Tackling the Mystery of Breakdowns (cont'd) papers evaluating risk factors associated with catastrophic injury. The problem, however, acknowledged by researchers, trainers, and track veterinarians alike, is that so many interrelated factors may contribute to catastrophic injuries that the results of any one study must be cautiously evaluated. George Mundy, D.V.M., reviewing risk factors associated with racing injuries at the 1997 AAEP meeting said, "Racing injuries are multifactoral; that is, there is no simple cause-and-effect relationship between injury and a single factor." Newer studies have attempted to match horses with catastrophic injuries to other horses that are similar in age, sex, racing record, time since last race, and any number of other parameters. This type of study, called a cohort study, makes for a cleaner association between racing injury and a specific factor because other factors have been eliminated. "Although these studies do not prove a cause-and-effect relationship," Mundy said, "they provide a stronger relationship between risk factor and a disease"in this case, a catastrophic injury. High-speed exercise One such recent study attempted to correlate a history of high-speed exercise with catastrophic racing fractures in Thoroughbreds. This study was published by researchers from the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California at Davis. This same group of researchers had published an earlier paper that found a significant portion of racing fractures could be associated with preexisting microfractures or previous trauma to the bone. This research evolved out of engineering literature that attempts to look at loading forces and stress characteristics of steel bridges, asphalt highways, buildings, and other structures.

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