Horse Racing

Report Reveals Mixed Feelings Among Kentucky Trainers About New Lasix Rules


While news hit last week of a lawsuit by the Kentucky Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association against the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, Keeneland, and Churchill Downs, it reignited the Lasix debate for some trainers. The KHBPA is requesting a temporary injunction to halt the tracks’ ability to card 2-year-old races that do not permit furosemide administration for 24 hours pre-race. The commission approved rule language that would eliminate race-day Lasix in 2-year-olds this year, but that rule has not completed the process to become law yet.

Some trainers told the Thoroughbred Daily News that they don’t share the horsemen’s group’s characterization that they suffer what the KHBPA’s suit called “irreparable injury” by running under those house rules.

Ken McPeek, Phil Schoenthal, and Wesley Ward told the TDN they saw no problem with the house rules, which mirror the rule language approved by the commission. Although Ward, traditionally a powerful force with 2-year-olds, has had something of a quiet year so far, he did not attribute that to Lasix rules but rather poor racing luck, as he has had a number of juveniles finish second.

Others, like Bret Calhoun and John Hancock, said they opposed the phaseout, and believed it would eventually cause problems for horses who suffer from exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) and need the drug on race day. Hancock won one of the two 2-year-old races held so far at Churchill Downs under the no-furosemide rule and is a member of the HBPA board of directors.

A judge will hear arguments around the KHBPA’s motion for temporary injunction against the house rule races on Wednesday morning via video conference.

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News





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