Test May Prove a Winner for Racehorse Buyers

When W. Robert Cook, a veterinary surgeon from Tufts University, comes to the annual convention of the American Assn. of Equine Practitioners early next month in San Diego, the horse world will be all ears.

Word is out that Cook is close to a breakthrough on early detection of laryngeal hemipoegia, a common breathing problem that can render an otherwise splendid thoroughbred into a wheezing also-ran.

The condition is known as “roaring” because the horse makes an ominous sound from the throat as the larynx contracts. To a bettor, it’s the sound of a horse finishing out of the money.

Although Cook is waiting until the convention to release his detailed findings, he has already piqued the interest of horsemen and veterinarians by saying he has found certain physical characteristics of the jaw and throat that seem to predispose a horse to paralysis of the larynx.

A simple exam can spot the tendency, Cook has promised.

Cook’s long-awaited talk is billed as one of the highlights of the weeklong conference, which is expected to attract 1,900 horse veterinarians and trainers, including representatives from the country’s major race tracks.

“If we could determine what horse will develop a respiratory problem, it could change the entire method of evaluating racehorses,” said Encinitas horse veterinarian Tom Everman.

“It would allow a horseman to know before he pays $1 million at a yearling sale whether a horse will not be able to run because of breathing difficulties.”

The Cook test, however, is not likely to entirely eliminate the risk involved with wagering money on horses.

“It might tell us which horses are losers,” Everman said, “but it won’t tell us which are winners.”

Beach Club Fired Up

For more than a year, the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club had worked to overcome a series of political and bureaucratic hurdles to gain approval to refurbish two nondescript buildings that had been relocated to Robb Field in Ocean Beach.

The group bought the buildings for $24,000 from San Diego State University with a goal of turning the 1,200-square-foot structures into a combination OMBAC headquarters, rugby storage area and community center open to the public.

To achieve its goal, OMBAC worked slowly upward from the Ocean Beach Community Planning Group to the Park and Recreation Board to the Planning Commission and then the City Council. Ten days ago the final OK was received unanimously from the California Coastal Commission.

Within 48 hours, one of the buildings was gutted by fire, possibly set by a transient.

OMBAC members meet tonight to decide what to do next. Klaus Mendenhall, the project ramrod, predicts the fire will not prove fatal to the group’s dream.

“When these guys get a challenge by the tail, they run with it,” Mendenhall said.

He wants the group to use the insurance money to put up a replacement building. And he’s willing to start the approval process anew if needed.

On a Roll Without Wheels

A snicker is said to have gone up at the Sheriff’s Department when Daniel J. Cronin reported last week that his cherished 1986 Toyota pickup had been stolen from the parking lot at the Vista Courthouse.

Cronin is one of North County’s more prominent criminal-defense attorneys, known for his vigorous cross-examination of sheriff’s deputies. At the time of the theft, he was waiting to be assigned a courtroom to begin his defense of an accused shoplifter.

At week’s end, the glistening black truck with chrome wheels and oversized tires had still not been located. But Cronin’s week was not a total loss.

A jury acquitted his client of a charge of snatching $190 worth of bedding from an Escondido department store. Cronin convinced jurors that authorities had arrested the wrong man.