Lucinda Russell: 'I've always felt you're better to be open about things'

The trainer responsible for two of the first four horses who will run with notice of a wind operation made available to punters says she is keen to see whether a better understanding about the benefits of surgery can be gleaned from the data that will now be collected.

Lucinda Russell will saddle Dancing Amy and Dr Hooves at Musselburgh, having informed the BHA the horses have undergone one of the five procedures of which trainers are henceforth compelled to inform the regulator before a declaration is made.

The BHA, which has so far been notified of 226 wind operations, on Thursday revealed that failure to comply with the new instruction will result in trainers being dealt with on a penalty scale that ranges from a £290 fine to a referral to its London headquarters.

Wind operations are to made public from FridayCredit: Edward Whitaker

The Michael Scudamore-trained Wimpole will contest the same bumper as Dr Hooves, having also received a breathing operation, while at Chepstow Nicky Martin's Alberobello is another whose name is followed by the umbrella prefix 'w' in Racing Post racecards.

The BHA announced in November that, as of January 19, trainers must inform the regulator before making a declaration when any horse who has previously raced has been treated surgically for a soft palate cautery, hobday, tie back, epiglottic surgery or tie forward. The public will not be informed what particular treatment has been carried out.

When announcing the rule, the BHA pointed to "the needs of the sport’s betting customer as the focus", adding the organisation would in future be able "to collect research data on the nature, frequency and impact of wind surgeries on racehorses".

The groundbreakers

Dancing Amy(Lucinda Russell) 1.45 Musselburgh
Alberobello(Nicky Martin) 3.20 Chepstow
Dr Hooves(Lucinda Russell) 4.00 Musselburgh
Wimpole(Michael Scudamore) 4.00 Musselburgh

Russell, who estimates in a typical season 15 per cent of her string will be given a wind operation, said: "It'll be interesting to see if the surgeries have improved these two horses as neither has necessarily made a noise. We've used surgery to see if we can eke out a little improvement.

"If a horse really does make a noise then the horse needs an operation. The chance of that operation improving the horse is very high and it would be well worth backing the horse."

She continued: "Dancing Amy and Dr Hooves weren't that bad in the first place, so punters backing them will be taking a chance on whether the surgery has improved them. Even if they do improve we couldn't be sure it was due to their operations. It's also Dr Hooves's first run since April, so he'll likely improve for it."

Russell added: "I've always felt you're better to be open about things and then people can make up their own minds.

"However, I think it'll be interesting to see the statistics at the end of the season to see if wind ops do improve horses. For those horses who make a noise it definitely improves them. With those who don't, sometimes it improves them, sometimes it doesn't."

Offering a clear of note of concern, Martin said: "I'm very much against the declaration of wind surgery because I think this sort of information can be misinterpreted in animal welfare terms. It's easy for people who don't understand the subject to get the wrong end of the stick."

David Sykes, BHA director of equine health and welfare, said: "We've written to trainers to remind them of their responsibility to declare horses who have undergone wind surgery since their last run and are pleased to see a number of declarations have already been made since we made our announcement in November.

"We've been very clear from the start that any assumptions of the effect of wind operations on performance must be made entirely by the betting public.

"In many cases a wind operation will not bring about any improvement in a horse’s form. However, it is clear that on occasions it certainly does, and it is for this reason we felt it was important this information should be in the public domain.

"This is about openness, transparency and access to data for the betting customer. The Horseracing Bettors Forum told us its research said this is the piece of data that is the most requested by the betting public."

In instances when surgery is notified after declarations have been made but before the day of race a first offence would trigger a £290 fine. Second and third offences would equate to £580 and £1,160 fines, while a fourth offence would lead to referral to BHA head office.

For all other offences, there will be a first fine of £650, a second fine of £1,300, and then referral from the third offence onwards.

Declarations are already out for Saturday's two Flat meetings, at which the Harry Fry-trained American Gigolo and Richard Hannon's No More Thrills will be competing for the first time following an operation.

COMMENT

Friday is a good day for people who bet on British racing and, given the sport could not survive without the money these punters' betting activity generates, it is therefore a good day for British racing itself.

Relevant information is critical to ensuring punters feel they are making well-informed choices and from Friday they will finally be aware which horses have had a wind operation since their last race.

Not every horse who undergoes a medical procedure to help it breathe more easily during a race will suddenly improve, but some will and from now on punters will not have the annoying experience of hearing connections of a runaway winner reveal afterwards they had their wind treated.
Bruce Millington

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