…what a loss :(
He was a very cool horse.
Nice story about him: https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/empire-maker-dies/
1 Like
He will be sorely missed. Go run with the great herd in the sky 🌟
So does anyone know what “rare disease” he had?
”He was 20 years old and succumbed to a rare disease that compromised his immune system.”
3 Likes
Toussaud’s sons surely seem to have their share of unusual problems…
Loss of a nice horse. Run free Empire Maker.
Very sad news ……
I was wondering the same.
1 Like
Speaking of the rare disease, this might be off the wall, but I wonder if he contracted it in Japan? It sounds like he’d had it for a bit of time, and that they’d been fighting it. Just curious…
if he did, one would think the USDA would be all over that with quarantine and the like. Unless whatever it is already exists here. But if its a genetic disease, I hope they at least make a public statement about it so that breeders/Owners of his offspring are aware.
1 Like
I am wondering if he suffered from Selective IGM Deficiency. it doesn’t only affect horses. But its a rare immune disorder that means that the patient does not have IGM Antibodies which is the lone antibody responsible for initiating response to infections
Bit of a reach since he went right back to the shed after returning, his oldest just now three with some notables , two more crops in the wings and more still cooking.
Repatriating breeding stallions coming back from Japan have to be bred and produce two foals upon returning who are then tested. Or they are gelded if there’s no return to breeding, as with those intended for just retirement or like one who just had no interest in covering mares in Japan or back here.
1 Like
Very interesting, I did not know that.Why is that? What about a stallion just coming back to retire? What about mares? Have any been sold and then came back before retirement age?
Such a loss, he was only 20. RIP big guy.
I’ll always be his fan because he helped create Royal Delta. I love that mare! This link from the bloodhorse article has a nice pic of RD and Mike Smith. https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/238024/prominent-stallion-empire-maker-dies-at-20
I am not saying that my thought is absolutely correct, but I will say that there might not have been a reason in the world that he couldn’t breed when he came back. Carrying a disease isn’t the same as having it full blown. Apparently, he bred mares last year, as well, and while the article doesn’t state when they determined that the horse was ill, it seemed to have been for awhile. The idea that it was rare is just sticking in my mind. Why not just name it?
Caught this on PR
Empire Maker died of common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), a disease Slovis has only seen twice in his 25 years of practice.
“It is very rare,” said Slovis, who is one of the top internal medicine practitioners and director of the McGee Center at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute. “One of the white blood cells, called a B cell, is part of what makes antibodies in your bloodstream. Unfortunately, in this disorder, the B cells stop producing antibodies. It just stops, and there’s no rhyme or reason to it.”
CVID is characterized by a horse repeatedly contracting illnesses, particularly minor fevers and respiratory bugs but also hoof abscesses, diarrhea, gingivitis, skin problems, and neurologic disorders, until something more serious like pneumonia develops.
Slovis said regenerative treatments like bone marrow transplants in horses do not “take” the way they do in humans and are not a viable option for CVID. Plasma transfusions may create a temporary improvement on lab results, but they will not actually address the problem of antibody production. Managers are left to provide the horse with supportive care to keep them as comfortable as possible, but horses rarely live more than six months past diagnosis.
Unfortunately, scientists know more about what doesn’t cause CVID than what does cause it. It’s not viral or bacterial. Slovis said so far researchers have ruled out diet, stress, location, and exposure to other horses. Horses with CVID do not seem to catch it from others, and do not pass it along to others. CVID is not limited to a particular breed, gender, or age of horse, and travel (like Empire Maker’s trip to Japan and back in the middle of his stud career) does not impact a horse’s likelihood of contracting it. There’s also no connection between the amount of colostrum a horse gets as a foal and its likelihood of getting CVID later.
Slovis said CVID may be a result of a particular gene, one responsible for ordering the B cells to produce antibody becoming “turned off” by something. This does not mean relatives or offspring of Empire Maker are bound to get it – research indicates it does not get passed along through families – but rather something has stopped the genetic code from doing its job.
Good to know that , at least, his trips to and from Japan do not appear to have caused this.
Thank you for that information. I was wondering about him. Such a lovely horse.
as sad as it is for his connections; I love hearing and learning about these types of diseases and genetic disorders. as scary as it can be very interesting to learn
Link to full Paulick Report article quoted above: https://www.paulickreport.com/horse-care-category/he-may-be-able-to-save-horses-lives-the-mysterious-disease-that-claimed-empire-maker/
FWIW, i did link to the article if the PR in green was clicked on as I try not to quote articles without including a link to where my quote came from 
