From state-of-the-art medical equipment at its on-site equine clinic to a multi-layered examination process for all horses prior to racing and high-speed training, Santa Anita Park continues to play a leading role in advancing horse care and overall safety in Thoroughbred racing.<\/p>\n
Santa Anita, in Arcadia, Calif., serves as one of the largest training centers in the country with approximately 375,000 training sessions annually, while also conducting about seven months of live racing each year. This ongoing flurry of activity is overseen by a dedicated team of veterinarians that will again be on the beat for Santa Anita\u2019s upcoming five-week Autumn Meet starting on Friday, Sept. 26.<\/p>\n
At the helm is Dr. Dionne Benson, Chief Veterinary Officer for Santa Anita\u2019s parent company 1\/ST Racing. Benson is joined on the veterinary team by Dr. Laurie Bohannon, Senior Association Veterinarian; Dr. Nolton Pattio, the official veterinarian appointed by the California Horse Racing Board; and Association Veterinarians Dr. Jay Deluhery, Dr. Tim Grande, Dr. Fernanda Machado, and Dr. Michael Pirrone.<\/p>\n
Since taking the leadership role in 2019, Benson and her staff have helped make Santa Anita one of the safest tracks in the country. Since the start of last year\u2019s Autumn Meet and continuing through the winter-spring seasons ending June 16, track officials reported a notable 99.98 percent equine safety rate in racing and training.<\/p>\n
\u201cSanta Anita has made incredible strides in horse safety because of the hard work of the entire veterinary community. Regulatory, private, track veterinarians all included,\u201d Benson said in a recent interview. \u201cAlso, the success of the program wouldn\u2019t be possible without buy-in from the trainers and owners. It\u2019s really been everything-in-one that\u2019s produced such a major change.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201ceverything-in-one\u201d approach Benson noted includes comprehensive veterinary examinations of horses before they race or breeze, trackside monitoring of training, and if an injury does occur, having the most cutting-edge medical equipment on the ready for diagnosis and recovery.<\/p>\n
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In December 2019, Santa Anita installed the first-ever standing equine PET scan machine at its Equine Clinic in the stable area. Later, a standing MRI machine was added to the array of diagnostic options available that also includes nuclear scintigraphy.<\/p>\n
The MILE-PET Scan, pioneered by the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, focuses on the lower leg, the most common area of injury in a racehorse. One of its key assets is the ability to help veterinarians better detect pre-existing conditions, which can sometimes lead to further injury, thanks to its 3D cross-sectional imaging and higher resolution as compared to other options such as a nuclear scan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s something that was never available in Thoroughbred racing,\u201d Benson said.<\/p>\n
Another major benefit is the PET scanner does not require a horse to be fully anesthetized.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a huge value. A horse can come in, get scanned and be back home for dinner,\u201d Benson said.<\/p>\n
This past spring, Santa Anita\u2019s original PET scan machine was replaced by a second-generation model with even greater capabilities. It was secured with help of the Southern California Equine Foundation, which owns and operates the Equine Clinics at both Santa Anita and Del Mar.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest thing is it allows us to have greater access on the limb,\u201d Benson said. \u201cBefore, we could get imaging below the middle row of carpal bones (in the knee). Now we can get the entire carpus. It gives us many more options for diagnostics.<\/p>\n
The ongoing additions and upgrades of the Santa Anita Equine Clinic, and thorough veterinary review process for all horses prior to racing or a timed workout, have helped set a new course to the future for one of the country\u2019s most historic racetracks.<\/p>\n
\u201cCredit also to the attending veterinarians for embracing the technology. Otherwise, the machines would just be sitting there,\u201d Benson said. Attending veterinarians work for a private client, typically a trainer in the case of the racetrack.<\/p>\n
The Santa Anita Autumn Meet runs from Friday, Sept. 26 through Sunday, Oct. 26. Live racing will be offered every Friday through Sunday with a special Holiday program also set for Monday, Oct. 13. For more information please visit www.Santaanita.com.<\/p>\n
This story was originally reported by Paulick Report<\/a> on Sep 23, 2025, where it first appeared in the Horse Care<\/a> section. Add Paulick Report as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From state-of-the-art medical equipment at its on-site equine clinic to a multi-layered examination process for all horses prior…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[48288,150581,1071,150580,79,138454,16,15,58016],"class_list":{"0":"post-446518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-california-horse-racing-board","9":"tag-dionne-benson","10":"tag-racing","11":"tag-santa-anita-park","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-thoroughbred-racing","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-veterinarians"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115255153132177157","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}