The following Update from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture was posted on the Equine Disease Communication Center on April 17, 2021:
An inability to adequately isolate new arrivals on the grounds of our tracks and training facilities does warrant an abundance of caution be taken to mitigate risk of disease entry. Based on this, we are directing Kentucky tracks and their associated sanctioned training centers to not allow movement of horses which have resided or been at either Laurel or Pimlico (racing, training, transiting, etc.), on or after March 15, 2021, without prior approval from the Kentucky Office State Veterinarian.
We have and will continue to allow horses from these tracks to enter Kentucky and will work to qualify and facilitate movement of these horses to a Kentucky track or training center on an individual basis following testing and further evaluation.
Horses which have recently (since March 15th) been on the grounds of either Laurel or Pimlico can qualify for approval to enter a Kentucky track or sanctioned training center if they have documentation demonstrating they have been off the grounds for 30 days OR horses may move from Laurel or Pimlico, and after having been off the grounds for 24 hours, be examined by a veterinarian and tested negative by PCR for equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1 nasal swab and whole blood – EDTA) could qualify for entry onto a Kentucky racing or training facility. A Certificate of Veterinary Inspection for the horse(s) from the point where the sample was collected needs to be issued for movement to the Kentucky racing or training facility and must document the EHV-1 testing, current health assessment in addition to meeting the normal entry requirements that includes EHV1 vaccination and EIA test certificate.
