Gulfstream Ready for Lasix-Free Stakes Racing in 2021
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Tim Sullivan
Mucho Gusto takes command on his way to victory in the Pegasus World Cup, which was conducted without Lasix earlier this year at Gulfstream Park
1/st Racing, a division of The Stronach Group, officially announced Dec. 18 that stakes races run next year at the TSG-owned Gulfstream Park will be conducted without Lasix.
The move to medication-free stakes racing reflects the Lasix-reduction commitment made last year by TSG and other members of the Thoroughbred Safety Coalition.
The medication-free format for stakes races includes the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) and the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1T) Jan. 23, as well as the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) and Florida Derby (G1) later in the winter and spring. The two Pegasus races were conducted Lasix-free last year.
Lasix, the brand name for furosemide also known as Salix, is a diuretic used in horses to control exercise‐induced pulmonary hemorrhage, or respiratory bleeding. It is criticized for its alleged performance-enhancing properties and for its pervasive use, even among unestablished bleeders. It is banned from racing in many other parts of the world.
After both Pegasus races were run in January without Lasix, in which 22 horses competed. An informal BloodHorse survey found that at least three had minimal internal bleeding.
Other 2021 stakes races across the country that are part of the Road to the Kentucky Derby series also will be staged without Lasix.
In 2020 the administration of race-day Lasix was also banned for 2-year-olds racing at TSG tracks, a practice adopted by many other tracks that are a part of the Thoroughbred Safety Coalition, which is working to expand that prohibition to stakes races in 2021.