The National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced Dec. 5 that its subsidiary, NTRA Charities, has disbursed $90,801 in support of one new and two continuing equine medical research projects.

The disbursements were made from the NTRA Charities – Barbaro Memorial Fund, established in memory of the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, who succumbed to laminitis, a disease of the hoof, in 2007. Funds for the studies will flow through the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation.

All three studies involve laminitis research. The new study, “Effect of Digital Hypothermia on Inflammatory Injury in Laminitis,” by James Belknap, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVS, of Ohio State University, is a two-year project funded for $82,109.

The two continuing projects are “Targeting 5-HT in Equine Laminitis,” by Douglas Allen, DVM, MS, at University of Georgia and “Treatment of Equine Laminitis with Doxycycline,” by Susan Eades, DVM, PhD, at Louisiana State University