TDN OP-ED: Jerry Brown on missing Lasix discussion point

[GenuineRisk]

The problem with adding a weight penalty is then trainers are going to weigh the chances of an EIPH episode with the chances of a weight break. And that puts the horse's safety and the safety of everyone else in the race at risk if, god forbid, the horse drops mid-race from an EIPH episode.

It's not an advantage if every horse may use it. It doesn't make a horse run faster than they can; it gives them a better chance to run to the best of their ability because they are less likely to be running with blood in their lungs. If minimizing the effects of a horse's natural physical shortcomings is giving an unfair advantage we should also ban any sort of corrective surgery, whether for crooked legs or flipped palates. Bone chips? They're out of racing for good.