Health of Subzero, 1992 Winner of Melbourne Cup, Threatened After Customs Mix Up

EL DORADO HILLS, Calif., Oct. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- With the Melbourne Cup, Australia's most prestigious and coveted horse race only days away, Subzero, the beloved winner of the 1992 Melbourne Cup, and "Subbie" to several generations of Australian schoolchildren, has dodged a painful and unnecessary death, thanks to the quick actions of a "fairy godmother" from the United States, Nana Patricia McPeak.

McPeak, nicknamed "RicePatty" due to her pioneering efforts in the rice bran industry, flew to Australia to help save the well-known horse when Australian customs officials banned a rice-bran-based natural arthritis formula McPeak invented from entering the country. The 20-year-old equine Cup winner suffers from arthritis, and his veterinarians were successfully treating him with McPeak's arthritis relief product.

"Subzero was deteriorating rapidly after we ran out of the Flex Plus formula that we were giving him," said Graham Salisbury, Subzero's owner. Subzero's vet, Tammy Howard DVM, concurred with Salisbury. "We were devastated when the news came that, for some reason, customs would not allow the product to come into the country. We knew that Subbie was in grave danger of going down fast. His joints began to swell, and we could see that he was in severe pain. We were desperate, and we tried all sorts of alternate therapies. Nothing worked like the Flex Plus," she said.

McPeak learned about Subzero's plight and immediately contacted Salisbury in Australia. According to Salisbury, she said, "Graham, I'm coming with an updated version of the original formula, and we're going to save this horse." A few days later, she arrived with enough of the natural human grade arthritis formula to last for three months.

"She said she was coming," said Salisbury, "and I thought, no way, but two days later, there she was. It brought my wife Anita and me to tears. We are so grateful that someone cared enough about Subbie and was willing to go to extreme measures to help save him. He's a hero and so is she."

About two days after Subzero began receiving RicePatty's Equine SuperFlex formula, the horse recovered dramatically. The swelling subsided, and he was able to run, buck and roll around on the ground. Salisbury said, "He's made a full recovery. In fact, he's doing things I haven't seen him do in years. It's very apparent that he's feeling good again, and he's going to be around for a long time to come." He added, "There's no doubt in my mind that this natural arthritis formula has made all the difference in the world for our horse. RicePatty really saved his life. We are indebted to her for making the effort."

McPeak says that the equine product that was being held in customs contained the safest of all human-food-grade products- the very same rice bran that is manufactured by U. S. company, NutraCea- and is in baby food consumed all over Australia and New Zealand. Unfortunately, McPeak noted, the snafu could have caused the death of the famed Subzero. "To avoid this kind of thing in the future, I met with the necessary authorities, and I'm now working with them to import both human and animal products into Australia, " she said.

About McPeak
Nana Patricia McPeak (RicePatty) is the founder and former CEO of NutraCea, a company founded on McPeak's invention of a patented technology that stabilizes rice bran. The bran is then naturally processed into value-added products and is made available to the human and animal food ingredient industry, as well as the nutritional supplement industry. McPeak is also the founder and current CEO of NanaCea, which markets a wide range of natural human and animal nutritional supplements based on the stabilized rice bran value-added products manufactured by NutraCea. RicePatty Equine SuperFlex is a natural blend of stabilized rice bran derivative, glucosamine, a special form of yucca, MSM, gamma oryzanol derived from rice bran and other natural ingredients. McPeak has received two patents on the formulation for reducing the pain and inflammation associated with arthritis, based on a 50-horse clinical study. She owns 33 thoroughbred race horses in Phoenix, Arizona.

About Subzero
Subzero (Subbie) is a 16-hand, grey Thoroughbred gelding, who was born in 1989. His sire was Kala Dancer, and his dam was Wiley Trade. Subzero began racing as a three year old, and he won a number of major races during his career. Besides winning The Melbourne Cup in 1992, Subzero also won the Adelaide Cup and South Australian Derby. In lifetime earnings, Subzero won nearly two million dollars in prize money. He had 42 starts for 4 wins, 5 seconds and 5 thirds. His last race was the Brisbane Cup on June 13, 1994. Subbie then became a Clerk of the Course horse for 15 years, retiring in June 2008. He now continues as an Ambassador for Racing Victoria, visiting about 50 primary and secondary schools each year, giving students the unique opportunity of meeting a Melbourne Cup winner. Subzero is a popular horse among kids and even has his own product line, which includes lunch bags, hats, t-shirts, pencils and drink bottles. Subbie and his owner, Graham Salisbury, also help to raise funds for a number of different charities each year.

For more info on NanaCea or RicePatty Equine SuperFlex go to www.nanacea.com
or call 1-888-933-1000.

Soundbites and Broll available in MPEG 2 Format for Media at http://bit.ly/3MJr86

    Media Contact:
    Margie Adelman
    916 220 3500
    Adelman PR
    madelman@adelmanpr.com

    Contact in Australia:
    Graham Salisbury