(Edited press release)
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association Dec. 5 announced that its subsidiary, NTRA Charities, has disbursed $90,801 in support of one new and two continuing equine medical research projects.
The disbursements were made from the NTRA Charities - Barbaro Memorial Fund, established in memory of the 2006 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) winner Barbaro, who succumbed to laminitis, a disease of the hoof, in 2007. Funds for the studies will flow through the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation.
All three studies involve laminitis research. The new study, "Effect of Digital Hypothermia on Inflammatory Injury in Laminitis," by Dr. James Belknap of Ohio State University, is a two-year project funded for $82,109.
The two continuing projects are "Targeting 5-HT in Equine Laminitis," by Dr. Douglas Allen at University of Georgia and "Treatment of Equine Laminitis with Doxycycline," by Dr. Susan Eades at Louisiana State University.
These two studies were funded with a $100,000 contribution from the Barbaro fund to the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation in 2007; an additional $8,692 completes the projects in 2008.
Both projects are on schedule to produce research papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The Barbaro Fund contributed an additional $60,000 in 2007 toward laminitis research projects and programs at the University of Pennsylvania, bringing its total disbursements to $250,801.
"We are proud that the NTRA Charities - Barbaro Memorial Fund is making this important laminitis research possible, and we salute the Barbaro Memorial Fund's many contributors, who are collectively ensuring that Barbaro's legacy lives on in a tangible and essential way," said Alex Waldrop, president and CEO of the NTRA and NTRA Charities.