Keeling: Drug ban puts KY Thoroughbred tracks out on a limb

by Paulick Report Staff | 06.17.2012 | 6:48am

Columnist Larry Dale Keeling writes in the June 17 Lexington Herald-Leader that the recent decision by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to phase out the use of race-day furosemide might not be the best move for the state’s industry at this time.

Keeling opines that Kentucky really can’t afford to ‘go it alone’ at this time.

“Kentucky already trails most of the North American racing field in purses and breeding incentives, thanks largely to the infinite lack of wisdom, leadership and intestinal fortitude in the Republican-led state Senate, which would rather pull the plug on one of Kentucky’s signature industries than give it the expanded gambling it needs to compete with its counterparts in “racino” state,” Keeling writes.

» Read more at Lexington Herald-Leader

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http://profile.yahoo.com/GN75TMMTTZCDAKCKWH4QH6RDYQ Ronald T

The “bean counters” at Churchill Downs are loving this….The horsemen will wait,have a boycott,and then CD will have all the excuse it needs to run 3-6 weeks a year….Thank God for politicians……
Montesacro

Very Right, We are doing everything we can to destroy the racing Industry here
jorge

Don’t know who has done the most harm to Ky racing. David Williams or the Kentucky Racing Comm.
Big Red

Would it be possible to create a list of the owners / trainers that supported this ban ?
I would love to see if their horses are racing outside of KY using Lasix.
abbers

No doubt they will. After all they will be at a disadvantage if they don’t and horses from around the world use it when they are here. Who ever said it wasn’t performance enhancing? What a joke.

That said, I give them credit by supporting this much needed ban and hope they stick to their guns elsewhere.
Patuxet

Trainers are always looking for an edge. The vast majority of horses don’t need lasix but they run on lasix, not for humane reasons but because it’s perceived as bestowing some kind of advantge. Trainers with horses that don’t need lasix will be just as quick to perceive the advantage those horses enjoy on a level playing field and elect to race in KY. The size of fields could even increase.
Sandra

Your right, about 99% of the horses do not need lasix. I have trained horses for 30 years. I took all my horses (25) off lasix this year and I am having as good if not better average than before. A trainer needs to take the time to understand why horses bleed and then be more preventative with reguards to feeding each horse they train. I found the most important thing I did when I took everyone off lasix was take them off prerace medications also, ex. bute, banimine, ketaphin and cortizones. These medications help cause a horse to bleed. Don’t enter your horse until you have him sound and happy, then stay away from premeds. and you don’t need lasix.
LL

Good for you. Just like humans who take supplements to help avoid having to take meds, the horses probably respond in kind. There was a horse in our barn many years ago who had been given too much lasix before he raced and afterward he barely made it back to the barn because he was so weak. How can that be good??? Again, just like humans who have taken too many meds and have their electrolytes go wacko!!!
Sandra, have you read anything about the study some vet is doing on the pounding of the hooves on the track that might be contributing to the bleeding situation ? I haven’t seen it but a friend was telling me about it.
Rachel

Or the Democrats who flipped their votes
Rachel

Wow, someone who actually understands meds contraindications and did something about it!!!
Equine Avenger

That’s great Sandra! I wish I was still training because i’d be practicing the exact same thing. There are ways to counter these drug dependant, vet trained stables….you just need to have some actual equine knowledge and the desire to be handons(rare these days). Each horse also needs to be treated as an individual instead of the assembly line that is so common today. Too much rush rush going on in the mornings and not enough quality time spent working with(in the barn/on the track) each animal.
Equine Avenger

That’s great Sandra! I wish I was still training because i’d be practicing the exact same thing. There are ways to counter these drug dependant, vet trained stables….you just need to have some actual equine knowledge and the desire to be handons(rare these days). Each horse also needs to be treated as an individual instead of the assembly line that is so common today. Too much rush rush going on in the mornings and not enough quality time spent working with(in the barn/on the track) each animal.
Equine Avenger

Sorry LL, comment was meant for Sandra.
LL

That’s OK. I agree with you too.
LL

I have a friend who will not bet a foreign female horse coming here going on lasix for the first time, as she feels it affects them in a negative way.
Concerned Observer

All these fans of the status quo, need to look at the fact that racing has been in a severe decline for 40 years. Lasix did not fix it since it was legalized 20 years ago. Slots appear to be a very short term remedy….look at Ontario, Indiana, WV

Larry Dale needs to acknowledge that 7/12ths of the KY racing calender has been in severe jeaprody since long before the lasix debate and if Turfway and Ellis Park fail it won’t be due to this KHRC lasix change.

Right, let’s just keep doing what we are doing and then the few last trainers in the last few races, 20 years hence, will be able to keep on doing their thing to the very end. Even if it doesn’t work.
abbers

Here is an excellent NYTs article I came across authored by Sid Gustafson regarding Lasix etc. and the overall negative effects many of these drugs have on these vulnerable horses….http://therail.blogs.nytimes.com/2012…
Hopefieldstables

OMG, like an epiphany ! You have seen the light !
Jimculpepper

There are common sense alternatives to most all the pricey and questionable nostrums and magic bullets presently ruining the horse business. See Bill Pressey on the Blog “Thoroedge” 18 Nov 2011 on warm ups as substitute for lasix, among other solutions to race horse issues. Indeed, as a mere youth, years ago I discovered a perfect alternative to the practice and contraptions involved with soaking hay; this is called fresh green pasture, managed and rotated with a view to horse health. There are thousands of square miles of it available in the Nashville Basin and the outer bluegrass and all of it with only about a tenth of the sugar etc. found in dried hay.
McGov

That’s putting your money where your mouth is. You deserve to have more success and I hope it continues.
Equine Avenger

Lasix has been legal now in most states for over 35 years.
Equine Avenger

Lasix has been legal now in most states for over 35 years.
http://profile.yahoo.com/22NMCXRUWRKTKGNIG3HJBVJPQI Alex

And that is a meaningful statement why?
http://profile.yahoo.com/22NMCXRUWRKTKGNIG3HJBVJPQI Alex

Right. This seems logical…….
James Staples

HOO really cares what thoses tea bagging white wingers do???…PLEASE…
Mlmartin

take a look at the race result charts and notice where the horses finish that are not on lasix. i’ll bet in most cases they don’t hit the board. now convince me lasix doesn’t make a difference.
abbers

Agreed!!!!