CHRB Dismisses Lasix Overage Complaint Against Ellis

The California Horse Racing Board dismissed a complaint April 21 against trainer Ron Ellis after one of his horses tested positive in March 2021 for an overage of Lasix. No urine sample was taken.

Lasix, a diuretic, is used as a preventative against respiratory bleeding in equines but is amid a phaseout in California and other jurisdictions as the horse racing industry moves toward the elimination of raceday medication. California does not permit Lasix in races for 2-year-olds or stakes horses.

Doubledown Stables' Bowl of Cherries  was in neither such race when she tested positive for an overage of Lasix when she ran third in a maiden claiming race for fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, at Santa Anita Park March 21, 2021. She received third-party Lasix administration of five milliliters.

It was determined in the hearing related to the matter the post-race blood sample was drawn on the same side of the horse's neck as a  Lasix injection was given, the CHRB report said.

The overage was initially listed by the CHRB as a Class 1 Category A penalty—classifications that usually result in large fines and suspensions—because the CHRB did not have a drug classification for the Lasix overage at the time. Disqualification of the horse also could have taken place but did not with the dismissal.

According to the CHRB, a factor taken under consideration by the Santa Anita stewards—who proposed dismissing the complaint to the board—included that no one was seen entering the horse's stall between receiving a shot of Lasix and her race.

Dr. Jeff Blea, acting CHRB equine medical director in March 2021, speculated there were two possibilities for the overage. The first was that the horse received an oral form of Lasix. The second was that some medication may have been "administered perivascular and remained in the subcutaneous tissue"—essentially meaning its administration may have occurred around a blood vessel and remained in tissue situated under the skin. Dr. Blea believed the result of the overage was from the second possibility, CHRB documents indicate.

"Dr. Blea has since requested that all blood draws do not occur on the same side of the neck as the (Lasix) injection," the CHRB documents noted.

Bowl of Cherries showed Lasix in the blood sample at 497 nanograms per milliliter, nearly five times the authorized limit of 100 ng/ml. 

In their decision dated March 25, stewards Kim Sawyer, Luis Jauregui, and Will Meyers concluded in a unanimous opinion that "Ellis is relieved of culpability of the (Lasix) overage as prima facie evidence the trainer's responsibility of care of the horse was not considered negligent." They added that mitigating circumstances warranted them "deviating from penalty guidelines and dismiss(ing) the complaint."