Kentucky EDRC to Again Discuss Lasix Phaseout
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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
The Kentucky Equine Drug and Research Council has scheduled another meeting to consider phasing out the use of race day Lasix in 2-year-olds in 2020 and phasing out the use of race day Lasix in stakes races in 2021.
At the most recent meeting Oct. 28, the same item was voted down 5-3 by the EDRC, a committee that makes medication rule recommendations to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. A second meeting on the issue has been scheduled for Monday, Nov. 25. (Initially this meeting was scheduled for Nov. 22 but on Thursday it was changed to Nov. 25.)
EDRC members Michael Kilgore, Johnny Mac Smith, Andy Roberts, James Morehead, and Marc Cheney voted against the item. All five are practicing racetrack veterinarians. Sen. Damon Thayer, Churchill Downs executive Mike Ziegler, and veterinarian and EDRC chair Stuart Brown voted for it. Art Zubrod, who represents Standardbred breeders on the committee, did not attend the meeting.
The new rules on Lasix are supported by all of the Kentucky tracks as outlined in an Aug. 11 letter to KHRC general counsel John Forgy.
In April, Churchill Downs and Keeneland were among a coalition of tracks that announced they would be applying those same rules. The New York Racing Association, The Stronach Group, and Del Mar represent major racetrack operators that are also part of the coalition. The Aug. 11 letter also included Ellis Park, Kentucky Downs, and Turfway Park.
Monday's EDRC meeting will take place at 9 a.m. ET at the office of the KHRC at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.