Case Study - Under She Goes
CASE STUDY: Under She Goes is an example of injury progression when stand-down recovery times are insufficient.

AGE/SEX: Age at retirement 2 years 3 months, female (born 18/1/22 in WA)

STATUS: Retired following injury, 31 starts

TRAINER: Trained and owned by John Cole, formerly trained by Justin Wood

PRIZE MONEY: $12,713

INJURIES TO DATE: 3 documented on-track injuries, 1 no apparent injury finding. 1 off-track illness scratching. Total cumulative days of stand-downs given: 87 days, total actual time away: 41 days.

SUMMARY OF INJURIES:
23/8/23 No apparent injury, no stand-down given
13/2/24 Scratched due to illness, 10-day stand-down
12/3/24 Sore lower back, 7-day stand-down
5/4/24 Sprained left accessory carpal bone (wrist), 10-day stand-down
26/4/24 Left wrist sprain, 60-day stand-down. Under She Goes never returned to the track.

DETAILS:
Under She Goes commenced racing on 8/8/23 at the age of just 18 months. She was subject to a vet check (reason unclear) after her second start, with no apparent injury found. She returned for her third start 7 days later and raced 13 more times (until December 2023) without any apparent incident. She was then absent for 22 days but the reason for this is unclear.

Six starts later, on the 13 February 2024, she then suffered an unknown illness and was scratched from racing for 10 days, returning exactly 10 days later. She raced 5 more times before being stood down for 7 days for a sore lower back and returned exactly 7 days later. She then raced twice more before again being stood down, this time for a left accessory carpal bone sprain (wrist sprain). She was only given 10 days to recover but returned 21 days later. She then sustained and injury to the same anatomical region in her next start (left wrist sprain), but this time of a much more serious nature and was given a 60-day stand-down with orders to see a vet within 48 hours. Under She Goes never returned to racing following this injury. Despite Racing and Wagering WA claiming that they track all dogs throughout their racing career and beyond, the location of Under She Goes following her final injury is unknown.

Free The Hounds cannot help but wonder if the stand-down for the initial sprain was adequate to allow full recovery. As we have previously highlighted, there are no x-ray facilities at WA tracks, so the assessment of her injuries to determine an appropriate stand down time would have been undertaken by physical examination only. If Under She Goes had been examined more comprehensively, would a longer stand down period have been imposed? And would this have prevented re injury?

Similarly, how thorough are pre-race checks that Under She Goes to asses her pre-existing injury prior to returning to the track? Why didn’t she return to racing following her final injury – was the nature of injury more serious than that documented, especially given the orders to see an off-track vet for follow-up.

Fortunately after all this Under She Goes has found a loving home and is now known as Pippy. ** This information was given to FTH on 1.08.24 regarding her rehoming.

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