Test results confirmed late Friday afternoon that three horses have tested
positive for the equine bacterial disease known as strangles at Tampa Bay Downs.
The affected barn has been placed under quarantine and the infected horses have
been isolated to a separate area.
“Strangles is a bacterial infection that typically results in fever, nasal
discharge, and swelling of the lymph nodes, however in these cases the horses
did not present the classic signs,” veterinarian Dr. William Owens said. “The
horses had an ongoing fever that prompted me to test for the infection.”
The barn will remain under quarantine until a PCR test and culture returns
negative from every horse in the barn. The three infected horses will be
required to have three negative tests each before they are allowed back into the general
population.
The quarantined barn will have limited admittance and the horses stabled in
the barn will only be allowed restricted access to the track from 9:30 a.m.
until 10:15 a.m. (ET).
Tampa Bay didn’t race on Friday, and all horses from the affected barn that
had been entered for this weekend have been scratched. Officials will not accept
entries from those barns until those horses have submitted a negative PCR Test
and culture.
“We will to continue to enforce the current guidelines that we just
improvised and with these additional precautions we hope to contain the
situation,” Tampa Bay Downs Vice President and General Manager Peter Berube
said. “We expect to
have the test results early next week and we will reevaluate the situation
then.”
Tampa Management will be meeting with horsemen at 8:30 a.m. Saturday in the Horseman’s
Kitchen to apprise them of the developing situation.
Until further notice, horses that are currently stabled at Tampa Bay Downs or
that have raced at Tampa Bay Downs within the last three weeks will not be
admitted to the Calder Race Course stable area.