Sunshine Millions

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Stem Cells Rejuvenate High Standards

HALLANDALE, Fla. (Jan. 22, 2008) -- When High Standards takes his spot in the starting gate for the $500,000 Sunshine Millions Sprint at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, there’ll be more of the 6-year-old chestnut gelding than any other horse in the field.

Trainer Marty Jones believes that, due to advances in stem-cell technology, High Standards may be better than he’s ever been in his 12-race career in his second race back from an absence from the races of more than a year.

“His last race was one of his best,” Jones recalled of High Standards’ wire-to-wire one-length victory in an optional claimer at Hollywood Park on Dec. 21, the gelding’s first start since September, 2006. “(Owner-breeder) John Harris talked it over and we thought it was worth flying him across the country and taking a shot in this race.”

The son of 24-year-old Harris Farms stallion High Brite, out of the Torsion mare Tomato Paste, is the only Cal-bred in the Sunshine Millions Sprint lineup of 11. He will leave the starting gate from the rail and will be ridden by Jorge Chavez.

His long plane trip to Florida for the six-furlong Sprint pales by comparison to the medical journey traveled by High Standards, who as a 3-year-old in 2005 captured the Grade III Baldwin Stakes and the San Pedro Stakes, both at Santa Anita Park. He has five career successes and has earned $224,197.

“When we brought him home in the fall of 2006, he was refusing to gallop,” said Dr. Jeanne Bowers-Lepore, the resident veterinarian at Harris Farms in Coalinga, Calif. “He seemed to be having stifle problems in both hind legs. That’s the highest bone in those legs. But nothing showed up on X-ray.”

High Standards was sent to Dr. Larry Galuppo at UC Davis, who performed an arthroscopic procedure on the horse.

“He found lots of lesions in the stifles, like pieces of cracked egg shells,” Bowers-Lepore said.

A decision was made to attempt a recovery using stem cells from High Standards’ bone marrow.

“To the best of my knowledge, he’s the only horse that’s had stem-cell therapy for this type of injury,” she said. “The therapy has been used on horses for about five years, but usually on knees.”

Because High Standards then was nearly 5 years old, the stem cells he needed had to be harvested over a period of months.

“The best stem cells are those in the umbilical cord at birth,” Dr. Bowers-Lepore said. “Eventually, I think they’ll store those cells whenever a new foal is born. But that wasn’t an option with High Standards.”

After four months, Dr. Galuppo injected High Standards’ stem cells into the horse, which then was sent back home.

“There was very little difference from before,” Dr. Bowers-Lepore recalled. “We sent him back to UC Davis for more stem cells. That did the trick although we don’t know if it was the additional stem cells or the extra time he needed with the original stem cells.

“The main thing is he’s now a happy and pain-free horse. It’s hard to know how long he can keep racing. But when he came home all those months ago, we didn’t know if he’d ever race again.”

One of High Standards’ toughest opponents in the Sunshine Millions Sprint could be Bushwacker, a Florida-bred 6-year-old who captured the Grade III Vernon O. Underwood Stakes at Hollywood Park on Dec. 2. The Bill Currin trainee ran third in the Sunshine Millions Sprint, behind winning Cal-bred Bordonaro, in 2006, the last time the event was contested at Gulfstream Park.

“Bill is stabled right next to me at Hollywood,” said Jones. “I can see how good his horse is doing.”

Chavez will be the 10th jockey to ride High Standards in competition, following David Flores, Edgar Prado, Rene Douglas, Garrett Gomez, Aaron Gryder, Roberto Gonzalez, Martin Garcia, Clinton Potts and Mike Smith. Garcia and Smith are the only riders who have been on his back twice. Smith won the Baldwin Stakes with him and Prado rode him to his victory in the San Pedro.

“It looks like we’ve had trouble getting guys to ride him back,” Jones admitted. “But it’s just been one of those things.”
--Larry Bortstein