is just not right.

“So, there needs to be something to come out of this other than silence.

“At very least there needs to be a facility where you have an opportunity to separate horses before they expose it to others.

“My stable has obviously gone through a terrible time and I obviously feel the weight of that.

"We are still under sufferance and, irrespective of that fact that authorities might think it is my business and therefore my problem, I want to know what Racing Queensland has learned from this episode so that they can handle it better next time.

“There has been nothing. I’m still waiting for an answer!”

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A CASE OF STRANGLES – WITH DARREN BELL, MATT CUMANI AND GODOLPHIN – PART 2

While Darren Bell notified authorities as soon as he became aware of a case of strangles in his yard (see Part 1), with the outbreak of strangles in the stables of Ballarat trainer Matt Cumani did not and his case thus followed a completely different story line.

Stewards contended that Cumani had received veterinary advice on as early as late October with regard to the strangles positive of a horse named Corrs and failed to advise officials or implement biosecurity measures to limit the risk of the spread of the infection as per Racing Victoria protocol.

Adding weight to the case against Cumani was the fact that Cumani had held an ‘Open Day’ at his stables on November 19, Ballarat Cup day where owners mingled with the horses.

It wasn't only on November 23 that Cumani eventually alerted authorities, reportedly after warning from his stable vet. On November 24 Cumani's stables were quarantined, nearly a month after the fact. Biosecurity measures were lifted a month later on December 27.

At the time of quarantine, unlike Bell’s situation, only one of Cumani’s three barns was placed under strict quarantine.

This limited restriction was decided upon after Cumani confirmed that the three stables he had in operation were ‘all independent stables with their own facilities in terms of wash bays and feed rooms and tack rooms ... working independently of each ... with, our own staff for each different stable that don't cross over.”

In handing down sentence RAD Judge John Bowman stated:

"Luckily the spread of disease was not as bad as what it could have been. A clear message must be sent to trainers in the industry that the reporting of outbreaks of listed diseases must be done in the quickest possible manner. You did not do this and were too worried about your own interests.

"Immediate notification is necessary so equally immediate steps of quarantine can take place.

"You were specifically told of your duty to report by your vet Dr Anderson in later October 2016 but you did not do this until November 23, when the cat was effectively out of the bag by then.

"Instead of quarantining your stable of horses, you simply continued to train and certainly took some measures in relation to controlling it, it was no means complete. Your primary obligation is to report to the stewards immediately, instead you pressed on, possibly influenced by the fact you were going to have your first Melbourne Cup runner.

"Essentially you put your interests ahead of those of the stewards, your fellow trainers, proprietors of other racing establishments and your owners.”

Judge Bowman also referenced the fact that he had contemplated issuing Cumani with a disqualification period but opted for a suspension instead.

In mid-May Cumani was fined $20,000 and suspended until August.

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A CASE OF STRANGLES – WITH DARREN BELL, MATT CUMANI AND GODOLPHIN – PART 3

The most recent case involving strangles ... which has yet to be resolved ... involves the Godolphin racing empire and a horse named Polemic who reported tested positive to strangles in August last year.

This case differs again from those discussed in Part 1 and Part 2 in that there are multiple key players who have contradictory memories of what occurred at the crucial time.

Just who knew what, and when, has become something of a puzzled that needs to be pieced together after Racing NSW stewards commenced a formal inquiry into the matter on June 27.

That inquiry was adjourned until August.

The report card which has emerged to date is:

On July 30, 2016 Polemic was transferred from Godolphin’s Warwick Farm stables to their Osborn Park base after recording an elevated temperature in the preceding day.

On August 2 Polemic was showing signs of "mandibular swelling" and had an abscess under the jaw. A Godolphin vet took a swap and sent a swap off for a pathology report.

The pathology results confirmed that Polemic was suffering from strangles. The vet also confirmed to stewards that the then Godolphin trainer John O’Shea was made aware of that fact in a conversation on August 4. O’Shea denied having that conversation and said that once a horse had been removed from the actual racing stable he had nothing to do with it.

O’Shea (Trainer), Dr Robson (Chief Vet), Henry Plumptre (Godolphin Australia managing director) and assistant trainer Paul Reid all agreed the matter was discussed at meeting on the morning of August 5. However, their versions of exactly what was discussed differed.

Either way, the confirmed case of strangles was not reported to stewards at that time as required.

It has been reported that the Chief Vet stated in evidence that he told the trainer he had to notify stewards which he was reluctant to do and a decision was taken later by the Managing Director not to inform stewards. The vet also stated that 43 horses were vaccinated as a precaution between August 6 and August 14.

The inquiry resumes in August.

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So there you have it, there different cases of strangles. Two have had vastly different outcomes. One is still out for decision.

For Bell (Part 1), his business is still tethering on the brink. Cumani (Part 2), we’ll see him back in August and in the same month we will know more about the Godolphin case (Part 3).

Strangles is something you wouldn’t wish on any stable. As we have seen it has significant negative consequences for anybody caught in its path whether they do the right thing or not.