GAINESVILLE -- The bodies of the 15 polo horses arrived from Wellington in the dark of night, their sudden and very public deaths a high-profile mystery that demanded quick answers.

Investigators turned to a team of University of Florida veterinary experts, who confirmed the horses had each received a vitamin shot with deadly levels of selenium before they arrived for a match at the International Polo Club Palm Beach.

The finding was the latest triumph for UF's College of Veterinary Medicine, which next year will celebrate just the 30th anniversary of its first graduating class. As the only veterinary medicine college in Florida and one of just 28 in the United States, UF is the training ground for most of the Sunshine State's veterinarians.

Here, students learn to treat bats suffering epilepsy. They deliver chemotherapy to cats. They test the effects of drugs on racehorses. At the college's Racing Lab, they look for cocaine in the urine and blood samples of Kentucky Derby horses, as well as racehorses and greyhounds throughout Florida.

And because this is one of just a few U.S. veterinary schools with a college of human medicine practically next door, students are part of groundbreaking research that has significant implications for animals and people. Already, the college's researchers have developed a vaccine for the virus that causes AIDS in cats.

With construction now under way on a $58 million small animal hospital, the college hopes to expand its potential for innovative research and treatment.

``Because we have people that work in all of those areas and are national experts, when something like the polo horse incident happens, the state and federal agencies call on us,'' Dean Dr. Glen Hofsis said. ``Ultimately the greatest veterinary expertise is centered in the college of veterinary medicine, so they turn to us, and rightly so.''

It can be harder to get into the UF veterinary medicine college than the UF medical school.

Every year some 900 aspiring veterinarians and animal researchers apply for 88 first-year slots in the veterinary medicine college, which is consistently ranked in the top 10 by U.S. News & World Report.

Lisa Littlejohn, a Palm Harbor University High School graduate, didn't get in the first time she applied. So she worked for a year after getting her UF bachelor's degree, studied for a higher GRE score and was accepted.

``I was ecstatic,'' she said.

Littlejohn, 26, is now in her final year of the program and plans to practice small animal medicine.

STUDENT WORKLOAD

She has treated an elderly cougar in kidney failure. She had to euthanize a young paralyzed deer with a ruptured bladder. She has helped dogs and cats undergoing chemotherapy -- cases that account for about half of the small animal hospital's workload.

``I've seen a lot of unpleasant things,'' Littlejohn said. ``But every single person here is just brilliant, and the hands-on experience is great.''

Dr. John Harvey, executive associate dean of the veterinary college, said one key to the program's strength is the presence of the UF College of Medicine nearby.

``That allows us to do research and collaboration in brain science, oncology, dentistry, infectious diseases,'' said Harvey, a founding faculty member.

UF immunologist Janet Yamamoto developed and patented the vaccine for the virus that causes AIDS in cats. With a grant from the National Institutes of Health, she continues to research ways the vaccine might be modified to treat humans with HIV.

In addition to the polo horse case, there have been other recent headline-grabbing moments involving the veterinary medicine college.

In March, UF veterinarian Dr. Mike Walsh, associate director of the college's aquatic animal health program, was part of a team that performed the historic rescue of a North Atlantic right whale, an endangered species that had been severely entangled in fishing gear near St. Augustine.

It took Dr. Walsh and the other rescuers two days to free the 40-foot, 40,000-pound whale.

THE RACING LAB

UF's Racing Lab is in a nondescript white concrete block building at the edge of UF's campus.

The only public racing lab in the state, this is where director Dr. Rick Sams and his team work to make sure all Florida horse and greyhound races are competing clean and dope-free.

The lab enjoys a $2 million annual contract with the Florida Division of Parimutuel Wagering to test all racehorses' and dogs' blood and urine.

The vials come into the tiny lab by the dozens, tucked inside Igloo coolers and marked with a bar code for identification.

Dr. Sams and his team of 40 workers test for cocaine, anabolic steroids and other substances.

The lab's latest coup: scoring the exclusive contract, worth up to $1 million a year, to test all Kentucky Derby horses and horses competing in other Kentucky races.

Yes, Derby fans, that means the urine and blood of this year's Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird came to the UF racing lab.

The results?

Says Dr. Sams: ``He came back clean.''

Shannon Colavecchio can be reached at scolavecchio@sptimes.com

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