Will HISA Ban Lasix in All Races? Its Board of Directors Will Soon Decide

[Wandering Eyes]

Since the inception of HISA, the diuretic Lasix (also known as furosemide) has been banned in all 2-year-old races and in stakes races. But that may be about to change. On May 22, HISA's nine-member Board of Directors will take a vote on whether or not the medication should be banned in all races.

Unless the Board votes unanimously to continue to allow Lasix in all races except stakes and juvenile events, the use of the anti-bleeding medication will no longer be allowed in any states that fall under the HISA umbrella.

When HISA was established, it essentially placed a three-year moratorium on a full Lasix ban pending the results of a scientific study that would delve into several issues involving the medication, focusing particularly on the effect of furosemide on equine health and the integrity of competition.

Though the May 22 vote is nearing, two members of the HISA Board of Directors told the TDN that they have yet to receive any information or updates on the study. According to a statement issued Wednesday by a HISA spokesperson, the study has been completed and is under review.

“Pursuant to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, HISA convened a Furosemide Advisory Committee to commission and oversee independent scientific research on the use of furosemide (Lasix) in horses,” the statement read. “Scientific studies funded by HISA on furosemide's effects have been completed and are in the process of being reviewed by the Committee, which oversaw the development of the research framework and evaluated proposals. We recognize the importance of this issue to the industry and are approaching it with the seriousness it deserves.

“The Committee will send a recommendation to the HISA Board of Directors, who will make their decision with due consideration to the facts and science. In accordance with the Act, the decision will be made by May 22, 2026–three years after the launch of the Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program.”

With the May 22 vote approaching, a letter was sent out Wednesday signed by Bill Mott, Chad Brown, Mark Casse, Jena Antonucci Ron Moquett and Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association, that questioned the need for a complete ban of Lasix.

“The question before the Authority Board is not whether the sport must evolve–it must, it is and will continue to,” the letter read. “The question is whether eliminating a treatment that reduces lung bleeding serves the horse or simply satisfies a narrative. Treating pulmonary hemorrhage under veterinary supervision is not doping. It is responsible care.”

The TDN reached out to some of the most prominent trainers in the sport and all spoke out against the proposed ban.

“I think we're protecting the breed by not allowing 2-year-olds to race on it,” trainer Graham Motion said. “We're protecting the stud book by not allowing the best fillies and colts in the country to run on Lasix in stakes races. So we're protecting the breeding program. As for the bread-and-butter daily racing, I think Lasix is something that only helps the horses. I think it's working, and I don't really see the reason to take it away. I think the present system is working and I think it's going to make life very difficult for the day-to-day racing and the guys that have the claimers to operate without it.”

Trainer Wesley Ward said that he has trained horses that would not have been able to race without Lasix.

“I had a horse named Bound for Nowhere, who I still have,” Ward said. “I didn't retire him until he was 10, and he never had an issue in his life. Not a suspensory, not a tendon, nothing wrong with his feet. There was nothing wrong with him ever. The only thing he had was he was a bleeder. So, I turned him out all winter long, and then I'd bring him back and he'd have a few races. He made $1.3 million for me. If they didn't have Lasix, he wouldn't have made a dollar. The only thing it does is help horses that internally bleed in their lungs to lower their blood pressure to where they don't bleed. And it has nothing to do with masking soundness. It only helps the horses that have these issues.”

Linda Rice is one of the leading trainers in New York, but most of her horses are claimers or allowance runners that routinely run on Lasix. She was adamant that a Lasix ban would have a negative impact on her operation and that a ban would only further reduce the size of fields, which is already a major problem for the sport.

“I am hoping that they will keep Lasix,” she said. “I think that it could be damaging to lose Lasix for the bulk of racing. It could be damaging to the field size and the number of horses that can continue to race. And we're already having a problem with field size. It could be difficult to maintain the numbers that we need to keep racetracks going. So I'm hoping that they will decide to keep Lasix. As far as I'm concerned, I'm okay with 2-year-olds not having Lasix. I think that's fine. I'm actually for that. I think that gives them a chance to grow to full maturity and race as a 3-year-old. But I do think that it will have a negative effect on racing in general if they remove Lasix.”

Rice said she would enter more stakes races, but is reluctant to do so because that would mean running her horses without Lasix.

“I have quite a few horses in my barn right now that I would consider running in some stakes races,” she said. “I've had several like that through the years. But I know that they have a tendency to bleed and I am afraid to take the chance. I've tried it with a couple of horses and it's turned out poorly for them. And so I've had to stay away from stakes races.”

Todd Pletcher's barn is largely focused on stakes races, where he cannot use Lasix, but he, too, thinks taking the medication away from lower-level horses would be a mistake.

“My biggest concern with that is that it is going to affect our horse population,” Pletcher said. “I know that, personally, I have had to send some horses to Woodbine (where Lasix is allowed most races) over the last few years because they needed Lasix. I think we're already dealing with a diminishing population and foal crops, and this is something that will take a hit on the number of horses in training. So that's one concern. Plus, I do have some concern just for the health and safety of the horses, especially some lower-level claiming horses. Those horses probably need Lasix.”

Like Motion, Pletcher also said that the current rules are working and should not be changed.

“What they're doing now seems to be working fine,” he said. “I think everyone has kind of found a way to compromise, and what they've done is a good compromise. The platform that HISA ran on was one where they were going to allow some flexibility on the Lasix, and so I think they'd lose some goodwill turning back on that.”

The HISA Board of Directors consists of Charles Scheeler, Steve Beshear, Adolpho Birch, Leonard Coleman, Joe De Francis, Terri Mazur, Susan Stover, Bill Thomason, and D.G. Van Clief.

“Unfortunately, horses bleed, and the people that are making these decisions in our business aren't people that have been getting up every day for the last 35 years to see what's going on with horses,” Ward said. “You've got these people that are making decisions for trainers and owners and the horse itself, and that is ridiculous. They need to bring in and listen to people that have experience.”

Thomason, the former President and CEO of Keeneland, said he is keeping an open mind regarding the Lasix issue and is also waiting ro read the HISA study.

“Everyone on the board, I promise you, has an open mind about what our research will show,” Thomason said. “It's too early for me to comment on anything because nothing is there, nothing has been considered by the Board. This is still being evaluated by the committee that was established to study Lasix. Once again, anything I would say right now would be just speculation.”

De Francis also said he has not made up his mind yet regarding how he will vote. He said he understands both sides of the issue, that Lasix can be helpful to bleeders, but he also opined that it can act as a performance-enhancer because it causes horses to lose weight before race.

“What we're really trying to balance is the beneficial therapeutic effects of allowing Lasix to facilitate the ability of horses that have a genetic weakness to exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage,” he said. “We have to balance that constructive side with the negative health effects of widespread use as a performance-enhancer, causing dehydrated horses to be racing so that they can have the advantage of racing with 15 or 20 or 25 pounds less water weight. We're balancing the negative effects of the latter against the positive effects of the former and how those scales will ultimately tip. That's the balance that I look at.”

The post Will HISA Ban Lasix in All Races? Its Board of Directors Will Soon Decide appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article