Lasix Phase-Out Recommendation Advances to Kentucky Commission

[Wandering Eyes]

In a relatively quick reversal of a vote taken Oct. 28, the Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council (EDRC) voted 6-2 on Nov. 25 to advance to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) a recommendation to partially phase out race-day Lasix usage.

If the measure gets adopted by the KHRC at its Dec. 10 meeting, race-day Lasix administration will be barred in 2-year-olds beginning in 2020, and the use of the drug will be eliminated in stakes for all ages starting in 2021.

The EDRC serves as an advisory board to the KHRC. Last month the EDRC voted on the same measure, but the recommendation failed to advance by a 5-3 vote.

The following EDRC members voted in favor of the Lasix phase-out on Monday: Stuart Brown II, DVM, (chairman), Johnny Mac Smith, DVM, (representing Thoroughbred breeders), James Morehead, DVM, (representing veterinarians), Damon Thayer (representing legislators), Mike Ziegler (representing licensed racing associations), and Art Zubrod (representing Standardbred breeders).

The no votes came from Marc Cheney, DVM, (representing Thoroughbred horsemen) and Andy Roberts, DVM, (representing Standardbred horsemen).

Michael Kilgore (representing pharmacologists) was not present.

Thayer, the Kentucky Senate Majority Leader and a longtime member of the EDRC, was asked by TDN after the meeting if it was unusual for the EDRC to re-take a vote on the same recommendation so quickly after it initially failed to pass.

“Well, these are unusual times,” Thayer said. “We had one member, Art Zubrod, who represents the Standardbred breeders and was not able to attend the last meeting. He was in favor of it. And I was told there were two members of the council, Dr. Johnny Mac Smith and Dr. James Morehead, who [after] getting more information on how the regulation would be implemented, decided to vote with those of us who supported it.”

When asked if he thought the Lasix phase-out would be adopted by the KHRC next month, Thayer said this:

“There were five members of the KHRC, including Dr. Brown, who’s chair of the EDRC, in attendance [Monday], and it’s my hope that at its next meeting the racing commission will vote to implement the regulations. I think this paves the way for other states to follow Kentucky’s lead and hopefully create some state-based momentum for reform.

“Kentucky is a participant in the interstate racing compact—I got a bill passed on that in 2011. And what I would like to see happen and what I think would be good for racing is for the horse racing compact states to move forward with implementing all of the changes that the EDRC has recommended at its last two meetings so we can move towards a state-based uniformity of racing rules across major jurisdictions,” Thayer said.

This story will be updated.

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