KHRC Approves Lasix-Free Races

by T.D. Thornton 
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission voted 8-4 on Monday to allow tracks to write race conditions that bar horses from receiving furosemide within 24 hours of post time. 

The TDN learned of the vote via multiple social media postings by attendees at the meeting, but could not reach KHRC officials for independent confirmation because the meeting was still in progress at deadline for this story. 
The Louisville Courier-Journal reported that “the next step for the issue is for the proposed regulation to go before state legislators for review.” 

Furosemide is Lasix (also branded Salix), a nearly universally prescribed legal diuretic in American racing. It gained widespread use in the 1970s for its ability to reduce exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage in equine athletes. In the decades since its legalization, Lasix has been debated as a performance-enhancer. Over the past five years, various jurisdictions have attempted to phase out or disincentivize its use. 

According to an informational packet for the meeting posted on the KHRC website, the threshold for the Lasix-free races was recommended to be 100 picograms/milliliter in a post-race serum sample, which will count as “prima facie evidence that furosemide was administered to the horse in violation of this administrative regulation.” Violators will be subject to Class C drug violation penalties. 

The Courier-Journal reported that opposition from one dissenting commissioner had to do with the “unconstitutional delegation of the commission’s authority to racetracks.” Other debate centered on concerns that the new rule does not set limits on how many non-Lasix races a track might schedule. 

Officials at Keeneland Race Course, Churchill Downs, and Turfway Park could not be reached for comment before deadline for this story. But a posting from Keeneland president Bill Thomason on the association’s website read, “Keeneland supports the proposed regulation…that would give us the flexibility to card some races for horses that are free of race-day medication. We anticipate this regulation would be in effect during the 2016 racing calendar.”