Lasix Ban

On May 22, the HISA Board of Directors will take a vote that could result in the ban of Lasix in all races. Any decision made by the Board, whether to keep the rules as they are, or to enact a full ban, must be unanimous. In response, five trainers and Eric Hamelback, the CEO of the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, signed a letter imploring HISA to continue to allow the use of the medication in most races. Trainer Ron Moquett was among those signing the letter. To...

Trainer Ron Moquett joins this week's TDN Writers' Room to weigh in on HISA's impending vote on race-day Lasix and the open letter he recently co-signed on the subject.

In Imprimis (Broken Vow), Joe Orseno has the morning-line favorite in Friday's Janus S. at Gulfstream, the first race that will be held at the South Florida track under new rules that prohibit the use of Lasix in stakes races. Orseno isn't looking forward to what will become the new normal for horsemen across the country at most major tracks. "It's a big adjustment and I'm not fond of the new rules," he said. "I don't see how you can take a horse who has been running on Lasix his...

The Kentucky Legislature's Interim Joint Committee on Licensing, Occupations, and Administrative Regulations met Tuesday and took measures that allowed regulations that ban the use of Lasix in 2-year-old races this year and also in graded stakes next year to go into effect. The committee did not hold a vote, a procedure that produced the same results as if had voted to approve the regulations. Tuesday's hearing was the latest in what has been a contentious battle between pro and anti-Lasix forces in Kentucky, a fight that may now be over...

Sunday May 17 at Santa Anita rather disappeared into the ether of a weekend dominated by the resumption of live racing after a COVID-fueled two-month hiatus. But Sunday May 17 was notable in itself given how it christened the first 2-year-old race in California under the state's new Lasix-free rules. The chronology of events leading to that watershed is now something approaching lore. During Santa Anita's much-publicized troubles early last year, the track instituted a ban on Lasix, an action the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) synthesized into a state-wide...