The important and challenging task of assessing the health of more than 200 possible candidates for the 14 Breeders’ Cup races has already begun.

Breeders’ Cup Limited announced Oct. 24 that it has introduced a new protocol in which its Veterinary Review Team has already conducted an initial round of medical checks for potential starters.

Since early this month, Breeders’ Cup candidates have been the subject of a process that includes checking a horse’s medical records and its training and racing patterns and in some cases physical examinations conducted by state veterinarians. When needed, diagnostic tools, such as PET scans and other modalities, have been used to determine a horse’s fitness to run at the Nov. 3-4 40th edition of the World Championships at Santa Anita Park.

“This enhancement to the best-in-class safety protocols already required by the Breeders’ Cup provides an extra layer of veterinary oversight as we strive to ensure we are administering the safest two days of racing possible,” said Dora Delgado, Breeders’ Cup executive vice president and chief racing officer. “We would like to thank our veterinary team, the veterinarians at 1/ST Racing, the (California Horse Racing Board), (Horseracing Integrity and Safety Agency), and all the regulatory vets who were involved and our counterparts at tracks around the world for helping us execute this massive undertaking.”

The review was led by Dr. Will Farmer and Dr. Debbie Lamparter of the Breeders’ Cup Veterinary Team, Dr. Jeff Blea and Dr. Timothy Grande of the CHRB, and Dr. Dionne Benson of 1/ST Racing, while working in coordination with HISA’s director of equine safety and welfare, Dr. Jennifer Durenberger.

With pre-entries for the 14 races now closed and an announcement of the prospective fields set for Oct. 25, beginning on Oct. 27 exams will take place at Santa Anita with all entrants facing random physical exams at the discretion of the Breeders’ Cup’s Veterinary Team.

The earlier round of medical checks joins an existing battery of exams and monitoring geared to detect any unsoundness or medical issues that would prevent a horse from competing in the World Championships.

With foreign horses required to be on the grounds by Oct. 29 at 10 p.m. PST and United States-based horses by Oct. 31 at 11 a.m. PST, those protocols include a mandatory under rider jog-up exam before daily training beginning Oct. 27. Veterinarians will also monitor entrants on the racetrack and the barn area and conduct random physical exams.

Aside from out of competition testing that has been taking place for the last five months, pre-race testing for banned substances will be conducted Oct. 31 by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit.

The care and testing of the racing surface will be handled by Dr. Mick Peterson, director of the University of Kentucky’s Racetrack Safety Program, and the Santa Anita track maintenance crew.