Maryland vet to be interim director of Leesburg
Michael Erskine, D.V.M.
This week, Dr. Michael D. Erskine began a new part-time job, that of interim director of Virginia Tech’s Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center, the Leesburg campus of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech.
“Dr. Erskine has been a friend of the college and Equine Medical Center for many years,” said Dr. Gerhardt G. Schurig, dean of the veterinary college. “He has always been ready to help with his advice and knowledge. He is once again stepping up to help lead the [center] until a new director is in place.”
A resident of Mount Airy, Md., Erskine will work on reorganizing, stabilizing, and enhancing the efficiency of activities at the center. “This is aimed at ensuring that we provide the best quality of service and client satisfaction,” noted Schurig.
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No Triple Crown, but Way to Go Gary!
Oxbow and Gary Stevens
Yes, it is disappointing that there will be no Triple Crown this year. Yes, it is disappointing that a horse with Maryland connections did not win the Preakness. But, what a race! Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas made history on Saturday, May 18, when the 15-1 long shot Oxbow, owned by Calumet Farm, won the 138th Preakness Stakes Grade I by leading wire to wire giving Lukas his sixth Preakness win and his 14th win in a Triple Crown race.
After finishing sixth on a very slopping track at the Kentucky Derby, Oxbow entered the Preakness overshadowed by Derby winner and Preakness favorite Orb. But when you combine a Hall of Fame trainer with Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, and a dry track, Oxbow sprang from the shadows and can now bask in the glow of being a Preakness winner. The win also put Stevens, who came out of retirement this season, in the history books as being the oldest jockey (age 50) to win the Preakness.
Although Maryland was out of the spotlight in terms of a Preakness winner, Maryland-bred Hello Lover won the first race on the card for owners Kasey K. Racing Stable and Brier Creek Farm LLC. The Not For Love grey gelding won the $40,000 Deputed Testamony Starter Handicap for Maryland-breds. He is trained by Robert Reid, Jr and was ridden by jockey John Bisono.
Debt Ceiling, trained by Laurel-based trainer Jerry Robb, won the $100,000 Rollicking Stakes for 2-year-olds for owner Tim O’Donohue under the guidance of jockey Eric Camacho.
Fiftyshadesofhay Wins the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes
The Bob Baffert trained Fiftyshadesofhay, owned by Karl Watson, Michael Pegram and Paul Weitman, came from behind to win the 89th running of the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes Grade II race at Pimlico Racecourse today with Joel Rosario in the irons.
For more photos and videos from the day, visit The Equiery’s Facebook page! And if you were at Pimlico today, share your photos with us by emailing them to editor@equiery.com.
“Gone to the Races!” The Equiery plays hooky!
The Equiery offices will be closed today, Friday, May 16, 2013. Hope to see you out and about at the Black Eyed Susan Day at Pimlico! (And yes, a few of us will be staying for the Goo Goo Dolls concert.) If you can’t join us today, then follow us on Facebook! If you need to contact us about advertising, please email ads@equiery.com or call 1-800-244-9580 and leave a message on extension 101, and we will return your call either over the weekend or first thing on Monday.
Maryland will miss Humpy Stump
The Equiery extends its sincerest condolences to Maryland steeplechase trainer Alicia Murphy, whose father (a longtime member of the Green Spring Valley Hounds), A. Herman (Humpy) Stump, passed away peacefully on Sunday, May 12, 2013. Alicia’s mother, Louise Warfield Stump, died on December 31, 2012. Funeral services for Mr. Stump will be held at St. John’s Church in Reisterstown, at 3 PM on Friday, May 17. Donations may be made to St. John’s in his honor.
Touch of Class Awards at the 40th Anniversary Celebration of Secretariat’s Triple Crown
Graham Motion receiving his second Touch of Class Award, pictured with Secretariat’s owner Penny Chenery, MHIB Chair Jim Steele and MHIB Vice-Chair Erin Pittman.
On Tuesday, May 14, racing fans gathered at the American Film Institute in Silver Spring for an evening dedicated to honoring equine excellence. The evening began with a live taping of ESPN.com’s “In the Gate,” a podcast panel discussion on the controversy behind Secretariat’s record-breaking time at the 1973 Preakness Stakes. On the panel were Secretariat’s owner Penny Chenery and jockey Ron Turcotte also with biographer Bill Nack and several racing analysts, journalist and representatives from the Maryland Jockey Club.
The podcast can be viewed later in the week on ESPN.com.
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Just In! Derby Photo from Ryan Lasek
Ryan Lasek photo of Orb winning the Kentucky Derby!
What a day for Maryland!
Saturday, May 4, 2013 was a glorious day for Maryland’s Thoroughbred connections, with triumphs in two of racing’s most prestigious events: The Kentucky Derby and the Virginia Gold Cup.
Going For the Gold
Michael Wharton’s Grinding Speed wins the Gold Cup!
(Photo by Isabel Kurek)
Starting closest to home, Michael Wharton’s Grinding Speed, with Mark Beecher in the irons, handily won the 88th running of the Virginia Gold Cup by 6 3/4 lengths over Straight To It, making that back-to-back wins for the Maryland-bred over the Great Meadow course after last fall’s victory in the International Gold Cup. The win was a trifecta of Maryland connections, as the seven-year-old grey gelding is owned, trained and ridden by Marylanders.
It has certainly been a heady spring for Reisterstown jockey Mark Beecher, with his claiming of the Maryland Hunt Cup the week prior aboard Mr. Maxwell. Indeed, the only bobble this year for the 2012 Maryland Governor’s Cup Overall Rider of the Year, Leading Timber Rider and Leading Amateur Rider was a tumble at My Lady’s Manor aboard Grinding Speed, which obviously has stopped neither the horse nor his rider (despite a broken collarbone) in their spring barnstorming tours.
A son of Grindstone, Grinding Speed was bred for the flat, but switched to the jumps in 2010, winning his first over the hurdles at Potomac that year before the pair switched to the sticks, and since then, with the Manor as the only exception, the Hunt Valley-based Alicia Murphy-trained horse has finished first or second every time. (It is no surprise to see a touch of Turn-To in the bloodlines of this timber horse.)
First Crown for Orb
Maryland connections continued to triumph, from over the sticks to around the oval, as Orb captured the 139th running of The Kentucky Derby. Although bred in Kentucky, Orb’s sire, Malibu Moon (A.P. Indy x Macoumba) has deep Maryland roots. Malibu Moon was purchased by the Pons family and originally stood at Country Life Farm in Bel Air. When his popularity began to increase, he was shipped to Kentucky where he now stands at Spendthrift Farm. Looking at Orb’s pedigree, you also see ties to Maryland-bred Native Dancer of Sagamore Farm when the Vanderbilts were in residence.
Meanwhile, Orb’s owner, Butler-based Stuart Janney III, has an equally illustrious Maryland pedigree, as his father (Stuart Janney Jr.) has won four Maryland Hunt Cups, the first in 1935 aboard Mrs. W. A. Wadsworth’s Hotspur, and then three consecutive wins in the ’40s aboard his own Winton. Janney, Jr. and Janney III have played prominent roles in both Maryland and U.S. Thoroughbred racing, with Junior having served as chairman of the Maryland Racing Commission and president of the Maryland Breeders association, and his son serving as a vice chairman of The Jockey Club and chairman of its safety committee.
Now the buzz around the news wires is all about who is going to enter the 138th Preakness Stakes to challenge the Kentucky Derby winner Orb.
To learn more…
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Will equine vets be able to legally serve the needs of their patients?
by Ann E, Dwyer, DVM, president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners
The American Association of Equine Practitioners Welfare and Public Policy Advisory Council is working with the American Veterinary Medical Association and Congress to ensure that veterinarians can provide complete care to their animal patients. The recent introduction of the Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act of 2013 (H.R. 1528), we have the opportunity to make an impact.
As large animal veterinarians, most of us have frequent need to use controlled substances to treat our patients at the stables, ranches, farms and other sites where they live. However, the provisions of the existing Controlled Substances Act (CSA) make it illegal for any veterinarian to transport and/or use controlled substances outside of the DEA license location that is registered for that individual. This means that it is currently illegal for veterinarians to carry and use these vital medications for pain management, anesthesia or euthanasia on farms, at house calls, in veterinary mobile clinics, or in ambulatory response situations.
Veterinarians must be able to legally carry and use controlled substances for the health and welfare of the nation’s animals, to safeguard public safety and to protect the nation’s food supply.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which enforces the law, has informed organized veterinary medicine that without a statutory change, many veterinarians are in violation of the CSA and cannot legally administer controlled substances away from their registry site. The DEA has already notified some veterinarians in California and Washington State that they are in violation of this law.
We encourage you to contact your members of Congress and urge them to support the Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act of 2013 (H.R. 1528). This act would amend the CSA that currently prohibits veterinarians from transporting controlled substances to treat their animal patients outside of their registered locations.
Please join us in telling Congress that veterinarians need to be able to transport controlled substances to the locations of their animal patients, not only for the health and welfare of the nation’s animals, but for public safety.
The link below takes you to the AVMA Legislative Action Center where you can easily express your support of H.R. 1528. Contact information for your representative(s) is generated automatically by your zip code and a message which you may edit is provided.
Thank you for your advocacy.
Maryland author wins $10,000 national equine book award
Patrick Smithwick wins Seventh Annual Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award
Writer, teacher, photographer and lifelong horseman Patrick Smithwick has been awarded the seventh annual Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award, for his 2012 autobiographical workFlying Change: A Year of Racing and Family and Steeplechasing.
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