Racing performance of National Hunt thoroughbred racehorses after treatment of palatal dysfunction with a laryngeal tie-forward procedure and thermocautery of the soft palate with or without aryepiglottic folds resection.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To assess racing performance of National Hunt thoroughbred (NH) racehorses with a definite diagnosis of palatal dysfunction treated with a laryngeal tie-forward procedure (LTF) and soft palate cautery (SPC) with or without transendoscopic laser excision of the aryepiglottic folds (TLEAF) and to determine correlation between performance measures. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. ANIMALS National Hunt racehorses treated with LTF, SPC ± TLEAF (n = 44) and nonaffected controls (n = 88). METHODS: Performance was evaluated by using Racing Post ratings (RPR), race earnings (RE), and performance index (PIndex). Affected horses were compared with nonaffected horses. The effect of TLEAF and correlations between measures were analyzed. RESULTS: Racing Post rating, RE and PIndex improved by 50%, 26%, and 12% in treated, and by 50%, 39%, and 24% in control horses, respectively, when measurements were evaluated for the median of three presurgical and postsurgical races. Lower postsurgical performance was detected when five postsurgical races were compared with two presurgical races (P ≤ .03). The number of postsurgical earnings rated at zero was greater in treated horses than in control horses (P < .05). Race earnings and RPR correlated more strongly (r = 0.634-0.796) than PIndex and other measures (r = 0.378-0.692). CONCLUSION: Postsurgical performance of NH racehorses with palatal dysfunction after LTF and SPC ± TLEAF was decreased compared with unaffected controls. The negative effect of TLEAF on performance was detected. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Although LTF is widely performed in NH racehorses, it may not be the most efficient treatment for palatal dysfunction.