The U.S. Trotting Association (USTA) announced Monday that it will fund a research study by renowned equine researchers George Maylin, DVM, PhD, from Morrisville State College in New York and Karyn Malinowski, PhD, and Ken McKeever, MS, PhD, FACSM, of Rutgers University in New Jersey to evaluate the effects of cobalt on red blood cell production (erythropoiesis) and performance enhancement in horses.

Maylin anticipates that the study will commence at the beginning of September.

“The purpose is to study the effects of cobalt on racehorses with the exercise physiology model used by Dr. McKeever to study drugs such as EPO (erythropoietin),” a human medication designed to increase the concentration of red blood cells, explained Maylin. “It’s the only way to assess the pharmacological effects with this type of compound. It will be a dose-response study to see if some level of cobalt has an effect on performance.”

In a previous study funded by the USTA, the three researchers determined a baseline for what the normal levels of cobalt are in a Standardbred horse