LEXINGTON — A pair of reports released Thursday by researchers at the University of Kentucky show no increase in the number of unusual foal losses so far this spring.

        Scientists still do not know what caused hundreds of foals to die and thousands of early-term pregnancies to be terminated on central Kentucky horse farms last year, costing the state's billion-dollar horse industry nearly $350 million.

        They believe, however, that stark weather changes during this exact time frame may have played a role in the development of the mysterious illness, dubbed Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome.

        One summary posted to the UK College of Agriculture's Web site indicated that soil, pasture and forage samples taken from a dozen central Kentucky horse farms and one hay farm have shown no evidence of abnormal levels of mycotoxins, alkaloids associated with tall fescue, cyanide, minerals, yeasts and molds.

        As of Thursday, all 13 of the farms have had four cycles of sampling completed. No symptoms of last year's mysterious foal illness have been noted on any of those farms, University of Kentucky agronomist Jimmy Henning said Thursday.

        Another report centered on 91 pregnant thoroughbred mares on eight farms in an effort to determine the possible effects of exposure to the illness last year.

        The mares were examined by ultrasound several times this spring. All data gathered indicated that the illness had no effect on the incidence of fetal loss, fetal abnormality and placental and foal weight at birth.

        That study was a collaborative project between university researchers and veterinarians of Hagyard-Davidson-McGee Associates in Lexington.

        Last year, as thoroughbred racing's premier showcase — the Kentucky Derby — approached May 5, pregnant mares began delivering sickly foals that needed days of medical treatment to survive if they lived at all.

        By the time the deaths subsided, about 3.8 percent of the state's 2001 foal crop and a staggering 15 percent of the foals that would have been born on central Kentucky farms this spring were lost.

        Researchers still are trying to determine the extent to which suspected causal agents like cyanide, Eastern tent caterpillars and mycotoxins — fungus-based poisons in pasture grasses — were involved.

        Also Thursday, the school advised horse farmers to keep pregnant mares out of pastures until midday today because of temperatures dropping near the freezing mark overnight.

        Scientists believe the weather changes, characterized by extended periods of unseasonably warm temperatures followed by near-freezing conditions, may have aided in the development of toxins in pasture grasses and played a role in the illness.

        The advisory also suggested that farm managers mow pastures this morning before turning mares out.

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