Could thermography help with racehorse welfare?
The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses believes pre-race thermography of horses could help extend the racing career of thoroughbreds.
Elio Celotto, campaign director for the CPR, and a volunteer of the advocacy group were approached by Moonee Valley Racing Club security on Friday night after Racing Victoria stewards were alerted to their presence at the parade ring taking thermographic photos of horses.
The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses were seen taking thermographic photos of horses at Moonee Valley on Friday night.
The pair were not breaching the Rules Of Racing, but an RV spokesperson said any photos of that nature would have been in breach of media rules.
"If a person is detected taking vision on-course in the future, including the use of thermography equipment, without our consent then our expectation is that they would be asked to cease and if they do not, that they would be removed from the racecourse," the spokesperson said.
Celotto told The Age that he didn't believe he and the volunteer were doing anything wrong on Friday night, the second time in the past month they have trialled the technology on race night.
"We were there just to see what effect racing has on racehorses and just to test some new technology we thought we'd try out," he said.
"It just measures the heat coming off the horse. If the horse is cold before they race, their muscles warm up during racing and certain areas of inflammation might be hotter than other areas. We're basically finding out whether there's anything that might be useful for us and the racing industry.
"We're not sure if it's going to yield any results but we thought we'd give it a go and see what we get.
"The second lot of data is being analysed as we speak and we'll see how it goes."
Stewards advised MVRC staff of their presence on track after they were alerted close to the second-last race on the card by an industry member, and the staff approached Celotto with security to seek an explanation.
Elio Celotto from the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses.Credit:Meredith O'Shea
"They just wondered what we were doing and we explained to them what we were doing," Celotto said.
"It was close to the last race, we watched the last race and then we went home like everyone else. We weren't asked to leave, I'd be very surprised if they would ask us to leave because we weren't doing everything wrong.
"If it's any cause for concern, I might contact Racing Victoria myself and see if they have any concerns with it but I don't expect that they should have.
"There's been talk we were maybe trying to get an edge on who to place a bet on which is ridiculous, but maybe people will try and do the same thing to get an edge. We'll see what happens."
Celotto said the thermographic camera, which "a supporter of ours supplied", was worth well over $10,000.
He added that they weren't trying to be discreet in taking the photos.
"The breakdown of racehorses is huge and the average [career] of a racehorse is less than three years," he said.
"If horses sustain an injury, there might be signs of it that will be picked up with this kind of technology. It could be something that the racing industry could use in the future.
"If there is technology out there that can protect these horses from being pushed too far when they're vulnerable, then that can only be a good thing."