Racehorse Performance "Not Significantly Affected by Tendon Injury", According to Horse Trust Research

This horse has "bowed" it superficial digital flexor tendon; the tendon protrudes, or bows out, at the back of the leg. This is the most common debilitating tendon injury suffered by racehorses and requires a long layoff for recovery, although new treatments are shortening the time lost from training. (Photo: Dr. Barak Amram/VetMoves)

Data compiled and analyzed in a research project in Great Britain funded by The Horse Trust found that racehorses who recovered from tendon injuries did not have inferior racing performance records compared to horses that had not had tendon injuries.

The research was led by Bryan O'Meara, who is in the final year of a three year clinical training scholarship funded by The Horse Trust. O'Meara carried out the research at Donnington Grove Veterinary Surgery in Newbury, under the supervision of epidemiologist Dr Tim Parkin from University of Glasgow.

Tendonitis is one of the most common musculoskeletal injuries in racehorses, with a prevalence of 11-30%, according to earlier research.

O'Meara examined the clinical records and racing histories of 400 racehorses who had been treated for superficial digital flexor (SDF) tendonitis injuries over a five year period from 2003 to 2008.

The race records of horses affected by tendon injury were compared with 400 matched control horses that had never suffered SDF tendon injuries. The controls were horses training in the same establishment at the time of injury and of the same age and sex as the case horse.

The Horse Trust-funded research looked at the performance of the racehorses in races before and after treatment for the injury, and at the performance of the control horses before and after the treatment date. The Racing Post Rating (RPR), which is published by the Racing Post (a British racing newspaper with charts) after every race, was used as a measure of performance.

O'Meara found that there was no significant difference in RPR before and after the treatment date in case and control horses.

This result is unexpected as in vitro studies have found that healed tendon tissue has reduced elasticity properties due to the presence of scar tissue. This suggests that a horse with a healed SDF tendon would need to work its muscles harder to compensate and would therefore be expected to have lower performance.

O'Meara said more research is needed to back-up his finding that performance isn't significantly affected by tendon injury.

"It could be that using Racing Post Rating to measure performance isn't sensitive enough to pick up a change in the horse's performance," said O'Meara. "However, it's encouraging that there's no marked change in performance after a horse has recovered from a tendon injury. These findings show that there's no need to give up on a horse that has a tendon injury--they can still come back and perform well, or can be used for other, less demanding riding activities."

The Horse Trust-funded research also found that there was no significant difference between case and control horses when returning to racing and completing three races. Only after completing five races, or three years post treatment, was a significant difference found between case and control horses. This finding is a step towards developing a more accurate assessment of tendon-treatment outcome after five races or three years post-treatment is a better indicator of the outcome of treatment.

"At the moment, some tendon treatments state their success as the percentage of horses that return to racing after treatment. However, we've shown that there's no significant difference between case and control horses at this time," said O'Meara. "At the moment, there are a myriad of treatments available to treat tendonitis. Hopefully this finding will be used in further research to learn which treatments are most effective."

O'Meara's research also found a link between SDF tendon injury and the racehorse competing at its maximum performance level: the case horses were significantly nearer to their pre-injury maximum performance level in the race immediately before injury (compared to matched controls), suggesting that they were competing nearer their individual maximum performance level when the SDF tendon injury occurred. (Note: this statement is not explained but would seem to suggest that either the level/class of the race or the distance perhaps was the best the horse had done in its career when the injury occurred.)

Editor's note: Information in this article was provided by The Horse Trust, a British charity that funds equine research and promotes education about horse health and welfare. Hoofcare Publishing likes to support The Horse Trust whenever possible. The research described in this article was published in the May 2010 edition of the Equine Veterinary Journal and is available online as a downloadable PDF file: "An investigation of the relationship between race performance and superficial digital flexor tendonitis in the Thoroughbred racehorse".

Readers should keep in mind that the study included only British racehorses and that the majority of British racing is done on grass. Race distances, conditioning schedules and training methods also vary in Great Britain from methods used in North America and some other countries. But the results are interesting, no matter where you live!

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

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Lisa's Booby Trap: Sort Out the Feet, You've Got a Racehorse

Lisa's Booby Trap is a horse for anyone who has given up on horseracing. Or life. 
Photo courtesy of New York Racing Association.

Saratoga. Playground of the rich and famous. Well-bred people, better-bred horses. They check your pedigree at the city line.

But on Monday night, the best pedigree in the world couldn't get you to a new home; svelte yearling after svelte yearling went unsold at the Fasig-Tipton Select Sale, or sold at prices below what was expected, and hoped for.

The buyers turned up their noses at the yearlings. The hottest horse in town, instead, is none other than a $2000 freakishly-fast-finishing Florida-bred Finger Lakes filly who is trained by Tim Snyder, a guy from Maine who normally wouldn't be able to even get a stall at Saratoga.

The racing secretary at Saratoga does not have Tim Snyder on speed dial. The guy has one horse in his stable. But, this year is different in a lot of ways.

You see, Tim seems to think the horse may be the reincarnation of his wife, Lisa, who died of ovarian cancer in 2003 and vowed she'd "come back as a horse". And then this horse showed up in his life.

Lisa's Booby Trap. That's her name. The whole thing reads like a script for a video that plays inside a Hallmark card. Except it's really happening, right here in Saratoga, of all places. He was broke, and didn't even have a horse trailer to go pick her up when he bought her. She was club-footed, and only had one eye anyway. But, the way people tell me the story, she had not just a bad club foot but a flat pancake foot too and she needed someone to pay some attention to her hooves. According to NYRA, she wears a hind shoe on the flat front foot now. And she no longer hits herself when she runs. Tim found a horseshoer to get the job done. And now it is just a matter of waiting for Oprah to call.

Here's their story, though we don't know yet what her feet look like. (I'm on it, though.) This TVG segment was made when she had won her first three starts this spring and summer at Finger Lakes, which is sort of the "outback" of New York racing, out in the middle of the state.

So Tim must have borrowed a trailer or begged a ride for the filly across New York State to Saratoga. She made her workout debut during the morning trackside breakfast on the main track. The announcer didn't notice her streaking by, but the timer certainly did. That was a fast work. Lisa's Booby Trap had arrived.

Tim Snyder had never even entered a horse in a stakes race before. Not even at Finger Lakes. His filly was entered against a full card of Kentucky-breds. Two were conditioned by Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. One was owned by Stonestreet Stables, owners of 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra. Speed demon Stormandaprayer is owned by chef Bobby Flay. And than there's Lisa's Booby Trap at 12-1, the only longshot on the program. Here's what happened:

According to NYRA and the Albany Times-Union, Lisa's Booby Trap will probably run next on Travers Day, which is Saturday August 28, in the Grade 3 Victory Ride.

I can't wait.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). 
 

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Overdose Is Back! Champion Euro Sprinter Wins After Laminitis Layup

Great news from Bratislava, Slovakia this weekend: Champion Hungarian sprinter Overdose, a.k.a. "The Budapest Bullet", remained undefeated when he won a race. This was his first start since being sidelined for 15 months by laminitis. Overdose's recovery from laminitis was featured in the Hoof Blog in May. Should Overdose stay sound and fit, he is slated to run in England this summer.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Rest in Peace: Champion Black Tie Affair Lost to Laminitis

Black Tie Affair, originally uploaded by keiblog.net.

The sad news from Kentucky is that Black Tie Affair was humanely destroyed yesterday. Apparently he had been suffering from laminitis.

Black Tie Affair was Horse of the Year and won the Breeders Cup Classic back in 1991--which seems like just yesterday. He was bred in Ireland, raced out of Chicago, and stood at stud in Japan, among other places.

But he had the good fortune to end up at Old Friends, a retirement for horses outside Lexington, Kentucky. According to their Facebook page, when he arrived at the farm, he suffered terribly from melanoma and arthritis; apparently laminitis was a problem for some or all of the time as well.

Black Tie Affair was one of those horses that inspires his fans. He ran better than you thought he could. He was tenacious. And he was a beautiful gray streak to watch among all the bays and chestnuts on the track, especially that day when he won the Breeders Cup Classic.

I remember that Black Tie Affair was shod by Joe Trhlik at Arlington Park back in the 1990s.

I heard a quote just today and put it on my Facebook page earlier. Little did I know it would come back to haunt me: "A racehorse is an animal that can take several thousand people for a ride at the same time." It's from the soon-to-be-published book, Secretariat's Meadow.

Black Tie Affair took millions of us for a great ride. A ride that ended Thursday. Laminitis did it again.

Thanks to Kate Hunter of Keiblog, one of our Thoroughbred Bloggers Alliance affiliates, for posting this amazing (and bloggable) photo of Black Tie Affair. It was taken about three weeks ago at Old Friends.

Video: Sea the Stars Tribute (Play It Loud)

by Fran Jurga | 14 October 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

A sigh came out of me from some deep place today when I learned that the world's #1 racehorse, Ireland's Sea the Stars, will not be coming to the USA after all. He will not be running in the Breeders Cup at Santa Anita next month.

After winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in Paris last week, he'll be transitioned to stud duty.

This nicely edited tribute clip-mash is a great salute to his stellar year at the top of the racing world.

So many years we endure the coming and going of racing stars, the tragedy of injury, the revolving door of media favorites. And this year, we're so lucky to have some (pretty) sound, athletic horses. They are running their hearts out and performing consistently, even on off tracks.

If you have some time, go to YouTube and look up the channel of Partymanners and watch the races he has posted there of Zenyatta, Rachel Alexandra, Summer Bird, Careless Jewel, and so many others. Check out Muscle Hill over in the Standardbred world.

We have a dream team of superstar horses out there, minus one now. But retiring him on top, and presumably uninjured, is pretty special too.

Maybe my sigh was a sigh of relief.

Click here to read an article about Sea the Stars from The Times of London.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask.

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Video: Thoro'Bred Racing Plates Are Born and Bred in California. See How They're Made!

by Fran Jurga | 6 August 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog



On Tuesday night, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York celebrated the addition of a new case of shoes to its "Ride On!" exhibit on advances in racehorse health and safety. As part of the Hoofcare@Saratoga series for 2009, Hoofcare & Lameness hosted a little reception, sponsored by Life Data Labs, and I pointed out some of the innovative shoes and boots and hoofcare products that the museum had selected to display.

My point was that horseshoes are much like mousetraps: people keep trying to invent a better one, a more ideal one. Of better materials: stronger, lighter, more supportive, longer laster, more colorful, more healing, or sometimes just more complicated.

There were two companies I didn't mention but you will certaily see their shoes in that museum and all over the backside at Saratoga. They are the Victory Race Plate Company of Baltimore, Maryland and the Thoro'Bred Racing Plate Company of Anaheim, California.

Their shoes may not be in the exhibit of therapeutic shoes and braces and boots, but you will find them all over the museum in the cases of the trophy shoes of the champion racehorses like Secretariat.

The Orange County Register in California made a trip to Anaheim recently to see how raceplates are made and say hello to Thoro'Bred's Ed Kinney on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of his company. I hope you will enjoy this video.

Ed and Thoro'Bred were supporters of Hoofcare@Saratoga last year and we appreciate their support. We have it from an inside source that Thoro'Bred shoes are the equivalent of the Jimmie Chooz faves of the top three-year-old filly in the USA; she wore them when she modeled for her fashion portrait, shot by Steven Klein, in this month's issue of Vogue Magazine. Check it out the next time you're near a newsstand!

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Rethinking Toe Grabs? Model Rule Adjustment Recommended to Allow 4mm Grabs on Dirt Racetracks

(Statement from The Jockey Club Thoroughbred Safety Committee issued 22 July 2009)

"After discussions with industry participants and a review of all scientific research available on the use of toe grabs on the front shoes of Thoroughbreds, The Jockey Club Thoroughbred Safety Committee recommends adjusting the current RCI Model Rule on horse shoes to allow toe grabs up to 4 mm in height on front shoes on dirt racing surfaces only.

"The Thoroughbred Safety Committee believes the current elimination of traction devices on front shoes should be maintained and only the height of the toe grab should be adjusted in the Model Rule.

"In no case does the Thoroughbred Safety Committee recommend the use of toe grabs of greater than 4 mm on front shoes of Thoroughbreds.

"The Thoroughbred Safety Committee continues to believe that the recommendation limiting traction devices on front shoes of Thoroughbreds to toe grabs no greater than 2 mm is in the best interests of the welfare and safety of the horse.

"However, the Thoroughbred Safety Committee is sensitive to the concerns of the horsemen and recognizes that local circumstances such as dirt track composition and/or weather conditions might justify the racing commission and/or the racetrack to allow horsemen the discretion to utilize short toe grabs no greater than 4 mm on the front shoes of Thoroughbreds on dirt racing surfaces only."

The Hoof Blog will continue to keep readers updated on shoeing rule recommendations and changes as well as research that may affect decision-making about horse equipment.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Rachel's Hoof Blog Confidential: Hind Hooves of the Hottest Filly in the USA

by Fran Jurga | 29 June 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

The jock in the shower: Preakness Stakes winner Rachel Alexandra enjoyed a bath after her 19-length romp in Saturday's Mother Goose Stakes at New York's Belmont Park. She set a new stakes record, in spite of being eased to a rolling canter by rider Calvin Borel at the finish.

Photographer Sarah K. Andrew (Rock and Racehorses) followed the filly back to the barn and waited patiently for Rachel to do a little dance so you could clearly see at least one of the four fleet feet on this filly.

As far as I know, Rachel is still being shod by David Hinton from Oklahoma.

Rachel has now moved to the Asmussen training camp at Saratoga Springs, where the rest of the racing world will join her in a few weeks.

Hoofcare & Lameness and The Hoof Blog will be there, too. Join me on Tueday nights at The Parting for speakers and social time, and plan to be at our special Hoofcare & Lameness night at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame on Tuesday, August 4, where we will celebrate the addition of lots more horseshoes and hoof paraphernalia to the RideOn! exhibit on horse health.

Horseshoes from the Rood and Riddle Podiatry Clinic are prominently featured in the new exhibit, along with hoof boots from Castle Plastics and Hoofeez from New Zealand, another handmade shoe by Cornell vet school's Michael Wildenstein, the new hoof pads from Vibram, a Plastinate hoof model from HC Biovision (formerly featured just in photos) and much more. Watch for speaker and sponsor announcements!

Did I just say that Rachel Alexandra was the hottest filly in the USA? Make that the hottest racehorse, period, in the USA, although I would still give equal time to her older rival, Zenyatta. The buzz surrounding these two horses is enlivening a racing scene that had been written off by the doom-and-gloom set a few months ago.

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© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask.

Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page).

To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found.

Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Zenyatta's Revealing Close-up: Secrets of the Foot That Always Crosses the Finish Line First

Zenyatta, originally uploaded by Rock and Racehorses.

"Flats" are in for the front feet of racing Thoroughbreds these days and here we see evidence that champion supermare Zenyatta is playing by the rules with her flat-as-a-pancake front plates.

This revealing shot was taken back in May when The Zen of Horse Racing passed through Churchill Downs. New York area racing photographer Sarah K. Andrew (a.k.a. "Rock and Racehorses") stood in a puddle waiting for her to lift her foot so you all could see her frog and wall and plate and nails.

Zenyatta is shod by California farrier Tom Halpenny.

Thank you, Sarah and Zenyatta!

Click here to see her full-fit hind feet, also shot by a puddle-jumping Sarah.

Lost Legend Found: Meet Man o' War's Horseshoer (Finally)

by Fran Jurga | 28 March 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

The statue of champion racehorse Man o" War is the centerpiece of the grounds of the Kentucky Horse Park outside Lexington, Kentucky. (Frank Parsons photo, used with permission)

Today is Man o' War's birthday. An announcement that 1987 Kentucky Derby winner Alysheba died last night made me think again about Man o' War and how little anyone seems to know about who shod him, or how he was shod.

AAEP: New Racehorse Safety and Welfare Veterinary Recommendations

by Fran Jurga | 16 February 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog
(received via press release)

The American Association of Equine Practitioners today issued guidelines for protecting the health of the Thoroughbred racehorse. The white paper, Putting the Horse First: Veterinary Recommendations for the Safety and Welfare of the Thoroughbred Racehorse, provides veterinary guidance on many issues challenging the racing industry and the care of the racehorse.

Recommendations within the white paper are focused in four key areas: the racing business model, the veterinarian-owner-trainer relationship, medication, and the public perception of racing. Additionally, changes to the structure of claiming races and medication usage in horses intended for sale at public auction are addressed.

“As an organization with the primary mission of protecting the health and welfare of the horse, the safety of the racehorse is one of our highest priorities,” said AAEP President Dr. Harry Werner. “This is a critical time for the racing industry, and we join the efforts of other groups who are determined to make improvements for the health of our equine athletes.”

Key points in the white paper include:
· Continued identification and implementation of procedures and strategies that will significantly reduce the injury rate of horses.
· Standardization and enhancement of pre-race and post-race veterinary examinations with mandatory cross-jurisdictional sharing of information.
· Universal adoption in all racing jurisdictions of the Association of Racing Commissioners International model medication rules which state that no medication should be administered on race day except for furosemide (Salix®).
· Increased racetrack security to ensure compliance by all racing participants with medication rules.
· Provide complete transparency for the veterinarian-trainer-owner relationship in all aspects of health care decisions.
· Development in all racing jurisdictions of a program for the rehabilitation, retraining and adoption of horses whose racing careers have ended.

The white paper was developed by the AAEP’s Racing Task Force, a group comprised of private racetrack practitioners, regulatory veterinarians and veterinary specialists. Dr. Scott Palmer of Clarksburg, New Jersey, and Dr. Foster Northrop of Louisville, Kentucky, served as chair and vice chair, respectively. This group is now a standing committee of the AAEP.

“Our premise is very simple: What is good for the horse is good for racing,” explained Dr. Palmer. “In a unique climate of widespread industry commitment to fix what is wrong with racing, veterinarians have made every effort to put the horse first in that process. It is fair to say that particular recommendations will resonate with some individuals and alienate others within the industry. Nonetheless, we’d like to think that if our horses could read this document, they would be pleased.”

The AAEP intends its white paper to provide guidance and support to those who are working to bring meaningful change.

The white paper is available at http://www.aaep.org/images/files/Racing%20Industry%20White%20Paper%20Final.pdf. For more information, contact Sally Baker, AAEP director of marketing and public relations, at (859) 233-0147 or sbaker@aaep.org.


© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Jockey Club Calls for Ban of All Traction Devices on Front Shoes of Racehorses

A press release from the Jockey Club yesterday calls for immediate action to change front shoe regulations of racehorses immediately. The edict was a result of research completed in the past few weeks by the newly appointed Thoroughbred Safety Committee.
Recommendations from the Committee will be reviewed by individual state racing commissions, who have the authority to adopt, adapt or reject the recommendations.

Specifically, the committee calls for:

• An immediate ban on toe grabs (other than 2-millimeter wear plates), turn downs, jar calks, stickers and any other traction devices worn on the front shoes of Thoroughbred horses while racing or training on all racing surfaces.
• The Association of Racing Commissioners’ International (RCI) and all North American racing authorities to implement this ban by rule as soon as possible, but no later than December 31, 2008, and for all racetracks to consider immediately implementing this ban by “house rule” in the interim.

Previous recommendations from the Grayson Jockey Club's Welfare and Safety Summit had included a model rule banning toe grabs greater than 4 mm; this recommendation was developed and passed at at the Racing Commissions International (RCI) Convention in April 2007, but is subject to adoption by individual states. Several states, including California, adopted that recommendation.

The new policy advisory is much stronger, since it lowers the toe grab from 4 millimeters to effectively eliminating it except for the wear plate seen in the toes of most flat shoes and outlaws the use of mud calks, jar calks, and stickers.

Turndowns and bends (angling the heels of the shoe toward the ground) are normally seen on the hind feet, as are most toe grabs and traction devices.

The Jockey Club policy advisory only addresses traction on front shoes.

Additional advisories recommend elimination of steroid anabolic medications in the race training and racing of Thoroughbreds no later than December 31, 2008.

The Thoroughbred Safety Committee includes chairman Stuart S. Janney III, and members John Barr, James G. (Jimmy) Bell, Dr. Larry Bramlage, Donald R. Dizney, Dell Hancock and Dr. Hiram C. Polk Jr. Each is a member of The Jockey Club.

The Welfare and Safety Summit includes a Shoeing and Hoof Care Committee, chaired by Bill Casner of WinStar Farms. The committee has been actively working on creating more information about racehorse shoes and their effects on horses and their interaction with different surfaces.

Read Tuesday's complete press release here.

Laminitis Makes Strange Bedfellows at New Bolton: Pacing Stallion Artsplace and Barbaro Fight Founder Side by Side

According to the web site harnessracing.com, and as quoted on the US Trotting Association web site, leading pacing (harness racing) sire Artsplace has been moved from Southwind Farm in New Jersey where he has been standing at stud. The 18-year-old sire of no less than 14 $1 million winners has been suffering from laminitis for some time, and will now be treated at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center outside Philadelphia. This is the same hospital where Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro is recovering from a fractured hind leg and contralimb laminitis.

Mule clones: But do their feet match?

No two alike: Australian riders raced mules at Gaza (then part of Egypt) in a military post entertainment during World War II. Taken in 1942 by Dvr Tom Beazley. Photo courtesy of AussieJeff. 

The news this morning is about the two three-year-old racing mule clones who ran for the first time yesterday in Winnemuca, Nevada.

It seems each won his qualifying heat, and now the two will race each other in the final heat today. Or race himself--that might be more accurate.

I'm not sure I really care who wins (does it really matter? is this an exercise in equine existentialism?) but I would like to see the right front foot on each of them, to see if they developed the same. Could you pull a racing plate off one (if indeed racing mules are even shod) and nail it right onto the other?