An outbreak of strangles (Streptococcus equi infection) has led to cancellation of the racing program at Saratoga Raceway in New York State. In a ripple effect, other racetracks in the region have taken measures to protect their horses, including banning horses from Saratoga, banning horses from surrounding tracks, not allowing horses that leave the grounds to come back and/or requiring that horses have a health certificate before entering the grounds.

As with most outbreaks, details are sketchy, including information about the number of exposed horses and specific outbreak response measures. Strangles is a highly infectious disease but it’s also one that we know a lot about, and one for which containment of an outbreak is certainly possible with good infection control practices, screening to find carriers and a big dose of patience. Unfortunately, the latter is often the limiting factor, especially when money is on the line. The fact that Saratoga has initiated a quarantine and other tracks are taking precautionary measures is a good sign. Not long ago, most of these situations were met with silence and the hope that concealing the problem would make it go away (not usually an effective approach). We’ve come a long way in both our knowledge of strangles control and the industry’s willingness to take control, so hopefully Saratoga (including officials and horsemen) is taking a good, evidence-based and patient approach to this outbreak.