A temporary quarantine that was placed on Barn 28 at Saratoga on Saturday was lifted Wednesday by the New York State Department of Agriculture after it was determined that a horse residing in that barn did not test positive for strangles.
Horses stabled in that barn, which includes the multiple Grade 1-winning 3-year-old filly La Cara, were permitted to be entered in races beginning Wednesday and train with the general population starting Thursday. La Cara was forced to scratch from Saturday’s Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga due to the temporary quarantine. Mark Casse, the trainer of La Cara, also had to scratch Get Smokin’ out of the Grade 2 United Nations at Monmouth Park on Saturday.
La Cara was one of seven horses trained by Casse who are stabled in that barn. Trainer Mike Maker had eight. It was the Maker-trained 4-year-old filly Surprenant Cocca who presented symptoms of strangles, a contagious bacterial infection that affects a horse’s respiratory system. That horse was taken off the Saratoga grounds for additional testing.
Three subsequent PCR tests and a subsequent culture all returned negative for strangles, according to a release put out Wednesday by the New York Racing Association. Furthermore, no additional symptomatic horses were identified during the precautionary quarantine period.
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