Selway: Lasix Study Proceeding Nicely

Renowned equine veterinarian Dr. Stephen Selway issued a press release late Thursday to update equine professional on progress being made on his study on the use of Lasix in 2-year-old maiden special weight and stakes races at Gulfstream Park.

“Gulfstream decided to write some non-Lasix races for 2-year-olds and I thought this would be an opp to be able to evaluate the horses, not only the 2yo maidens running without Lasix, but also the ones on Lasix,” Selway explained. “This is my last chance to give back to the industry. My wife and staff aren’t especially happy about it, but we’re getting it done,” he deadpanned.

While Selway ‘commissioned’ the study, he felt it was best to allow others to assess the data.

“I contacted some of my clients and we were able to obtain two video endoscopes,” he explained. “I didn’t feel it was right if I did any scoring of the images, so I asked three industry vets that have had lots of experience to do so. We tried to make it as bulletproof as we can, they don’t know if horses are on Lasix or off Lasix, all they have is a number. We’ll see where the figures lie and we expect to make it available to the racing community to see what percentage of the horses are bleeding with or without Lasix and to what extent.”

To date, Selway reports that 277 endoscopic exams have taken place and that the first 228 sets of images have been forwarded to his colleagues Drs. J. Prendergast, F. Northrup and N. Neittinis. Selway explained that laboratory costs have been absorbed by owner Ahmed Zayat, while Caroline Wilson, Antony Beck, Roy Jackson and John Sikura were instrumental in the acquisition of the endoscopes. Selway anticipates that as many as 500 horses will have been inspected by year’s end.

“We need to decide as an industry whether we want these horses to stop getting Lasix and what percentage of horses is at risk of permanent lung damage,” he commented. “It’ll be interesting, I honestly don’t know what we’re going to find.” Twitter: @EquinealTDN