KY Committee Allows Medication Rules to Take Effect

In taking no action on new medication rules initially approved by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission in December 2019, including a rule that prohibits race-day Lasix in races for 2-year-olds this year, a Kentucky legislative committee Aug. 25 allowed the rules to take immediate effect.

Meeting Tuesday, the Kentucky Legislature's Interim Joint Committee on Licensing, Occupations, and Administrative Regulations listened to debate of the new rules, where the changes in Lasix policy drew the most attention. But in taking no specific action, the rules approved by the KHRC immediately go into effect.

While Kentucky tracks already were conducting non-Lasix races for 2-year-olds, under house rule, the prohibition in such races will now be the regulatory standard. The next race day in Kentucky is Friday, Aug. 28 at Ellis Park.

Still, there was plenty of debate Tuesday as the state legislators assigned with studying and discussing issues affecting the commonwealth reviewed the rules. Veterinarians Dr. Bruce Howard and Dr. Clara Fenger expressed differing viewpoints regarding the medication. The drug is used to control exercise‐induced pulmonary hemorrhage, or respiratory bleeding, which can impede performance.

Lasix, the brand name for furosemide also known as Salix, is often criticized for alleged performance-enhancing properties and for its pervasive use, even among unestablished bleeders. It is banned in many other parts of the world but is allowed in the United States and Canada.

By house rule, Kentucky tracks this year have begun prohibiting its use in races for 2-year-old horses—a ban that will extend to graded stakes races next year. The KHRC rules now put the same standards in place. The tracks' house rule changes are being contested in the Kentucky court system with the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association having filed a suit against the tracks that first implemented the new measures.

Howard, equine medical director for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, told legislators the results of 60 races for juveniles this year at Keeneland, Churchill Downs, and Ellis Park showed only one horse had been observed visually bleeding from the nostrils. This was from a sample of 532 starters, as "observed by our regulatory veterinarians or reported to us by private practitioners," he said.

More often, bleeding is discovered during endoscopic examinations, but Howard said returns from a study at Keeneland over its week-long summer meet were promising among those trainers that elected to participate.

"Eighty-nine percent of the 2-year-olds showed no evidence of blood in their airways and only two out of the 47 scoped showed anything more than a trace of blood," he said.

Fenger countered with a different veterinary viewpoint, urging legislators to let "science drive the policy-making."

"Dr. Howard questions the science that demonstrates that Lasix is an effective preventative for EIPH, and yet, as a veterinarian, he pretty much stands alone in that opinion," she said. "As an exercise physiologist and internal medicine specialist I can assure you that the science has proven this unequivocally: Lasix attenuates exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage."

She pointed to the results of eight recent KHRC-reported necropsies that showed horses that suffered catastrophic musculoskeletal injuries also were shown to have bled.

"Severe hemorrhage in the lungs interferes with oxygenation of the blood, leading to fatigue, and in exercise science, unequivocally it's been well established that injury is more likely to occur when you have fatigue," she said.

Sen. Damon Thayer (Republican, Georgetown), a member of the Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council and a proponent of medication reform, called the Lasix ban in 2-year-old races and graded stakes races in 2021 worthy of support. 

"Should we ignore the fact that racing has been under increased scrutiny for safety issues over the past year and a half is to keep one's head in the proverbial sand," he said. "We have to move forward and deal with changing public opinion as it deals with equine sports."

Rep. Matthew Koch (Republican, Paris) also backed the rule changes, noting the importance of the Kentucky equine industry, not just in racing, but within breeding and sales.

"That's what so many of us do in this business in Central Kentucky—we sell our product. So it's very, very important to me that we keep up with the rest of the world, and we stay in pace with them so that our product remains the best out there and they come in and may want to purchase it," Koch said. "California, Maryland, New York, they're already moving forward with these changes."

Other legislators expressed at least partial concerns about rule changes that prohibit Lasix, led by Sen. Paul Hornback (Republican, Shelbyville).

"I do think it's very detrimental to those that are the bread and butter of the Thoroughbred industry and—that's the claiming races and some of those folks," he said.

Howard told the committee that the KHRC and Churchill Downs and Keeneland are in discussion to set up a study this fall that would evaluate the airways of 2-year-olds after their races. 

Fenger also wants to see more data and information, not only with regard to Lasix but to other medication changes.

"I do know that there still stands to be a very, very large divide in the industry here in the state amongst horsemen, amongst regulators, amongst veterinarians, about the effects of some of these drugs, and what the potential is if this goes on," added Rep. Michael Meredith, (Republican, Oakland). "I think it's very important that as this moves forward—if it does today—that we track this heavily and make sure that we've made the proper decision. Because when we make decisions based upon public opinion and emotion, many times they are some of the decisions that we make that aren't the best decisions."

Other changes that go into immediate effect include:

• An extended withdrawal time for the administration of corticosteroids from seven to 14 days pre-race.
• A requirement of 14 days of a horse's medical records at the time of entry, including a clear and accurate record of any treatment administered.
• Extension of the withdrawal time for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs from 24 to 48 hours pre-race.
• Elimination of the use of bisphosphonates in racing and in horses younger than 4 years old.
• A requirement of an examination by a racetrack veterinarian prior (or that day) of a horse to being entered in a race to improve equine safety and add extra scrutiny of a horse's condition.