About The Horse

Seattle Slew is a champion of Triple Crown and Kentucky Derby winner. The stallion is an extraordinary racing legend, one of the most famous horses of all time. He was the 1977 Horse of the Year and a champion at age two, three, and four.

Slew was described as ‘a falcon in dive’, a black stallion with strong hind legs and powerful shoulders, developed a stream-lined running style. He was intelligent, dominant and determined, yet easy going. He was bred for speed, but he could also go a distance.

In his first start in September 1976, Slew burst into his racing career with an impressive start at Belmont Park, he won by five lengths at 2 years old season. Then he won again and again, he was named Champion 2-Year-Old of 1976 even though he only raced three times.

In his 3yo season leading up to the 1977 Kentucky Derby, undefeated Seattle Slew ran the Derby field off its feet and went on to do the same in the Preakness and Belmont to become the first horse to win the Triple Crown without a loss.

In his 3-year racing career, he had a total of 14 wins out of 17 races. Seattle Slew was a well-known name, "Slewmania" spread across the country.

The Health Issue

Slew suffered series of respiratory infections in the fall, then contracted a virus that nearly proved fatal in winter, he missed the races in latter half of the 1977 season. Fortunately he was back in 1978.

In January 1978, when Slew was scheduled to make the first start of his four-year-old campaign in the Tallahassee Handicap, he was scratched from the race as he was found to have a fever of 102. His condition then went quickly downhill, marked by weakness, dehydration and a sharp decrease in his white blood cell count. It was later revealed that his jugular vein had collapsed when a pre-race injection of Butazolidin missed the vein.

While Slew slowly recovered, his owners contemplated retiring him to stud. Instead, they kept him in training, then returned to racing in a seven-furlong allowance race in May 1978. Slew won the race by 81⁄4 lengths despite the adverse muddy track conditions.

In November 1978, Slew was retired to stud at 4yo, staying at Hill 'n' Dale Farm, Kentucky.

At his age of 26 in early 2000, Slew began showing sudden signs of ataxia after his morning exercise, he was not able to walk ‘straight’ and began to show a lack of co-ordination.

The farm veterinarian Dr. Morehead conducted a neurologic exam and did X rays on the horse, he noted radiographic changes in Slew’s lower neck. Several experts were then called into consult on the case, they conducted a bone scan (scintigraphy) to help pinpoint the cause, to test Slew for EPM (Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis), and a standing CSF (Cerebral Spinal Fluid) tap on the stallion.

There were arthritic changes discovered in three joints in Slew's lower neck, but one was worse than the others. In priority the team treated Slew for EPM even though the medications declined his fertility.

Dr. Grant also drew upon human medicine to inject the joint with cortisone to relieve the pain the arthritis was causing. Within two days of the treatment, Slew was walking straight again instead of listing to the right with his hindquarters.

Slew remained normal for about 17 days after injection, then began to show neurologic problems again. This time his hindquarters were drifting left. Then Slew received two more rounds of intervertebral injections, showed pain relief.

However, Slew began to show problems again, the team decided to do a myelogram on him. The dye reveals narrowing of the spinal canal. They found stenotic changes between the sixth and seventh cervical vertebrae.

Slew was diagnosed with cervical vertebral malformation (know as wobbler syndrome) in 2000, a degenerative disease that causes compression of the spinal cord through stenosis (narrowing) of the spinal canal. The team decided to go for surgery by inserting a "Bagby basket" to fuse the joint and relieve the pressure . Dr. Grant in the 1980s helped perfect this technique, which was based on work done by human surgeon Dr. Bagby.

The Rescue Effort – led by Dr. Barrie Grant

1st Surgery (2 April 2000)

Dr. Grant performed the life-saving surgery on Slew. The team fused the joint between two vertebrae in his neck. It involves screwing a threaded titanium implant that has many small holes in the walls into a horse’s spine. Contained within the basket is bone graft that is harvested from the patient during the drilling and tapping process. When surgically implanted between two vertebrae, the bone begins to grow through the walls of the basket to eventually form dense bone, healthy bone that prevents excessive movement of the cervical vertebra that puts pressure on the spinal cord.

It’s a remarkable operation that has been perfected now and done on a lot of horses. Slew was standing comfortably and eating hay at the hospital. The team was very happy with the post-operative films and his recovery. Slew also showed his tremendous strength and spirit to overcome obstacles.

Slew had a course of rehabilitation that included lots of stall rest and a gradual return to limited exercise. He was taken off EPM medication gradually, then returned to the breeding shed in 2001. He was able to breed a book of 60 mares the following year at 27yo.

The stallion was videotaped daily and the tapes reviewed on a weekly basis by Dr Grant. The old Slew was enjoying life, showed no more problems.

2nd Surgery (2 March 2002)

Two years later, in January 2002, Slew began showing neurologic signs again. The vet team performed another myelogram in February, it showed that a significant narrowing of the canal at C5-6, further spinal cord compression was found due to arthritic changes.

The team implanted a new basket to re-establish the normal width of the spinal canal at C6-7. Dr. Bagby slightly modified the basket from the 2000 model to accommodate for the horse’s bones as his bone become soft when he was older. The new basket ‘BAK” could be twisted into place instead of having to be tapped into the bone of the spinal column.

The new basket helped to minimize trauma to the area and improve the support for the area. It also helped the bone grafts to heal quicker, allowing faster fusion and immobilization of the affected area, then helped prevent complication.

Dr. Grant said the second surgery was a better one than the first they did. The expert team had debated whether they should do some prophylactic placement of the baskets to prevent future problems, but it’s decided to do just what was needed in the moment.

3 days after the surgery, X rays showed that everything was in place and Slew was healing, he was comfortable with two joints fused in his neck. Then he was moved to his old farm stall for recovery. Dr. Grant estimated recovery time at between six and eight weeks, more radiographs were taken to make sure the bone fusion is progressing.

According to Dr. Grant, he had experience to operate on 30yo+ horses for colic successfully though he was being questioned if it should do operation on old horses as old as Seattle Slew. The team and the owners didn’t going to think about whether Slew might ever return to service, but only hope that he would be healthy, happy and fully recovered.

The Outcome

Seattle Slew passed away peacefully in his stall on 7 May 2002, 2 years after injury, at Hill 'n' Dale Farm, Kentucky.

Seattle Slew is the only Triple Crown winner to have sired 1103 named foals, of which 537 were winners and 111 stakes winners. He had been a highly fashionable and successful sire in two decades from 1978 to 2002.

The world remembers Seattle Slew for his fierce determination. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1981, and he's been the subject of several books and documentaries.

Source: The Wikipedia - Seattle Slew

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Slew

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