Wildman Jack, Texas Wedge in Lasix-Free Joe Hernandez

The start of the new year also marks a new medication era in some racing jurisdictions, in which many stakes races—not just those for 2-year-olds—will be contested without Lasix, a diuretic used in United States racing to prevent respiratory bleeding.

The prohibition of Lasix in stakes racing begins in California at Santa Anita Park, which on Jan. 1 hosts the $200,000 Joe Hernandez Stakes (G2T) for older turf sprinters, the first of many graded stakes races in 2021 that will be run without the medication. All 11 horses in the 6 1/2-furlong turf dash, which include defending champion Texas Wedge and graded stakes winner Wildman Jack, raced this fall with Lasix and nine made all of their 2020 starts with it.

Lasix was banned in races for 2-year-old Thoroughbreds in California in 2020, the beginning of a phase-out of the medication, which is criticized for being overused and possibly performance-enhancing but whose proponents praise it for being a low-cost remedy for bleeding.

Some regulators and other tracks besides Santa Anita, including many that are a part of the Thoroughbred Safety Coalition, have implemented Lasix changes similar to those in California. Both Gulfstream Park and Aqueduct Racetrack, for example, will run ungraded stakes without Lasix on Friday, as Gulfstream first did last January when it staged the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes Presented by Runhappy (G1) and the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes Presented by Runhappy (G1T) without the medication.

Trainer Peter Miller, who entered two horses in the Joe Hernandez, supports the use of Lasix. He calls it inhumane to prevent horses from racing with it, believing Lasix reduces the risk of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhaging.

Ultimately the use of medications within 48 hours of a race will be restricted upon the implementation of the Horseracing Safety and Integrity Act.

Miller said the ban of Lasix in California stakes may impact how he manages his dual graded stakes winner C Z Rocket, a known bleeder. He suggested he could send the veteran campaigner this winter to Oaklawn Park, where Lasix is allowed in stakes races except for designated stakes races on the Road to the Kentucky Derby and Road to the Kentucky Oaks.

In 2020 C Z Rocket won the Pat O'Brien Stakes (G2) and Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (G2) in California before running second in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) at Keeneland for owners Madaket Stables, Gary Barber, and Tom Kagele.

"That's how he got good. We stopped the bleeding," Miller said.

He believes California's phasing out of Lasix was a response to appease those opposed to horse racing, groups he believes will now publicize when a horse is observed bleeding from the nostrils.

"Talk about just shooting yourself in the foot. These idiots think that is going to move the needle. It's going to move it the wrong way," Miller said. "The people that like horse racing like it. People that don't—Lasix doesn't matter."

Besides two-time stakes winner Texas Wedge, a Colonel John gelding owned by Altamira Racing Stable, Rafter JR Ranch, STD Racing Stable, and A. Miller, the trainer has also entered Hembree in the Joe Hernandez. The latter was a $62,500 claim by Kagele when victorious at Churchill Downs in an allowance optional claiming race at a mile on dirt Nov. 19.

Earlier in his career, Hembree won the 2018 Nearctic Stakes (G2T) at Woodbine going six furlongs and the 2019 El Prado Stakes at about 7 1/2 furlongs at Gulfstream in grass stakes for different connections.

The absence of Lasix is not foreign to trainer Doug O'Neill, who entered three in the Joe Hernandez—Blitzkrieg, Wildman Jack, and Oiseau de Guerre. Last winter Blitzkrieg and Wildman Jack raced for the trainer without the medication in Dubai per a Lasix ban in that country. The two horses resumed using the medication for racing upon their return to the U.S.

"When we sent a dozen or so to Dubai (Lasix) was a big question mark for us. How were the horses going to handle racing without Lasix? And actually, they all performed pretty darn well," he said. "I think we've all—most of us horsemen—have kind of leaned on it. For a $20 shot, you got kind of a proven way to keep horses from bleeding. Now, maybe you have to look at their diets a little bit and how you lead up to the race. It takes a little bit more horsemanship, I guess. 

"I think it will be something that with people that haven't tried it will be a little bit freaked out, but they're going to realize they're going to be just fine without it. We'll see. We had a good experience at Dubai without it."

Bettors handicapping the Joe Hernandez have little non-Lasix form to ponder, leaving them to guess which horses might improve or regress under the new restriction.

Wildman Jack, a gelded son of Goldencents  owned by W C Racing, has experienced success running without Lasix, having won the March 7 Nad al Sheba Turf Sprint Sponsored By Arabian Adventures (G3) in course-record time at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. He was clocked in 1:07.61 for 1,400 meters (about six furlongs).

Upon his return to this country, he later won the Daytona Stakes (G3T) at Santa Anita and ran second in the Eddie D. Stakes (G2T). Most recently, he was seventh in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) Nov. 7 at Keeneland after leading in midstretch of the 5 1/2-furlong race in which Texas Wedge ran 11th.

The latter was subsequently second in an allowance optional claiming race at Del Mar Nov. 20 behind Chaos Theory, another leading contender in Friday's race.

The Joe Hernandez is the seventh race on the nine-race card at Santa Anita. In the eight other races in which Lasix is allowed, 60 of 68 of entered horses race with the medication. The eight horses that were entered without Lasix, one of which is an also-eligible in the day's last race, are inexperienced maidens.

Entries: Joe Hernandez S. (G2T)

Santa Anita Park, Friday, January 01, 2021, Race 7

• Grade IIT
• 6 1/2f
• Turf
• $200,000
• 4 yo's & up
• 3:32 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Texas Wedge (KY)	Flavien Prat	120	Peter Miller	4/1
2	2P R Radio Star (KY)	Juan J. Hernandez	120	Philip D'Amato	12/1
3	3Encoder (KY)	Tyler Baze	120	John W. Sadler	20/1
4	4Hembree (KY)	Joel Rosario	120	Peter Miller	5/1
5	5True Valour (IRE)	Drayden Van Dyke	120	H. Graham Motion	8/1
6	6Blitzkrieg (KY)	Victor Espinoza	122	Doug F. O'Neill	5/1
7	7Wildman Jack (KY)	Abel Cedillo	122	Doug F. O'Neill	3/1
8	8Chaos Theory (KY)	UMBERTO RISPOLI	122	John W. Sadler	4/1
98	9Oiseau de Guerre (KY)	SCRATCHED	0	UNKNOWN	-
9	10Mesut (KY)	Mike E. Smith	120	Carla Gaines	15/1
10	11Ohio (BRZ)	Ricardo Gonzalez	120	Michael W. McCarthy	12/1