Kentucky's ongoing attempt to end racing in state proceeds..

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

I just got off the phone with one of my trainers. He says that there is almost always an underlying reason as to why a horse is bleeding. He said if you dig deep enough, you will almost find that something is bothering the horse that is stressing him and causing him to bleed. This trainer doesn't care either way as to whether they ban lasix. He said that as long as they allow it, he will use it. He thinks there is no doubt that it is a performance enhancing drug. He says that if you follow sheet numbers, most horses move way up on lasix.

This trainer tells me that in his 20 years in the business, he can think of only one horse that he couldn't stop from bleeding. This particular horse was the only horse that he's ever had that needed lasix for his workouts. Some trainers give lasix to a lot of their horses for workouts.

This trainer went on to say that if you have a horse that runs 5 times in a row without bleeding, and then in his 6th race he bleeds (let's say he bleeds a 3 on a 1-5 scale), then you better go over that horse with a fine-tooth comb because there is almost certainly something going on with the horse.

Ok so in effect the your trainer has shot down the breeding theory as to why we should ban lasix.

I dont disagree with him at all about triggers that may very well be underlying causes. Certainly stress can cause many issues and because they cant talk we often are clued in after the fact as well as viral or bacterial infections.
And once a horse bleeds once they are more prone to do it again. So with round about reasoning he is giving a solid reason why we should not ban lasix.

While your trainer may be a good horseman he obviously isnt skilled in statistical analysis because there is no sample size great enough of non-lasix horses to come up with an accurate assessment of sheet numbers for those types versus regular lasix horses. The sample pool would also be tainted as the vast majority of horses that run without lasix are 1st time starters and young horses, the vast majority of which are due to improve with time regardless of all other factors including lasix. And since you dont know the severity of a bleeding incident that would cause a horse to be placed on lasix couldnt the fact that the horse didnt bleed w/ medication allow the number to go back where it should be considering the bleeding may have artificially depressed the number?

Not to mention if everyone has equal access to the same medication and no advantage is being gained than why would lasix not be considered something that is leveling the playing field? And wouldnt the elimination of the medicine lead to replacement by various other remedies which will not only be unknown to the public and other participants and work with vastly different effectiveness causing more potential form changes?