Any thoughts of a quiet few final months ahead of retirement for Dr. David Horohov ended with the emergence this foaling season of a novel rotavirus adversely affecting young Thoroughbreds in Kentucky, but the director of the University of Kentucky's Gluck Equine Research Center knows that such turbulence comes with the territory.
Horohov plans to retire in September but he's confident the good work at the Gluck Center, made possible through top staff, an investment in technology, and the industry's commitment to working with the research center, will continue to flourish.
The handling of this latest outbreak, from quickly identifying the problem, communicating its emergence to the industry, and advising on protocols that can be taken to mitigate the spread while the Gluck Center works to identify the virus and encourage development of a vaccine, point to some of the progress Horohov and the Gluck team have enjoyed since he was named director in 2015—following a one-year interim stint. In 2015, he also was named chairman of the Department of Veterinary Science at U.K. A specialist in equine immunology research, Horohov joined Gluck in 2003 after serving as a professor of veterinary immunology within the Department of Pathobiological Sciences at Louisiana State University's veterinary school.
In his current leadership positions, a big point of emphasis for Horohov has been having the research center actively work with the industry—organizations, farms, and veterinarians. He notes that when this latest virus emerged, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association-Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders contacted him in short order to offer financial support; as did the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and Coolmore America.
"Our stakeholders recognize and respect the things that we're trying to do to help them," Horohov said. "Once there was a time that I'd have to call them up; but we're to the point that they now call me up to help out. People recognize what it is we're trying to do. They recognize what it takes to do that and they're willing to help us and to participate."
Horohov noted that understanding is further fostered by Coolmore America manager Dermot Ryan and KTA-KTOB executive director Chauncey Morris, and other industry leaders, serving on Gluck's board.
Horohov has only furthered Gluck's efforts in working with the industry. For instance, he notes that the Gluck Center already was well-positioned to deal with this latest viral threat thanks to an emergency fund, the Koller Emergency Fund, that was launched in 2003 after mare reproductive loss syndrome claimed a heavy toll in Central Kentucky in 2001. That fund allows Gluck the ability to quickly address emerging threats.
In this year's case, after collecting information from area farms, the Gluck team determined that the virus was causing diarrhea in foals about 10 days after foaling. The virus has significantly impacted some Central Kentucky breeding farms, but it's been sporadic in that some farms have had few cases or none. Perhaps because the industry and Gluck have such protocols in place—along with some of the world's top equine vets in the region—there has not been a spike in foal mortality in Central Kentucky this year.
Gluck Center chairman Stuart Brown said Horohov has fostered that collaborative approach.
"I think that's one of the areas where he has been instrumental in terms of his leadership as the director of the Gluck Equine Research Center," Brown said. "He very much recognizes the need to be collaborative in terms of his approach."
Brown said from the beginning of the Gluck Center, there was a vision of how it could work hand in hand with the industry.
"One of the things you have to appreciate about the Gluck Center is that it's this incredible example of a public-private partnership," Brown said. "I think David Horohov embodies where the Gluck Center began, and then he has built upon that in terms of leveraging the strength of relationships, the value of collaborative thinking, and taking real-time experiences in this glorious petri dish we have for horse health that is Central Kentucky. It takes into consideration the findings and the observations that are made by astute horsemen, combined with excellent veterinary care and management, to then modeling from that information an approach to solving equine problems."
Industry support has helped Gluck Equine Research Center acquire a state-of-the-art diagnostic lab that quickly can turn around information. Horohov said this technology has vastly changed the research center's capabilities over the past decade. The advantages were seen in this most recent novel rotavirus case.
Horohov noted the new technology, meta genomic sequencing as opposed to PCR testing, allows Gluck to examine everything that might be present in a sample. While PCR testing is better at identifying a known virus or bacterium the new testing is better at analyzing everything in a sample.
"Instead of looking for a specific piece of DNA, which is what PCR does, meta genomic sequencing basically looks at everything that's there. It's a complete, broad, shotgun approach to doing this," Horohov said. "So instead of looking for one thing, you're asking the question, 'What is there?' As long as the DNA is present, you can go ahead and find it."
While this approach may not be as sensitive as PCR and other testing approaches, the good news is it typically doesn't need to be as sensitive for this use. If viruses or bacteria are present to a point that they have caused illness in a horse, they're likely found at a fairly high level. In this most recent case, that's exactly what happened as the new virus was discovered at high levels in the collected samples from affected foals.
Using this method, a new rotavirus would quickly become the prime suspect as the cause of the foals' diarrhea.
"The testing came back with a very strong signal for this new virus and that makes a lot of sense, knowing that rotaviruses in general are known to cause diarrhea," Horohov said. "The rotavirus we found is unrelated to the rotavirus that's currently in the vaccine, so that explains why the vaccine isn't protecting. And it also explains why the current PCR test that was used didn't detect it because it has a different gene sequence and so wouldn't be picked up by PCR."
Horohov marvels at how much testing technology has improved in the past decade or so.
"Some of this technology is kind of Star Trek stuff," Horohov said. "Years ago you saw some of these things discussed as ideas and thought, 'Wow, that'll never happen.' And now here it is we are doing this stuff."
As Gluck further identifies and defines this new virus, it's working with companies and the manufacturer of the current rotavirus vaccine to potentially address this new rotavirus in its next vaccine. Beyond that, researchers from the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment will conduct follow-up studies on foal gut health, the differences between mares and their foals on farms both with and without diarrhea cases, and how a bio-therapeutic approach performed at a farm that is supplementing foals with home-fermented live yogurt instead of a commercial pre- or probiotic is performing.
Brown notes that Horohov's recruiting skills and a chance to make a difference through that collaborative effort are attracting world-class scientists to Gluck.
"That doesn't happen by accident," Brown said. "Top people are attracted to come into places like the Gluck Center and work with our Thoroughbred industry partners that exist here as stakeholders because there's this chance, or this ability, to build on something that you can give back. That (Gluck) building is just filled with people who get up in the morning and go to bed at night thinking about how to solve the next problem that we come up with."
Horohov marvels at the new technology as well as the world class faculty assembled at Gluck. He notes that Dr. Feng Li was able to determine in three weeks that the foals were encountering a novel rotavirus. Horohov takes great pride in such accomplishments from everyone at Gluck.
"My role as chair of the department and certainly as director of the Gluck Center is to bring in people who are going to help us as far as the future is concerned," Horohov said. "We respect the past, we respect the things this department has done and has excelled at doing, and we certainly want to maintain the history of responsiveness that we've had to the industry. To do that, we have to look into the future and we have to say what technologies what skill sets, do we need here."
As part of the University of Kentucky, Horohov added that not only are the staff members making these strides, they're also providing critical training for graduate students—the next generation of scientists. Horohov noted that the industry support and involvement have helped land some of these top scientists as they see an opportunity to work with top technology and see their efforts quickly produce results for Thoroughbreds.
Horohov said he knows researchers who have spent years working on vaccines on the human side before anything moves forward. And while the quick response in developing a COVID-19 vaccine has been a notable exception, in general such work is slow when compared to the animal side, where research can produce results in a relatively short period of time. For Horohov, the things he enjoys most about his career have evolved a bit.
"When I was a faculty member, that's all sort of internally focused—'What am I doing? How am I doing? What are we trying to figure out?' When I became the department chairman and the director here, my vision broadened," Horohov said. "Now I get the excitement out of what everyone else does. Like, I'm really excited about what Dr. Li has done here, probably the most excited I've been in a long time. And I had nothing to do with it, other than I gave him some money. I think that opportunity is enjoyable.
"And the other thing is the phone calls I get from Chauncey or Dermot or Stuart Brown or somebody like that. To have them call and ask, 'What can I do to help?' The satisfaction—knowing that our work here is appreciated and supported by our industry; I think that gives me a lot of satisfaction."
Morris noted that the line, "I had nothing to do with it," fits in with Horohov's humble personality. The head of the KTA-KTOB said don't be fooled: Horohov has built on the Gluck Center's legacy and will be missed come September.
"David really was able to plot out change at Gluck, to modernize; which is hard to do," Morris said, noting that such upgrades don't always come easy in the academic environment. "Under his leadership, he's been one to make Gluck extraordinarily competitive for the 21st century; to handle the challenges for all horses—but specifically Central Kentucky Thoroughbred breeding and racing—we'll see in the 21st century.
"He is humble, which I think is a unique trait that you don't generally see in a culture of self-promotion. He's a man of science that likes to have science speak for itself."
While the Gluck Center figures to be plenty busy in the final months of Horohov's tenure, he welcomes that challenge knowing the team in place and the first-rate technology acquired will again deliver for the industry and horses in need. When he retires, Horohov plans to get away from everything for a while and enjoy the outdoors at a lake house he and his wife, Janice, own in Tennessee.
He won't have to worry about how things move forward as he's confident the Gluck Center will continue to be in good hands.
