The legacy of a laminitis fighter: Dr. Agne's brave run in a Saratoga stakes race

News flash: Dr. Agne, an up-and-coming two-year-old racehorse named for the late equine podiatry veterinarian Bob Agne of Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, made his second career start on Thursday, August 28 in the Grade 3 With Anticipation Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Saratoga.

You didn’t have to be a racing fan to want this horse to win at Saratoga today. You just had to hear his story.

 

On July 11, 2025, many of us watched a young two-year-old Thoroughbred win his first start at Saratoga racecourse in upstate New York. It wasn't just your average horse race; this colt has a story

His story is about his dam. His story is about his name. But mostly, his story is about laminitis and the people who fight it.

The horse world erupted with a combination of tears and cheers that day as the gutsy two-year-old colt burst on the scene with a decisive win. Dr. Agne is the namesake of the popular equine podiatry veterinarian Dr. Bob Agne of Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, who inspired Lady Eli's team back in July 2015.

 

This video is a feature created by the New York Racing Association's Saratoga Live team to tell Dr. Agne's story.

 

Lady Eli was still in rehabilitation at the end of that summer, when Dr. Agne headed out on his bike for a long Labor Day ride in Vermont. He never returned. He was struck and killed by a car on a mountain road.

Dr. Bob Agne was a veterinarian at the Rood & Riddle
Equine Hospital's podiatry clinic in Kentucky
for several years but had relocated to Saratoga to work
in the practice's new hospital there when Lady Eli was
diagnosed with laminitis at Belmont Park. Here he is
demonstrating continuous digital hypothermia (a form
of prolonged distal limb ice immersion therapy)
employed during laminitis treatment.

Dr. Agne, who worked on the filly with colleague Bryan Fraley, DVM of Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Kentucky, would never know that Lady Eli fully recovered and that she would write herself a new kind of black type in the record books–the record books of laminitis, that is. 

 

Lady Eli not only survived laminitis, she returned to racing just 13 months later and went right back to winning. She scored three post-laminitis Grade I victories (the Gamely, the Jenny Wiley, and the Diana), was a very close second in the Breeders Cup Filly and Mare Turf that year, and won the Eclipse Award as champion turf female, all after recovering from laminitis.

 

• • • • • 

Lady Eli was hard to forget. But the thing about racemares is that their colts and fillies eventually show up at the races, and keep their stories alive. That's exactly what happened on July 11.

Drs. Agne and Fraley weren’t mentioned very much in the years after Lady Eli retired. She went to the breeding shed, and her first two foals raced in Europe, so the laminitis story was all but forgotten, at least until this summer.

An Eclipse award and 2014 Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner,  Lady Eli ran 14 times in her career, finishing first in 10 races and second in three. (Wikimedia image)

 

Another key player in the Lady Eli story was Cherie DeVaux, assistant trainer to Chad Brown, Lady Eli’s trainer. Chad Brown has won five Eclipse Awards for Outstanding Trainer in the United States, and he was devoted to Lady Eli, but the day to day rehab care of the filly fell on the shoulders of Cherie DeVaux.

Over the following years, DeVaux advanced to her own training career, with considerable success.  But she never forgot her ordeal with laminitis and Lady Eli. When the chance came to train Lady Eli’s first foal to run in the United States, she added him to her barn at Saratoga.

And she named Lady Eli's son, too: "Dr. Agne" was the name she chose.

 

Today's With Anticipation Stakes will be broadcast live on the FoxSports 2 cable network but you can watch it live on the New York Racing Association's YouTube channel. NYRA's stream is the entire day's card, so look for Race 7. Approximate post time is 4:20 pm.

Dr. Agne is not just out of one of America’s leading champion racemares; he is sired by Into Mischief, who is the six-time – and reigning – champion sire in the United States. Into Mischief is the sire of the top three-year-old this year, the mighty Sovereignty, who has been on a roll and consecutively won the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Travers Stakes.

The colt made his first start at Saratoga on July 11. Like his dam, he has been trained for a career as a turf runner, but the weather had other ideas that day. The turf course was closed, and the race defaulted to the dirt track; it was run at seven furlongs. That turned out to not be a problem for Dr. Agne, even though he may have had to run the race with flat turf shoes on. 

 

He won easily, charging through traffic with his white blaze making him easy to spot. He hit the finish line with steely determination reminiscent of Lady Eli herself.

As if those storybook elements weren’t enough, when Dr. Agne strode into the winner’s circle, he was greeted by the human Dr. Agne's wife,  Carrie, who was Cherie DeVaux's guest that day. 

Lady Eli now lives at Coolmore America's bucolic Ashford Stud in Versailles, Kentucky. The perfect post script to this story is that the equine podiatry team from Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, where Dr. Bob Agne worked, still care for her hooves.

Today he tried to do it all again, but on grass. And with more serious competition. And at a longer distance. And around two turns.  

As if this story couldn't get any warmer or any fuzzier, consider this: Lady Eli is alive and well in Versailles, Kentucky in the deep green pastures of Coolmore America's Ashford Stud. She's busy raising more foals but, ten years after her laminitis, her hooves are cared for there by Dr. Bob Agne's colleagues from the Rood & Riddle Equine Podiatry Center. 

You can bet on this horse's story to make you smile and maybe cry at the same time. And those are the best kind of bets you could ever make on any horse.

Post Script: Dr. Agne did not win the With Anticipation Stakes at Saratoga, but he did come charging late again. It just wasn't enough this time. He finished fourth. But hopefully he'll be back.

Special thanks to the New York Racing Association, publicist Christian Abdo, and Coglianese Photo for their support and assistance at the track.

HoofSearch is the monthly report on new peer-reviewed equine lameness research, featuring
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US Equestrian Veterinary Summit on Sport Horses report available for download

As a followup to the 2025 US Equestrian Veterinary Summit held in March, the US Equestrian Federation has published a "white paper" report summarizing recommendations from the meeting on best practices in sport horse medicine. The report emphasizes care and welfare of competition horses in the United States.

Today the Hoof Blog offers a preview of some key points in this report.

Remembering Clint Carlson: How a mild-mannered man in a Hawaiian shirt became the "patron saint of American horseshoes"

I lost a friend on Friday. Chances are, so did you. This article is a roundabout way of introducing my readers to Clint Carlson, in case they are young enough or new enough to the horse world not to remember a shy smiling horseshoe salesman in a Hawaiian shirt. It’s also a roundabout way for me to say good-bye.

For 20 years, Clint gave his heart and soul to making and selling some of the very best horseshoes ever manufactured at that time. He did it very quietly. He was an unlikely legend -- and one of the very best friends the horse world ever had.

Summary timeline: What's behind US Equestrian, American Horse Council calls for delay of USDA's new Walking horse soring regulations?

UPDATE: On January 24, the US Equestrian Federation announced that the US Department of Agriculture had indeed pushed back new rules to prevent soring in Tennessee walking horses and similar breeds until April 1, 2025. The article below describes the background to this decision. 

Since then, however, sweeping changes in Washington, DC have affected many cabinet agencies, and are expected to impact the USDA. Whether these changes will impact the APHIS horse inspection program remains to be determined.

Readers in the USA may be aware that long-anticipated changes to the federal Horse Protection Act are scheduled to go into effect on February 1. These new rules change the way that Tennessee Walking horses will be inspected at horse shows, and by whom, in an effort to prevent deliberate "soring" practices to enhance gait.

If only it was that easy.

Canadian boost for UCalgary racehorse injury prevention research will have global benefits

Professor Thilo Pfau of the University of Calgary demonstrated the use of wearable sensors at the Rood & Riddle International Equine Podiatry Conference in 2022. This horse was subjected to before/after  analysis as farriers and veterinarians used imaging, trimming, and shoeing methods to help the horse. (Hoof Blog file photo)

Horse Racing Alberta invests in racehorse injury prevention research with $185,000 donation to University of Calgary program led by Dr. Thilo Pfau.

 

Canada's Horse Racing Alberta (HRA) has generously committed $185,000 to support pioneering research by Dr. Thilo Pfau and his team at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Faculty of Kinesiology. This significant contribution will fund research aimed at improving the prediction and prevention of racehorse injuries, a critical area of focus for the safety and protection of equine athletes.

Donor's gift makes equine laminitis research center a reality at US vet school

A strategic collaboration between donor Nancy Link and Mississippi State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) will facilitate the establishment of the Nancy Fair Link Laminitis Research Center at the university. The partnership will also include recruitment of top faculty charged with advancing pioneering research in the prevention and treatment of laminitis.

Dr. Tracy Turner is new president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners

Dr. Tracy Turner of Minnesota brings his lifelong interest in equine lameness and hoofcare with him as he embarked on a year of service as president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) this week. (Photo courtesy of the AAEP.)

Inaugural Laminitis Research Grant to Swedish Study

ECIR Group Inc. announced on September 13 that Johan Bröjer, DVM, MSc, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM (LAIM), Dipl. ECEIM, Professor of Equine Internal Medicine at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) has been awarded the group's inaugural research grant.

SURVEY: Professional Farriers' and Equine Veterinarians' Attitudes, Knowledge, and Opinions Sought by University of Edinburgh Researchers

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh’s Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies in Scotland are seeking online input from equine veterinarians and professional farriers from the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. 

Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital opens doors for International Equine Podiatry Conference April 18-20, 2024

Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky will host the third International Equine Podiatry Conference.

The doors to the forge are always open at the Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. Someone is always going in or out, and the equine podiatry clinic is a favorite stop on every hospital tour. But from April 18-20 this year, the doors will open even wider to welcome attendees to the hospital's third International Podiatry Conference. 

Attendees should expect to roll up their sleeves, buckle their aprons, and spend two days in a stimulating state-of-the-art treatment and diagnosis center where the highly-trained staff looks expertly -- and exclusively -- at the equine hoof. A registration at this conference guarantees that the motivated participants can and will get their hands dirty and their questions answered.

Horseshoer Joe Alfano celebrates 50 years of service with Pennsylvania National Horse Show Hall of Fame honor.

Joe Alfano has been the horseshoer at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in Harrisburg for 50 years. The horse show honored him this year by inducting him in the event's Hall of Fame. Joe is shown here with his niece (left), well-known equestrian Jennifer Alfano, and PNHS Executive Director Susie Shirk. (Photo by Andrew Ryback Photography)

How do you top reaching the landmark of 50 years of farrier service at one of America's most prestigious horse shows? Joe Alfano knows the answer to that question.

And he might be the only one who knows. It's hard to imagine that anyone else holds such a record for longevity of service to a show.

Shire horses inspected for controversial “couping” horseshoe practice at British horse shows in 2023

HoofSearch

At England’s Staffordshire County Show earlier this month, British farrier Grant Moon, FWCF represented the Worshipful Company of Farriers in an inspection of Shire Horses entered to show. This is one of the hind feet he inspected. (Photo courtesy of Grant Moon)

The feathery hooves of Britain’s magnificent Shire horses are receiving close scrutiny in 2023, as the breed society addresses possible welfare impacts of shoeing practices on the feet of show horses exhibited for conformation.

At England's recent Staffordshire County Show, held May 31-June 1,  the Shires’ hooves were inspected by British farrier Grant Moon, FWCF,  acting as a representative of the Worshipful Company of Farriers. 

Hoof bruises 101: Forte's Kentucky Derby scratch had a common but loosely-defined cause

On Saturday, the 2023 Kentucky Derby favorite was scratched from the big race, just hours before the horses headed to the starting gate. Two-year-old champion Forte stayed in the barn that afternoon, after a Kentucky Horse Racing Commission veterinarian scratched the colt following a post-gallop inspection in the stable area.

Forte’s scratch by regulators came at a time when a dark cloud already hung over Churchill Downs. He would be the fifth horse to be scratched that week from the roster of three-year-old colts who had qualified for the 2023 Kentucky Derby. By Derby time, seven horses had lost their lives at Churchill Downs, including two as a result of injuries suffered in undercard races on Derby Day itself.

As tragic as those losses were, it was Forte's scratch that attracted the most attention and discussion on Derby Day. Should he have run or not? Was the colt a victim of discrimination by regulators who feared that such a high-profile and valuable horse might be further injured if he raced? We'll never know that answer, but Forte is safe tonight, and will almost certainly run again.

Meet University of California at Davis new veterinary hospital farrier Ian Davies

Ian Davies, DipWCF is hard at work in his new job.

The British-born and British-educated farrier has joined the University of California School of Veterinary Medicine Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in Davis, California. The vet school welcomed Ian to his new position yesterday.

Research Supports Compression Treatment System Ability to Relieve Horses’ Painful Swollen Limbs

Human patients use them--why not horses? Therapy devices don't always translate for parallel use between humans and horses, but a system developed at a US veterinary college may bring relief for horses suffering from swollen limbs and lymphedema. And it can do on all four legs at once.

PETA vs the Budweiser Clydesdales: A match worthy of Super Bowl weekend

You might have heard that the Budweiser Clydesdales will be missing from your television screens at Super Bowl LVII this Sunday in Arizona. The St Louis brewer will not run its traditional, expensive, and hugely popular ad featuring America's favorite team. (Yes, a hitch of giant Clydesdales are more beloved than either the Chiefs or the Eagles will ever be.) 

But there will be a Budweiser Clydesdale commercial, you can be sure of that. It just might not be one that Budweiser wants America to see.

Swedish barefoot vs shod showjumper comparative research preview at FEI World Championships

The world watched Swedish barefoot show jumpers sweep the individual and team gold medals at the FEI World Championships in August in Herning, Denmark. At the same event, the media received a preview of a comprehensive hoof science study that hopes to explain why they won. 

The Hoof Blog offers this exclusive report.

Barefoot show jumpers make history at 2022 FEI World Championships--and beyond

History was made at the FEI 2022 World Championships in Herning, Denmark in August. After the first two rounds of jumping, three of the top four horses on the scoreboard were shoeless. And at the end of the full event, the world champion individual horse was barefoot, as were half the winning gold medal team.

Some may think that barefoot grand prix jumpers leaping, landing, and turning on groomed-to-perfection arena footing aren't news anymore, after the brilliant Swedish gold team and silver individual medals at the Tokyo Olympics last year, but this was the FEI World Championship. 

Prevent laminitis: Wellness Ready stallside insulin tests accelerate Equine Metabolic Syndrome diagnostics

We all know horse owners who can recite entire pedigrees, race records, or a lifetime of judges' scores. But veterinarians and farriers would prefer that owners have the history of their horses’ insulin test results on the tips of their tongues. 

A new stallside diagnostics tool called Wellness Ready provides real-time equine insulin levels from a simple blood test kit; it is now available to veterinarians around the world. With its growing use for horses of all breeds and ages, laminitis prevention is taking a big stride forward.

Farriers at the Herning 2022 FEI World Championships: Who was minding the forge?

Last week's ECCO FEI World Championships in Herning, Denmark, made farrier history when the event entered into an agreement with Mustad Hoofcare Group, who became the FEI's first  "Official Farrier Service Partner" by providing a crew of its own farriers for Herning2022. With more than 1,000 horses on the grounds, farriers were a priority service.