This report in from Editorial Administrator and journalist Margaret Guthrie:
Earlier this year, we
reported on a company called Vet-Stem which has devised a treatment for horses using the animal's own stem cells to heal tendon and ligament injuries. In some cases it's been an unqualified success. One of those successes was part of our story - a big gray gelding named Greg's Gold. When we posted the story online, Greg's Gold had just won a race on opening day at Santa Anita racetrack, pushing his earnings close to the million dollar mark.
The past weekend Greg's Gold ran again, for the ninth time since his treatment. He won easily, beating two other Grade I winners handily (Grade I winners are the top in racehorse land) and pushing his earnings to $1, 067,923. This achievement appears to answer one of the questions skeptics have about the treatment - namely, how long will the previously injured leg hold up?
Trainer David Hofmans says, "Yes, the old boy showed up again, he came out of the race great, cleaned out his feed tub, looked around for more." Plans are to run twice more to tune up for the Breeders Cup Sprint and a championship, all on that Vet-Stem repaired leg.