Virus at Sunland Park may have spread to Turf Paradise

A Sunland Park trainer whose horses were hit hard by a deadly herpes virus shares his story with ABC-7.

This comes just hours after news that three more horses tested positive for EHV-1 at the track.

There is new concern that this virus has spread from Sunland, across state lines, into Arizona. Meanwhile, of the seven horses that have now been euthanized at Sunland Park, three of them were trained by the same man.

“This is a very contagious disease,” Borderland trainer Brent Swopes told ABC-7 after euthanizing three of his eight horses this week. “A lot more than most people originally thought it was. It was my choice to put these horses down, for the simple reason that they can become carriers and there is a chance that they will spread it to other tracks six months to a year later.”

Swopes said it was a difficult and emotional decision.

“Of course it’s hard for me to do,” Swopes said. “The horse I put down (Thursday) was my favorite horse.”

A total of 1,500 horses in the backstretch at Sunland Park remain under quarantine, with no in-and-out privileges. It’s the same situation now for 1,700 horses at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, which continues to run races, but has now called for a 21-day quarantine.

Vince Francia, the general manager at Turf Paradise, told ABC-7 three horses were sent from Sunland Park to Turf Paradise last Thursday, the day before Sunland Park was shut down.

“The trainers involved in the shipment actually came forward to us and informed us they had shipped those horses off property,” said Ethan Linder, spokesman for Sunland Park Racetrack. “We immediately contacted Turf Paradise management and Turf Paradise knew to put those horses into isolation.”

Horses that run at Sunland Park also travel to tracks throughout the Southwest and the country.

“I think it’s a good example that every racetrack across the country needs to be prepared for an outbreak like this,” said Borderland owner and breeder Shae Cox. “And if they’re not this is exactly what happens.”

Cox said the next question is, “Did any horses leave Turf Paradise? And if so, where did they go?”