October 21, 2009

Research into risk factors in jumps racing and the causes of tendon injuries will receive funding in more than £1.2 million worth of grants announced in Britain this week.

The Horserace Betting Levy Board has awarded six grants for veterinary research projects starting from this month.

The research disciplines include infectious diseases, vaccine design, musculoskeletal injuries and environmental safety factors.

The research projects, which in total will receive more than £1.2m, will be undertaken at five institutions - the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Liverpool, Moredun Research Institute and the Animal Health Trust.

Professor Willie Donachie, who chairs the board's Veterinary Advisory Committee, which evaluated 33 funding applications, said: "It was an extremely competitive round of bids and we expect that the winning projects will make an important and practical contribution to the health and welfare of the Thoroughbred."

Questions that the research projects will address over the next three years include:

• What are the most important risk factors for injuries in jump racing? What factors cause them to commonly occur? Is there an affect of seasonality and what are the differences between racecourses? The project will use existing data held by the British Horseracing Authority.

• What are the causes of equine tendon injury? Using a new, multi-disciplinary collaborative partnership, the project will provide information to inform vets on treatment and prevention of one of the most important causes of failure to race.

• How viable is the mandatory passport data existing on Britain's National Equine Database (NED) as a resource to accurately plot the distribution of equines across the country? How might potential transmission of African Horse Sickness vary geographically and seasonally? This project will model various scenarios.

• To what extent is there drug resistance to dewormers? How will this affect future management strategies to protect horses from poor performance and life-threatening parasitic disease? This project builds on research previously funded by HBLB.

• How does the bacterium Rhodococcus equi cause infection, particularly severe respiratory disease of foals? How does it persist in the environment? This project builds on previous research funded by the board and is the basis for future vaccine design.

• What is the relationship between attachment of the bacterium Streptococcus zooepidemicus and causes of a range of equine respiratory diseases, particularly in young horses starting training? This project builds on previous research funded by the board and is key to future vaccine design.

One of the board's statutory functions is to apply horserace betting levy income for the advancement or encouragement of veterinary science or veterinary education.

Since 1962, the board has put £45 million into equine veterinary science and education with the aim of improving the health and welfare of the racing and breeding of the thoroughbred.