Championship horse owner Violet ‘Letty’ Hodge said that history was made in the Virgin Islands when a successful equine surgery was performed on champion horse Doughmaker to remove a bone chip in one of its legs and as a result the horse will be out of action for at least three months. Photo: VINO/File

Doughmaker in the operating theatre. Photo: Provided

Dr Manuel Himenes of Puerto Rico and Dr Joel Lugo of Florida, USA with Violet 'Letty' Hodge following the surgery. Photo: Provided

The surgical instruments used during the operation. Photo: Provided

Owner of Doughmaker Violet 'Letty' Hodge. Photo: VINO

Doughmaker winning the St Thomas Governor's Cup on May 1, 2015. Photo: Virgin Islands Daily News

Speaking with this news site yesterday July 7, 2015 Hodge said the task was performed under the most medically hygienic of conditions as a lot of work went into preparing a stable into a makeshift operating theatre.

“We performed the removal of a bone chip from a horse – Doughmaker. It is never been done in the BVI We had to actually build an operating room and [equip it] to have the surgery done. It was done by Dr Joel Lugo out of Florida, USA and Dr Manuel Himenes of Puerto Rico,” she said.

“Like I said there are no facilities here in the BVI for any such surgery to be done on horses but....where there is a will there is a way.”

Hodge noted that Doughmaker most likely picked up the injury while running in the Governor’s Cup in St Thomas USVI on May 1, 2015 which he won. She had the bone chip not been removed it could have meant the end of Doughmaker’s racing career as horses with such injuries are usually put out to pasture to live out the rest of their days.

“I am glad to say that L&B Racing Stables was the first to do it here in the BVI after actually making the operating rooms,” she said.

Hodge noted that she will not rush the horse but allow him to recover fully. “Like everything I do when it comes to my horses, if the doctor gives him three months to recover I will give him six months. Hopefully it was a successful surgery,” she said.

She called for there to be facilities in the Virgin Islands where such surgeries could be performed given the prominence of horse racing as a sport in the territory and the likelihood of horses being injured and needing such surgery.

The L&B Stables is known to own some of the most successful horses in the Virgin Islands but has also seen some of them being put to pasture or put down due to injury.

Actspectation, one of the top horses ever in the VI, was retired due to injury while Lake Texoma and the famous Triple Crown winner Really Uptown were put down due to serious injuries.